143 | Chanmin

T E N

'So, how was your afternoon?' Seungmin's mother had said, chopping up the chicken on a wooden cutting board as Seungmin sat at the island bench, no words coming out of his mouth in response.

'Did you do anything fun?'

Fun? Was fun even the right way to describe his time with Bangchan? For one thing, it was a rollercoaster of unexpected emotions and even though it was quite a blast, Seungmin had to ruin it in the end. All of it, just like always. And then his mother came home just as he broke everything and nothing seemed right after that. Nothing.

How can Bangchan even forgive him at this point?

'Seungmin...seungmin...seungmin? Earth to Seungmin? Darling, are you there?' his mother had previously asked, placing the knife she was using down onto the table to focus on her non-responding son.

'What?' he asked hastily, springing back into reality.

'Are you there, Seungmin?'

'Um...yeah...I guess? I've just had a really hard arvo-'

'Arvo?'

'...Afternoon' Seungmin replied, putting his palms over his eyes as he sat all hunched over his noodles.

'I don't feel hungry right now...'

'Darling, that is good food just sitting there. It would be a shame to waste it' his mother replied, pointing the silver knife at the bowl of steaming broth and noodles.

'Can I have it later, mum?'

His mother continued chopping the chicken without a response and Seungmin could tell she wasn't in the mood for it at all. 

"All I ever do is cook, cook, cook!" she had yelled at his father a few weeks ago, as Seungmin watched from the living room's entrance. 

"I work, I cook and I clean! There is never time for any activities I want to do, don't you get that?! "

And it was after all the yelling that Seungmin had decided it was best to leave her alone that day.

Opening his school locker did he come face to face with piles upon piles of books and scribbled-on white sheets, and the smell of bark mulch. Ever since Han had dumped a small pile of mulch in his locker as a joke earlier in the year, it has never been the same again. Nor has his tidiness as well.

Bangchan, Seungmin needs to watch out for Bangchan today. If he collides with him in the halls or out in the soccer fields just once, god knows what he will say and do to him. He probably hates Seungmin so much after what he had done that night before. A kiss...a stupid little kiss all because Seungmin decided he wanted to at random. So stupid.

So. Stupid.

'Hey babe, where have you been these past few days?' a boy asked, leaning against the locker beside Seungmin.

'Geez, Han. You sacred the hell out of me. And I'm not your "babe", go call Lee Know that, I'm sure he'll like it more-'

'Woah, what's gotten into you?' Han asked, cutting him off and crossing his arms.

'First it's the study session, then it's this?'

'It's personal...' Seungmin replied, trying to fix up his books in an orderly fashion in alphabetical order.

'You wouldn't understand...'

'Oh really? Well...yeah, you're right, I don't...wait, hang on...if Lee know was with us that night and you're angry this morning because he's here...then, oh I know! It's Lee Know! Lee Know is the problem!-'