#mingyurk

hongdae is bustling with intense christmas spirit –– it’s pretty obvious from the decorations hung up everywhere and the amount of “christmas sale” posters in sight. the december air begins to get chilly as well; with jaehyun dressed in a simply brown coat and a thick sweater.

“i really need to get some christmas presents,” he finds himself saying, turning to mingyu to get a better look at the boy. the both of them are friends, students at the same school who’d gotten together through various activities and shared interests.

it’s nice really, being able to hang out with mingyu now that he doesn’t have to spend so much time caught up with studying. he’s about to ask mingyu what he’d like for christmas ( ‘a book? dvd? clothes?’ ) when he hears some cheering and spots a crowd.

it’s hard not to notice them; so jaehyun stops, peers closer towards the platform up in the middle of the street before he catches sight of the sign. “christmas event! winner gets free gifts!!”. and then it hits him.

he grabs at mingyu’s hand before the boy can get too far, and with a huge smile he starts to slowly drag him to the performance area. “mingyu! mingyu!” he says excitedly –– and it’s almost as though jaehyun’s the younger one out of the two –– “we have to do this. look!! free gifts!! isn’t that amazing?” 

there’s something in the way eyes can just tell, when speculation becomes observation and deep hues gaze in such a way that’s basically scandalous, if not, educational. it was all for research purposes, she says to herself, though -- she can’t say the same to the male who sat beside her. chair scooted just a few steps from her own; his own eyes mirror her own, directions spread to each and every figure that passed. dark brown finds it interesting, how two people -- unknown to each other, seem to take pleasure in the same act of people watching. “so, who do you have your eye on?” she raises the question, chin turning to the other; eyes blinking away from the male who had caught her eye just moments earlier, reasoning that his gap tooth was just a little too flawed for her taste, to gaze at the stranger before her; iced coffee sipped, green straw bitten between white pearls. 

THERE’S LITTLE FORETHOUGHT TO BE FOUND in his actions as he invades the personal space of his companion without warning, inspecting the contents of the other male’s lunch with CURIOUS intent, almost as though it held the untold secrets of the universe. it didn’t of course and, all too suddenly, a vague look of disapproval is dawning upon his features, tongue clicking against the roof of his mouth.

‘your lunches are always so boring. where’s the fun— the adventure? don’t you ever try anything new? here—’ in an instant, his own lunchbox ( it’s literally just a paper bag; he’s too cheap for that FANCY shit ) is dumped out upon the table in example. ‘like this! it’s a sandwich, but it can also double as breakfast because there’s cereal in it. genius, right? also…’ he pauses, though just for a moment, to open a small container. ‘i’ve got some pickles in here. you like pickles, right? here, you should try dipping them in peanut butter. it’s delicious!’

     there’s an obvious treshold to one’s tolerance, and jisoo’s reached its right now.

     so, first thing’s first: being a gamer herself (although she doesn’t have that much time to play anymore), she knows how easy it is to be so involved in gaming that you don’t even notice time’s passing and you end up in front of your computer until 2 or 3am, or even longer. she knows the feeling. she also knows what it’s like when you’re gaming with people from different time zones and you have to deliberately stay up late in order to be able to queue together.

     however, this does not mean you need to mic with them at 3 fucking am, especially not in the way this neighbor of hers is doing right now: loudly, shamelessly yelling, huge laughters. if this was the first time, she would be tolerant. but he’s been doing this for a week now, and jisoo’s tired of not being able to have her beauty sleep because some asshole decides to game hella loudly in the middle of the night.

sitting on the floor by the office, hansol sighs.

at the back of his head, the words he’s just heard keep repeating endlessly, intruding into his every other thought and rendering him unable to move on. he dares not repeat those phrases out loud, not even when fellow volunteers ask him what’s happened -- all he does is smile sadly and say he’s fine, thank you, just a little tired from washing all the food bowls. how could he ever impose such sadness onto others? no, hansol could never. it’s better if it’s kept a secret, anyway -- if less people panic about it, maybe the positive energy will outweight the heaviness of his heart.

when a tall figure approaches from the front door, however, the boy jumps to his feet in one swift movement, and does what he can to block the hallway with his slender figure. “h-hey! mingyu! i didn’t know you were coming in today! ah, man, if i’d known i would’ve left the cleaning duty to you!”, he beams, pushing balled fists into tight pockets as if nothing’s happened. “now that you’re here, how about lending us a hand with the backyard?”