UNTOUCHABLE YOU | MINSUNG

5

"The self is not so weightless
Nor whole and unbroken
Remember the pact of our youth"
-Achilles come down-

-Present days-

-Friday, September 23-

The secretary's office is silent. Only the sound of keyboard typing and low breathing is heard. Minho sits on a gray leather armchair, staring at the ticking clock for what seems like three hours, but in reality, is only about ten minutes. The boredom is eating him alive. He just came out of a meeting with the new counselor and his mom. He wasn't expecting much from him, just a regular thirty-year-old tall hipster man, with a thick beard, round glasses, and a fitted flannel shirt, tucked into his khaki pants.

Minho could sense that the counselor was trying to make him feel welcome. In some aspects, he did, Minho definitely feels more relaxed than how he was when he just arrived at the school building this morning.

He asked him questions about his past school, the place he came from, what are his hobbies, his favorite subjects, his least favorite subjects, etc. Overall the simplest questions, but his attitude made Minho feel accepted and included. He is not sure if he has ever met someone like this except for his mom.

Currently, The counselor and Minho's mom were talking alone about things he apparently shouldn't hear; and Minho is trying to work through the boredom.

His cell phone isn't an option in those kinds of situations, because Minho was never the type to be interested in social media or TV shows. He always believed they are a waste of time and energy. There is a limited amount of Movies that he finds amazing that he can probably count on less than ten fingers. Aside from them, he finds most TV shows extremely pointless, he would rather Bunji jump than watch a full episode of one of those, and he has acrophobia.

As for his phone, he doesn't have Instagram, TikTok, or any sort of social media. He pretty much uses his phone only to make calls, text people and listen to music; However, his contact list is very limited, due to his current "friendless" circumstance, so whenever he doesn't text his mom or a classmate, his cell phone is collecting dust on his desk.

It's not that he's old-fashioned, it's just that he never found the hype around those devices. He once downloaded TikTok, after his friends insisted 'Come on! You don't know what you're missing' - and after five solid minutes of him scrolling through a bunch of videos of people dancing and talking about their problems, he decided that he has lost enough brain cells for him to delete the app and never open it again.

So what does Minho do in his free time, if he's not scrolling through his phone like normal people his age? Well, most of the time he befriends the boredom and lets his thoughts take place, he also like to take long walks and explore new places, he loves music, so he lets it consume most of his time.

His strangest hobby usually makes people scrunch their noses when they hear about it for the first time. One of Minho's favorite activities is cleaning. In Minho's eyes, there is nothing more therapeutic than seeing things in their place. His room is always tidy and clean, and he never had any problem with house chores, like doing the dishes, folding laundry or washing the floor.

Minho feels most of the time like his life is out of order, he can never have control over anything in his life, not school, not his social circle, not his mental health, nothing; but whenever he cleans, puts stuff in their place, makes everything aesthetic to the eye- he feels like he has control on at least one thing, and it makes him feel responsible, and it makes him feel calm. Nothing is better than feeling all the hyperactive thoughts shut down whenever he is in a clean, tidy space.