Shallow Abyss || Zb1

6

Matthew closed his locker after grabbing his P.E wear. He turned and quickly bumped into someone.

"Ah sorry for that. I wasn't looking where I was going" Matthew heard the person say. He looked up and saw Hanbin looking at him guilty.

"It's alright" Matthew said holding his p.e wear tight.

"I'm Hanbin by the way. 12th grade" Hanbin said bringing out his hand. Matthew shook his hand.
"I'm Matthew. 11th grade. You're my senior then"

"Oh? You must be the new student Gunwook told me about. How's Tae Rae? I heard what happened to him. I hope he's fine" Hanbin said and started walking with Matthew.

"Oh yeah, he's fine. Just...quieter these days. Good thing Bomin was expelled. Thank goodness for the school president for taking the matter seriously"
Matthew said smiling as he remembered when he came to school one morning only to hear that Bomin was expelled.

Hanbin chuckled rubbing his neck "Yeah. Zhanghao is really serious coming to his job as the school president"

"It feels nice knowing there's actually someone looking out for their fellow students. Big thanks to him. He's like the savior of the school right now"Matthew said and Hanbin chuckled loud.

"No no, he's not" Hanbin said smiling and looked at his wristwatch. "Uhh my class is soon gonna start. I've got to go" Hanbin said and Matthew nodded

"Ah okay" Matthew said and waved as Hanbin walked past him. He was about to walk but he stopped when someone held his hand.

He turned and saw Hanbin.
"Hm?" He was confused.

"Uhh would you like to eat with me during lunch? I'd like to know you more" Hanbin hesitantly asked rubbing his neck.

"Oh really? Sure I don't mind"

"That's great. Then, I'll see you" Hanbin said grinning as he waved.
Matthew saw Zhanghao at the end of the hallway and saw Hanbin running towards him. Two of them then vanished.

-

"Was that boy disturbing you?" Zhanghao asked Hanbin. Hanbin chuckled and shook his head.

"We just had random words to share. He's cool" Hanbin said and Zhanghao immediately took note of his smile.

"He's joining us to eat today". Hanbin said and Zhanghao stopped his tracks. Hanbin stopped and looked at Zhanghao in confusion.

"Why would he join us? He's not our friend"

"That's why I'm letting him eat with us. So we can all be friends probably." Hanbin said and Zhanghao scoffed.

"Really? Why didn't you let others join us to eat when they wanted to. Or is there something different about him that the others don't have?"

"Jeez Zhanghao. Stop being so pressed" Hanbin said arching one of his brows as he started climbing the stairs. Zhanghao sighed and brushed his hair backwards.

"I'm not pressed. I'm just...wary. I don't want strangers coming into our friendship and breaking us all apart" Zhanghao muttered as he climbed the stairs.

"Well Hao, before we all became friends, we once started with a simple conversation. There's nothing wrong in trying to be friends with others. If it doesn't work, we let it be. Hm?" Hanbin said stopping on the stairs.

"Fine" Zhanghao mumbled and climbed past Hanbin.

-

"Tae Rae, Senior Hanbin invited me to eat lunch with him" Matthew said nudging Tae Rae.
Tae Rae just nodded and continued looking at the track.

"Wanna join me?" Matthew asked and got in position for the race.

"Not really. I rather eat alone" Tae Rae said. Matthew sighed. "Please just join me. I don't want you to eat alone"

"Matthew..I really don't want to. I'm just..not welcomed there" Tae Rae said and looked away.
Matthew looked at him in confusion.

"Tae Rae that's so not true. They're friendly. I can tell. Let's join them. Okay?"

Tae Rae sighed and nodded.

-

Matthew and Tae Rae grabbed their lunch trays and looked at Hanbin's table. Hanbin was waving at Matthew and Matthew nudged Tae Rae to walk along.

Matthew arrived at their table.
"Hello!" He said smiling widely. Hanbin smiled back and moved for Matthew, making him sit between
Ji Woong and Hanbin.

"Hi guys I'm Matthew from 11th grade. This is Tae Rae, he's my classmate. I'm sure you guys know him" Tae Rae said pointing at Tae Rae who sat between Gunwook and Ricky.

"I invited him over to eat with us. Hope there's no problem?" Hanbin said and they shook their heads.

"Oh? You got the strawberry yogurt? When I asked, the lunch lady told me it had finished" Gunwook said looking at Matthew's tray.

"Do you want it? We can swap" Matthew said and Gunwook looked at Matthew in awe as he swapped his banana milk with Matthew.

"So. Matthew" Zhanghao started and Matthew heard Hanbin sigh.

"Where are you from? Your name's in English"

"Oh I'm from Canada, I and my family moved here not long ago. I really love being here and living near Han River makes things even better" Matthew said and Hanbin quickly turned to him.

"Really? Me too. Where exactly" Hanbin asked and Matthew told him his address making Hanbin gasp

"How can we stay in the same neighborhood and not see each other for once?" Hanbin said making Matthew smile.

"We can meet up somewhere anytime we have time. Deal?" Matthew said and Hanbin chuckled and nodded "Deal".

Matthew looked at Zhanghao and saw him scoff as he continued eating.

'Did I speak too much?' Matthew asked himself as he sunk inside his chair after seeing Zhanghao's face.

He slightly pouted as he poked his meal.

Ji Woong who had been quiet all along looked at Matthew. He took a drumstick from his plate and put it in Matthew's tray.

Matthew looked at him confused.
"Don't play with your food. Eat up" Ji Woong muttered and looked away.

Matthew nodded and started eating.