"Oi, you must've been up all night, look at those eye bags," Chan comments, taking a seat next to you.
Class didn't start for another hour, but the two of you often met outside of the campus coffee shop on mornings you both had classes.
It started off as Chan's idea, and you knew this was him trying to prevent you from running late. After all, he was always nagging at you for your poor time management skills. To his defense, you really were late to almost everything.
"Thanks," you mutter, tiredly.
Your eyes instantly light up and betray your tone when Chan hands you your order of Americano. The warmth from the paper cup feels comforting in your hands.
"Look who's been studying hard. I'm proud of you."
Taking a sip of the hot beverage, you lean back on the cold bench, relishing the bitter taste. "I wasn't up studying. I just couldn't fall asleep."
"Nightmares again?"
"No. Just...a lot on my mind," you say quietly, unsure if you wanted to bring up last night's events.
You knew that Chan, being the older brother you've never had, would incessantly worry if you were to tell him.
"Is it your family?" he asks after a considerable amount of silence. His voice is a tad soft, as if to tread lightly.
You briefly look to your childhood friend with a sad smile before lowering your gaze at the coffee in your hands.
Sometimes, you seem to forget that someone else understands you and your situation to this extent.
"No...you know they haven't contacted me in a while."
Like, in over 2 years...
"And I don't plan to talk to them. You're more family to me than they'll ever be," you mutter.
Chan presses his lips together with a nod, trying to return the small smile. "Well, I'm all ears if you need to talk," he says, playfully nudging your arm. "And that may be the nicest thing you've said to me," he jokes.
You cringe, suddenly remembering the more recent issue on hand. "Actually..."
Chan looks surprised as you perk up in your seat.
"I lost my study note..."
He nearly chokes on his coffee, knowing how diligently you had worked on it. "...You did not."
You wish it wasn't true, but that book wasn't at the library last night. And the database indicated it had been checked out.
"No, I really did," you wail, shoulders slumping in defeat.
◈ ◈ ◈
Class is dismissed with the professor reminding everyone of the exam tomorrow. Students get up from their seats, chatting excitedly as they steadily flow out of the classroom. But you remain sitting in a state of daze, trying to decide how you're going to spend your day. You've actually studied plenty in the process of creating your note, maybe you should just pray and hope for the best tomorrow?
It's just that failing your first semester of nursing school was not an option for you. The tuition was not cheap, and you were continuously working part time jobs in hopes of graduating without major student loans.
"You left this." A student in class comes up to you, handing you a familiar piece of paper.
It's Seungmin.
Wide eyed, you immediately grab it, scanning the contents of the paper in disbelief. "How did you...?"
Seungmin straightens his back, beaming a proud smile. "After you left our study session yesterday, I checked out that book you were using. And guess what fell out of it?"
YOU ARE READING
MONSTER || Hwang Hyunjin
Fanfiction"They say even monsters have weaknesses." Hyunjin is not a good person. His order was to kidnap you for ransom. He's always operated in a cold and methodical manner whenever it came to his job because the world was black and white in his eyes. That...
