Taekwoon’s plan of not making any trouble at this school had gone down into . The dread he felt at having his father standing beside him outside the school meeting room, waiting to be invited into the room filled with accusing people. Jang  Jinhae’s parents, the school principal and teacher Cha would all be there, and he would have to apologize and his father too. Bile was stuck in his gut at the thought of his father apologizing for him, especially when the apology was so unfair.

His father had tried to explain to him; that some people have a lot more money and power than others. Apparently that power snuck its way all the way into the school system as well. To keep Jinhae’s record clean, Taekwoon would have to apologize. With clenched fists he waited silently beside his father on a bench. He felt ashamed. Humiliated.

Wonshik had been quiet and avoidant all morning, not acting like his normal playful self and not looking Taekwoon in the eye. The entire schoolday had passed and they had not had a proper conversation all day. He knew Wonshik was feeling guilty about it all. And he in return did not know how to make him feel any better.

But tonight he would go to Wonshik’s house to sleep over. At least he had not cancelled that.

He was nervous and excited about going. He had decided to come clean to Wonshik, once and for all. He wanted him to know everything about him before they moved on with their friendship. Waiting longer would feel like a lie.

“Ready?” Teacher Cha’s head suddenly peeked through an opening in the door. His father looked up from his phone where he had been texting his wife. They were always texting when they were apart.

They stood up, Taekwoon nodding that he was ready, receiving an assuring smile from the teacher. His father’s arm snuck around his shoulder and lead him towards the door, and he moved willingly despite the burning want to refuse everything. Just run away and ignore it all.

But ignoring things never did any good. He knew that.

--

Wonshik was hiding on the roof of the school, the feeling of guilt because of what was going on inside the school walls – all because of him – eating him up like an infection. He sat on the low wooden table located there on the roof, where he and Taekwoon would sit and listen to music together on sunny days, and hugged around himself. He was trying to stay away from the business the best he could, but the want to go down there and yell at them all was strong enough to make his head hurt. But he had promised himself not to make this any worse than it already was. So he waited for it to be over, despite the cold breeze and sun about to set.

Taekwoon had told him to wait for him, and then his father would drive them to Wonshik’s house. He tried his best to just look forward to having Taekwoon over for the entire weekend. Taekwoon had even taken the weekend off from the gym in order to stay the entire 3 days. One could say he was pretty excited about it.

--

Taekwoon had not felt so on display in a very long time as when he entered the meeting room, all eyes on him and his father, his heart hammering in his chest. He noticed there was only a woman seated there at the end of the table with the principal, and assumed it was Jinhae’s mother. The principal was standing beside her, and he looked forcefully blankly at him – like he wanted to say a lot of things but was keeping quiet. His face was a little reddened, which gave his efforts away. Teacher Cha trotted in front of him and his father to slide out two chairs for them, opposite of the table from the mother, mumbling at them to take a seat. They both sat down wordlessly, Taekwoon ending up seated in the middle with his father to the right and the teacher to his left. Like two protective pillars.

All the while the mother, Mrs. Jang, was staring at him; analyzing him up and down with her critical eyes. She looked her part; dressed in high quality and spotless clothing, clad with jewelry and bleached auburn hair styled into waves. She was young, younger than Taekwoon’s parents, clearly. Both of his parents had traces of grey in their hair and wrinkles around their eyes. He had been a quite late child after all. The moment they were all settled, she spoke up, voice strong and authoritative.

“Jung Taekwoon.” She said while reading off a paper in front of her that he assumed was his profile. Were parents really allowed to access those? He doubted it. He bowed his head in greeting and greeted her just loud enough for her to hear.

She started reading off the paper without looking up at them; “Transferred school three times, reported for school violence on several occasions, held back one yea-“

Taekwoon’s breath stopped as he felt his father rise to an abrupt half-stand beside him, cutting her off. “That’s quite enough, Mrs. Jang!” His father said with a raised, aggravated voice. On Taekwoon’s other side his teacher moved a hand to his knee and squeezed, like a silent apology. He was sure that if he looked he would see it in his eyes as well, but he sat frozen in place. Mrs. Jang finally looked up from the paper, seemingly unmoved from his father’s words, while the principal gaped slightly but did not move. The room felt so incredibly tense, the air thick and hard to breathe.

“That information has nothing to do with this situation, Head Principal. We are simply here to apologize for an act of violence in school, not to be judged by fellow parents.” His father rose to a full stand and pointed to the paper with his finger. “That information is not something you have the right of access to Mrs. Jang, those are all past issues that have been dealt with.” He told her strictly. At the corner of his eye Taekwoon saw his teacher cringe quite visibly. Mrs. Jang’s eyes zeroed in on the finger not actually pointing at her, but as if it was, her eyebrow cocked as if not impressed.

“I’m not surprised there’s a problem with violence in this school when students like Taekwoon here are enrolled without question.” She said calmly, a hint of a smile on her face, obviously trying to be aggravating. The principal stuttered at the sudden blow in his direction, apparently not aware of the direction she had planned to take the meeting. Taekwoon stared at the table in front of him intensely; he was so sick of this. He felt the guilt towards his father boil within him like a painful cramp, making him hunch slightly. The hand still resting on his knee clenched almost painfully. His father huffed, the sound he always made when he was collecting himself in order to stay calm and sensible even though he was actually pissed off. It made Taekwoon glance around at the people in the room briefly. The principal had started fussing around Mrs. Jang, mumbling something they could not hear in her ear. She looked to be ignoring him completely, eyes trained on his father.

“My son protected a fellow student from your own son’s violent actions, Mrs. Jang. Since we are here to put this case to rest and forget this issue, this is really not the way to go.” His father stated calmly, sounding like he did when talking to a criminal at work. The flash of confusion on her face before she was able to recollect herself and the panicked look on the principal’s face gave away the situation; Mrs. Jang seemed to not be aware that her son was actually a culprit as well. Realization spread in the room slowly as they all became quiet in thought. Taekwoon’s father sat down again and folded his arms. Teacher Cha on his other side gasped quietly. With a look pleading for help, the principal turned to Teacher Cha and the hand on Taekwoon’s knee disappeared. The teacher folded his hands on the table in front of himself and leaned forward to look at the mother across from him.

“Mrs. Jang, it seems you are not aware that your son has frequently performed violent actions towards fellow students at this school, and without receiving any kind of consequence?” He said it so calmly and collected Taekwoon ended up looking at him in awe. He spoke as if she was a student that did not understand. A slight shock comes very clear on the mother’s face and she turns slowly to the side to look at the principal. The principal, who had seemingly been frozen in place in pure panic, finally spoke up, clearly shaken by the situation as his eyes flicker to the mother in front of him and away from her, then back and away again.

“TEACHER CHA.” He almost shrieked comically, then cleared his voice and calmed down his volume. “A word please.” He said and walked over to a door beside him, opening it and waiting for the other to come with him. “Yes, Head Principal.” The teacher answered and moved out of his seat and walked into the second meeting room with the principal. Beside Taekwoon his father leaned back in his seat smugly.

They sat in complete silence as they waited for the two men to return to the room; Taekwoon’s father once again on his phone texting, the woman across from them just staring at the door the men had disappeared behind. Taekwoon was pretty sure by now that this was not going the way it was planned at all. He was supposed to walk in, apologize, leave, the end. Feeling painfully rigid, he stared at his hands in his lap; fingers desperately picking at each other, scratching open tiny, small scabs. Beside him his father was typing furiously on his phone, not comfortable enough with his phone to be able to turn off the typing sound so it echoed through the room in loud ticks. He couldn’t help but wonder what he was writing to his mother; if he was raging about the situation or trying to soothe his mother about it. She always worried too much about Taekwoon ever since the incident at his first school.

“I’m sorry Mr. Jung, but we can simply not allow a student in Taekwoon’s particular situation to attend our school. It’s simply not good for our reputation. We hope you can understand.” They had told his father, and the next day he had been forcefully transferred; the entire escapade covered up as Taekwoon transferring to a less advanced school for not being able to keep his grades up to par. But they all knew the truth. His family, his classmates, the school staff; they all knew he was being shooed away for not being what was considered normal. It was a painful memory; the entire situation at his first high school, and he was still steeling himself to talk about it to Wonshik that same evening.

While lost in thought about how to express himself to his friend, the principal and teacher reentered the room, making him jump slightly in his seat as the door practically flew open. He saw his father almost loose the phone in his hands as well, immediately straightening in his seat and locking it, laying it face down on the table. Mrs. Jang shot up from her seat to stand as well, immediately approaching the principal, Mr. Cha jumping around her to make his way back to his seat with record speed.

“I demand you explain this messy situation to me Head Principal! What is this nonsense your teacher is talking about?” She sounds a lot more pissed off than she looked while waiting, Taekwoon mused. Meanwhile his teacher’s head popped in between him and his father and whispered hastily; “It seems the principal has been ordered by Mrs. Jang’s husband, Mr. Jang, to keep quiet about the violence.” He moved back to his seat right after getting a nod in confirmation from Taekwoon’s father that he heard what he said. Both he and Taekwoon himself frowned deeply, looking at each other for a moment while the teacher moves to sit down again.

“I assure you Mrs. Jang everything is under contr-“ The principal tried, but she waved him away.

“What do you mean by under control, that is clearly not the case!” She spoke loudly, but didn’t shout, her calm still there but sounding like it’s about to go out the window.

“Do we still have to apologize, Mr. Cha?” Taekwoon’s father leaned over behind his head and whispered at the teacher. Taekwoon turned his head to look at the teacher in interest.

“We will have to reschedule I’m afraid; this did not go as the Head Principal had planned, to say the least.” He had a hint of amusement at the corner of his mouth as he says it, but kept his mouth in a straight line. His father snorted slightly, but controlled his face before he reemerged from behind Taekwoon. They watched as the mother talks angrily with the principal, asking him why she had never heard about this before and so on. Taekwoon had to admit it was amusing to watch, but kept his face carefully blank. He felt less nervous now that he knew he didn’t have to do the apology that day, but it was still a little disappointing to not get it over with.

The principal talked Mrs. Jang into going into the meeting room with much effort, waving at Teacher Cha to proceed with whatever they had agreed upon in there earlier. He gave a short bow to Taekwoon’s father and closed the door behind him. With that as a queue Taekwoon’s teacher clasped his hands together once and got up from his seat. The two Jung’s turn in their chairs to look at him with identical looks on their faces, throwing the teacher off for a second at the stunning similarity they had at that very moment when they usually looked so different.

“I’m terribly sorry Mr. Jung, but I’m afraid we have to reschedule this meeting until further notice.” He said with a very official voice, as if he was holding a speech, all the while smiling a little amusedly. He actually winked before continuing; “If there will be necessary to have one at all, thanks to you.”

They looked at the man without saying anything, blinking, waiting for an explanation. The teacher blinked as well, apparently having expected a reaction. His smile faltered slightly.

“You- you helped me-“ He stuttered, but then he stopped himself. “Anyway; you can go now. I’ll give you a call when I know the result of whatever happens in that room tonight, Mr. Jung.” His smile returned and he motioned towards the exit. They moved to a stand and walked to the door hesitantly, both of them slightly confused. “Have a nice weekend, Taekwoon-ah!” He cheered and closed the door behind them when they were out of the room. Father and son looked at each other with puzzled faces.

“What just happened?” Taekwoon asked. His father shrugged and huffed a breathy chuckle. “I’m not sure, but I think I put a stop to your bully-problem.” He put a hand on Taekwoon’s shoulder and squeezed assuringly for a minute before walking down the hall, son right behind him.

“Where’s Wonshik? I was going to drive you guys, right?” He called over his shoulder.

--

Wonshik felt like he had waited a very long time as the sun was long gone, his body basically cold to the core and his phone on emergency battery saving mode – not allowing him to play any music anymore. Bored to death; he lay on the table, head hanging off the edge so he could keep an eye on the door from upside down as he taps his foot to the table impatiently, mindlessly humming melodies he only half-remembered.

Suddenly the door burst open and Taekwoon stood there in all his tall and broad glory, and Wonshik almost decided he looked even better seen upside-down. Instead of being surprised, his heart rather jumped at the sight of the other. He burst into a big smile, lifting his arm and waving awkwardly considering the angle.

“Hey! You’re so late!” He called, but Taekwoon did not move from the door but rather waved hastily for Wonshik to come. “My dad’s waiting in the car!”

Wonshik scrambled to move, head a little woozy from the abrupt motions. He waddled a little towards the other, but Taekwoon caught an arm around his waist and – oh, he was warm – led him down the stairs. Clinging to the warmth; he leaned into the touch gingerly all the way to the car.

They separated to enter on each side of the car, both diving into the back seat and barely even having closed the doors when Mr. Jung started driving. He started working on his own seatbelt, but stopped when he realized Taekwoon was not doing the same. He tutted and leaned over the other, who jumped slightly at the unexpected action; looking at Wonshik with big, round eyes. He caught the seatbelt on the other’s side and dragged it out until it reached the other’s hand. He laid the seatbelt there and gave the other a tap on the thigh before settling back in his own seat and putting on his own seatbelt. As he did he heard the other release a breath he seemed to have been holding in and the click of a seatbelt being placed in the buckle. In the front Mr. Jung chuckled quietly, his eyes catching Wonshik’s in the rearview mirror when he looked up from the sound. The man smiled quickly and then focused back on the road, but it was enough to make Wonshik blush.