after a few minutes of walking around, the two boys decided to sit themselves down on a bench, right in front of a playground.
"what time is it?" asked hyunjin, as he fixed seungmin's bangs.
seungmin took out his phone to check the time, "5:47 pm," he said, turning off his phone and putting it back in his pocket.
"ahh," hyunjin's eyes made their way to seungmin's lips, yet again, "okay."
seungmin seemed to notice that hyunjin was staring at him, "jinnie? are you okay?"
hyunjin snapped back to reality, "o-oh, yeah, i'm fine. are you okay?"
seungmin nodded as a response, "jinnie, can we talk about what happened between us?"
hyunjin hesitated, but gave in only because it was seungmin, "sure. what exactly do you wanna talk about?"
seungmin gently laid his head on hyunjin's broad shoulder, "ever since middle school started, you started to avoid me... we only just started talking again, this year."
hyunjin released the tension off of his shoulders, so that seungmin's head wouldn't get hurt, "yeah... i remember vividly," he added, "i started hanging out with the wrong people because i wanted to be 'popular' and 'cool.' i did some things i wasn't supposed to do, and my grades were the lowest they've been."
"how low were they?" seungmin pouted.
"low enough for the school to almost expel me," hyunjin chuckled, "i never really thought of my education as a priority. looking back at it now, i should've taken my education seriously. i was very lucky to have access to good education; a lot of other people in the world don't."
seungmin nodded, "at least you're taking your education seriously now, right?"
"of course. i don't wanna make my dad disappointed in me, forever... final exams for me are coming up, and i'm really nervous," hyunjin held seungmin's hand, "will you help me study for it?"
the feeling of butterflies in his stomach intensified, now with hyunjin's hand interlaced with his, "yeah!"
hyunjin's big hand and seungmin's small hand fit perfectly together; almost as if it was a puzzle piece. hyunjin's hand was veiny and rough, while seungmin's hand was as soft as a cloud. the complete total opposites.
hyunjin smiled, "yay. you're a good teacher, anyways," he added, "are you planning to work in the education field?"
seungmin giggled, "actually, yes i am. i wanna be a teacher that mainly focuses on korean history. though, i'm taking a small break before going into university."
"funny how i'm older than you but i'm still in grade 12," hyunjin smiled, "repeating a school year sucks."
"don't be ashamed, jinnie!"
"you're right," hyunjin added, "i guess i shouldn't be. after all, i have the best teacher anyways," he smirked, tightening his hold on seungmin's hand.
seungmin blushed, "i-i'm not that good of a teacher."
hyunjin chuckled, "whatever you say, shorty."
the faint sounds of nature then filled in the silence. the sound of cherry blossoms and grass rustling softly, the sound of rocks kerplunking as they fall into the river, the sound of butterflies fluttering as they take flight, the sound of bees buzzing as they fly from flower to flower, and the sound of the spring breeze added a lot to the romantic atmosphere. the two boys just silently enjoyed each other's presence, even though they weren't talking to each other. suddenly, the sound of seungmin snoring softly disrupted the silence.
"seungmin?" hyunjin gently turned his head to look at seungmin, whom was sleeping soundly on his shoulder, "you're sleeping? seriously?"
"mmmgh," seungmin said in his sleep.
"you're so freaking cute," hyunjin chuckled, "sorry to disrupt your sleep sir, but i have to take you home now."
"mmmnnnnggghh," seungmin said in his sleep, snuggling closer to hyunjin.
hyunjin chuckled as he slowly pulled away from seungmin. he stood up from the bench and picked seungmin up, bridal-style carrying him. seungmin unconsciously snuggled close to his chest, making hyunjin smile the hardest he's ever smiled before.
as hyunjin started to walk to his car, he can't help but stare at seungmin's pretty facial features. his rosy cheeks, long eyelashes, soft and glossy lips, pale milky skin with no imperfections in sight, almond-shaped eyes — god, seungmin looked absolutely ethereal. seungmin almost resembled a puppy, in a way.
eventually, hyunjin got to his car. he opened the passenger seat door and gently sat seungmin down, putting his seatbelt on. hyunjin then closed the door and went over to his side of the car. he put his seatbelt on before checking his surroundings to make sure everything was okay. he took one final glance over to the sleeping seungmin, before putting all of his attention on the road and driving seungmin home safely.
[ chapter ten fin. ]
[ 12 apr. 2020 ]
— author's note —
hi everyone! ^ __ ^ so i'm thinking of doing a character q&a thingy! (for those who may not know, a character q&a is basically when the readers ask questions to the characters and the characters will, obviously, respond!
