🎧

☄. ┊                  “Is the five second rule a real thing?”

The smile suddenly wavers and erodes as he compared himself to said student, the difference in physical characteristics causing his blood to boil in annoyance; Jung-hwan was envious, and it showed in how quick he was to express his disdain. ❝ But just because you look older, doesn’t mean you can treat me as you are! ❞ He points to himself for emphasis, speaking over the sudden onslaught of traffic. ❝ I might be dead, but I’m still older– at least five years older. ❞ He looms over the curb to stand before him, chest erect and hands cupped into fists. Maintaining the facade required more energy than he was willing to exert, therefore Jung-hwan opted to extend a hand towards the younger, to initiate a handshake.

❝ …Let’s try this again– I’m Lee Junghwan, from Sokcho. ❞

      🎧 – Opening up about himself towards a person-- Could he call him that? They’re not that different except with one exception but does that change if they were overall a human being or not? The thoughts spiraling in his head dispersed from the headache he was giving himself as the male made a comment about the appeal of the age of females. A shrug was made quickly after, “I wouldn’t know, no one else seemed appealing,” Sooha responded, not knowing of his love blind trait that he acquired from his past woman.

      Now the age between the two males were directed and the student couldn’t help but allow a chuckle be the reaction. “Does that make you... Twenty four? Using honorifics... I don’t want to,” his rude attitude was quickly unrevealed once the other demanded respect from him; due to having no family members to properly teach him or close relationships with other humans, he was left to casual tone of speech to majority of people.

“you should be able to explain what you believe in” her voice calmed back down; it was composed and thoughtful again. words spurred out slowly, calmly. “what would you do if someone asked why” her eyes shifted down at the floor for a moment. “why is your reality like that, why is your truth like that? everything you believe in is a matter of what you can explain. everything has a reason” her own reality was tough. rarely did eunyeon think about her past, but what was going on between her brought her to think how her mind was formed as she was raised in the two different homes. very different. one wouldnt accept answers that werent validated by science as truth, the other didnt care about her reasons. they didnt ask. it was a step from what she was safe in to what she wasn’t used to; an extreme changed.and it had changed her.

“H-her?” He stammered out, unsure of what – who – exactly the younger was questioning him about. Maybe his love interest? That can’t be right, considering my love interest is a boy.He laughed to himself, unaware that Sooha could hear his every thought. It wasn’t that he didn’t like girls– they were fine. Wonderful, even. But Changjo had fallen in love with some of the male gender, and there was no helping it. The only relevant women in Changjo’s life would be his mother, sister, and a few of his close friends. Other than that– there really were no ladies that held any value to him, at least not in a romantic way. But it wasn’t like he could just tell Sooha that.

“Ah– Is it obvious?” Changjo laughed a bit, bringing his hand up to awkwardly ruffle the hair on his neck. Good thing he had acting skills. He and Byunghun would be dead if any outsiders learned of their relationship, so he’d just pretend that L.Joe was a girl. It wasn’t like the high schooler could verify his words, right? “She’s… really sweet! Very cute. A big heart. She tries to act ‘cool’, but she’s really a playful and friendly person… I love her a lot. I wouldn’t trade hi– her– for anything in the world.”

      🎧 – Things were getting interesting now when the male fumbled to gather his words about his relationship. Burying the truth. Humans lived a life depending on lies to hold a stable ground on earth but Sooha was somehow different. Telling the truth was something that he felt was always right because in one way or another, that lie people try to protect so much will be exposed and will end up hurting someone more than the truth would. However, there were reasons this particular male had to... For his career... People’s judgement on him and his special other... Among other logic.

chanhee stayed quiet as he listened to what the other had to say. it interested him how grades isnt much of an importance to the high schooler. usually, at this age for most people, grades and school in general is their life. sometimes the pressure of being the best in school can be too much to the point where they walk on the path of no return. the male soon chuckled. “yah the married life isnt that bad if you find the right one.” he nodded his head, talking from what he experienced so far. he then kept his eyes on the highschooler, waiting for him to describe more of his love interest. however only two adjectives left sooha’s mouth. “…. really? only pretty and nice?” chanhee blinked. “that’s it?” a sigh left his lips before he shook his head. ‘so descriptive this one…. it’s like i know exactly who she is…’ “find her? you havent kept in contact with her? do you know her name at least or….”

shivering from the cold, the older male moved his hand behind him to lift the hooded part of his jacket up and on his head. chanhee’s attention was then averted back to sooha once he asked about dating. he couldnt deny it: dating and being in a relationship as an idol was twice as hard as he originally thought. he’s well aware that many fans would take it badly whilst others would be happy and brush it off. he was fortunate enough to not get caught with how secretive he was and that he didnt go out much but he knew one day he needed to share that part of his life eventually. nodding his head lightly, he spoke. “it’s hard but it depends. for me it’s hard, maybe even harder because of my occupation. i cant take her out on dates freely as i want and i also cant be affectionate to her publicly because of dispatch. if i get caught, it’ll affect not only me but my group as well. fortunately enough, i didnt get caught yet but eventually i need to tell everyone that I’m with someone for the rest of my life. for you it’s a different story. you can freely take her out on a date or hold her hand and not worry about getting caught or being bashed on by fans. as long as both you and this mystery girl treat each other well and talk out problems instead of fighting, dating wont be as hard as you thought.” chanhee then nudged the younger’s elbow before giving him a small smile. “if you’re that interested in dating her, i can help you find her you know?”

      🎧 – Laughter broke out after the male spoke about his members in his group, “Geez... Thanks for the late warning. The guy thinks a lot and most of the time I can’t even keep up with him... Verbally and mentally,” Sooha remembered the encounter and tilted his head. “But you can’t say you’re not weird yourself.”

     His face masked into disgust once the marriage lecture began, it was too early in his age to think about such things and he wasn’t ever thinking about that far into the future. His main priority was keeping the woman of his past safe from whoever she was trying to protect him-- Even herself from. “Are you trying to brag about your married life?” His expression showed innocence since he knew mostly about the interior lives of idols fairly easily. “And how exactly am I supposed to describe someone I’ve only met once ten years ago? Knowing her name would have been nice... From what I remembered, she had lots of books in her home,” his memories played against the back of his eyes as he remembered the texture of the past. “Even though she had a job, she was attentive to me without knowing who I was. She did not only saved my life from a car accident but also a reason why I’m continuing to live.”

Her eyes rose from the table when he began to compare the two of them. A nod of her head signaled her listening as she made a couple notes for herself, biting on her bottom lip, ‘It’s a similarity but also a difference. I should know how it works.’ Although slightly frustrated with herself, her arms dropped from the hold on her body, definitely more relaxed than when the conversation began. Her thoughts were no longer a jumbled mess, having coherency to them now.

It was a question she knew would come up, and the one she was most worried about explaining. Eunseong sighed as she contemplated the best way to explain it, without revealing too much about herself, about her past. “You were the one who set it off; I know that for sure.” There was a pause followed by a deep breath before she continued. “I said that it judges based on prior experiences. Well, I used to know someone like you, someone who could read thoughts, but-” There was another pause to take another breath, her hands now clasped together. “But he could also change thoughts if ever so slightly to manipulate others, and he did that to someone I truly cared about.” Her hands were now visibly shaking a bit as images from her past flooded her head before she shook her head rapidly as if to ground her back to Earth. “It probably initially went off because of that similarity, but turned off when it realized you could only read and not change thoughts.”

      🎧 – After comprehending the story that was told to him-- Another person who was just like him-- He wasn’t alone in mind reading but the new information about the new individual was almost frightening. If it was true, then the danger ringtone that chimed in the female’s mind was a warning that he could be like whoever she was talking about. Could he wind up doing something like that? Could he potentially have the ability to mentally hurt people? It wasn’t possible, he had no desire for that ability-- Hell, he wished he didn’t have this current predicament either but he was forced to live in the noisy world.