lost and found || hvc

XV changes

When the lights turned on in the theatre, the sight wasn't anything peculiar. Popcorn was all over my lap, nothing unusual there, but as I started to move around I felt something heavy fall from my shoulder onto my lap. When I turned my head to see what it could be I was met with Hansol's eyes, which opened wide when he realised his situation.

"Uh, sorry," he let out quickly while sitting up. I was frozen in place, and could only muster up a nod before clearing up my throat.

"It's okay," I said and avoided his gaze while picking up my backpack from the floor, trying to ignore the beats my heart skipped. It felt like all the blood in my body had relocated itself to the parts his head had leaned on, and I was getting annoyed: why was I letting a minor, insignificant incident get to me like this?

"I keep falling asleep everywhere these days," Hansol said to me while we walked out of the theatre, possibly trying to explain his mishap. He continued quietly, almost as if he was talking to himself, "I haven't slept well recently."

"Well that's not good," I said and glanced up to see him staring ahead with a very serious, dazed look in his eyes. He seemed to be deep in thought, as if he wasn't really there right in that moment. "Why haven't you been sleeping well?"

"Hmm?" He said while shaking his head slightly, as if trying to regain a state of consciousness. He looked at me with his eyebrows furrowed like he was trying to remember something. "Oh yeah, the sleeping thing. Nothing major, just a lot of stuff to do and think about," he continued while smiling reassuringly. I nodded my head understandingly but was left with a feeling there was more to that story.

"Anybody up for food?" Joshua called out from a few feet ahead of us while holding Alex close to his side. My stomach, despite being stuffed with popcorn, made a growling sound and I gave out an amused yes.

"I don't have anything better to do, so I guess so," Hansol said and shrugged his shoulders and gave me a smile. I smiled back, not even realising how nicely me and Hansol were getting along. He still ignited a reaction in me I couldn't quite distinguish, but he wasn't driving me completely nuts right then and there.

---

"Um, excuse me, Too Deep is so not the best song on the September album," I said, almost choking on the water I had just poured into my mouth before Hansol decided to share this information. "It is In+Out, definitely."

"Oh that is so predictable," Hansol said, a playful smile starting to set on his lips. I tried to ignore the fact that I had noticed his smiles always started from the left corner of his mouth. Sometimes they stayed there. "That is the popular opinion."

I was ready to build up an argument about how I couldn't care less about the "popular opinion" and how it was actually the better song, but before I could open my mouth I was interrupted.

"Oh my gosh, stop with the bickering you kids," Alex said, her voice glazed with annoy. You had to actually know her to read between the lines: she was actually amused, and sent a very knowing smile my direction (which I tried to ignore). My whole body tensed when I realised how intensely Hansol and I had been talking (we had covered subjects from the best burger place in NYC to the latest Drake album to our current conversation, the best song on the dvsn album), our faces only inches apart. He seemed to have noticed it too, and scooted his chair closer to the wall, away from me. I tried to suppress the part of me that was slightly hurt. Hansol was actually quite an interesting person to talk with, maybe because he challenged my opinions, although it was occasionally pretty annoying (like with the September album -case). But he wasn't boring, and he listened. With the left side of his mouth slightly upturned.

"We weren't bickering," I said, trying to redeem myself. Trying to redeem us. "We were having a constructive conversation." I looked at Hansol with a smirk, kind of challenging him into an alliance.

I felt relieved when the left side of his mouth turned up.

// hi. i'm extremely sorry for not updating in god knows how long. first year at a new school and it took a lot of my time. to anybody still reading this, i am devoted to finishing this story, it just might take this summer and maybe a little more, but i'll get there. btw i'm thinking about writing a chapter from hansol's pov, so if you could be so kind and let me know would you enjoy that, i would be very grateful! adiós, hasta luego. xx