nightfall || minsung

Chapter 3

"Jisung, did you give Minho a chance to use the microscope?"

"Minho identified three of the five, actually."

Mr. Banner turned to Minho. "Have you done this lab before?"

"Not with onion root."

"Whitefish blastula?"

"Uh-huh."

"Were you in an advanced placement program in Phoenix?"

"Yup."

Mr. Banner considered that. I did, too. Minho was intelligent. I wanted to know what was happening inside his brain. I had a hunch I wouldn't be able to guess if I tried.

"Well, I guess it's good you two are lab partners," Mr. Banner finally said. He added, "So I can deal with the know-it-alls at once" under his breath. I frowned in his direction once he'd turned away.

Minho was doodling again, staring down. I wanted to hear his voice.

"It's too bad about the rain, isn't it?" The weather was a safe topic.

"Not really."

"You don't like the cold?"

"Or the wet."

"Forks must be killing you."

He sighed in response — it was a beautiful sound. I couldn't take my eyes off his face, even when he glanced up and caught me staring. He stared, too — very intense, definitely overdoing it, but that was fine with me.

"Why did you come here?" I asked.

"To class?"

"To Forks."

"It's... complicated."

"I can keep up." I smiled, trying to be encouraging. His eyes flitted to my lips; he pitched to the side like he'd lost his balance. I closed my mouth to hide my fangs.

"My mom got remarried," he said.

"And you don't like her partner."

"No, Phil is okay. He's nice. Kinda dumb and vanilla, and he owns a weird amount of socks. But my mom loves him — they love each other. So, whatever, I guess."

I was getting happier with every word out of his mouth. "Why didn't you stay with them?"

"Phil travels a lot. He plays one of the sports for a living. I don't remember which."

"And your mum sent you here. So she could travel with him."

He shook his head quickly. Maybe that was a button for him.

"No, I sent myself here."

"I don't understand."

"Oh, so you can't keep up?"

I laughed, fixing my posture. "I can keep up, I can keep up — please explain more."

His eyes narrowed, and then floated up in his head. "My mom stayed with me at first, but she missed him a lot. She was truly unhappy... so I decided to spend some time with Charlie."

"But now you're unhappy."

"Yup."

"That doesn't seem fair." It was a little too sharp. He noticed and raised one eyebrow.

"Life isn't fair." He shrugged.

"Like I haven't seen that one on every fridge magnet for the last one hundred years."

I clamped my teeth shut. I was speaking to him like I would with my family, like he was in on the secret. Stupid, stupid.

"I know life isn't fair," I said, trying to cover up my mistake. "Life is cruel and stupid and meaningless."

He was quiet for a second. "Uh, great." I watched his hands fly up and drop down to his lap. I returned to his face. "Then that's that."

He didn't make any move to look away, so I let myself take him in. We had been laughing and smiling... I wondered if he would be smiling if he knew what I was. If he knew that there was a part of me that wanted to tear my teeth into his skin every time I breathed.

He was staring blankly now, frowning with his eyebrows pulled down. That irritated look I was coming to know. I was suddenly anxious; had I overstepped? Of course I had. All of this was a mistake, I was a mistake, we were a mistake — there was no 'we.'

"Am I annoying you?" I asked. He flinched like it startled him.

"Um. No."

Thank God!

I smiled and turned away, sighing in relief. I made the mistake of breathing in again. His appeal hit me like the ground hits a skydiver. I could barely choke out a goodbye before I was marching out of the room. I wasn't even sure class was over.

I tipped my face to the sky, stuck my tongue out all the way, and breathed in deep gasps. Raindrops fell into my eyelashes. I pretended I had been cloud-watching when a couple of students snuck up behind me.

Freak, one thought. Tip of the iceberg.

My mind was a circus for the rest of the day. Changbin and I had Spanish together; when he felt my emotional state, he got very overwhelmed, very quickly.

Jesus, Jisung, he thought. You killed him, didn't you? And you still came to Spanish? You sick shit.

"Har har. I didn't kill him. Everything about him just — just works me up."

I need to have my wits about me. Keep it under control, chico malo.

"Si, pollito."

He kicked my chair.

~ * ~

My brothers and I headed to the car at the end of the day. Hyunjin was hyper because it was movie night, and finally it was his turn to choose after eight long months.

"Nancy Meyers movie marathon — who's with me!"

Crickets.

"I'm tired of those movies," said Jeongin.

"I kinda feel like a nature doc," said Felix, "what about you guys?"

"But it's my turn!" Hyunjin yelled.

"Who's gonna drive home?" Seungmin asked. "Or, preferably, off a cliff?"

"I'll do it." I opened the driver side and got in.

The roar of an engine sounded across the parking lot. I turned to see a rusty red Chevrolet a few spots down.

Minho was behind the wheel.

I didn't think. I got out of the car, spun around a few times, and leaned back against the door. I couldn't believe myself as I stood there, waiting for nothing in particular.

I knew he was driving past me, but I didn't look up right away. When I did, he was staring at me, mouth open. We locked eyes. He flinched violently.

I smiled and waved, and he returned it. He looked back to the road in front of him.

Once he was out of sight, I turned and sank back into the car.

That was hard to watch, Seungmin thought.

"Hyunjin, please tell me you got a picture of that," said Changbin.

"Sure did, little buddy."

Felix made a whip sound.

I pulled out of the lot — pretending to be annoyed. Day one was a success. There was a nervous flutter in my stomach as I thought about what could possibly happen on day two.

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it was super cool to write minho actually talking and stuff from jisung's POV. i put in little references to the equivalent chapter bc i'm obsessed with my own fictional universe

hope to see you next week!