사랑의 Fortune- Chapter 23
I walk into the Chemistry lab with Hyukjae just as the teacher is starting his lesson. He turns his head to glare at us, and I elbow Hyukjae when he starts grinning. Pulling him over to our lab table silently, I sit down and take out my note book.
"Today we will be making Acetylsalicylic Acid, commonly known as Asprin. The notes are on the board..... Donghae and Hyukjae, can you come up here please?" Seonsaengnim says, sitting down at his desk as the class starts taking notes. I get up with Hyukjae and walk up to his desk.
"Yes, Seonsaengnim?" I ask, and he runs his fingers through his hair as he looks up at us.
"First of all, don't be late again. Second.... Uhh.... I would rather you not do this experiment." Mr. Chun says, and I glance confusedly at Hyukjae, who shrugs.
"Why not?" Hyukjae asks, and Chun Seonsaengnim sighs, looking between the two of us.
"Last week, we did 4 labs. Of those four, you managed to either set them on fire, melt something, or cause a school wide evacuation for an hour as the school was ventilated by professionals." Seonsaengnim deadpans, and I bite my lip, trying to hide a very inappropriate grin threatening to bubble up onto my face.
"But Sir, those were accidents, and not even my fault!" Hyukjae protests, and I turn towards him and glare at him again. Not his fault?! Who's the one who kept distracting me?!
"Yah! What do you mean, 'not your fault?'" I hiss at him, and he takes a half step back before replying.
"Well Haehae, you knocked over the instruments into the fire, you mixed the wrong chemicals, and you are the one you mixed sulfuric acid up with water." Hyukjae says, and I hit him over the head.
"That was all cause by you distracting me! And you didn't stop me from doing it either! It's your fault!" I exclaim, and someone in the room snickers, making me notice everyone is watching.
"Class, go back to work. You two. Stop bickering or else I'll kick you out of the class." Seonsaengnim says, and I supress a complaint about the unfairness of teachers.
"And what do we do then?" Hyukjae asks, apparently irratated with the teacher as well, if the half clenched teeth are any indication.
"Write out what happens in this experiment chemically, and then the chemical formula." Teacher says, and I sigh at the thought of so much paperwork. Hyukjae and I nod our consent and go back to our lab table. Sitting down beside Hyukjae, I sigh again and put my head down on my crossed arms.
"I hate him." I mutter, and hear Hyuk laugh quietly beside me. Turning my head slightly and opening a eye to look at him, I see him grinning at me, causing a feeling of childishness to bubble up in me.
"What are you staring at?" I snap, and roll my eyes when he laughs harder. Groaning to myself, I try to make myself disappear, hitting my cast lightly against the table leg as I swing my legs, angling my feet so that they just skim the ground.
"You. So, do you hate the teacher, or me? I hope it's not me." Hyukjae replies, laying his head down beside mine in what couldn't be a comfortable position.
"Both. I hate the teacher for obvious reasons, and I hate you for obvious reasons as well." I say, closing my eye again. I feel his hand come up to stroke my hair, and I sigh into my arm.
"I don't think you hate me." Hyukjae states, and I reach out blindly to hit him, my eyes snapping open when I hit something distinctly not Hyukjae, resulting in a large crash.
"DONGHAE!!!!!!!!!!" Chun Seonsaengnim shouts, and I flinch before looking at the table, seeing a watery substan- oh no. Not again.
"I didn't mean to!" I exclaim, panicking as I stand up, away from the spilt hydrochloric acid. I see Hyukjae run over to a side table and take a jar of some type of crystals before sprinkling it onto the acid.
"I'm getting you reassigned to a different class! We'll all be better off if you aren't around chemicals!" Teacher yells, his face turning slightly red.
"There's no point, Seonsaengnim. I'm moving after school today." I say, and I see him sigh in what is probably relief, since the reddish hint to his face is disappearing.
"YOU'RE WHAT?!?!" I hear Yesung exclaim, before chaos erupts around us as everyone starts talking at once.
"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Heechul roars, and the classroom is immediately silent, watching Heechul rubs his temples.
"Donghae is moving back to Mokpo tomorrow. Sungmin is moving in with us for the time being. If you all start yelling again, I'm going to beat you over the head with a hot frying pan." Heechul says slowly, and leans against his table, Hankyung reaching over and putting his arm around him.
"But why didn't you tell us?" Ryeowook asks, thankfully calmly, probably sensing that Heechul was being serious with his threat and wanting to save his frying pan.
"I knew." Heechul says, and Hyukjae and Kyuhyun nod in agreement.
"And you didn't tell us?" Junsu asks this time, and I sigh. Wait, why is Kyuhyun in this classroom?
"I didn't tell you guys because I just found out yesterday. And Kyuhyun, why are you in here? Don't you have Math now?" I question, and he shakes his head exasperatedly.
"I'm here because I've already completed the unit for math, and I wanted to get a head start on next years Chemistry." Kyuhyun says,and I here Chun Seonsaengnim mutter something along the lines of 'And everything he touches in here doesn't end in a disaster, unlike somebody.' Causing me to supress a glare directed at the teacher, even though I probably did deserve that.
"Everyone, get back to work." Teacher says, and I glance at the clock as I go back to sitting down, closing my eyes.
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I'm jolted awake by a hand on my back, and I open my eyes to see Hyukjae standing beside me.
"The bell just rang sleepyhead, I packed your bag up for you, let's go." Hyukjae says with a grin, and I yawn, nodding sleepily and standing up at the same time, managing not to fall over.
"Think I could get away with sleeping through English class?" I ask, as we head to our classroom, leaving the godforsaken lab behind. Hyukjae looks sideways at me as we walk.
"I doubt you could afford to sleep through that. You're English is horrible." Hyukjae deadpans, and I hit him as I walk down the hallway, being careful with my cast. Three more periods until I get it off.... and then I go home and pack my things before moving away....
Yawning again as we enter the classroom, I sit at my desk and try to fall back asleep, opening my books when Kim Seonsaengnim enters the room, her long normally black hair having been changed into red overnight.
Getting the kinks out of my neck, I shake my head and prepare for the long day ahead of me.
"Donghae ssi?" Teacher Kim calls my attention, and I look up at her, smiling back when she offers me a smile.
"Yes, Teacher?" I ask, and she looks down at a sheet of paper before looking up at me and continuing,
"Someone was in the office asking for you when I was just in there. He seemed kinda young, do you have a brother?" She asks, and I nod, trying to think of why Taeno would be there.
"May I leave?" I ask, and stand up when I get a nod in return. Debating briefly with myself, I pick up my books and put them into my bag, taking it with me to the office.
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"Taeno?" I call, seeing my little brother sitting on a chair in the office, looking rather white. Taeno looks up, and rushes over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and smashing his head into my chest at the intensity of the hug. I wrap my arms around him and pull him closer to me.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you at school?" I ask, and he pulls away to look at me, inadvertedly making my notice just how pale and scared he looked.
"I was going to go into my classroom, but I noticed one of Appa's friends waiting near the Teacher's desk, I got scared and ran here as fast as I could." Taeno says in a rush, and I walk over to the chair with him, letting him sit on my lap as I hold him close, and ask him what the man looked like.
"He was tall and skinny, the one that Appa let into your room that night; after Jungmin hyung left you." Taeno says, and my blood runs cold at hearing how clsoe that that man had gotten to Taeno.
"Taeno, you did good. I want you to stay away from that man. If you see him again tell me or Umma, alright?" I ask, and Taeno nods. Smiling, I look up at the secretary.
"May I have an excused leave from the rest of my classes today? I don't want to leave my brother alone, with that rapist out. You should put a warning out too." I advise, knowing that the main people in danger are myself and Taeno, but feeling the need to tell someone that there's a rapist around. Then again, it's Seoul, so..........
The secretary lady nods, and hands me a sheet of paper, which I stand and pick up, before leading Taeno out to get some ice cream, sending a text to Hyukkie that I'm with Taeno, and that I'll meet him in the parking lot after school hours to go to the doctors. And that, yes, I will remember to come on time.