nerves [ wowkwan ]

二

chapter two !
or
'the encounter'

It had been a kind of lazy morning. Byeongkwan had managed to survive his first period class, despite the constant source of distraction he'd recently found himself dealing with.

That distraction was named Kim Sehyoon. The school had the audacity to place their recent transfer boy into one of Byeongkwan's classes, effectively rendering him useless all morning.

Not that it was entirely his fault, though. Sehyoon had developed somewhat of a reputation for being the cold, standoffish, emotionless type. The type that all the girls would swoon over and fantasize about being able to get him to show any kind of warm emotion towards them.

Those fantasies, despite how they tried, never happened.

Byeongkwan thought he was fascinating. After numerous confessions from all over campus, and countless invites to clubs and parties, Sehyoon remained the same, never letting anyone too close.

Somewhere, deep down, Byeongkwan hoped just a little bit to befriend the boy, although the rational side of him quickly scolded himself over the thought. He knew it wouldn't happen, but at least it couldn't hurt to imagine.

Back in the current situation, Byeongkwan had found his hands stained with blue pen ink after a writing mishap in second period. Logically, he excused himself to go use the bathroom to wash it off.

Not expecting anyone to be in the restroom at this time, Byeongkwan leisurely strolled in, rolling up the sleeves of his jacket as a sort of preparation for washing his hands.

Yet as he walked through the door, he immediately registered the presence of a second person, washing their hands at the sink.

Byeongkwan immediately felt tense as he recognized the boy as Sehyoon. Trying not to show any signs of discomfort, he walked normally to the sink and began washing his hands.

Byeongkwan noticed a silent look of judgement from the other boy, glancing at the blue pen ink smeared on Kwan's hands.

For some god forsaken reason, Byeongkwan's brain told him this would be the perfect time to initiate conversation.

"So... nice bathroom we're having, yeah?"

Sehyoon's expression shifted into a wary confusion, staring at Byeongkwan who felt himself flush suddenly as he realized his mistake.

"Ah- I meant... weather, nice weather..." Byeongkwan attempted to correct himself, only feeling his conscience yelling at him for messing up like that.

"...it's raining, though?" came Sehyoon's voice in reply, the wary look on his face remaining.

"I— shit," Byeongkwan cursed quietly, feeling embarrassment overwhelm him.

He instantly decided; it was time to get the hell out of there.

With no further notice, Byeongkwan turned around and dashed out of the doors to the restroom, mentally regretting his entire life up to that point.

This brings us back to the present situation. Byeongkwan sat, averting his gaze from his friends at the lunch table while taking a moment to inwardly cringe at himself.

"Hey, is it just me or is that transfer guy looking over here?" Junhee said. Donghun and Chan merely shrugged.

Byeongkwan wanted to curl up in a ball and become invisible.

"Um, guys, I think I left something in my last classroom, I'm gonna go and get it before lunch ends," Byeongkwan announced, packing up his lunch and slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"Alright, bye man," Donghun said, choosing not to question his friend's sudden hurried manner. The others bid farewell before he stood up and sped away from the lunch area.

Byeongkwan didn't know where he could go to hide from his problems at school, so he took the next best option:

He walked straight out of the school doors. it was time to go home.