Chapter 1

 

The thing I despise the most in the world is ignorance. Unfortunately, I live in a world where 80 % of the population suffers with the inability to acquire intelligence. Instead of indulging themselves with mathematics and literature; they spend every wasted breathe acquiring ways to embarrass humanity. With their silly trends, gossip and all things dumb. I guess I am being a bit harsh, I am mainly judging the airheads that attend my school. Everyday it's like I'm walking into an insane asylum infested with wild animals. Only two years to go and I can kiss this place good bye...just have to make it. Chances of my survival... hundred-to one shot.

 

“Hey, what you reading?”

 

“Don't you mean 'What ARE you reading?' and to answer your question a textbook, a Psychology textbook to be exact.”

 

Kyungsoo straightened his glasses that had slid down to his nose due to being startled by a gang of boys. One held the book in his hands taunting Kyungsoo as he dangled it out of his reach. The boy genius expected that they wouldn't bother him today if he hung out at the library. It was a Friday after all and usually as soon as the final bell rang, students would race out the building like it was on fire.

 

“I ain't asking for your correction.” yelled a bigger bully who grabbed the thin pale boy by the collar. The librarian unfortunately had stepped out and the few students inside were too afraid to do anything. Kyungsoo was left to fend for himself.

 

“Ain't isn't a word.” he corrected the bully once more with no fear in his tone. “Also may I suggest you invest in some breathe mints.” he scrunched up his nose in disgust by the onion scent coming from the older guy's mouth. To make matters worst, he even pulled out a pack of gum from his pocket and offered it to the boy whose face was red with fury. His friends circling them laughed out loud adding more to his embarrassment.

 

With that last insult to his bully, the nerdy boy was dragged out of the library and beaten up quite brutally in the hallway. Cracked glasses, a busted lip and a black eye became the usual features on his face. He just was not the type to hold his tongue to anyone, this is what lead him to rub people the wrong way. Kyungsoo didn't care though he believed that cleanliness and being educated was the most important things in life. You would never catch him dead with his belongings out of place and disorganized. Nor would you catch him without a book and his notes.

 

Once they became tired of beating on Kyungsoo, they left him to lay spared out on the floor to collect himself. There was almost an echo as their footsteps retreated away signaling to the beaten boy that it was safe to move. Kyungsoo sat up to take a look at the damage; ripped sleeves and a blood stain on his collar that was making its way to the front of his shirt. He wiped the blood that leaked from his lip and placed his broken glasses onto his face.

 

“Why don't you ever fight back?” a boy with dark hair and bronze skin offered him a hand. He happened to be another regular bully of Kyungsoo.

 

“I don't believe in fighting. Fighting is for pig headed idiots who have nothing better to do but lose more brain cells.” The injured boy swatted his hand away and stood up with his own strength.

 

“So then are you saying Bruce Lee is a pig head? Yah! There is nothing stupid about fighting. What kinda guy are you?”

 

Kyungsoo ignored his questions and instead answer his question with one of his own.

 

“Are you here to bug me for more cash?”

 

“You know me so well.” he smiled and held out his hand.

 

Kai almost appeared like a caring person when he showed up but Kyungsoo knew him too well. There was nothing more to Kai than trouble and although he looked sweet up close it was just a facade. The smiley faced bully always came to him for cash on a daily basis and if he dare refused he would get pounded. Kyungsoo was not in the mood for another round of fist to face so he fished out his wallet and pull out a couple won.

 

“Well look at you all well behave..I thought I would have to rough you up like usual. Keep this up and I might give you a discount next time.” he chuckled as he slipped the small wad of cash into his back pocket. Kai gave the boy a light punch on the head before walking off in the opposite direction to probably find trouble.

 

Kyungsoo found it hard to bear the messy state he was in and decided it was best to go home. So he returned into the library to retrieve his things and limp his way out of the school. Nobody on the street seem to even give a second glance to his presence. He wished it was the same at school but just like Kai, he had a way of attracting trouble despite being non-aggressive.

 

“Soo Soo, what happened to you!” his mother screamed as she greeted him at the door. Instantly she went into mother mode to aid his wounds. She rushed him over into the bathroom and grabbed a hold of different ointments and such.

 

“You know who mom. The pig heads at my school...” he was feeling a headache come on as his mother proceeded to cry. He never understood why she was so dramatic every time he came home like this. It was nothing new. He hated how she acted like it was the first time every time. “If you would just allow me to go to another school then this wouldn't happen anymore.”

 

“You know we can't afford it.”she as well grew frustrated with the same words her son always spoke. Kyungsoo had been asking to go to another school since day 1. She was aware that his intelligence was being wasted there as well as the bullying problem. There was nothing her or his father could do. “Just try to endure it a little longer sweetie. You'll be in college before you know it and you-”

 

Kyungsoo cut her off.

 

“Mom. I just want to go to my room now. Save the speech for tomorrow.” he sighed and exited the bathroom limping all the way upstairs. Once he got to the sanctuary of his room he discarded his uniform into the trash can before falling face forward onto his bed with an even bigger sigh. He was growing tired of not having what he wanted. All his life he was told he had to endure this or that due to his parents being so lacking. If his parents had the money he could go to any high school he dreamed of..heck he could even study overseas if he wanted. He envied all the high class brainyacs he saw online who got to chase after their dreams and become someone. While he was stuck being nobody.

 

“Maybe it would have been better if I was born stupid like all the rest..” he uttered out to himself before drifting off to sleep.

 

Knock Knock Knock

 

“Soo Soo, can you do me a favor.”

 

Kyungsoo was waken out of his sleep by his mother knocking on his bedroom door. He rarely ever took naps like this and was surprise that he manage to doze off so easily especially in the state he was in. Seeing that he was still shirtless he picked out a random T-shirt from his closet and slipped it on before answering.

 

“Yeah...” he yawned.

 

“Oh did I wake you? I'm sorry. I just needed to ask you to run down to the store for me real quick to get something for dinner.”

 

“It's fine, mom. Sure..what do you need me to get.”

 

“Rice..I kinda burnt it all.” she chuckled.

 

His mom was infamous for burning rice and just about everything she made but she always put in as much effort as she could. A lot of times Kyungsoo would do the cooking himself but he could tell his mom felt bad about today and was trying to cheer him up. He could smell the essences of his favorite foods fill the air as well as the smell of burnt rice. It was almost heavenly. After his mother gave him the money he slipped into the shower before heading out into the night. Kyungsoo decided to go to a place nearby so he could get back home as quick as possible. He had a ton of homework to do as well as a test to study for. All assignments were easy but he figured he'd do some extra credit for fun. As he made it around a corner he heard some gun shoots and people running in his direction. Instantly his heart started to go into a panic.

 

The area he lived in was known to have illegal acts going on behind closed doors and shady people hung about. It wasn't unusual to hear gunshots and fighting in the middle of the night. Heck, people have shown up on the news dead on the street in his neighborhood. Who ever these guys were are far more dangerous than those petty bullies at his school.

 

Kyungsoo tried to run the opposite direction but ended up stumbling right into someone. He let out a scream and found himself almost punching the person on reflex despite his hate for violence.

 

“K-kai!” he screamed in unbelief.

 

The boy looked like he was close to death. There was so much blood and scratches all over his body. The sun kissed tan on his skin had turned pale. His eyes frozen in a widen state and there was a look of fear Kyungsoo had never seen him give before. All of the little features that stood out on Kai were gone and it almost was like Kyungsoo was looking at a stranger.

 

“Help me!” he cried as he grabbed onto the elder boy. The footsteps were getting louder and whomever was after him was just mere seconds away from catching up.

 

“Uh...” Kyungsoo wasn't sure what to do. He really did not want to get involved but the way the boy was shaking and quivering in fear triggered the desire that he never knew he had. Even though they were enemies he set that all aside what matter now was protecting Kai. With not much time to lose he took a lid off a nearby trashcan.

 

“Hide in here, hurry.”

 

Kai wasted no time climbing inside and allowing Kyungsoo to put a lid on top. Once the boy was out of sight. The men who were chasing Kai were now in his viewpoint and it took all his strength to stay calm. One of them stopped him as he tried to walk past them.

 

“Did you see a boy run this way?” he looked and saw that the guys belonged to a gang. Each had a tattoo matching one another.

 

He could feel his whole body shaking but he fought the urge to look at where his bully was hiding and instead pointed in a random direction. The men wasted no more time with him and ran off. Once it was safe again he removed the lid from the trash can.

 

“You can come out now.” he told the boy.

 

However Kai did not get up at all. He just stayed inside motionless. Kyungoo repeated himself and sill the younger boy did not move. So he reached inside and pulled on his arm and discovered that Kai had lost consciousness.

 

“KAI!”

 

He pulled him out and shaked the bronze boy to awaken him but he remained motionless. Kyungsoo laid him flat on the ground and checked for a heartbeat. He sighed in relief that Kai was in fact still alive but he was in bad shape. He reached for his phone to call for an ambulance but stopped when Kai muttered out some words softly.

 

“Mom...please don't go. I need you.”

 

This probably was the dumbest thing he ever did but he put his phone away..just something about his helplessness. The way his hand now held onto the elder boy in desperation as he laid there. Tears slipping down his closed eyes and mixing with the blood on his face. This made him feel like the boy needed something more than a drop off at the hospital. Kyungsoo lifted him up onto his back and walked him home.

 

This would be the first time in years that Kyungsoo had ever came home with anyone. He didn't exactly have friends nor had he ever took care of anyone. His mother once again greeted him with another scream as she saw him carrying the injured boy inside their home.

“What happened! Who is this?”

 

What was he to say? If he told the truth his mother would freak even more heck she might even suggest she throw him out.

 

“A classmate..I don't know what happened but he needs our help.”

 

“Sweetie, he needs to go to a hospital.”

 

“Mom..just help me get him to my room, okay.”

 

With that she helped him with each and every ordered although she believed that he should be sent to the hospital and his parents be contacted. Kyungsoo stayed by him through out the night watching him.

 

It was so crazy to him that he was helping out his own bully who robbed him of his little money he had. Anyone normal would leap for joy at the sight of their bully reaping what they sow. But did Kai desever this...he may be a bully but those tears showed there was more to him that that. Kyungsoo hated to admit he was a bit curious as well as worried for him but he ignored those feelings and focused his mind on what matter to him the most. Studying. And Kai was in fact ruining that for him. He couldn't focus at all as he watched him lay there with a pain expression.

 

“Yah, you're lucky we bumped into each other when we did or you would have been killed. “ he spoke to the sleeping boy. “As soon as you wake up you are out of here got it. The only reason I am taking care of you is because I am tired of seeing idiots like you on the news.” he spoke that last part to himself mostly. He reached out and touched Kai's forehead.

 

“Don't leave me..please.” the boy whimpered again in his sleep.

“Yah..I won't...idiot.” Kyungsoo uttered out in annoyance as he continued the night of sleeplessness.