Here I Lie // ATEEZ ✔

- 18 -

5 years ago

He grits his teeth due to two things; he's currently bracing the cold with a thin coat that really should be worn when the temperature is ten degrees higher, and he is seething with anger, the feeling oozing out from every inch of his body as he trudges forward in the snow that is piling up each day. He is on his way to meet Yoochan - an older student who is in the same class as them, having to repeat after failing some classes - because he has some business to settle with him. In which, according to Wooyoung, is dangerous.

"I don't think it's wise for you to go and meet him," Wooyoung had said. "Why don't you just let it slide this one time?"

He had looked at his roommate with his jaw slack, as if he had just grown a pair of horns on his head. As he couldn't believe his own ears, he asked Wooyoung to repeat it. He looked hesitant, then sheepish, but still he repeated the same sentences. In shock over his words, he replied, in which might had come out harsher than he intended, "I worked on that project for months, and you're asking me to let it slide? I can't believe that out of all the people, you are stopping me from trying to reclaim what's mine to begin with. Whose side are you on?"

Wooyoung latched onto his sleeve, his eyes showing despair that San still could not see what he was trying to do; he was trying to protect him. "You know about Kang Yoochan right? That guy is a monster; he doesn't care for anyone who is in his way. There are even rumours about him beating his brother like it was nothing. If he could do that to his own family, he won't bat an eye towards a stranger. He's very influential too, that apparently all his misdeeds were voluntarily buried by his father. He's invincible, and he can do anything he wants. I just don't want you to get involved with a person like that."

He ripped his hand free from Wooyoung's grip before uttering, "I didn't want to get involved but he's just stirring up trouble. That was supposed to be my final year project! I worked so hard on it and he's just going to take it away from me? I need to set some things right." He walked to the door, grabbed his thin coat and as his left foot was stuck out of the unit, his roommate called him as a last attempt to stop him from going.

"Stop thinking that you always have to make things right; you are always thinking that you have to make things right. You think that you are always right. Why can't you listen to others for a change too? Your ego is not worth in this case."

His response was a huff and the slamming of the door to their dorm room. His ears burned red from what Wooyoung spat out, making his blood boil up to the point he felt his head could burst. He left the room in a hurry that he didn't realize he was wearing mismatched shoes; the pair for his white sneakers on the right, and the pair for his red one on the left. They don't even have the same design, yet here he is, stomping angrily, full of purpose on the university grounds, with feet adorned by different shoes. Even now, angry seems like an understatement.

After finding out about it, he demanded to meet Yoochan specifically, and he obliged, saying that he could meet him at one of the meeting rooms at the university's public library. Something out of character for the likes of him, if he could add, but the place of meeting is the least of his concerns. His concern right now is to request for an explanation and an apology, then taking back what is rightfully his. He will come back to the dorm, already received everything and Wooyoung will be sorry to him that he wasn't being a supportive friend.

He arrives at the library building; naked red bricks piled up to form the outer layer of the structure, their university logo placed in the middle on top of the automatic entrance. The building looks old but is a treasure for students like him, the contents providing the knowledge he needs to graduate.

In which, talking about that, he needs his final year project, and he is about to claim it back. He stomps inside, flashing his student ID card to grant himself entry, and he is greeted with the palpable silence. He slips past the gated entry, nodding at the familiar guard on watch, already accustomed to him because that is where he's been spending most of his time if the exam season is near. The library is deserted now, because people are already looking forward to the holidays. There are only a few students, who seem to be finishing up on assignments, needing references from the library.