CHAPTER 18

N e w   B e g i n n i n g s   II

KyungSoo stares at the ceiling directly above his bed. It seems to be coming in close every minute, wanting to crush him. That or his bed is rising up to grind him against the ceiling instead. Either way, he feels uncomfortable after the harangue he had earlier with ChanYeol. He’s rearranged the room several times in his mind already trying to figure out why he’s so concerned.

9 in the evening. ChanYeol will be there soon and it seems that the Sandman picked the wrong day to skip out on KyungSoo. He shuts his eyes and covers himself with his blanket. Please let me sleep. Please let me sleep. Please let me sleep.

Click.

Oh , he’s here.

ChanYeol opens the door to their room. He closes it quietly and sees that KyungSoo’s bed side light is still open. He sighs heavily, perhaps, in hopes to liberate the arduous sensitivities and well-kept affections that his lips failed to tell the younger earlier. But what good will that do when the other boy sees him as no more than a pebble in his shoe?

Besides, he’s already weary and spent that maybe, just maybe at this point, he shouldn’t care. He’s hurt enough that he may not be able to bleed any longer. A silent pang edges behind him and teases his tired soul to the thought that the person he’s sharing the room with was the person whom he gave his best memories to. And now to him, ChanYeol isn’t even a memory or a shadow at least, but an absolute stranger.

It’s not his fault ChanYeol. Remember that. He reassures himself.

He ultimately gives in as he lets his body fall to his bed, head plunges to the pillow as his body plops  to the pristine sheets . Eyes shutting. Maybe there’s nothing wrong in giving up afterall.

“ChanYeol?”

He must be deep in his sleep by now. He can hear KyungSoo softly calling his name. Yes. That’s what this is, a dream.

“I just want you to know that I didn’t really mean what I said earlier. I was out of bounds and I didn’t know you enough to speak of you as I did.”

Yep, this definitely is a dream. Too bad.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is…”

I’m so sorry this is just a dream.

“I’m sorry Park ChanYeol.”

--

ChanYeol woke up to the melody of choirs singing their morning hymns, or maybe it was just the birds chirping outside the window. He scrunches his nose and sits up as he rubs his eye still blurry from slumber. Where am I?

“Oh !” He realizes that it’s Monday and it is the first day of school. He quickly gets up as his left foot tangles with his bedsheet. He falls down on the floor with a hard thud. He closes his eyes and winces in pain. He opens them once again and sees that his roommate has already left.

Well that’s KyungSoo for you. Early to bed, early to rise. He yawns as he makes his way to the bathroom, soothing his knees. It takes him a good 20 minutes to prepare for school. He looks at his wrist watch. 7:45AM. He has 15 minutes to get to his first class which is, he fumbles for his schedule, Literature.

“Great.” He groans.

He jumps skips as he fastens his small black slingbag against his body and secures a small blue cap on top of his head. He reaches the first floor and is on his way out when someone calls his name.

“Yah! ChanYeolssi!” It’s Kahi. ChanYeol straightens his body and bows a perfect 90-degree angle to the dorm careteaker.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of you uttering my name on this fine Monday morning noona?”

“Pft, this sweet talker,” Kahi thinks to herself, “I found this on my table earlier. It has your name on it.” She extends a curious looking brown paper bag in his direction. He takes the bag and throws an inquiring look at Kahi. She shrugs her shoulders and resumes reading Vol. 6 of her The Celebrity magazine. ChanYeol didn’t have the time to think nor talk so he bows one last time and sprints as he stuffs the intriguing item inside his bag.

He arrives five minutes late. The professor’s already there and gives him an inconsequential look as he motions for the giant to sit down. He sits at the far back and feigns attention to what the teacher is about to say. He introduces himself as Professor Kwon JiYong who’ll be teaching Literature the whole semester. Everything after that becomes a blur to ChanYeol as he starts fighting his sleepiness.

--

“Yum.” He examines his lunch tray which consists of the average college diet. A clump of uninviting mashed potato smothered unattractively by an almost liquid gravy, a slab of half burnt half cooked luncheon meat, a worn-out banana, and a small box of apple juice. He picks a seat at the far end of the cafeteria. He takes out his phone and starts texting.

From: Channie~

Sent: 12:16PM

Yah Baekkie, where u at? I’m here at the cafeteria. Hurry up.

He forks his mashed potato and decides to taste it. Not bad.

From: Baekkie

Sent: 12:18PM

I have Philosophy from 12NN to 2PM. Oh kkaebsong~

ChanYeol laughs mirthfully at the reply he got.

From: Channie~

Sent: 12:19PM

What’s kkaebsong?

Beeb beep.

From: Baekkie

Sent: 12: 23PM

It’s something you say when you’re regretful. I thought of it just now. Our Lit professor really looks pitiful. I wanna punch him in the god-damned throat.

He laughs inaudibly as he places his phone in his bag. It’s times like these that he’s extremely grateful that he ran down BaekHyun and met him. Then his finger touches something peculiar inside the bag. It’s the brown parcel from earlier. He takes it out and examines its contents. What he sees almost makes him spit out the half masticated luncheon meat in his mouth.

It’s a blue plastic bottle with Pororo and his friends on the label. His eyes widen as he looks at it point blank. The hell. He reaches inside the paper bag to procure the last item and sees that it’s a Crunky chocolate bar.

He recalls an apology from last night which he dismissed as a lucid dream. Now that he thinks about it, it may have been real afterall.

--

Somewhere inside the campus, a class is starting against the buzz of students and faculty in the adjacent cafeteria. It’s an unusual schedule conducted by an equally strange-looking teacher. Stout build, fluffy unkempt moustache, and an impossible posture that looked too difficult to even mimic. This is BaekHyun’s 2^nd class for the day, Philosophy. It may well have been his last as he’s actually sitting across someone he used to always sit beside during all of his freshman classes.

“Do KyungSoo.”

“Here!” The pale black-haired boy responds to the roll call. He feels rather unpleasant being in the same room as the person who made him survive his 1^st year of College with a breeze. He wonders if his 2^nd year will be as easy now that his confidant has been taken away from him.

“Byun BaekHyun.”

“Present.” This time, the blonde boy raises his hands, but retracts them immediately. He wishes nothing more than this period to end. Then he gets a text message. He laughs and secretly replies to the sender. “Oh kkaebsong.”

Neither of them glances at the other and tries so much to focus on the mind-numbing lecture about how Philosophy should be a way of life and how it should be learned and not studied.

“Byun BaekHyun.” He recoils at the mention of his name.

“Neh seonsingnim?”

“Why do you think Philosophy should be learned instead of being studied?”

Uh, because studying is short for students dying and I’m too young to die. BaekHyun bites his lips and raises both his hands to concede defeat.

“Do KyungSoo, same question.”

“Oh god shut up.”

Everybody turns to look at KyungSoo who still had his eyes closed at the mention of his name. When he opens them, he’s surprised that everyone’s looking at him. Even BaekHyun.

“I just said that out loud didn’t I?” KyungSoo says apologetically. This isn’t the first-day impression he had anticipated. He just wants to be a wallflower again until he gets his passing grades and moves on with his life. Apparently that’s not going to happen this semester.

“Mr. Do, you’re a sophomore are you not?”

“Yes Mr. Lee.”

“And you were here in this institution for your 1^st year, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then I trust you know where the student detention room is.” His professor says with finality. KyungSoo hangs his head, if not in regret, in shame.

“Neh.”

--

It was 5 in the afternoon and a lanky figure was sauntering in the hallway leading to detention. Earlier ChanYeol was 10 minutes late for his Physical Science class, he forgot to take off his hat while the teacher was discussing in front, and he managed to doze off almost all throughout the period.

“Detention Mr. Park.” He mutters to himself as he recalls how his female professor wrung it to his ears. What a way to spend the first day in a new school.

He opens the door that had the word ‘Detention’ sprawled against it. He curses at the prospect of having to stay here for one hour. He nonchalantly holds onto the knob and absorbs the coldness that it had. What a welcome for him since summer was still wafting in the campus. Let’s get this over and done with.

The door swings to reveal a moderately sized room with a few chairs lining up the middle and the sides. He stands by the door, still holding on to the handle as he hesitates to take a step forward. He hears a muffled cough and immediately shuts the door behind him and proceeds to sit on one of the chairs up front. He looks left to right but couldn’t find the person who made the noise. He finally looks at the back and stops as he realizes whom he was with inside the room.

“Ah, hey there… I didn’t notice you were here when I entered.”

“Uhm, yeah.” KyungSoo responds to the awkward remark. He tries to shut out the scenes that happened between them yesterday very well fighting the burning sensation that was building up in his ears.

“Look I just want to uh—thank you. For the, uhm – the thing that you left for me earlier.” ChanYeol didn’t get any note as to who it was from but he knew in his heart of hearts that it was from his roommate, his workmate, and now, his cellmate.

“Oh that. How’d he figured it was from me? Yeah. I mean it was just given to me by uh – by my mother. Way to go KyungSoo. And I thought that I was too old for that stuff.”

For the first time in his post-accident-life, and probably several times in his forgotten past, he sees ChanYeol smile with such affection that he just wants to be swallowed whole. If his smile was the ocean, then right there and then he would’ve surrendered himself to the lethal boon of drowning. Maybe it isn’t so bad to open up to new things at this point. If KyungSoo only knew that the sensation he’s feeling right now, is a familiar reaction that his body has long forgotten along with a certain someone that is hoping to regain what both of them have lost.

“Thanks Do KyungSoo.”

******************************

Yey an update. Sooner than expected.

I wasn't suppose to finish this chapter but I ended up doing it anyway.

I had to much ChanYeol feels~ earlier.

BTW thanks for the lovely comments and the PM's I'm getting.

You guys should just comment here instead of PMing me.

At least you earn karma points right? :)

So how was this chapter? Was it dull?

I personally think it was light and predicatble.

But clearly shows that oosuɐɥɔ moments are on their way.

So do you guys know this chapter's K-Pop guest, Kwon JiYong?

If yes, then YEHET!

If no then, oh KKAEBSONG~

MORE COMMENTS! Ohorat!