Sunday, February 18, 2007
Title: Keep In Touch
Rating: PG-13
Index: 01
"It's always business," retorted EeTeuk as he folded his arms over his chest. Even though his tone was rather harsh, one could definitely see the worry and pain written across his face. KangIn stared up at him from the step below. There was a look of amusement on his face as he reached up towards EeTeuk's face. His finger suddenly met in the center of EeTeuk's bright cherry red-rimmed glasses. "Because it simply is business," said KangIn. And with that, he took the final step and placed an arm around EeTeuk's shoulder as he did the same. The two walked towards the table together and eventually drifted apart, with EeTeuk returning to his seat next to HanKyung and KangIn taking the empty seat next to ShinDong.
"It's no use worrying about it," said HanKyung as he tossed the apple in his hand to the other. Glancing over at the older boy, he took a bite, gently lapping up the juices than began to trickle down the side of the fruit. "He's going to do what's necessary."
"It may be necessary, but it isn't right," said EeTeuk. He glanced across the table at KangIn, watching as he and ShinDong peered over the edge of the balcony to steal looks at the new student. They had good lives, he knew that. But exactly how long were these good lives going to last? They each had their own respective duties to uphold and nobody said this was going to last forever. So how could he get mad at him for worrying? He was worrying for a good reason. He knew that KangIn had a future already set in stone for him, hell, he knew that from the day they became friends way back in Preschool. But that didn't mean he had to like KangIn's future, especially when KangIn himself was hurrying it as fast as he could.
"Something on your mind?" piped in EunHyuk. EeTeuk slowly turned his head to the left and jumped in surprise to see EunHyuk's head placed right over his shoulder. His friend was grinning with his hands scrunched up into fists that were stuck under his chin. Smiling, EeTeuk took his finger and gently pushed EunHyuk away by pressing against the boy's temple. Taking this chance to be over dramatic, EunHyuk leaped to the side and then stumbled onto DongHae's lap where he proceeded to pretend as if he had been shot in the head. But DongHae quickly dashed the idea when he pointed out that if he had been shot in the head, he wouldn't have been able to drone on before he actually died. "You didn't have to ruin it so fast." EunHyuk sat up and playfully slapped DongHae on the knee.
"I promise I won't do it again," said DongHae as he grinned and bowed his head down to give EunHyuk a surprise kiss on the cheek. This of course caused EunHyuk to go into hysterics and began squealing and run about the balcony.
-----
"Are they always so loud?" asked SungMin as he glanced over his shoulder at the balcony. He could clearly see the bobbing head of EunHyuk and hear the high-pitched squeals emitting from the boy.
"You get used to it," said YeSung as he leaned sideways in his seat so that his head now nestled comfortably on RyeoWook's shoulder. The latter was busy packing up his lunchbox and putting the chopsticks back into their plastic containers. SungMin watched them silently, a little bewildered by their actions. He had never really encountered many gay men back in his old town. Sure him and his friends were always affectionate in ways, but perhaps YeSung and RyeoWook were a little beyond that.
"Hey, SungMin," said KyuHyun. "How about I show you to your next class. The bell's about to ring anyway."
"Oh, um, sure," he said as he stood up and grabbed his bag. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, not sure if it was rude to say goodbye to the snuggling pair. KyuHyun saved him the trouble of debating it though, when he pointed out that they wouldn't really notice anyway. So the two made their way back to the hallways, while SungMin attempted to find his schedule once again. Digging into his pockets, he pulled out his hands to only find pieces of black lint. Frowning, he began to dig through the pockets of his bag until he finally pulled out the scrunched up piece of paper and handed it to KyuHyun.
"Well this'll be easy. You have next class with me," he said. He smiled and handed the paper back to SungMin as the two silently made their way down the hallway. SungMin glanced over at KyuHyun, wondering exactly how long him, YeSung, and RyeoWook and been friends and how long YeSung and RyeoWook had been a couple...well, that is, if they were a couple. Because it made him wonder if perhaps in someways KyuHyun was lonely because of it.
"So...are Yesung and RyeoWook..." began SungMin, but he didn't have to finish for KyuHyun to know what he was getting at.
"I guess you could say that," said KyuHyun as he shrugged. "They flirt and they go on dates...well actually, they always say they're just going to go hang out, but I know what they mean. It's just they've never officially said anything like 'Yes we're dating.' or 'Yes. We're gay.'. It's just something unspoken between us. It's not like I mind, so it's not a big deal."
"Why don't they say anything?" asked SungMin.
"I guess it's just because they don't want their business to be everyone elses," said KyuHyun.
"Oh. I see," said SungMin as he nodded. KyuHyun suddenly stopped and slipped into a classroom just as the bell rang. Figuring this was their next class, he stepped in after him and glanced around the room. It was very similar to Mr. Han's room, except instead of posters and models referring to Math, this room was more Science oriented. Taking a seat next to KyuHyun, SungMin began to play with the clasp of his bag absentmindly as students began to file in. Amongst the unknown faces, he spotted EunHyuk and KangIn making their way in together.
"Who're you?" somebody suddenly snapped. SungMin jumped up in his seat and looked up at the person leaning forward towards him. It was definitely an older male and his face wasn't exactly the picture of happiness. Taking a gulp, he scrambled around for his schedule once more because his name had just completely slipped him.
"Lee SungMin. New student. Right?" somebody spoke as they clasped a hand over his shoulder. Looking up, SungMin was surprised to find none other than EunHyuk smiling down at him. "So Mr. Joon, no need to scare him on his first day."
"Mr. Lee, go sit back down," muttered the teacher as he walked back to his desk.
"No need to worry about him. He's probably just mad that his wife didn't come home again," said EunHyuk as he laughed, gave him a light pat on the back and then made his way to the empty seat next to KangIn. SungMin opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it quickly and slowly turned back to the front of the room. Somehow, it felt as if he wasn't privileged enough to actually talk to someone like Lee EunHyuk.
"How did he know my name?" asked SungMin quickly to KyuHyun. KyuHyun put down the book he had been glancing through and looked up at SungMin and shrugged.
"They know everything," he simply said and then returned to his book.
They know everything. SungMin couldn't help but shudder at the thought. He had no doubt that it was most likely very true. Rich people like that had to have lots of connections. Especially since EunHyuk's friend was the President's son. Wasn't he entitled to a little privacy?
"Here," said Mr. Joon as he tossed a thick book onto SungMin's desk. "We're going over physics and I expect you to be caught up. We're not going to slow down just because the school board thought it'd be smart to let in a kid halfway through the first semester." And with that, Joon returned to the chalkboard, muttering who-knows-what under his breath.
"Is it true about his wife?" whispered SungMin as he leaned over to KyuHyun.
"It's a rumour," said KyuHyun.
SungMin nodded and glanced over his shoulder once more to take a look at EunHyuk. They knew everything, right? So who was to say that they didn't know about the personal lives of the staff at the school? Suddenly, his eyes met KangIn's and he quickly snapped back around and fumbled for his pencil so that he'd look as if he had been taking diligent notes. Even though...there wasn't anything written on the chalkboard yet.
"Getting a little attached there?" asked KangIn as he leaned back in his seat and proceeded to stare at the back of SungMin's head.
"Attached? Nooooo. Of course not," said EunHyuk as he chuckled. "Just being friendly to the new guy, that's all." He hadn't really done it to be nice to the new kid though, he had done it to get under Joon's skin. It was always just fun getting under his skin. And it was just funny to know that his own wife wasn't coming home at night because she was too busy having fun with one of his students. Not him of course, he wasn't really into the whole older women deal and plus, if he ran off with some woman, where would that leave his poor little DongHae?
SungMin tapped his pen lightly upon his notebook, watching as Mr. Joon wrote endless amounts of useless information on the chalkboard. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the things written on the board were 99.99% likely taken exactly from the book. Word for word. So SungMin didn't see the point in writing notes down now if he could just simply flip through the chapter later. Sighing, he cupped his chin into the palm of his hand and turned his head to look at KyuHyun. It seemed the boy had decided not to take notes either. Instead, it seemed as if he was taking a little nap under the safety of his long hair.
-----
"Hey, hey," said EeTeuk as he tapped the screen of the glowing computer. "Watch your grammar there."
“Oh…right,” said HanKyung as he sighed and quickly backspaced back. Furrowing his eyebrows together, his fingers rested upon the keyboard, trying to remember the right way to type the word. “You know what, this is just stupid. What’s the point of writing this paper now anyway?” Sighing, he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest in frustration.
“You’ve been in Korea for more than five years now and your grammar still sucks as ever,” said EeTeuk as he laughed and patted his friend on the back.
“Well Father said I had to learn how to speak it, not how to write it,” muttered HanKyung as he shoved the keyboard aside to lay his head down on the table. Sighing, he buried his head into his arms and let out a muffled cry. EeTeuk merely chuckled in amusement from behind his book, casually glancing at the mop of brown hair sprawled before him. HanKyung arrived in Korea approximately seven years ago when his Father and Mother decided that it was best for him to move to Korea with his Father. This was only because three years before, his parents had decided on getting a divorce and his Mother took that opportunity to send off her son so she would have the free time to look for a new husband.
“So,” said HanKyung suddenly as he looked up. “My Mother called me last night to confirm her arrival.”
“Oh, so she is coming,” said EeTeuk as he put down his book. HanKyung’s Mother was known to flake on more than one occasion. He remembered six years ago his Mother had promised to come to Korea to introduce HanKyung to her new husband, but she canceled it a few weeks later saying she had a new movie to shoot. Four years ago she called to say she was coming to Korea to introduce HanKyung to his new half sister, but she canceled it a few weeks later saying her daughter had fallen ill and couldn’t make the flight. Last year she had called to say that she was coming with the whole family to visit him, but on the day of her arrival, she never got off the plane and HanKyung went home to find that she had left him a message an hour before telling him that she had overslept and missed the flight. So EeTeuk couldn’t help but not feel too excited for his friend.
“I guess,” said HanKyung as he shrugged and sat back up. “I told Dad about it and he laughed and wished me luck.” It was pretty much known to all of Asia that HanKyung’s parents were definitely not on the best of terms, pre and post divorce.
“If she does show up, she wouldn’t expect to stay at your house, does she?” asked EeTeuk curiously.
“Dad said he doesn’t care and that she probably wouldn’t show up anyway. But he said just in case she does come this time, he’ll be on a business trip to America anyway,” said HanKyung as he brushed a few of his dyed locks from his face. He couldn’t even remember the last time that his parents had even exchanged words that weren’t yelled across the room or the phone.
“Well then I’m sure it’ll be fine and maybe she’ll bring that little sister of yours,” said EeTeuk. “I saw her in a tabloid the other day with your Mother actually. Some new scandal about how she’s not really the daughter of your Mother’s current husband or something.”
HanKyung rolled his eyes and sighed. “Who knows.”
“But when is she supposed to arrive anyway?” asked EeTeuk as he picked up his book again.
“This coming Monday,” said HanKyung.
“Want me to come with you?” asked EeTeuk.
“Nah, I’ll be fine,” said HanKyung as he shrugged. “Plus, you should probably be here to make sure KangIn actually comes to school.” At this, HanKyung took a look over his shoulder to take a glance at EeTeuk. The words had definitely affected the boy because instead of the smile he usually had with the tiny dimple on the side, he had a much more sour expression and the book in his hands was currently being strangled by the boy’s strong grasp. “Whatever happened to ‘Oh don’t worry about me HanKyung. I’m not worried about that jerk one bit.’?”
“I-I’m not worrying,” said EeTeuk as he quickly closed the book and tossed it on the table. “It’s just…just frustrating, that’s all.” Although in all honesty, he couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t worrying about KangIn. He had known KangIn ever since he could remember, mainly because their Fathers were business partners in a sense. He could even remember the first time they had met, it was when he was three years old and some older kid had come by and stolen his ice cream and he had ended up crying in the middle of the sidewalk. Then all of a sudden, KangIn came running by and had beaten and bullied the kid and gotten the ice cream back, despite the fact that KangIn had been three years younger than the kid and a great deal smaller. Still, after that EeTeuk had treated KangIn to ice cream and ever since then, the two had been good friends.
“Right…right, okay,” said HanKyung as he reluctantly turned back to his paper.
“Definitely not worrying,” muttered EeTeuk.
-----
“Do you want to come along?” asked YeSung as he quickly unattached his bike from the rack.
“We usually go over to RyeoWook’s after school,” said KyuHyun as he swung his leg over his bike and sat himself down.
“But we always end up in town afterwards,” said RyeoWook as he took a seat on the back of YeSung’s bike. SungMin stood awkwardly before them, watching form the corner of his eye as limo after limo and Mercedes after Mercedes drive off with all the rich kids within them. And here he was, standing amongst the scholarship kids who had to go home on bikes and then him…who couldn’t even afford a bike and had to walk home. Oh the embarrassment and shame. How low could he be on the ladder of SM Academy?
“I’m sorry, I can’t,” said SungMin. “I have to help finish unpacking everything.”
“That’s okay. How about this weekend then? Do you have a cell?” asked RyeoWook as he pulled his out to grab SungMin’s number.
“Actually…I…um…I don’t have a cell,” said SungMin as he looked down at his feet and rubbed his hands together. He was probably the poorest kid attending the whole school.
“That’s okay. Do you have a home phone?” asked RyeoWook as he smiled.
“Uh…yeah,” said SungMin as he leaned over to quickly relay the numbers to RyeoWook. KyuHyun watched silently from his bike as SungMin corrected RyeoWook in repeating his home phone number. He couldn’t put a finger on exactly what he felt towards SungMin. He was sure it was something mixed with a bit of pity, despite how bad that sounded because it wasn’t like his own family was that well off either. Still, he had never realized how much worse off some others were.
“Hey KyuHyun, come on,” said YeSung as he waved his hand in front of his friend’s face. “We’re going.”
“Oh, yeah,” said KyuHyun as he nodded.
“See you later SungMin!” said RyeoWook as he waved quickly at SungMin before he returned to wrap his arms around YeSung’s waist so he wouldn’t fall off.
KyuHyun slowly pedaled after the two, glancing over his shoulder every few feet to watch the retreating figure of SungMin.
-----
Unpacking. Right. As if he even had enough stuff to unpack. Sighing, SungMin placed his hands on the strap of his bag and glanced up. How in the world could he have ever explained to them that he couldn’t possibly hang out after school because he had to go home to take care of his sickly, senile grandmother and his even sicker brother? Sighing, he placed his key into the lock and turned until he heard the click of the door and let himself in.
“Ah! DaeSung! You’re home!” suddenly cried an elderly lady as she shuffled up to the doorway to meet SungMin.
“No, it’s me SungMin Grandma,” he said as he took of his shoes and walked into the house. “DaeSung is Dad, remember?”
“Hm? What? Oh yes, yes. Of course, SungMin, isn’t that what I said?” she asked. “Should I go ahead and make dinner?” She suddenly began to make a beeline for the kitchen when SungMin quickly grabbed her by the elbow and sat her down on the comforter on the floor.
“Come on Grandma, you need to rest,” said SungMin as he placed a blanket over her lap.
“You’re always taking such good care of me DaeSung,” she said as she reached up to gently pat SungMin on the cheek. She then smiled and wiggled herself underneath the blanket and laid her head on the pillow.
SungMin sighed and stood up. “DaeSung’s dead. Dad’s dead,” muttered SungMin as he made his way to the only other room in the house. “You could at least remember that.” Opening the door, he was suddenly met with the sound of harsh coughs coming from under a pile of blankets in the middle of the room.
“Yah,” said SungMin as he shut the door behind him. “SungJin. Are you okay?”
“Hyung!” cried the figure from underneath the covers. “You’re home.” Sitting down, he pulled the covers up from the floor to find the grinning figure of his little brother under them. His dark charcoal hair was a mess and there were dark circles under his eyes. “How was school? Was it really cool?”
“It was okay,” said SungMin as he shrugged. “Do you want me to go make you some porridge?”
“No. I’m sick of porridge,” muttered SungJin as he sighed and rolled his eyes. “But you have to tell me about school. What do you mean by okay? Did you make friends? Are the teachers nice?” Soon enough SungJin had coaxed the older boy down to sit with him on the floor.
SungJin was SungMin’s thirteen-year-old brother, who ever since he had been born had been sick. SungMin couldn’t remember a day that didn’t pass that he would see SungJin coughing or stumbling over just from standing up. Yes it was amazing to see that such conditions never seemed to get the boy down, even though he had virtually no friends other than his own brother. He had been pulled out of school permanently at the age of eight when he completely passed out from exhaustion after the first hour.
“I made three new friends,” said SungMin as he smiled.
“Wow! Three! You’re amazing!” cried SungJin.
SungMin of course failed to mention that it was them who approached him and not the other way around. “They asked me to hang out this weekend.”
“You should totally go! I bet it’ll be loads of fun,” said SungJin.
“I don’t think so. You’ll need company,” said SungMin.
“No I don’t. Grandma is here,” said SungJin. “We’ll play Go-Stop and everything! Remember how Dad told us that she was the best Go-Stop player he had ever seen?”
“Yeah…” muttered SungMin as he smiled. If he could, he would have gladly taken SungJin along with him, but he knew that wasn’t even something he could consider doing.