"You’re dazzling, you’re in front of me...
I want to tell you that this is the beginning"

C H A P T E R 3: XOXO

The headmaster seemed to keep his word as exactly in a week there was someone who came to confirm his trip. His mother managed to convince his father that he got accepted into a foreign school and they wanted him to transfer immediately. Kyungsoo could only blink as he was hugged from his father, telling him how proud he was to have a son so smart.

Kyungsoo tried his best to hold back tears.

His suitcases where packed and he had already shipped off some boxes of personal items to the mysterious academy, things where moving much too fast for the boy and he was having trouble keeping up. He couldn’t even gather the courage to tell his friends from school face to face and instead chose to write them all lengthy emails. Yeah, he’s sure they hate him.

With a sigh Kyungsoo tugged at the end of his tee shirt, doing his best to smooth out the wrinkles. He didn’t have the faintest idea what kind of people he would be meeting or if they would even be people at all. On the bright side they let him know that he didn’t have to share a room with anyone meaning no creepy vampires would watch him sleep.

“Kyungsoo?” His mother called out from outside his room. It only took a few strides to get to her before she enveloped him in her arms. Kyungsoo breathed in her perfume and tried his best to memorize it, knowing he wouldn’t have a chance to smell it again anytime soon. Carefully she slipped a small bag into his palm leaning back slightly to whisper in his ear. “You’ll know what to do when the time is right.” Then, she placed her palm in the small of his back and led him towards the exit, where his guide would take him from there.

Admits the flurry of picking up all his belongings he managed to take a peek at what his mother had given him. It was a small bag of seeds. However he was far too rushed to analyze what she meant so he opted to stuff them into his pocket and bid his final farewells and stepping foot outside.

The car ride from there was surprisingly short as they stopped at the edge of the woods. Kyungsoo looked around a bit, wondering why they were stopping there so suddenly. His guide ushered him out of the car and began to take out the luggage from the back.

“Wait, why are we stopping here? I though he were going to the airport?”

His guide didn’t even spare him a glance as he started to make his way into the woods, signaling the younger boy to follow. “There are many ways to get to the school and the route we’re taking is the closest.” He threw Kyungsoo a glance to make sure he was following before continuing. “Boy, where we’re going to, no plane has ever flown there.”

The possibility than this strange man was some psycho killer instead of his guide was becoming realer by the second and Kyungsoo felt sweat begin to build up in the back of his neck. His mind began reeling up escape plans by the second and he was so distracted that he almost bumped into the ahjussi when he abruptly stopped.

They walked into a clearing of sorts with nothing but a giant oak tree in front them, its branches loomed over the sky effectively blocking the sun and any bird that tried to fly past. The trunk must be at least ten times Kyungsoo’s size.

While the younger male gaped at it the older brought out his hand and waved it in front of the oak tree before bringing up his knuckles to knock on it twice.

For a split second everything was absolutely still, there was no wind blowing through the leaves no birds chirping not even a squirrel munching on an acorn and then an almost blinding white line escaped through the cracks of the oak’s skin and faded away to form an antique looking wooden door.

With no hint of hesitation his guide reaches towards the handle and pulls it open for Kyungsoo, stepping aside to let the younger male through first. Beyond the door is a regular looking hallway with various doors on one side and a staircase and elevator at the end.

Kyungsoo’s mouth might as well become a permanent home for flies considering how much his mouth is falling open these days. Daintily he steps through the oak tree’s door and into the mysterious hallway. He pauses on the other side and looks back at his guide hoping the other would give him some sort of, well, guidance.

The other simply hands him the rest of his luggage and tells him that he has urgent matters to attend too and that Kyungsoo can figure out the rest from here before shutting the door leaving Kyungsoo alone in the hallway. The door he came in with magically disappears along with his guide and the Korean boy is left flabbergasted.

Part of him really wants to go home right about now but another part of him, the one he pushes down, is oddly excited by the whole thing.

Kyungsoo walks slowly down the hallway and notices the doors have gold nameplates on them showing various letters, he passes one that has PCY on it and another with KIM on it and finally he reaches one that has two simple English letters staring back at him. D.O.

Kyungsoo surmises that this one must be for him as his family name is Do and its rare enough that he wouldn’t just find it on a door by coincidence. A bit nervous about potentially barging into a strangers room he reaches for the doorknob and pries it open.

Once he notices the bare state of the room and familiar boxes on the floor he lets out a sigh of relief and confidentially steps inside. It’s a nice sized room with a twin bed, a desk and chair, a nightstand and a small bookshelf in the corner. There are two other doors inside and he can only assume they’re the closet and bathroom.

A figure on the bed catches his eye and on closer inspection he realizes it’s a uniform and he’s happy to note that it looks like a regular private school uniform rather than wizard robes or anything weird. He sets aside the khaki pants and blue blazer for later and decides to focus on unpacking.

He starts by putting up some of the clothes he brought with him in the closet, the guide told him he would be allowed to wear normal clothes when it wasn’t school hours, and thus he should bring some. After he’s done organizing that, he connects all his electronics to the walls and sets up his computer at the desk. He’s also happy the room had a bookshelf because Kyungsoo brought along some of his favorite novels in case he needed to pass the time.

In the midst of organizing his stack of music CD’s alphabetically a knock sounds at his door. Curiously he wonders who it could be. Only the headmaster or the guide know he’s here and he definitely doesn’t think it’s a neighbor bringing him a welcoming gift. Either way, he needs to some questions answered so he’s thankful they came to him rather than him having to wonder the campus for them.

Dusting off his jeans after getting up from his seated position he wanders towards the door and daintily opens it. He’s met with a chest at first but as his eyes travel upward they finally land on a face.

It’s a boy who looks around his age but obnoxiously taller than Kyungsoo. He’s wearing thick black framed glasses and his hair is messy, there’s an air about him though that’s very pleasant and Kyungsoo can’t really place why. It takes a few seconds of eye contact later than he realizes they’ve both been staring at each other without saying a word.

Heat rises to the shorter males face from embarrassment, the taller just keeps staring at him as if lost, in fact, he’s pretty sure the others mouth is open too.

Kyungsoo clears his throat and finally breaks eye contact, looking past the boys shoulder. “Uhh, can I help you with anything?”

As if those words were the trigger the strange boy in front of him finally comes to his senses and Kyungsoo has front row tickets to it all. It’s almost funny the way the boy could channel so many emotions in one go and but it’s also pretty impressive he should go on a talent program.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry about that, I don’t know what came over me.” The taller male has his gaze fixed on the side of Kyungsoo’s door, in fact his gaze is so strong that Kyungsoo almost believed he was actually talking to the door for a second.

Sensing that the shorter boy wasn’t much for words he continued. “Uhh, let’s do that over again. I’m Chanyeol, nice to meet you.” The taller boy seems much more normal now as he gave Kyungsoo a polite bow and was even brave enough to meet his eyes again, if only for a second.

Kyungsoo blushed and bowed back. “I’m Kyungsoo.” His hands tugged the ends of his shirt again, a nervous habit in the making it seemed. He wasn’t sure what to make of this strange kid, other than his stature and surprisingly deep voice he seemed…normal? Or human at least, there were no tails or wings sprouting behind his back; that Kyungsoo could see that is.

The taller boy rubbed the back of his neck slightly and gave the shorter boy a smile. Boy, those where quite a bit of teeth. Kyungsoo resisted the urge to count them.

“I’m actually in the room next to yours. The headmaster asked me to get you set up here and show you were your classes will be.”

Kyungsoo nodded, feeling relieved that in the end he would get some help. Maybe it was his fault for completely thinking he was abandoned to figure out the school on his own.

“Did you want to go now or…?” Chanyeol asked, rocking on the balls of his feet unconsciously, it looks odd for someone so tall but strangely cute.

“I’m good to go now.” Kyungsoo replied and stepped outside his room, closing the door behind him gently. Chanyeol gave him another wide smile and beckoned Kyungsoo to follow. The shorter trailed behind, his legs working overtime to keep up with the giants.

_____

Turns out Kyungsoo wasn’t as lucky as he though because Chanyeol managed to get them both lost about 5 times throughout the whole trip but at least he managed to learn a bit more about the school that way.

The academy was a lot bigger than Kyungsoo expected, it was around the size of a state University with various different buildings. What surprised the shorter male the most however was that the campus was on a remote island, smack dab in the middle of it. How he came to be on an island from going through an oak tree Kyungsoo will probably never understand.

As Chanyeol gave him a tour the doe eyed boy began to notice a very familiar trend throughout the school.

“Why does everyone look so….” Kyungsoo began before realizing he wasn’t sure how to phrase his question. Fortunately Chanyeol caught on.

 “Normal?” He replied with a teasing tone and aimed a smirk at Kyungsoo.

The shorter male held back a blush and nodded.

“There’s a spell casted on this place that reverts everyone to a more human like appearance, I mean, it would be quite hard to have dragons attend lecture hall.” Chanyeol let out a chuckle which Kyungsoo mirrored and then continued. “Once we leave however we will revert back to our natural state, but again only other supernatural’s will see you like that. Humans will see you normally or sometimes not at all, depends.”

Kyungsoo absorbed everything like a sponge; it felt like he was relearning simple things, like basic addition or how to wash your hands. If Chanyeol thought it was weird that Kyungsoo didn’t know any of this then he didn’t mention it but then again there was a possibility he was already informed of Kyungsoo’s situation before coming to give him a tour.

As their walk continued Kyungsoo learned more about the boy, he was a year older than him and he played guitar. Kyungsoo had yet to learn what he was most curious about but he was too shy to ask. He didn’t know if it was considered rude or if it was a common thing, like asking what your major was. Sehun was nice about it but that still didn’t take away Kyungsoo’s doubts. Plus if he asked what Chanyeol was that implied he had to do the same with himself and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to flaunt his Nymph status yet.

Stepping in front of the admissions office Chanyeol signaled for him to step in side before planting himself on one of the small plush chairs outside. The office seemed like a fancier version of the one his old school had. There was a woman tapping on a keyboard behind a desk, she wore cat like glasses and her nails where long and manicured.

“Oh, you must be Kyungsoo.” She beamed once she saw him walk through the door. “Let me get you your schedule.”

The boy watched curiously as she reached behind her and opened one of the many cabinets lining the wall then she pulled out a crisp white paper. Turning once again towards Kyungsoo she passed the paper towards him. “Normally you’re allowed to choose what classes you want but because you transferred so late in the year not many spaces where available. So we gave you what we could.”

Kyungsoo eyed the paper hungrily. Mondays/Wednesdays he had College Algebra and something called Botany 100. Tuesdays and Thursdays he had a language class and a history class. Fridays he only had art but it was twice as long as the other classes.

The admissions lady also handed him another paper, this one had a list of clubs and after school activities the academy offered. Besides there being some strange sounding ones like the Things With Wings club, he was happy to note there was a also a choir club. Kyungsoo had always had a fondness for singing but he was too shy to audition and missed the date. Maybe this time around he would finally try to join.

He gave the lady a polite bow and thank you before stepping out of the office, Chanyeol is still in the chair shuffling through what looks like an iPod. Kyungsoo takes a step closer and the taller boy finally realizes he’s there, he hurriedly pockets his ipod and walks over to Kyungsoo excitedly reaching for his paper “What classes did you get?” He asks and Kyungsoo chooses to let the paper speak for itself.

“Oh, looks like we have history together! I also know where the other ones are so I’ll show you to them and then we can call it a day alright?” Chanyeol hands him the paper back and takes grabs Kyungsoo’s wrist, beginning to lead him down the hall. The shorter boy blushes at the sudden contact but let’s himself be pulled. The warmth of the older boys hand feels oddly nice.

____

After becoming acquainted with his classes and bidding Chanyeol a farewell, Kyungsoo is back in the comfort of his dorm. He sinks down into his mattress and tries to process the day’s events. Part of him wants to feel guilty for accepting the new school so quickly but another part accepts that he’s allowed to feel a bit excited as well. After all he’s pretty much attending Hogwarts! Or at least the Asian version of it. Chanyeol informed him that there were multiple supernatural academies around the world but the one they attended hosts students all over Asia, particularly from China, Korea and Japan.

His first day of classes will officially start tomorrow, as today was Sunday and only a rare few had classes. Feeling particularly exhausted from his tour the younger boy lets himself relax and drift off into a peaceful slumber. Knowing tomorrow is going to be one heck of a day.

A U T H O R S N O T E

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Finally, our Chanyeol makes an entrance! Also does anyone notice a pattern in the title's? n.n

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