THEM ; seventeen

i'm investigating!

chapter six

meanie

the sky was painted with warm tones of orange and pink, swirled with a vibrant lavender. it was early in the morning and wonwoo woke up the second his alarm went off. he threw off the covers from over his body and shivered, clutching onto his own body for warmth. the heater was broken once again and wonwoo couldn't afford to repair it. so, every day during autumn and winter was a nightmare and he wanted to pass away but that was beside the point.

wonwoo lived alone as his father had passed away when he was only a few months old and his mother had fallen ill last year had to be taken to the hospital in her sister's town. his aunt lived 5 hours away so they decided it would be beneficial for wonwoo to live in an apartment by himself instead of moving schools in his last year of high school. now, wonwoo lived in a tiny apartment a few blocks away from school and the restaurant he worked part-time in. it was convenient yet very lonely. if wonwoo had friends, he'd invite them over everyday but alas, he was too caught up in his studies to focus on other people.

all wonwoo wanted was to get into a good university, become a doctor or lawyer or something successful and support his mother. and friends? well, they weren't apart of that equation which meant wonwoo didn't have to worry about that.

but, it was fun for the most part. living alone that was. wonwoo already felt like an adult even if he was struggling to get food on the table for himself and lived off of convenience store snacks (which was every young adult anyway).

wonwoo took a quick hot shower, brushed his teeth and put on his school uniform. he checked if he had enough money to buy something to eat before school and luckily he did. he was getting paid tonight anyway so maybe he could actually fill his fridge up with something.

wonwoo stuffed all of the textbooks he needed for the day into his backpack and made sure he had his keys before stepping out of the door. the strong wind whipped around him violently, making wonwoo wish that he had some gloves. burying his hands into his coat pockets would have to suffice for now. it felt like little claws scratching at his exposed skin. wonwoo found himself licking his lips every few seconds as the dry air was taking out all of the moisture.

wonwoo dashed into the convenience store and picked out a bottle of water and a cheap sandwich. he planned to eat while studying in the library before school. he would have to be sneaky as food wasn't allowed in the building but he knew of a spot where the librarian wouldn't see him clearly.

it was a 10-minute walk to his school and once he got there, wonwoo directly made a beeline towards the library, wanting some sort of supply of heat. wonwoo, let out a small puff of air as his skin tingled at the sudden change of temperature. he smiled politely over at the librarian and walked to his usual spot. he took out his books and went over chapters again that his teachers had assigned for him.

as wonwoo slowly chewed on his sandwich and continued writing down notes, he didn't notice a certain someone peering from behind one of the bookshelves to observe him. mingyu had come to the library to return a book he had to borrow for a class in the last semester. they kept sending him emails for over 3 months but for some reason, mingyu just kept forgetting about the damned thing. what a coincidence it was that today was the day he decided to return it and that wonwoo was in the library also.

it probably seemed really strange if someone saw whatever it was mingyu was doing but he was still pondering on how he could approach wonwoo. his classic tactics would never work. mingyu could tell that wonwoo was an intellectual and didn't care about trashy flirtatious comments. hell, the senior didn't even bother to make eye contact with him when they bumped into each other the other week. mingyu hummed and tapped his chin in thought. he better think of something quick because 30,000 won from each of his friends sounded pretty good to mingyu.