Her Voice / han sanghyuk (#14)

Episode 9

Sanghyuk

I wore my uniform buttoning it properly and admired myself in the bedroom mirror for a few seconds before applying a bit of hair gel to my hair, it is getting longer and I should cut it by this week but I wouldn't be knowing my personality. Why must I follow the rules all the time? It is not like everyone in this school follows them.

I sling my backpack over my left shoulder and left the bedroom going into the kitchen grabbing a piece of toast to munch on while walking to school, it is just within walking distance and it is good that I need not wake up so early to get ready for school. "Sanghyuk-ah, do you want a glass of milk to go with it?" I heard my grandmother's voice and turned around.

I shook my head. "I'm fine with just bread, I'll buy milk on the way to school."

She opened the fridge and took out a packet of orange juice, it is homemade as Halmeoni doesn't trust those fruit juices that are sold outside as there may have a lot of preservatives and artificial sweeteners in it. "Have this then."

I took the orange juice. "Thanks, Halmeoni!" I said and left the house with her always waving at me until I am out of sight. I started walking towards the direction of high school while eating my toast. On the way, there are other students coming from the same way as I am but I avoided them because of one simple reason.

They are very noisy, so I wore my headphones and blasted my music while still eating and drinking my orange juice. Can't they stop talking? While there are students who walk to school, there are students who take the subway or the bus. Some richer students even come by their parent's expensive overseas imported cars.

And I just spotted one driving past me and I looked at the car window where one student is inside and I was shocked at the sight, Choi JooEun is going to school. I immediately slowed down my pace to minimise the chances of us seeing each other in school, I just didn't want to see her no matter what, I'm sure that she doesn't want to see me as well. I arrived at school 10 minutes later than usual but I am still early for school and I made my way to the cafeteria straight away instead of the classroom as I know that Choi JooEun would be in there.

I want to avoid her at all costs from now on as I didn't want to get into trouble because of her again, I walked into the cafeteria and as usual, people avoided me as soon as they see me, they became all quiet from chatting with each other noisily a few seconds ago. I got two drinks from the vending machine, a bottle of coke and a bottle of plain mineral water and brought it to the school garden which not many students go to.

They are way too obsessed with their phones these days to not realize that there are better things than that. Moreover, it doesn't cost anything to enjoy the morning scenery. I whistled a little and made a few sounds while waiting for her, I placed her bowl and filled it with the mineral water that I had just bought.

She came out a few seconds looking as refreshed as before. "Chloe, did you have a good rest last night? Are there anyone that disturbed your sleep pattern?" I said while patting her head as she sips the water into the bowl.

Chloe is a female cat that I saved from the trees a few months ago, she climbed up the tree to avoid the other students grabbing her and abusing her. Animal abuse is a big thing these days and she had seen many of her friends getting killed after being abused by those beasts. Until she met me, I have fed it with water and food almost every day. Even during the weekends, I come to school secretly during the weekends to feed her, I wished that I could adopt her so that I need not take care of her like this but my grandmother is allergic to cats so I couldn't raise her.

I stroked her head one last time before going back to class. "Chloe, I will see you tomorrow morning again," I said to her and she nodded before going back to her hiding place.

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JooEun

I looked at the time on my watch, it is 6 pm already and the sun is setting. I would've gone home a long time ago if not I feared that Han SangHyuk would be going home at the same time, he should be undergoing detention and I have spent the whole day at the library to avoid him. Of course, I couldn't avoid him in class as he takes the same classes as me except for me that I take with HakYeon sunbaenim.

He had told me to stay calm and be careful of him. He is so scary that everyone avoids him at first sight but what is the reason that he is like that? I asked Omma about it after HakYeon sunbaenim had left our house and she told me that he had been crying, that's why he left early even though he is being invited to dinner. I'm sure that he was kind once before but I can't be certain. What if he is just putting on an act?

I am now going to the auditorium as I had become bored with staying in the library all day, I came across the auditorium and debated if I wanted to go in or not, I pulled the handle of the door and surprisingly it opened. Who forgotten to lock it?

Who cares? There are still 5 minutes before the school officially closes for the day and I will just take a peek and come out immediately. With that thinking, I entered the auditorium, I was immediately amazed by the landscape of the room that is carefully designed to block all sounds that are from the auditorium.

I stared at the seats and wanted to sit down in one of them, I looked at the watch and there is still 3 minutes. There is still time... I sat down and closed my eyes feeling the cosiness that I had felt all around me, it is exactly that feeling when I first watched a performance in a theatre.

I took off my hearing aids and just stayed in that position for a moment, enjoying the ambience. I opened my eyes and looked at my watch and gasped loudly, it is 6.34 pm. The school has closed for the day, I wore back my hearing aids and all the sounds came back to me.

"Yah! Open the door! There is someone stuck in there!" Are we being locked in? I heard shoutings and cursing coming from the entrance of the auditorium. Slowly, I made my way to where the sounds come from, there was a guy banging very furiously at the door, demanding that he get let out at this moment.

I looked at him and I gasped. It's Han SangHyuk. "Yah!" He said, feeling a little defeated and sat down on the floor where he saw me. "Why are you here?"