in silence ᴰᴼᴵᴸ

１.

In Silence ~ Doyoung&Taeil

☁️🎭☁️

Bright sun of one September morning shone through paper blinds, illuminating the dust slowly making its way onto the floor of the office. The classes haven't started yet, but few teachers were already in their cabinets preparing for the new day.

A shorter boy silently stood in the door of one of them, waiting. He was quite nervous as it didn't happen daily that his class teacher would call him saying it's important so prepare yourself. The whole way there he spent by nervously combing his brown hair with shaky hands to look at least a bit decent. He chew his lip, a bad habit of him. Clearly, the boy had no idea what to expect—at all. He just hoped his lip wasn't bleeding because of him continuously bitting into it.

"Taeil, I'm going to need your help," A voice from behind pulled the boy out of his train of thoughts.

Taeil looked up only to be met with a pair of dark yet staid and trustful eyes. He quickly nodded, trying to look as firm as possible—as if he wasn't shitting his pants just a while ago.

While his teacher was making his way towards the table, the boy's eyes shifted around the room as he observed the things that were already familiar to him. Black and white picture with a strange woman hanging above teacher's desk always caught his attention. In fact, he wasn't standing there for the first time. And with each passing second of his teacher not saying anything he started to worry. Did he do anything? Taeil was a good student with great grades and on top of that he tried to keep good relationship with every student so he doubted that. He shouldn't be scared but he there he was.

"As a class president, you have to take care of your classmates, right?" The teacher said after a while and Taeil gave him another nod, but this time it was rather nervous. He gulped. "Excuse me but, did I do something? If yes, I apologize-"

"No, you're excellent. That's why I'm asking for your help. You're going to have a new classmate."

Taeil sighed in relief and breathed out all of the air he didn't know he has been holding. He nodded for the third time, now with excitement flashing in his eyes. "Oh, then okay, it's no problem. I can show him around and other stuff."

"No, no. That's not I really meant. He... he's different. That's why I'm asking for a help, especially yours." The man ran his hand through his grey hair. He looked like he was trying to find the best word to describe his thoughts—however, as if he always turned the wrong way, he had to go back, turning the wheel many times to look for another road to use. In the end, he just shook his head and rubbed his eyes before locking gaze with the student.

"He's mute."

The man then supported himself on the desk while the dumbfounded boy was still standing in the door of the cabinet, staring at him confusingly. The professor noticed his face and cleared his throat.

"The kid went through some things that may have traumatized him and that's why he's quiet. He can hear you but he won't respond. The thing is, I need you to look after him a bit, make sure he fits in and finds it easier to adapt to new environment. You can befriend him if you want to. I'm sure you already have your own friend group so I can't order all of you to be his friend just like that. I just... I just hope you could help him."

Taeil politely smiled and bowed slightly. "You can rely on me. When is he arriving by the way?"

"In about an hour. So I'll call you then." The boy widened his eyes but shook it off quickly and nodded again for the nth time. He should start to act more confident in the future so he would avoid any embarrassing situations. Taking care of a mute boy could only help him to become more professional so instead of panicking, he decided to take it as a challenge.