Frozen Heart

iii. more cliché, the better

"Fuck you, Can."

"Sorry."

Wait. Did Can tell Tin his name?

Can looks up and finds Tin staring down at him also.

And of course, since Can's life is so cliché, when they are staring (Can insists looking) at each other's eyes, Pete comes in. Surprised does not even come close to describe what look Pete has at that moment.

"Oh. I'm sorry. Am I interrupting something?"

Can immediately pulls himself away from Tin. Tin, on the other hand, looks very out of character. He briefly looks at Can and leaves. Can thinks he sees Tin's nose bleeding but he's not sure.

Pete immediately pulls Can to sit on the bed and smiles excitedly at him. "What was that?"

"What? Nothing happened."

"Yet. Wait, are you and my brother in a relationship?"

"Of course not!"

Where did Pete even get the idea? He saw them on that comprising position and now they're together? It doesn't make sense!

"So, it's a secret relationship and I accidentally found it?"

Secret relationship when Can just met Tin today? Right.

"What? No! I told you, it's nothing."

"It doesn't look nothing to me." Pete's eyes suddenly widen and he snaps his fingers. "That's why he's so excited when he learned a while ago that you're coming here."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, he asked for your name and he has this smile on his face. I think he likes you."

"Pete, what are you saying?! Of course not. He just wanted to torment me."

"That's true but Tin's not like that. If he's played with someone for once, then he'd drop them immediately. Say, did he do something to you?"

"Like what?"

"Like bullying you? Like pouring something on you, specifically green slime. That's his signature move-"

"Just how many people he bullied?"

"Tin's not a bully. It was his revenge on those people who had crossed him. Like, you know, instead of punching them square in the face and killing them, he's resorted to embarrassing them instead,"

Pete moves to the chair across Can. "Honestly, I don't know what's worse but Tin means no harm, he's all cold outside but he's a big softy inside. You just have to warm your way through his heart. But yeah, back to the green slime move, there was one time I saw him literally stacking his closet with jars of green slime-"

"What the hell?!" Can laughs hard, he can't imagine the look on Tin's face being caught by Pete doing that ridiculous thing.

"I know right? I was laughing all day and he was grumbling beside me. I swear, it's so funny. I mean, who does that? Tin's such an old school."

"Yeah. He is."

"But what I'm really saying is if he does that to you, then you're free to go. But if he continues tormenting you, then there must be something different with you."

"Yeah. Like he wanted to kill me, maybe."

"Why? What did he say a while ago, anyway? Why was he here?"

"Nothing." Can decides not to tell Pete what Tin told him afraid that Pete might misunderstand it again.

"Okay. If you need my help, I'm always free."

/

All throughout the day, Can doesn't see Tin again. He must've been in his room with Ae. Can ponders on Pete's words a while ago. Is it true? Tin sees him differently? Well, maybe it's because those people didn't embarrass Tin unlike Can who broke Tin's 'reputation'.

But what breaking his reputation was he saying? Only his friends and some of the people at the cafeteria that time knew and Can's sure it won't spread, he's sure no one had even captured that scene because it should've spread immediately, guessing from Tin's 'image' but no... It didn't, right?

So yes, Can's 100% sure that that embarrassing scene will be nothing but a myth. Hearsay without proof.

Right?

Wrong.

Because morning the next day while Can is walking in the hallway, he notices that the people beside him are whispering while obviously looking at him. Some even have the audacity to point at him.

Can feels his heart beating fast. He's sure something's wrong.

Yes, there is something wrong.

Because at the end of the hallway stands Tin, with his friends, glaring at him hard. In his hand is his phone, on the screen, the scene where Can accidentally poured Tin his leftover is playing. It's so high-definition just put music on it, it will look like a music video.

Can internally curses. Honestly, what's wrong with people creating a problem at night so that it can be the talk of the town at the morning? Is that an unspoken rule? To upload an embarrassing video at night?

He should've guessed that his life is getting more cliché than it already is.

//