貧温愛 ~Poor Warm Love~ -- [chapter three]
Title: 貧温愛 ~Poor Warm Love~
Group: U-Kiss
Pairing: Many. Slight Kemaru, if you really want to see it.
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Boarding High School AU. Bad English, bad Korean, bad Mandarin.
Summary: Kim Elison wasn’t rich. Or smart. Not specially smart, at least. But he was in Ah Gyeong Beom boarding school anyway, so he just had to cope with the kitchen work, the crazed students and the cold shower.
N/A: Guess who's back! I never dropped this fic, guys. I was fighting for it. I seriously want to finish it. D: I'll give my best~ This chapter is slightly Kevin-centered.
[ Chapter One] [ Chapter Two]
Kevin Woo was a man in mission.
You see, his family never cared much about sports. His father was rarely at home, although he did everything he could to stay with his family, and the ones responsible for Kevin’s education - his mother, grandmother, aunts and cousins - couldn’t care less about other exercise than dance, aerobics and eventually badminton. He was always treated lightly during badminton games, by the way, because all the women were older and quicker than him. Needless to say, Kevin was quite a failure at sports.
Kim Kibum, on the other side - the rich, smart and popular sunbae Kim Kibum - had always lived in close bonds with his father and his brother, and the whole family practiced sports. Kibum was good in football, in volleyball, in races, in basketball... the only thing at which he wasn’t very good was at swimming, which figured no vantages to Kevin, since he couldn’t swim.
But you know what? Kim Kibum’s glorious days were over. This year was his last year in school, and Kevin would make sure to defeat him in every single match.
First decision he takes is waking up 5AM everyday to go to the racing track. He feels like Forrest Gump.
-x-
Yes, the bedroom was big. Much more than big, actually. Eli felt agoraphobic.
“And this is supposed to be a double bedroom,” he mumbled, looking around amazed. “These kids are really rich.”
“What am I doing here?” Alexander shouted, laughing. He looked at the beds, dumbfounded. “Three beds this big fitting in a double bedroom. I feel like a beggar.”
“I told you the bedrooms were enormous,” Dongho said matter-of-factly. “The bathroom is equally big. And they have a bathtub.”
“How do you know all of this?” Eli asked curiously, looking inside the wardrobe with interest.
“Friends often invite me to their bedrooms,” the younger boy shrugged. “So... who’s going to sleep where?”
The three looked at each other.
“Anywhere is fine for me,” Eli announced, raising his hand.
“For me too,” Alexander mimicked him. Dongho clicked his tongue.
“I’ll take the one near the window then,” he stated, jumping on it unceremoniously as if to demark his territory.
“I’ll claim the bathroom,” Alexander stated, opening his suitcase to collect some clothes and his girly shampoo bottle and soap case. “I smell like today’s lunch.”
“We all do, I guess,” Dongho commented. “Ah, thanks God today the afternoon is off, ugh.”
“The day seems good for a-“ Eli was looking through the window, contemplating the view when something caught his attention. “What… I’ll be back in a minute.”
And, giving Dongho no further explanation, he exited the room and walked down the stairs towards the south-east wing’s yard, trying not to run while he stepped on the marble. If Kamhwa caught him running in the hallways without the ‘I’m-late-for-classes’ explanation to support him, Eli would be locked in detention for the whole weekend. After some minutes - it was at times like those that Eli realized how huge the school building was - he finally reached the yard, going straight to the mismatched figure exercising in the racing tracks.
“Kevin!” Eli called out, interrupting the boys focus as he did… tried to do some push-ups. Apparently, Kevin got so startled that he lost balance and fell on the dusty floor, sort of making a fool of himself.
“Oh. Hi, Eli,” he panted out as he got up, dusting the brown dust from his white running shorts. “You surprised me. How are you?”
“What are you doing? Are you on detention?” Eli kneeled beside where his friend was sitting, getting the knees of his pants dirty in the process. Kevin was looking awfully sweaty, tired and somewhat dirty too. “You look like you’ve been exercising since lunch time.”
“I am, actually,” Kevin tried to breathe. “Not on detention, exercising since lunch time. But I’m not on detention, I’m on a mission.”
“On a mission?”
Kevin nodded firmly.
“I’ll ace sports,” he winced, holding his ribs. “Okay, maybe I won’t be able to ace sports, but I’ll get at least minimally good at sports,” a spark lightened his eyes. “To defeat him.”
Eli, at first, was confused by Kevin’s strange spy-movie-like talk. Then, after some seconds, he understood.
“You’re training this hard just to defeat Kibum hyung on the hide-and-seek game??” he gave an incredulous chuckle, but he stopped when he saw that Kevin had nodded, face very serious. “Kevin, aren’t you overdoing it a bit?”
“There’s no such thing in my dictionary,” Kevin threw back, trying to get up. “Overdoing. I’m not ‘overdoing’, I’m giving my best. It’s a necessary sacrifice.”
“You shouldn’t take things so seriously, you know. It’s just a game,” he then noticed that Kevin wasn’t succeeding in his quest to stand up. “Here, let me help you. Hold onto my shoulders.”
Kevin did, but lost balance when Eli pulled him up and ended up falling face first onto Eli’s chest, leaving a stamp of sweat and dust on his clean, although old and somewhat worn out, white uniform shirt.
“Oh, thank you Kevin,” Eli complained with distaste, helping the other boy to stand up properly. Poor thing. He did look a whole lot tired.
“I’m sorry, oppa,” Kevin said in a mocking high-pitched voice. “You’ll see it, hyung. I’ll be the pride of our class.”
“Okay, Kevin, I trust you,” Eli said very seriously, putting a hand on Kevin’s sweaty shoulder. “But it’s enough for today. You should go take a shower now.”
“Huh? No, I-“
“You can barely stand on your feet.”
Kevin closed his mouth. Eli got a point there.
“Okay, I guess,” he said thoughtfully. “I’ll go now then.”
Eli nodded, proud of his dongsaeng. “Fighting!”
“Fighting!” Kevin answered before going away, raising his fist.
With that, Eli could consider his job as done; thus, he walked back to his dorm without rushing, almost missing the way and going to his old bedroom. He would probably never get used to the fact that he now slept near the other students… not that he felt discriminated by them or anything, no, far from this. But he did feel very different from them, all those rich kids who had two laptops, one for personal use and one for back-up, and wore Lacoste cologne everyday as if it was cheap deodorant.
“Eli.”
He stopped on his tracks when he heard a voice calling his name. Turning around, he saw a head peeking out from one of the bedrooms. It was Kibum.
“Hyung? This is not your room, is it?” Eli frowned, looking at the number. As far as he knew, Kibum’s dorm in the south wing, not in the south-east.
“No, it’s Kwon’s. We’re studying Literature,” Kibum explained, straightening his glasses. “Eli, what is Kevin doing in the racing tracks? He’s there since half past two. I saw that you went to talk to him.”
Eli blinked, not expecting that question.
“Ah! He’s training--,” Eli stopped on his tracks. He shouldn’t tell Kibum about Kevin’s goal at all, or Kibum would be a step ahead him. More than he already was naturally. “To gain some muscle. He said that he wants to build a muscular figure.”
Kibum let out a sincere but obviously incredulous laughter.
“This Kevin… I don’t know what he thinks sometimes,” he shook his head, still laughing. “Well, tell him that he’s doing it slightly wrong, okay? But don’t tell him I was the one who said this or he’ll come ask me for help.”
A voice inside the bedroom demanded for Kibum’s presence, so the senior gave Eli a little wave and closed the door.
Eli smiled secretively at the closed door. Those two… he chuckled silently, resuming his walk to the bedroom - and finding Cheon Kamhwa walking firmly towards him, eyes burning with victory.
“Elison, dear,” She said when she was near enough, smiling with fake sweetness while raising a small book with a carmine cover. “I believe you do have the school’s guidebook in your room, don’t you?”
“I do, Cheon Kamhwa sshi,” Eli answered, afraid of what would come next.
“Have you ever,” she opened the book and flipped the pages until she found what she was looking for and showed it to Eli. “read the rule number 6 of the second section, my dear?”
He searched for the rule number six on the page she was holding in front of him - ah, there it was. 6 - To circulate freely in the hallways, the student must wear the uniform properly, clean and complete. He looked down to his own dirt-soiled shirt.
Oops.
-x-
Dongho was almost falling asleep over his Math exercises when Alexander got out of the bathroom, fresh and smelling of floral soap.
“… aya. Where’s Eli?” he asked, looking around with a puzzled face.
“Aya,” Dongho repeated quietly, chuckling. Alexander heard it, though, and faced Dongho with his hands on his hips.
“Is it some curse word in Korean?” he asked mockingly. “Or are you just bullying me because I’m from China?”
“It just sounds funny,” answered the boy, concentrated on the math equation he was trying to solve. He frowned at how impossible the equation was, and only stared at the black text, not knowing where to begin from. He got slightly annoyed at how Alexander was trying to peer over his shoulder; he hated when people did that.
“What?” he asked, a bit rudely.
“Dongho sshi, you must be good in math, isn’t it so?” Alexander said, poking his shoulder. “I mean, you calculated those prices very well and found a better way of living for the three of us.”
“It wasn’t me who did those. A friend of mine told me all that,” he answered simply, trying to think harder. “Why you call me ‘sshi’? I’m younger than you.”
Alexander shrugged, swinging his legs in a distracted way.
“My mother told me to use respectful language to everybody when I came to Korea, because I could get into trouble if I didn’t,” explained he, once again peering over Dongho shoulders. “I can call you ‘Dongho’ then?”
“Suit yourself,” mumbled Dongho, concentrating so hard that laser beams could be shot by his eyes at any given moment. He felt like killing… someone at that moment. Ah, how he hated math…
“Do you want dome with that equation?” Alexander seemed to have noticed Dongho’s troubled face and now offered help… at least it was what he wanted to say. The younger looked at him with a weird, slightly mocking and slightly incredulous stare.
“What did you just offer me?”
“Help!” he repeated slowly the word that he had intended to say. Dongho broke in a fit of laughter.
“Hyung! ‘Help’ has two syllables,” he said, covering his eyes with his hand. “You said ‘dome’ just there. Really, you…”
Alexander puffed his cheeks and pouted, his own way to say he didn’t like being mocked. However, it was futile, since it made Dongho only laugh more, so he gave up, trying to interrupt his dongsaeng’s enjoyment with a string of ‘enough!’s.
“Okay, okay, so let’s make a deal,” he offered when Dongho stopped laughing. “You help me with Korean, and, as an exchange, I’ll help you with math. I had good grades on math in my previous school, so I guess I can be useful. Deal?”
“Hm… wait,” Dongho rubbed his chin, suddenly aware of something. “Hyung… since you’re Chinese, you probably know a lot of hanja, isn’t it so?”
Alexander nodded hesitantly.
“Then, help me to get a step ahead my class in hanja,” he proposed. “And in math too, of course. Then I’ll help you with Korean. Okay?”
Dongho reached his hand forward, waiting for the other’s approval. Alexander stayed still for a minute, pretending to think about it.
“Okay, deal!” and shook Dongho’s hand.
-x-
Eli had already been in detention many times before, for a whole lot of different motives, but it’s the first time he has seen that person there too.
“Kevin!” he exclaims surprisedly when he sights the blond hair and the still very dirty running uniform. “What are you doing here?”
“I had forgotten my clothes…” he said with a sad face. “I tried to go to my room and change there, but Joo Sungtae caught me.”
Eli laughed. Kevin, in a loss of any other reaction to show, also laughed. At that moment when they were laughing together, Cheon Kamhwa entered the room and looked at them suspiciously with her tiny, vivid eyes that could make a hole in your forehead.
“Why are you two, you little infractors,” she waved her wooden rule in front of their faces. “laughing?”
They immediately stopped and looked at the floor.
“Sorry, Cheon Kamhwa sshi.”
“Good. Now it’s better,” she raised an eyebrow and handed them two sheets of ruled paper. “Now, as a punishment for you untidy and improper looks, you two will write a 50-lines-long assignment about ‘the importance of responsibility when wearing my school’s uniform’. When writing, remember not to give me any reason to render you two another detention. I want them ready in half an hour.”
And she exited the room, heels clicking majestically on the floor.
Eli sighed heavily. He hated writing, almost as much as he hated being sent to detention. Well, at least he didn’t have to weed the yards again… at that time, he spent 4 days because Kamhwa had caught him sliding down the stair rail. He never did that again, even though it had been one of the most entertaining things he had ever done.
“You see? If you hadn’t taken your competition with Kibum hyung seriously, you wouldn’t be here,” Eli said matter-of-factly, trying not to look at the blank paper in front of him.
Kevin said nothing, making Eli feel uneasy. Maybe he had been too rude? When Kevin sighed, he got ready to apologize right away.
“It’s just,” Kevin spoke out just when he was about to say sorry. “You… you know how we two became friends? Kibum hyung and I.”
“You two met in elementary school, isn’t it so?” Eli tried. Kevin gave a small smile.
“Yeah, but we didn’t become friends instantly,” he said, toying with his pencil. “He was older and a really popular kid, the type who could chose who he wanted to play with and who he didn’t,” he chuckled silently, looking a bit nostalgic. “He never wanted to play with me. My classmates used to tell everyone that I only had girl’s toys…”
“That’s horrible of them,” Eli commented, sympathetic.
“It was the truth, actually,” Kevin smiled widely, but it quickly faded away. “I only had Kens. They were somewhat fashionable, I liked them… but the other boys didn’t.”
“So no one played with you?” Eli’s brows were curving upwards.
“All the girls loved me, but no, none of the boys even tried to get close to me,” a pause. He looked down, the nostalgic smile reappearing. “Then, one day, we were going to have a race. There were no teachers watching us at that moment. My friends convinced me to run, because they thought that I was fast, since I was skinny and light and all. Kibum hyung wanted to run too. He was an athletic kid when he was younger, you did know that, didn’t you?”
Eli nodded. Most people around Kibum knew that he had turned from a jock to a bookworm in few years.
“Well, I wanted to win, because people believed I would. So I gave my best in that race, and managed to compete on the same level with the one who was winning. Who was Kibum hyung,” he looked up, as if he was recalling the exact scene. “But one of his friends made me trip right before the homestretch. He put his foot in front of me and I fell, and injured my knee too. I tried very hard not to cry, but it hurt. It hurt a lot, not only my knee. Inside of me, I was deeply hurt too.”
Eli nodded understandingly. He knew that feeling. He had suffered from a similar pain in the past.
“And then, while I was limping away to try to clean myself and maybe cry in the bathroom, a hand pulled my shoulder harshly,” Kevin made a gesture. “It was Kibum hyung. He was panting very hard, but wasn’t sweating. It was the first time he went to talk to me. He said, ‘Yah!” he mimicked Kibum’s way of talking. “’Why did you fall? You were so close! I can’t believe how dumb you are. We have to run again, come on!’ and pulled me back to the yard.”
“He actually did that??” exclaimed Eli, eyes wide open… as much as it was possible for someone with eyes that small. Kevin laughed, nodding.
“He did. I was very confused, but he kept pulling me. He was exclaiming things like, ‘Come on, don’t be a chicken! You have to finish it properly!’, and I couldn’t answer because of the shock. Then, a teacher appeared and saw that I was injured, so she pulled me from him and carried me to the infirmary. He followed us!” he shook his head. “From this day on, he bugged me for a whole week to finish the race properly against him. We ended up being friends. And I never won the race. I never got as close as I was to win in that day. This is my goal this year,” Kevin looked down, now seeming a bit gloomy. “To be in his level again. So we can finish our race properly.”
Silence followed Kevin’s narrative, as Eli only looked at his friend silently, with soft eyes. Everybody knew that Kevin was very affectionate with Kibum, yes, but he never even thought of a reason like that. It made him review his opinion about Kevin overdoing in training.
“So… if this is the real reason, it’s okay. You’re right,” Eli smiled, sending a thumbs-up. “Good luck, okay? Fighting!”
“Fighting!” Kevin repeated, smiling and doing a v-sign. Then, he sighed. “Ah, we still have a 50lines-long essay to write…”
The harsh truth hit them like a tornado.
-x-
That night, Kevin managed to get Kamhwa’s permission to train at night in the tracks. The beadle was okay with that, partly because she found him cute, partly because he was a good boy at school, and also because Kevin had told her that he wanted to train for the school’s big hide-and-seek game, and she liked the fired-up spirit that he showed. Now, it was 11 PM and he was running dedicatedly, in deep thought.
”Why do you only have these,” 8-year-old Kibum grabbed one of Kevin’s Kens and shook it, crinkling his nose. “strange dolls?”
“Because mama bought me them and it would be rude not to play with them,” 6-year-old Kevin replied pouting, trying not to kneel on his injured knee. He straightened Ken Malibu’s shorts. “They’re guys just like your dolls. Why can’t I play with you?”
“Nah, yours are different. And mine isn’t a doll, it’s a Falcon,” Kibum replied petulantly, shaking his Falcon in front of Kevin’s face. “He’s a tough guy who destroys all the monsters with his cool guns. Your dolls only have ugly outfits.”
“And where’s your gun?” Kevin put his hands on his hips, slightly annoyed.
“The monster took it and buried on the sand,” Kibum shrugged. “I’ll get it later. Where’s your gun, Mr. Fancy?”
“I don’t have guns,” Kevin looked down sadly. “Mama doesn’t like them. I have a sword, though. It came with Ken Aladdin,” the little boy rummaged through his backpack and found the little plastic scimitar, showing it to Kibum, who grabbed it with interest. “Here! Can I play with you now?”
“Hm… this sword is okay,” Kibum nodded as if he had been convinced, just to smirk wickedly when he saw the hope in Kevin’s face. “But I’ll only play with you when I get my race!”
“Not fair!” Kevin yelled, curving his lower lip unconsciously. “Hyung, I promise we’ll run again when my knee get better. Is it okay?”
Kibum rubbed his chin.
“Do you promise?” Kibum asked, reaching his pinky out. “Pinky promise?”
“Pinky pr-“ Kibum flicked his forehead. “Ack!!”
“Only girls do pinky promises,” announced the older boy, laughing, but with no hints of evilness in his laughter. “Come play, then. Bring Mr. Fancy with you.”
Kevin smiled brightly…
... as he felt the sweat on his forehead and the chilling wind on his cheeks. He looked like an idiot, smiling to no one, so he promptly stopped, but the feeling remained.
Eight years ago, a race had changed Kevin’s life. Now, he wanted to be the one who would do something spectacular. He wanted Kibum to be as surprised as little Kevin was that day, when that older and popular boy talked to him when no other boy did.
Then, maybe… maybe Kibum would feel what Kevin felt for him.
Group: U-Kiss
Pairing: Many. Slight Kemaru, if you really want to see it.
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Boarding High School AU. Bad English, bad Korean, bad Mandarin.
Summary: Kim Elison wasn’t rich. Or smart. Not specially smart, at least. But he was in Ah Gyeong Beom boarding school anyway, so he just had to cope with the kitchen work, the crazed students and the cold shower.
N/A: Guess who's back! I never dropped this fic, guys. I was fighting for it. I seriously want to finish it. D: I'll give my best~ This chapter is slightly Kevin-centered.
[ Chapter One] [ Chapter Two]
Kevin Woo was a man in mission.
You see, his family never cared much about sports. His father was rarely at home, although he did everything he could to stay with his family, and the ones responsible for Kevin’s education - his mother, grandmother, aunts and cousins - couldn’t care less about other exercise than dance, aerobics and eventually badminton. He was always treated lightly during badminton games, by the way, because all the women were older and quicker than him. Needless to say, Kevin was quite a failure at sports.
Kim Kibum, on the other side - the rich, smart and popular sunbae Kim Kibum - had always lived in close bonds with his father and his brother, and the whole family practiced sports. Kibum was good in football, in volleyball, in races, in basketball... the only thing at which he wasn’t very good was at swimming, which figured no vantages to Kevin, since he couldn’t swim.
But you know what? Kim Kibum’s glorious days were over. This year was his last year in school, and Kevin would make sure to defeat him in every single match.
First decision he takes is waking up 5AM everyday to go to the racing track. He feels like Forrest Gump.
-x-
Yes, the bedroom was big. Much more than big, actually. Eli felt agoraphobic.
“And this is supposed to be a double bedroom,” he mumbled, looking around amazed. “These kids are really rich.”
“What am I doing here?” Alexander shouted, laughing. He looked at the beds, dumbfounded. “Three beds this big fitting in a double bedroom. I feel like a beggar.”
“I told you the bedrooms were enormous,” Dongho said matter-of-factly. “The bathroom is equally big. And they have a bathtub.”
“How do you know all of this?” Eli asked curiously, looking inside the wardrobe with interest.
“Friends often invite me to their bedrooms,” the younger boy shrugged. “So... who’s going to sleep where?”
The three looked at each other.
“Anywhere is fine for me,” Eli announced, raising his hand.
“For me too,” Alexander mimicked him. Dongho clicked his tongue.
“I’ll take the one near the window then,” he stated, jumping on it unceremoniously as if to demark his territory.
“I’ll claim the bathroom,” Alexander stated, opening his suitcase to collect some clothes and his girly shampoo bottle and soap case. “I smell like today’s lunch.”
“We all do, I guess,” Dongho commented. “Ah, thanks God today the afternoon is off, ugh.”
“The day seems good for a-“ Eli was looking through the window, contemplating the view when something caught his attention. “What… I’ll be back in a minute.”
And, giving Dongho no further explanation, he exited the room and walked down the stairs towards the south-east wing’s yard, trying not to run while he stepped on the marble. If Kamhwa caught him running in the hallways without the ‘I’m-late-for-classes’ explanation to support him, Eli would be locked in detention for the whole weekend. After some minutes - it was at times like those that Eli realized how huge the school building was - he finally reached the yard, going straight to the mismatched figure exercising in the racing tracks.
“Kevin!” Eli called out, interrupting the boys focus as he did… tried to do some push-ups. Apparently, Kevin got so startled that he lost balance and fell on the dusty floor, sort of making a fool of himself.
“Oh. Hi, Eli,” he panted out as he got up, dusting the brown dust from his white running shorts. “You surprised me. How are you?”
“What are you doing? Are you on detention?” Eli kneeled beside where his friend was sitting, getting the knees of his pants dirty in the process. Kevin was looking awfully sweaty, tired and somewhat dirty too. “You look like you’ve been exercising since lunch time.”
“I am, actually,” Kevin tried to breathe. “Not on detention, exercising since lunch time. But I’m not on detention, I’m on a mission.”
“On a mission?”
Kevin nodded firmly.
“I’ll ace sports,” he winced, holding his ribs. “Okay, maybe I won’t be able to ace sports, but I’ll get at least minimally good at sports,” a spark lightened his eyes. “To defeat him.”
Eli, at first, was confused by Kevin’s strange spy-movie-like talk. Then, after some seconds, he understood.
“You’re training this hard just to defeat Kibum hyung on the hide-and-seek game??” he gave an incredulous chuckle, but he stopped when he saw that Kevin had nodded, face very serious. “Kevin, aren’t you overdoing it a bit?”
“There’s no such thing in my dictionary,” Kevin threw back, trying to get up. “Overdoing. I’m not ‘overdoing’, I’m giving my best. It’s a necessary sacrifice.”
“You shouldn’t take things so seriously, you know. It’s just a game,” he then noticed that Kevin wasn’t succeeding in his quest to stand up. “Here, let me help you. Hold onto my shoulders.”
Kevin did, but lost balance when Eli pulled him up and ended up falling face first onto Eli’s chest, leaving a stamp of sweat and dust on his clean, although old and somewhat worn out, white uniform shirt.
“Oh, thank you Kevin,” Eli complained with distaste, helping the other boy to stand up properly. Poor thing. He did look a whole lot tired.
“I’m sorry, oppa,” Kevin said in a mocking high-pitched voice. “You’ll see it, hyung. I’ll be the pride of our class.”
“Okay, Kevin, I trust you,” Eli said very seriously, putting a hand on Kevin’s sweaty shoulder. “But it’s enough for today. You should go take a shower now.”
“Huh? No, I-“
“You can barely stand on your feet.”
Kevin closed his mouth. Eli got a point there.
“Okay, I guess,” he said thoughtfully. “I’ll go now then.”
Eli nodded, proud of his dongsaeng. “Fighting!”
“Fighting!” Kevin answered before going away, raising his fist.
With that, Eli could consider his job as done; thus, he walked back to his dorm without rushing, almost missing the way and going to his old bedroom. He would probably never get used to the fact that he now slept near the other students… not that he felt discriminated by them or anything, no, far from this. But he did feel very different from them, all those rich kids who had two laptops, one for personal use and one for back-up, and wore Lacoste cologne everyday as if it was cheap deodorant.
“Eli.”
He stopped on his tracks when he heard a voice calling his name. Turning around, he saw a head peeking out from one of the bedrooms. It was Kibum.
“Hyung? This is not your room, is it?” Eli frowned, looking at the number. As far as he knew, Kibum’s dorm in the south wing, not in the south-east.
“No, it’s Kwon’s. We’re studying Literature,” Kibum explained, straightening his glasses. “Eli, what is Kevin doing in the racing tracks? He’s there since half past two. I saw that you went to talk to him.”
Eli blinked, not expecting that question.
“Ah! He’s training--,” Eli stopped on his tracks. He shouldn’t tell Kibum about Kevin’s goal at all, or Kibum would be a step ahead him. More than he already was naturally. “To gain some muscle. He said that he wants to build a muscular figure.”
Kibum let out a sincere but obviously incredulous laughter.
“This Kevin… I don’t know what he thinks sometimes,” he shook his head, still laughing. “Well, tell him that he’s doing it slightly wrong, okay? But don’t tell him I was the one who said this or he’ll come ask me for help.”
A voice inside the bedroom demanded for Kibum’s presence, so the senior gave Eli a little wave and closed the door.
Eli smiled secretively at the closed door. Those two… he chuckled silently, resuming his walk to the bedroom - and finding Cheon Kamhwa walking firmly towards him, eyes burning with victory.
“Elison, dear,” She said when she was near enough, smiling with fake sweetness while raising a small book with a carmine cover. “I believe you do have the school’s guidebook in your room, don’t you?”
“I do, Cheon Kamhwa sshi,” Eli answered, afraid of what would come next.
“Have you ever,” she opened the book and flipped the pages until she found what she was looking for and showed it to Eli. “read the rule number 6 of the second section, my dear?”
He searched for the rule number six on the page she was holding in front of him - ah, there it was. 6 - To circulate freely in the hallways, the student must wear the uniform properly, clean and complete. He looked down to his own dirt-soiled shirt.
Oops.
-x-
Dongho was almost falling asleep over his Math exercises when Alexander got out of the bathroom, fresh and smelling of floral soap.
“… aya. Where’s Eli?” he asked, looking around with a puzzled face.
“Aya,” Dongho repeated quietly, chuckling. Alexander heard it, though, and faced Dongho with his hands on his hips.
“Is it some curse word in Korean?” he asked mockingly. “Or are you just bullying me because I’m from China?”
“It just sounds funny,” answered the boy, concentrated on the math equation he was trying to solve. He frowned at how impossible the equation was, and only stared at the black text, not knowing where to begin from. He got slightly annoyed at how Alexander was trying to peer over his shoulder; he hated when people did that.
“What?” he asked, a bit rudely.
“Dongho sshi, you must be good in math, isn’t it so?” Alexander said, poking his shoulder. “I mean, you calculated those prices very well and found a better way of living for the three of us.”
“It wasn’t me who did those. A friend of mine told me all that,” he answered simply, trying to think harder. “Why you call me ‘sshi’? I’m younger than you.”
Alexander shrugged, swinging his legs in a distracted way.
“My mother told me to use respectful language to everybody when I came to Korea, because I could get into trouble if I didn’t,” explained he, once again peering over Dongho shoulders. “I can call you ‘Dongho’ then?”
“Suit yourself,” mumbled Dongho, concentrating so hard that laser beams could be shot by his eyes at any given moment. He felt like killing… someone at that moment. Ah, how he hated math…
“Do you want dome with that equation?” Alexander seemed to have noticed Dongho’s troubled face and now offered help… at least it was what he wanted to say. The younger looked at him with a weird, slightly mocking and slightly incredulous stare.
“What did you just offer me?”
“Help!” he repeated slowly the word that he had intended to say. Dongho broke in a fit of laughter.
“Hyung! ‘Help’ has two syllables,” he said, covering his eyes with his hand. “You said ‘dome’ just there. Really, you…”
Alexander puffed his cheeks and pouted, his own way to say he didn’t like being mocked. However, it was futile, since it made Dongho only laugh more, so he gave up, trying to interrupt his dongsaeng’s enjoyment with a string of ‘enough!’s.
“Okay, okay, so let’s make a deal,” he offered when Dongho stopped laughing. “You help me with Korean, and, as an exchange, I’ll help you with math. I had good grades on math in my previous school, so I guess I can be useful. Deal?”
“Hm… wait,” Dongho rubbed his chin, suddenly aware of something. “Hyung… since you’re Chinese, you probably know a lot of hanja, isn’t it so?”
Alexander nodded hesitantly.
“Then, help me to get a step ahead my class in hanja,” he proposed. “And in math too, of course. Then I’ll help you with Korean. Okay?”
Dongho reached his hand forward, waiting for the other’s approval. Alexander stayed still for a minute, pretending to think about it.
“Okay, deal!” and shook Dongho’s hand.
-x-
Eli had already been in detention many times before, for a whole lot of different motives, but it’s the first time he has seen that person there too.
“Kevin!” he exclaims surprisedly when he sights the blond hair and the still very dirty running uniform. “What are you doing here?”
“I had forgotten my clothes…” he said with a sad face. “I tried to go to my room and change there, but Joo Sungtae caught me.”
Eli laughed. Kevin, in a loss of any other reaction to show, also laughed. At that moment when they were laughing together, Cheon Kamhwa entered the room and looked at them suspiciously with her tiny, vivid eyes that could make a hole in your forehead.
“Why are you two, you little infractors,” she waved her wooden rule in front of their faces. “laughing?”
They immediately stopped and looked at the floor.
“Sorry, Cheon Kamhwa sshi.”
“Good. Now it’s better,” she raised an eyebrow and handed them two sheets of ruled paper. “Now, as a punishment for you untidy and improper looks, you two will write a 50-lines-long assignment about ‘the importance of responsibility when wearing my school’s uniform’. When writing, remember not to give me any reason to render you two another detention. I want them ready in half an hour.”
And she exited the room, heels clicking majestically on the floor.
Eli sighed heavily. He hated writing, almost as much as he hated being sent to detention. Well, at least he didn’t have to weed the yards again… at that time, he spent 4 days because Kamhwa had caught him sliding down the stair rail. He never did that again, even though it had been one of the most entertaining things he had ever done.
“You see? If you hadn’t taken your competition with Kibum hyung seriously, you wouldn’t be here,” Eli said matter-of-factly, trying not to look at the blank paper in front of him.
Kevin said nothing, making Eli feel uneasy. Maybe he had been too rude? When Kevin sighed, he got ready to apologize right away.
“It’s just,” Kevin spoke out just when he was about to say sorry. “You… you know how we two became friends? Kibum hyung and I.”
“You two met in elementary school, isn’t it so?” Eli tried. Kevin gave a small smile.
“Yeah, but we didn’t become friends instantly,” he said, toying with his pencil. “He was older and a really popular kid, the type who could chose who he wanted to play with and who he didn’t,” he chuckled silently, looking a bit nostalgic. “He never wanted to play with me. My classmates used to tell everyone that I only had girl’s toys…”
“That’s horrible of them,” Eli commented, sympathetic.
“It was the truth, actually,” Kevin smiled widely, but it quickly faded away. “I only had Kens. They were somewhat fashionable, I liked them… but the other boys didn’t.”
“So no one played with you?” Eli’s brows were curving upwards.
“All the girls loved me, but no, none of the boys even tried to get close to me,” a pause. He looked down, the nostalgic smile reappearing. “Then, one day, we were going to have a race. There were no teachers watching us at that moment. My friends convinced me to run, because they thought that I was fast, since I was skinny and light and all. Kibum hyung wanted to run too. He was an athletic kid when he was younger, you did know that, didn’t you?”
Eli nodded. Most people around Kibum knew that he had turned from a jock to a bookworm in few years.
“Well, I wanted to win, because people believed I would. So I gave my best in that race, and managed to compete on the same level with the one who was winning. Who was Kibum hyung,” he looked up, as if he was recalling the exact scene. “But one of his friends made me trip right before the homestretch. He put his foot in front of me and I fell, and injured my knee too. I tried very hard not to cry, but it hurt. It hurt a lot, not only my knee. Inside of me, I was deeply hurt too.”
Eli nodded understandingly. He knew that feeling. He had suffered from a similar pain in the past.
“And then, while I was limping away to try to clean myself and maybe cry in the bathroom, a hand pulled my shoulder harshly,” Kevin made a gesture. “It was Kibum hyung. He was panting very hard, but wasn’t sweating. It was the first time he went to talk to me. He said, ‘Yah!” he mimicked Kibum’s way of talking. “’Why did you fall? You were so close! I can’t believe how dumb you are. We have to run again, come on!’ and pulled me back to the yard.”
“He actually did that??” exclaimed Eli, eyes wide open… as much as it was possible for someone with eyes that small. Kevin laughed, nodding.
“He did. I was very confused, but he kept pulling me. He was exclaiming things like, ‘Come on, don’t be a chicken! You have to finish it properly!’, and I couldn’t answer because of the shock. Then, a teacher appeared and saw that I was injured, so she pulled me from him and carried me to the infirmary. He followed us!” he shook his head. “From this day on, he bugged me for a whole week to finish the race properly against him. We ended up being friends. And I never won the race. I never got as close as I was to win in that day. This is my goal this year,” Kevin looked down, now seeming a bit gloomy. “To be in his level again. So we can finish our race properly.”
Silence followed Kevin’s narrative, as Eli only looked at his friend silently, with soft eyes. Everybody knew that Kevin was very affectionate with Kibum, yes, but he never even thought of a reason like that. It made him review his opinion about Kevin overdoing in training.
“So… if this is the real reason, it’s okay. You’re right,” Eli smiled, sending a thumbs-up. “Good luck, okay? Fighting!”
“Fighting!” Kevin repeated, smiling and doing a v-sign. Then, he sighed. “Ah, we still have a 50lines-long essay to write…”
The harsh truth hit them like a tornado.
-x-
That night, Kevin managed to get Kamhwa’s permission to train at night in the tracks. The beadle was okay with that, partly because she found him cute, partly because he was a good boy at school, and also because Kevin had told her that he wanted to train for the school’s big hide-and-seek game, and she liked the fired-up spirit that he showed. Now, it was 11 PM and he was running dedicatedly, in deep thought.
”Why do you only have these,” 8-year-old Kibum grabbed one of Kevin’s Kens and shook it, crinkling his nose. “strange dolls?”
“Because mama bought me them and it would be rude not to play with them,” 6-year-old Kevin replied pouting, trying not to kneel on his injured knee. He straightened Ken Malibu’s shorts. “They’re guys just like your dolls. Why can’t I play with you?”
“Nah, yours are different. And mine isn’t a doll, it’s a Falcon,” Kibum replied petulantly, shaking his Falcon in front of Kevin’s face. “He’s a tough guy who destroys all the monsters with his cool guns. Your dolls only have ugly outfits.”
“And where’s your gun?” Kevin put his hands on his hips, slightly annoyed.
“The monster took it and buried on the sand,” Kibum shrugged. “I’ll get it later. Where’s your gun, Mr. Fancy?”
“I don’t have guns,” Kevin looked down sadly. “Mama doesn’t like them. I have a sword, though. It came with Ken Aladdin,” the little boy rummaged through his backpack and found the little plastic scimitar, showing it to Kibum, who grabbed it with interest. “Here! Can I play with you now?”
“Hm… this sword is okay,” Kibum nodded as if he had been convinced, just to smirk wickedly when he saw the hope in Kevin’s face. “But I’ll only play with you when I get my race!”
“Not fair!” Kevin yelled, curving his lower lip unconsciously. “Hyung, I promise we’ll run again when my knee get better. Is it okay?”
Kibum rubbed his chin.
“Do you promise?” Kibum asked, reaching his pinky out. “Pinky promise?”
“Pinky pr-“ Kibum flicked his forehead. “Ack!!”
“Only girls do pinky promises,” announced the older boy, laughing, but with no hints of evilness in his laughter. “Come play, then. Bring Mr. Fancy with you.”
Kevin smiled brightly…
... as he felt the sweat on his forehead and the chilling wind on his cheeks. He looked like an idiot, smiling to no one, so he promptly stopped, but the feeling remained.
Eight years ago, a race had changed Kevin’s life. Now, he wanted to be the one who would do something spectacular. He wanted Kibum to be as surprised as little Kevin was that day, when that older and popular boy talked to him when no other boy did.
Then, maybe… maybe Kibum would feel what Kevin felt for him.