I.

Chewing gum is now second nature, and Sungjong doesn’t mind that he is already through his fifth piece since the

morning. It doesn't hlep with apetite, but he's not too bothered about food, or anything for that matter. The bleak

light streaming sparsely through the sad entrance of the subway station isn’t doing anything to

brighten his mood. He lifts the left sleeve of his jacket to check the time only to remember he broke his wrist watch

in a fight two days ago. It wasn’t his most favourite possession in the world but the fight had been too stupid to lose

anything during it, no matter how worthless.

Oh well, he isn’t going to have the worst day ever just because he doesn’t know the time.

“It’s 7.45.”

Sungjong turns his face sideways to find the same gangly teenager he had seen spying on him at the subway

station for ages. He has never actually seen him up close – mostly, he would be hiding behind pillars or vending

machines, staring at him from far away and would look away the moment he turned to look at him. He didn’t make

much of it, although it was a bit creepy. Sungjong would probably have gone up to him one of these days and

demanded his business, but he reckoned that he already has too much red to fill his school records without having

to beat up a stalker teenager who didn’t actually bother him.

Today however, the boy is standing right beside him. Sungjong does a double take when he sees that his stalker is

wearing the same school uniform as him. Does he go to the same school? How come he’s never seen him at school?

Or maybe he just hasn’t noticed him.

“Whatever,” he replies disinterestedly. He isn’t the type to strike up a conversation with a stranger, not to mention

someone who spies on him. But he’s sure that the boy’s harmless. He’s gotten the feeling before, which is why he

hadn’t confronted him in the first place.

“I’m Kim Myungsoo, you can call me Myungsoo. We go to the same school, same grade. Although you don’t look

old enough to be in our grade.”

Sungjong scoffs.

“So I skipped a few grades, got any problem with that?”

Myungsoo shakes his head vigorously. He then looks down at the two lattes he’s holding in his hand, as if deciding

something. Finally, he extends one, with his head bent, towards Sungjong, who raises an eyebrow.

“I got two by mistake. Want one?”

“Moron.”

Without looking back, Sungjong gets onto the train and makes sure not to turn around until the train speeds past

the tracks. He plugs in his earphones – why he didn’t have them on before is a mystery – and raises the volume,

allowing heavy rock music to pound on his eardrums. For some reason though, he can’t stop thinking about

Myungsoo – he isn’t exactly thinking about him; it’s more of an abstract idea of the stalker boy who finally came up

to him and offered him a latte floating across his consciousness. It’s a tiny white dot, bobbing up and down like a

ping pong ball against the back of his eyelids, jumping out of sight and around the corners of his eyes.  

It’s irritating; he wants to block the dot out, paint it black and have it disappear in the darkness stretched across the

inside of his eyelids. What is it about the boy that intrigues him so much? He looks average; he is too plain for

Sungjong to notice him – no wonder he’s never seen him in school. And even as a stalker, he doesn’t pose any

threat. Something about him makes him very mundane, and yet intriguing at the same time, at least to Sungjong.

Cringing, as the lead singer of Boohwal screams into his ears, he leans his forehead against the cool metal pole beside

him, raising the volume a few more notches, until the music is enough to drown out every other thought.

This is how he avoids life in general.

II.

“Your shoelaces, you should tie them.”

Sungjong is early to school today; half the population hasn’t turned up yet. But he couldn’t sleep last night. He

thought he would feel better if he came down to school but Woohyun and Sungyeol are not here yet, so he was

simply ambling down the courtyard when he heard the meek voice. It isn’t Woohyun’s confident drawl or

Sungyeol’s cheeky enunciation and he can’t think for the life of him who else would dare to talk to him.

Stopping in mid-stride, he turns to his side to find the boy from before – what’s his name again? It is the same kid he

saw at the subway station several times and who’d said something stupid to him the other day. What’s his name

again? Minki?

“Y-your s-shoelaces, you might f-fall…”

Sungjong didn’t realise he was staring at the kid, causing him to drop his gaze to his shoes and stutter. He’s playing

with the edge of his cuff, and Sungjong thinks he has seen this before. Is it a coincidence that they both came to

the school early today? It could be. But why is this boy so adamant about conversing with him? He doesn’t

remember bullying this kid, so it couldn’t be that he has something against him. Or did he?

“Ss-shoelaces…” the boy is still mumbling but Sungjong has lost his interest. He starts walking again, disregarding the

mumbling boy and not sparing him a second glance.

He tries to put the boy out of his mind, the way the red started to spread on his cheeks and the way he lowered his

gaze in front of him, almost reverently…

Suddenly his body lurches and he knows instantly that his shoelace has caught under his feet. As he jolts forward,

fraction of a second away from hitting the bare, cold ground, he curses under his breath – if only he had tied his

shoelaces when that annoying kid had told him to…

His face is a couple of feet away from the ground when he feels a strong arm grabbing him by the elbow and

re-establishing his balance. He is on his feet again, having narrowly escaped the appointment with concrete.

“See, I told you, you might fall.”

That voice…

It is the kid again, holding him by the elbow and smiling shyly at him. Sungjong is appalled by his actions – has he

followed him all the way, waiting to see if he’d trip just so he could rub it in his face? Well he chose the wrong person

to be smart with and Sungjong is going to let him know that loud and clear –

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

Exactly what stops Sungjong, he doesn’t know but momentarily he forgets that he wanted to teach the punk in

front of him a lesson. Maybe because he has never been told what the kid just said to him, or maybe he has been

told before but not exactly in the same tone of voice.

With concern, with sincerity.

What’s his name again? Minhyuk?

The boy doesn’t wait for him to ask his name though, he lets go of Sungjong’s arm and strides away toward the

classrooms at a fast pace.

Sungjong is left baffled.

III.

“Next time you plan on talking to me like that, think about your broken tooth.”

Sungjong pushes the boy away from him. Despite his build, he is very strong. No one who hasn’t had a go at him

could imagine how strong his grip can be. It used to be a common misconception that he was bad at fighting, but

once in 5^th grade, he had punched someone’s tooth out for calling him ‘girly’. That’s when people realized he

couldn’t be taken lightly.

Funnily enough, even as detentions kept piling up behind his name, he lived a considerably easier life among his

classmates, who stopped bothering him completely since then. That was a breath of fresh air in his otherwise difficult

life. Between his parents’ divorce and his mother fighting for his brother’s custody – Sungjong was slipping into

oblivion. At least at school, they couldn’t have their way with him, like his parents did; his mother who went crazy

with grief at losing her younger son and his father, who didn’t even want him.

The boy who was mouthing off in front of him two minutes ago is now bleeding slightly from the mouth. It’s not a

big deal, but he looks close to tears. Some of the girls, who stopped to watch them fight, look shocked. They have

their hands over their mouths. None of it bothers Sungjong. He walks away from the scene like he didn’t just split

open someone’s lip.

He climbs the stairs, no intention of going back to class. He’s seen Woohyun and Sungyeol in class but it doesn’t

seem like they can get out. The teacher finally has caught their age-old trick of asking for a bathroom pass and

skipping the rest of the class. He heads towards the roof, which is their meeting point.

He waits against the railing as the breeze sweeps through his hair that falls in place without having to brush it. The

rooftop overlooks a few buildings, a lake and a park Sungjong has never been to. It’s boring to watch the scenario,

so he pulls out a cigarette packet from his coat. If anyone got wind of what he’s doing up here, he’d surely get

expelled. He considers the thought for a moment, then opens the packet and draws out a white stick. Putting it in

his mouth, he lights it, shielding the lighter from the breeze with his hand. He takes a long drag, sighing with

satisfaction.

He tries to check the time, then remembers he’s lost his watch. Should he get a new one? If only the boy from the

subway station was around to tell him the time…

Wait, scratch that thought. He doesn’t need Minkyung or whatever his name was to tell him the time.

It doesn’t look like Woohyun and Sungyeol can manage to get out of class today. Sungjong is bored. He thinks if he

should just skip school altogether and go to the park he’s never been to.

But what do you do at a park?

He thinks about listening to music when the fragile tin door is pushed open, hesitatingly. That doesn’t seem right –

Woohyun and Sungyeol wouldn’t hesitate to come in. Others might, because the roof is off-limits to students.

He frowns as he concentrates on the pale fingers on the door. And then the door is thrown open completely,

revealing the owner of the pale fingers. Just as he thought, it isn’t Sungyeol or Woohyun. It’s a random student –

wait – not a random student. It’s him – the boy who follows him around, the harmless boy who stalks him for

reasons unknown.

What’s his name again?

Minseok?

“What are you doing here?” he asks indignantly. No one’s supposed to come here, especially not during class hours.

That made this the perfect hang out for him and his friends.

“I just – I’m sorry – you…” The boy is as embarrassed as ever. He puts one foot forward and then draws it back, as

if he’s unsure whether he wants to cross onto this side of the door.

Sungjong follows his gaze to find it stuck on the burning cigarette in his hand. He almost forgot that he’s smoking

and if this boy reported it, he’d be out of the school tomorrow.

“Don’t -” he starts threateningly but the boy’s already shaking his head emphatically.

“I won’t – I won’t tell anyone, I swear. I’d never.”

He looks scared and Sungjong smiles a bit, feeling satisfied with his influence. But it suddenly strikes him – isn’t this

boy supposed to be a good student? Is he here to spy on him so that he can report him?

“Who are you?” he asks sternly.

“Kim M-myungsoo,” he says, blushing.

“Not your name,” Sungjong’s annoyed by Myungsoo’s lack of understanding, but at least he knows his name now.

“Why are you here? Why are you following me? Don’t think I didn’t notice.” His voice is intimidating and he watches

Myungsoo flinch. Not exactly spy material.

“No – I wasn’t, I’m not – I’m not spying on you or anything, I swear. I just thought,” Myungsoo gulps as sweat

gathers on his forehead. “I thought I’ll find you here…” He mumbles the last few words and stops, looking more

mortified than ever.

Sungjong doesn’t ask him anything else; he just fixes him with a calculating glare, taking another drag from his

cigarette. It’s actually a mystery what Myungsoo wants from him.

“I actually,” Myungsoo starts shyly, looking at a point over Sungjong’s shoulder, “want to – I mean I -”

He is cut short by Woohyun and Sungyeol, whose hands clutch around his upper arms. They have taken him by

surprise, coming up from behind him. There is a look of absolute fear on his face and Sungjong actually feels sorry

for him.

“What do you think you’re doing here, nerd?” Sungyeol snarls at him.

“Yeah, what’s the top of the class doing at an out-of-bounds place like this?” Woohyun adds.

“Wait did you say top of the class?” Sungjong asks curiously. Of course Myungsoo gives out the good-student vibe

but the fact that he’s actually the best of the year…

“Yup,” Woohyun nods. “His face is plastered all over the notice board – the picture we drew on.”

Sungyeol guffaws, accidentally pinching Myungsoo’s arm. He lets out a squeal, sending Woohyun and Sungyeol into

fits of laughter.

Sungjong’s heart twists a bit but he ignores it. Why is the top student of this school following him? For some reason

he doesn’t want to believe he’s spying on him.

“So, what exactly are you doing here?” Sungyeol repeats the question, twisting Myungsoo’s arm painfully behind

him.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Myungsoo shouts as a drop of water leaks from his eyes. He looks at Sungjong pleadingly,

but he just stares back at him coldly. “I’ll never – I won’t – please, I’m sorry.” He’s begging now; Sungyeol looks at

Sungjong for instruction.

Sungjong throws down his cigarette and smashes it under his feet. Turning his back on everyone, he says, “Let him

go. I don’t want to see your face ever again.”