vellichor • lookism

4. library (iii) [2/2]

After finishing your business, you manage to dry off your clothes with the hand dryers on the walls. It takes you a bit, but when you come out of the rest station, Gun is still nowhere to be seen. You peer around and then pull out your phone, wondering if you should message him to make sure everything's okay.

You're just bringing up his contact page when you hear your name being called.

"What a pleasant surprise!" a vaguely familiar voice says. "I didn't expect to see you here, huh?"

"Shit, you know that girl, Woojin? She's pretty cute."

"I think I recognize her. She goes to our school, yeah?"

A shadow falls over your phone as the voices approach, and you finally look up to see three boys standing around you.

You recognize all of them. They're third years at Gian High, and you sometimes see them loitering around the school grounds and the surrounding areas. All three of them have a history of getting into fights, and you hear they're supposed to be quite good at it.

At their head is Woojin, the one who had called out to you initially. He's a bit of hotshot at Gian High, seemingly because he's a bit good-looking and somewhat decent at boxing. You don't quite see the appeal, but each to their own, you guess.

"Yeah, she's a second year in my club," replies Woojin, stepping closer to throw an arm around your shoulders. "She's super good at studying. Top ten in the school! Right?" He turns to you and gives you a winsome smile.

You shrug his arm off and take a step away. "Top five," you correct, giving him a gimlet eye. "And you have to actually attend the club to be considered part of it."

The boys laugh, clearly not taking you seriously at all. "Well, since chance has brought us all together, why not hang with us?" Woojin steps closer to you again. "It's better than you going around alone."

"I'm actually waiting for someone," you say shortly, glancing down at your phone. "So I'm not alone."

One of the other boys makes an intrigued face. "One of your girl friends? She's welcome to join too, of course."

Your screen lights up with a text. "No, a guy," you reply, distractedly opening it up.

"You're on a date? Just leave him, you'll have more fun with us anyway," Woojin scoffs. He throws his arm around your shoulders again. "Who's this fucker, anyway? I'll talk to him for ya."

"Me," someone says, icily.

Recognizing the voice once more, you look away from your phone. All the tension runs out of you when you see Gun standing there, hands in his pockets and a shopping bag slung over his wrist.

"You took so long," you complain, aggrieved.

"Sorry. There was a line."

As one, the three boys also turn to look at the person who had spoken, mouths opening to scoff or jeer. You can see the moment they recognize the person standing behind them, the moment their eyes go wide and their bodies freeze in place.

Woojin snatches his arm away from you. The boys seem to almost jump out of their skins as they hurriedly straighten up to something resembling parade rest.

"Gun, sir!"

"Sir!"

"It's an honour, Gun, sir!"

Gun ambles towards you, giving Woojin a hard stare. "You wanted to talk to me? I'm right here. You can say it."

Woojin glances around with wild eyes. You can almost feel him gulping. "No, just that... It's a surprise to see you here, sir!"

Gun raises a brow, and the boys visibly become more nervous. "Oh, is that all?"