moon child | lai guanlin

four

i stood on my tippy-toes, trying to reach for the med-kit that was unfortunately placed on the top shelf. the flesh on my hand felt as if it was going to tear soon.

i heard shuffling behind me, and a hand that easily grabbed onto the white box, bringing it down from the cabinet and in front of my face.

"t-thanks.." i mumbled, taking the med-kit from his pale hands.

"hey, uh, i have something to tell you." i laid the box on the sofa, still trying my best not to look him in the eye. "mhm?" he hummed, his lips turned into thin lines.

"i.. still don't know your name." my hand made its way over to the back of my nape, rubbing it awkwardly as i awaited his response.

"it's lai guanlin." he chuckled. he probably found it funny, he probably thought i was silly and stupid.

"and no, i don't think you're silly or stupid." he added on. his bangs fell onto his forehead, covering parts of his dark brown eyes. the way his eyelashes fluttered slowly everytime he blinked made me temporarily forget my fear of males.

"o-oh, did i say that out loud?" i let out an awkward laugh as guanlin nodded, a small smile appeared on his pale face.

"anyways, i better get this fixed up before it gets infected. you can go to bed if you want, you can sleep in my brother's room, he doesn't come back home since he's in college and stays in a dorm." i sat down on the sofa and brought my injured leg up, resting it on the sofa, next to me.

"alright, good night, i guess." guanlin turned and went up the stairs, into the dark room my brother used to play his awful video games in while screaming for me to bring him food.

after he closed the door, i sighed.

"now i have to deal with you, you little rat." i clicked the med-kit open and took out a bottle of antiseptic and a packet of cotton pads.

pouring the transparent but pungent smelling liquid onto the cotton, i watched as the white surface sucked up the antiseptic liquid, turning into a shade of light grey as it dampened.

i took a deep breath and dabbed the damp cotton pad onto the large scrape on my knee. the dry blood had been washed off after i took a shower, so it didn't look as scary as it did just now, but that didn't mean that it wouldn't hurt like a bitch.

i dug my fingers into the fabric of my sofa, my vocabulary at this point was pretty limited as the only words that came out from my mouth were "fuck" and "wow that hurts a lot".

after all that pain and suffering, i finally patched up my knee. i still couldn't walk properly as i limped up the stairs pitifully, and staggered into my room.

i unzipped my bag and stared at the wet books before suddenly remembering that my phone was in there too. letting out a few more colourful words, i hastily fished out my phone and let out a more-than-relieved sigh as i saw the screen light up, indicating that it wasn't spoilt.

also, i just so happened to realise that it was way past the bedtime i set for myself, which isn't even that early. it was already a little bit past 2am and my eyelids were starting to droop, even though i was standing up and trying drying my books with a hairdryer.

the pages were already soaked, some were torn and they smelled like the sweet stench of old water and defeat.

"i should just get new books.. even if they do dry, i'm gonna get a lot of shit from the teachers for this.." i muttered, switching off the hair dryer. i didn't bother to keep it back in the box, so i left it on the ground along with the sad-looking books and climbed into bed.

"i wonder if guanlin's already asleep, i don't hear anything from the next room, or maybe he just doesn't snore." just as i said that, a loud and long snore came from the room he was in and i almost called the wildlife conservation centre because i thought a grizzly sneaked into my house.

"nevermind, he snores." i let out a small laugh and laid my head on the bed, quickly falling asleep. thank god for that, i didn't want to comtemplate life 2 in the morning and let all my past mistakes pile up into a giant mountain of regret and embarrassment.

;

"hey, wake up! we're late for school." i felt someone shake me, really hard. i sat up from my weird sleeping position and was about to kick the culprit before i realised, "oh, guanlin.."

he was already in his uniform, staring at me with his usual expression everyone says looked 'scary'.

well, i agree with them.

"it's already 7:40am, we're gonna get detention if we don't get there by 8. hurry up, i'll wait downstairs." he threw my uniform on the bed and walked out of the room.

i never noticed how broad his shoulders were.

his back view quickly disappeared after he went down the stairs. i blew air out of my mouth and stood up, grabbing the clean uniform that was thrown messily on the bed.

i was going to run into the bathroom when i realised that i could barely walk without spewing out words my parents would be so proud to hear.

"hey, can you hurry up, it's 7:50!" guanlin yelled from below, scaring the crap out of me. "alright, alright, i'm almost done!" i lied, hurriedly changing out of my pajamas and slipped on the uniform.

i pressed the home button on my phone, almost spitting out the toothpaste in my mouth when i saw the time.

"godamnit, there goes my record of 0 late days."

(a/n: yall the final elimination + final episode of produce 101 season 2 is today i'm shaking)