failures IIII » kpop ✓

three

My teenage years were a blur of bad decisions and mistakes that I made just to feel that quick rush of adrenaline and remember that I'm alive. So alive and full of yearning for freedom, that my heart wants to burst at the seams and spill over the edges of the racing track. I found a temporary home behind the wheel and I was content with how things were going right now - days wasted at the go-kart ring with Jaemin, nights spent chasing freedom in the outskirts of Tokyo. But things can't stay the same forever, no matter how much we want them to. Life is always changing. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

My youth was starting to slip through my fingers, but I wasn't ready to become a grownup, not in the slightest.

The air held the scent of burnt tires and the go-kart ring was full of sweaty teenagers in racing suits. Some were lounging on plastic chairs on the edge of the track and drinking cold lemonade, others were racing against their friends. I was on the side as well, sitting on a stack of tires and scrolling through the phone that I stole from Mark Lee. I was supposed to give it to Baekhyun, but after seeing that video of him and his lover's attempt at a double suicide, I was no longer sure of his intentions, so I couldn't bring myself to answer his calls.

'' I don't get it. Why does Baekhyun want this phone? '' Jaemin asked and shook his head in confusion. His pink hair was tied in a low ponytail and the heat at the go-kart ring made him take off the upper part of his black racing suit and tie it around his waist. His white t-shirt was still sticking to his back with sweat and he was trying to cool himself by fanning his cheeks with his hands. '' This phone is full of shitty games and embarrassing selfies. Who still plays Angry Birds these days? Not to mention the videos of this guy's rapping. Or how he keeps getting phone calls from his mother. He gets more messages from her than his actual friend. ''

'' He does, huh? '' Jaemin's words made me realise how there was something strange about this. I wouldn't think much of Mark's friendship with his mother if he was a regular loner, but he wasn't. Back at the race when I stole his phone, his cheetah print car was surrounded by ten people that all wanted to talk to him and earn a fragment of his time. There seemed to be no real reason for him to receive so many messages from his mom instead of actual friends.

I clicked on the texts that Mark received from his 'Mommy' and my eyes slowly grew wide with shock. '' I should've known! The name was just a cover! These are actually the messages from his boss, the leader of the Yamazaki crime syndicate! Well, he might really call his boss like that, but that's none of our business... Either way, this is what we were looking for! ''

'' Wow. '' Jaemin widened his eyes at the sight of the messages where Mark's boss wrote about all kinds of things that he wanted him to do, from burying someone that was known as Rottweiler, to delivering drugs to the port of Tokyo. '' This is even more graphic than the text messages that I get from my mom when I forget to take the chicken out of the freezer. I'm too pure to even understand what half of these insults mean. ''

'' Really? My sister hates texting, so when I get in trouble, she usually just hits me with that stone-cold call me, we need to talk about something, '' I mumbled and shuddered at the memory of the last time that I received a message like that. It was right after Jaemin, Donghyuck and I ditched school for an entire day, so that we could go watch the last show of a popular traveling circus. We thought that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we couldn't afford to miss it, but Momo didn't agree with our reasoning. According to her, we didn't need to go to a circus because we were already a bunch of clowns.

'' What does the last message say? '' Jaemin asked, stretching his neck, pushing his cheek against mine and trying to see what was written on the screen.

'' If you don't come to see me tonight, you can consider yourself dead, Marker. '' I cringed and turned my head towards Jaemin, only for my nose to brush against his. The close proximity of our faces made me blush in embarrassment and quickly push him away. '' I'm scared, Jaemin. ''