Beyond This Fucked Up World [choi yeonjun]

Chapter Eighteen - Dry Lips

We drove about ten minutes to his house and when we arrived, several medium-sized apartment buildings were in my field of vision. They were all made of white concrete and decorated with orange-brown details. Each flat had its own balcony and overall the apartment buildings looked rather run down.

The plants that spread in front of the buildings were also either fir trees or somewhat smaller trees and bushes that were surrounded by dry soil and would probably not live much longer. Between the trees, one could make out lush lawns that had not felt any water for a long time and looked totally dry, just like the ground.

Yeonjun parked right next to the entrance of one of the residential buildings, which was surrounded between two other buildings, and turned off the engine. I continued to observe the surroundings, not paying attention to what Yeonjun was doing, but when he called my name, I turned away from my observations and we got out of his car together.

Yeonjun walked around the car, past me, and meanwhile locked his car with his key. I went after him and followed him to the front door. He unlocked it effortlessly, walked through and held it open for me. After I also stepped through the door, Yeonjun strolled a few steps further to the first apartment door, to the left of the steps, and opened it just as casually as the front door from earlier.

The first thing I noticed when I entered his parents' flat was the old-fashioned pieces of furniture that filled the room. Directly to my left was the living room, which at the same time joined the kitchen, which was a little too small for a family. In the middle of the room was a small blue and orange checkered sofa, which stood directly opposite the small television. In the sideboard where the TV was, I caught sight of a games console, probably mainly used by Yeonjun.

"Where are your parents?"

"Not here." He said curtly, stashing the car keys hidden behind a dresser.

That was probably the real reason he wanted to go to his house this time. He wanted to take advantage of it and perhaps even did it often, that when his parents were not around, he would invite his friends over when such an opportunity arose.

I continued to look around the room as I took off my shoes without even once looking at my feet and then placed them on the floor.

"Take your shoes with you." He instructed me and I picked my shoes back up off the floor and cradled them in my arms.

Yeonjun crossed the living room, passed the small kitchen and headed for a side hallway that was on the other side of the flat. He then turned left and a large white wooden door stretched out in front of me, already slightly open. Yeonjun walked through it and as I too made my way through the door, I caught sight of Yeonjun's untidy room.

With my shoes in my arms, I curiously explored his room and, apart from clothes and magazines lying on the floor, I also found an amplifier just like Beomgyu's. The difference between Beomgyu's room and Yeonjun's was that Yeonjun didn't have as many posters hanging on the wall or tons of instruments in his room.

Apart from these things, Yeonjun had several chests of drawers that seemed to match the furniture from the living room rather than his youthful room. Even the old-fashioned armchair that catches your eye as soon as you walk in didn't really fit the idea I had in mind for Yeonjun's room.

"You can just throw your shoes anywhere." Yeonjun suggested and I placed my shoes neatly beside the door to the room.

I moved further into the room and took another thorough look around. Yeonjun, meanwhile, plonked himself down on his bed and watched me look around. My eyes lingered on the second most interesting thing in the room and I approached the medium-sized glass case full of Siamese fighting fish. They all looked different, some were red, some were blue and then there were red-blue ones.