Beyond This Fucked Up World [choi yeonjun]

Chapter Seven - Beyond The Sequence

[22. August 2022]

The cashier handed me the fries I had ordered and wished me a good day.

"Thanks, you too." Was all I said, hoping deeply he was telling the truth.

I walked out onto the promenade and took a bite of my fries. I looked around the area and saw a bunch of people all walking down the pavement. Some were standing at bar tables talking about the most trivial things, others were cycling along the promenade and some were lying on the beach, enjoying the sun.

I joined the people walking along the path and looked in the direction of the skatepark. We didn't meet up particularly but maybe we could meet by chance. To my astonishment, Taehyun was really there, riding along on his skateboard. He rode up a ramp and slapped the hand of a boy, probably his age. The boy smiled at him and laughed a little. Taehyun also smiled a little, which was new to me.

I ate my fries calmly and watched the two of them having their fun. Taehyun drove straight ahead, enjoying the moment, when he looked in my direction and caught sight of me. His eyes lit up even more and he waved at me.

"Evolet!" Now the boy looked over at me too.

I walked with quick steps to the entrance of the skatepark, careful not to drop my fries. Taehyun came up the ramp smiling and holding his board in his left hand.

"I didn't know you were around here too." He said cheerfully.

"Come, I'll introduce you to Soobin."

Taehyun walked in the direction Soobin was sitting and I followed him like a second shadow. When we were only a few meters away from him, Soobin picked himself up and patted his trousers with his hands clean.

He was taller than I thought. He had black hair and a face that reminded me of a bunny. His eyes, however, radiated a rather adult, masculine effect. With that face, he had the ability to exude a sweet as well as a cool charisma.

"Soobin, this is Evolet. Evolet, this is Soobin." Taehyun introduced us. Soobin smiled shyly at me and hesitantly held out his hand. I wiped my hand on my pants clean, the same one I had just used to eat my fries with, and took his hand and shook it. I concentrated on putting enough pressure on my hand and looking friendly at the same time.

"You're not one for shaking hands, are you?" He caught me.

"Not really." I said with a smile to hide my discomfort.

"What happened to your hands?" Taehyun asked me curiously, pointing at my bandage-wrapped hands.

"Oh, that. It's nothing." I whispered. Taehyun hesitated a little.

"Okay, I'll let you two have at it then. You wanted to talk to him anyway." Taehyun informed us and disappeared rolling away on his skateboard. Soobin looked at me with wide eyes and had his mouth slightly open in surprise.

"Oh, you wanted to talk to me?" He asked. I frowned.

"Yes, but I didn't want to rush it like that." Mostly, the rushed approach didn't work anyway. Soobin nodded his understanding and turned his body in the direction where Taehyun was and then back to me.

"We could meet privately sometime and talk about it then if you want." I nodded and took another fry.

We sat down in front of the ramp and dangled our legs down. We watched as Taehyun tried to hold his board as he rode, but he was having trouble because his right arm was still sprained.

"I told him not to try jumps he hasn't done yet, but once again he didn't listen to me." Soobin complained. I laughed softly.

"Can you skateboard too?"

"I skate once in a while." He said, scratching the back of his head.

Taehyun skated up to a crowd of youths, smoothly running off his board and catching it with his left hand. He mingled and started several conversations at once. One group over, the bouncer became aware of Soobin and me and called out:

"Hey, either you're using the park for skateboarding or you're taking a fly."

Soobin stared wide-eyed at the bouncer, then at me, then back at the bouncer. I, meanwhile, finished my fries. When I finished eating, I put the empty paper plate next to me and stood up.

"If you can skateboard, teach me." I said to Soobin, who was still sitting. He stood up as well and said "All right." and slid down the ramp to get to the middle of the park.

I did the same as Soobin, albeit a bit bumpier, and we both made our way towards Taehyun. Since he was the only one of us with a skateboard, we had to get his' to avoid getting kicked out. Taehyun had been watching all the action and put his board on the ground and then pushed it towards us with enough momentum. Soobin stopped the board with his foot and looked at me.

"Ladies First." He pointed at the board with both hands and smiled at me with a big grin.

I looked at the board. It looked steady so I took a step on it. The board gave way and rolled forward. 

It is definitely not steady. Not at all. 

Soobin supported my back with his right hand and I clung to his left arm.

"Careful."

"I'm trying." I whispered. He smiled again.

I got off the board and turned towards Soobin so that the skateboard was between us. I tried again and quickly got both feet on the board. I clung to Soobin's arms as fast as I could and stared at the board. Soobin must have found the situation hilarious, because he just wouldn't stop smiling and was definitely laughing at me too.

"You're a real spider monkey, you know that?" He said, amused.

"Teach me how to stand on this thing properly and we'll be done with it."

"Your wish will be granted." He spoke and his broad smile made his eyes disappear.

After standing on the board worked out to some extent, Soobin tried to show me how to move around. But since I already had problems standing on the board, I could already guess that this wouldn't go so smoothly either.

Instead, Soobin simply led me around while I stood on the board and stared at my feet. After a while I got used to the shaky ground I was on and enjoyed the ride through the skatepark.

Gradually I took my eyes off my feet and looked at Soobin's hands. They are very large and they held my forearms tightly. Not that crushed clasping but rather that soft, warm clasping like a hug when someone comforts you.

Soobin walked backwards, but never looked back to see if he was about to run into someone. He just kept looking at me and smiled all the time. Looking at him made me happy.

The wind that came up when I moved, made Soobin's hair fly around gently as if everything was in slow motion. What I also noticed was that when he smiled, dimples formed on his cheeks. I guess that was part of his sweet charisma.

"Are you trying to compensate for your anxiety or are you really having fun right now?" He laughed and that was the moment I noticed that I also had a big smile on my face.

I brought the corner of my mouth back to normal and massaged my cheeks with my left hand. Soobin laughed at this action and turned around so he could look ahead. He still held me by my right arm and pulled me faster along the large square. Every now and then he turned to me and smiled at me, which made me feel like I wasn't out of place every time. Soobin was really good at taking away people's fear. He was like a good luck charm that you always need around you. A good luck charm I needed.