hydra | svt

CHAPTER FIFTY THREE.

wonwoo

after a treacherous week at school loaded with assignments and exams, there was nothing more i ached for than to curl up under the cotton hills of my duvet and hibernate for the next forty-eight hours. however being friends with mingyu means that a "new adventure is always on the horizon" (his words, not mine) which is why i'm loitering around the front of the local subway station, silently pleading for my friends to hurry up and get to the plans that they had organised.

the question of why i'm always the first to show up continues to baffle me for an extra three minutes until, finally, mingyu jogs into view; his hair is already ruffled and his nose and cheeks sport a ruddy blush from the coolness that had greeted us this morning. as he approaches me, he grins from ear to ear.

"glad you could make it, woo! everyone else cancelled last minute so it's just us."

you're joking.

mingyu has already thrust his phone in front of my face, letting me scan over the messages that had poured into the group chat while i had been waiting. i open and close my mouth like a fish, waiting for some sort of statement to form on my tongue. when none arrives, mingyu just takes me by my coat sleeve and drags me down into the almost deserted subway.

considering it's about ten in the morning, i'm not surprised at the ease in which we bag a seat on the train; it's almost empty, save for teenagers like us who just want to waste the weekend away before the inevitable drag of school on monday. i'm sat with my coat collar up to my nose, listening absentmindedly as mingyu recounts an instance that happened at the drama club yesterday.

we arrive smoothly to our stop and this station is just as empty as the one we left. as mingyu and i step off, i bump shoulders with a stranger, who mumbles a hasty apology without looking me in the eye. his all black attire, which includes a mask, hat and sunglasses, conceals almost everything and i have trouble telling how old he is. although, the lilt in his voice and the warmth of his touch is oddly familiar...

the doors hiss shut and the stranger is gone as mingyu continues to drag me up the stairs. emerging back into the daylight feels totally disorienting and i need a second to get my bearings before we resume with the short walk towards our destination.

mingyu can't seem to keep still, constantly quickening his pace and feverishly glancing at the map open on his phone; luckily, my legs are long enough to keep up but i do wish he would chill out for a second.

there's no pun intended as we finally cross the road, mingyu practically sprinting towards the new ice rink that had popped up the other day.

from the outside i'm hardly impressed; it just looks as industrial and grey as the next building. blue tinted glass lines the bottom floor allowing us to peek at the hoards of families wanting to get inside the rink. i also see a set of turnstiles that lead around the corner and i assume that that's how you get in.

mingyu doesn't hesitate to burst past the automatic doors, scaring a few children and concerning their mothers in the process. i resist the urge to walk in the opposite direction and stiffly nod along when he begins to point out the detail of the lobby, like the vending machine and a stock photo of some skaters.

i leave him to marvel at the new surroundings, joining the queue to purchase tickets. after a few minutes i return to mingyu with two entrance passes in my hand and pass one to him, letting him through the turnstiles first. despite his excitement, the mechanisms work smoothly and before i know it he's dashing down the corridor towards the skate rental.

i follow helplessly, apologising to someone the big oaf almost ran into. i join him by the rentals where he seems to have calmed down as he waits to speak to the guy manning the counter.