TIMEOUT - Part Four
"It's insane that for years now I managed to keep myself out of this football bullshit!" you rant at Kyun after you all met in front of the detention room after school and he tried again to talk to you. "And suddenly you show up and I get detention?!"
He refuses to take the blame here. This was just a very unfortunate chain of events. And not his damn fault. Still, he keeps his mouth shut. It feels like you need someone to vent now and it's okay with him that you take it out on him. And... Maybe he's not that innocent in that matter.
"Relax girl!" Min chimes in again. "This is just detention?"
"No! It's not just detention!" you yell while walking into the room. "For you idiotic fools maybe! But for me this means something! This will be registered in my permanent record! And I need a clear record for college but I get that you super jocks don't care about this!"
"So what if it gets registered..." Min shrugs. "You're pretty annoying, I don't get the drama here..."
Kyun has this urge to slap this dude. Why can't he just stop provoking you?
"Yeah..." you scoff. "maybe you get this!"
Angry, you show him both of your fingers.
"Y/N..." Hayden says, obviously a little exhausted from this conversation "Enough!"
"Why is no one here on my damn side?" you look at her desperately and Kyun feels so sorry for you cause they're all on your side, they're all annoyed by this but this is a situation you just can't make undone anymore.
"Oh my god, shut up!" Min's voice appears from behind Kyun and he can immediately see you snapping. Angry, you throw yourself at the energetic dude. Kyun manages to grab you by your waist in time while Min immediately builds himself up, so ready to fight you. Shownu and Joo hold his arms while you yell hysterically at him.
Boy, you're strong.
"Let me go!" you rant and try to get out of Kyun's grip but he refuses to let you escape. "This is your damn fault, Min! You could've at LEAST SAY YOU'RE SORRY!"
"It was a damn accident" he defends himself. "Caaalm the fuck down!"
"Y/n!" Hayden walks up to you, cups your cheeks, and looks at you keenly. "Please!" she whispers and Kyun can feel your body, which he's still holding, relaxing. "I know you're upset. And your feelings are valid! But we cannot change it! Please for your own peace of mind. Breathe!"
Kyun feels your body shaking and he has the urge to hug you but he's sure you'd beat the shit out of him if he even tried to. The entire room is silent as you take a few deep breaths.
"Tell him to let me go!" you whisper and since he can see your face he had no idea that you'd started to cry until your tearful voice revealed the truth. Immediately his hands slip off of you and Hayden pulls you into a tight hug. "It's okay, babe..."
Kyun stands there completely overwhelmed. You're such a drama queen. But again, he can't help but assume there's a reason for this. Your best friend pulls you to the other side of the room and you sit down at the table while Kyun and the others exchange gazes.
He doesn't wanna judge you. But your behavior really is... weird as fuck?
Kyun sighs and throws his bag on one of the few tables while you talk to Hayden.
"Ladies!" a dude covered in tattoos with a coffee in his hands walks in, followed by two others.
"Johnny!" Ki smirks and greets him cheerfully. Suddenly your head shoots up.
"Chris?" you ask and slip from the table you were just sitting on. The dude returns your gaze a little worriedly and immediately walks up to you.
"Why are you crying?" he asks in a low voice and Kyun grins. He kinda likes his Aussie accent. Chris makes a move to touch you. But he stops abruptly and pulls back.
Huh?
"I swear to god, I'm not a physical fighter but I wanna slap the shit out of him!" the third dude rants, puts his bass guitar in its case on a free table, and sighs before he turns around to the others.
"Brian!" Shownu gasps. "What the hell? Why are you here?"
He's right. All three of them are the last ones you'd expect to see in the detention room. Seems like today was a good day to punish innocent students.
Johnny lets himself fall on the table, takes a sip from his coffee, and shakes his head.
"Mr. Phillips..." he says while Chris sits next to him. You all nod, understanding. All of you know that there are many reasons to start a fight with this homophobic, racist misogynist that calls himself a teacher.
"You should've heard him!" Chris grimaces. "Lisa's skirt was a bit too short for his liking. Instead of just ignoring it, he literally asked if she is planning to go to work at a strip club tonight!" he shakes his head stunned. "Completely lost our shit!"
The entire group of friends complain loudly about this shocking behavior
"Yeah!" Johnny chuckles. "The rest of the class was quite happy about it. We spent the whole hour arguing!"
"Will men ever change?" Kyun hears you asking and sees you shaking in disgust.
"And why are you here?" Brian asks and eyes all of you. "What did you jocks do? Destroy the student art exhibit?"
The three friends laugh but immediately fall silent as they realize this is what actually happened...
"Wow!" Chris chuckles. "Rowdies!"
The fact you weren't the only innocent person getting punished today, seems to relax you. Kyun watches you slipping off the table and walking over to the three arrivals. Immediately you talk to them as if nothing happened. You seem to be quite close to them, since the conversation is pretty vivid. And again Kyun can't help but assume he kind of misjudged you. But why is it so easy for others to talk to you but when he tries you... blow up?
When Kyun walks into his house he's exhausted as fuck. What a long day... He's just about to walk upstairs to take a nap when he hears his mother's voice from the kitchen.
"You're late!"
Signing, he stops and limps up to her. She's standing there, with her apron, eyeing him head to toe. "And your principal called..."
Shit!
"Listen, mom I—"
"Can you tell me why you have a broken leg and still manage to get into trouble for playing football?" she interrupts him and her voice sounds so terrifyingly calm.
Gulping, he shakes his head.
"Got into this... I never meant—"
"I know you didn't!" she interrupts him again and a smirk appears on her face. Kyun exhales relieved. She got him there for a second....
"Let me guess... it was Minhyuk?" she grins. As Kyun nods, she chuckles while focusing on the food.
"That boy just can't behave... are you hungry?"
To be honest, Kyun never expected to get scolded at home. He knows his parents trust him and that they know he'd admit if he'd done some stupid shit. Still, he feels so uneasy...
"Mom can I talk to you?" he asks and falls on a stool by the counter.
"Sure!" she says while stirring the food. "What's wrong?"
For a long moment Kyun stares at his hands before he signs again.
"It's about a... friend..."
"Y/n?" she asks to his surprise. "That girl that gives you extra lessons and that brought you home the other day? Don't look at me like that! Of course your father told me!"
One of the downsides of having parents in a loving, healthy relationship: They can't keep secrets from one another no matter how hard Kyun begs them to sometimes.
Laughing she takes a taste from the food before flavoring it. "What about her?"
"I don't know..." Kyun immediately says and shrugs. "She's... she was acting weird today. We had a lot of fun on Friday but today she made it quite clear that she doesn't wanna be my friend and when we got detention—"
"She got detention as well?" his mother asks in disbelief and he nods sheepishly.
"Mum she was so angry... like... so angry! She almost punched Min!"
"Well..." she says and turns off the stove. "After everything I've seen and heard about Min, this isn't surprising!"
A little chuckle escapes her throat but it immediately dies down as she seems to notice Kyun's strange expression.
"I can't give you an answer, since I don't know her, love. But what I can tell you is that you guys can be pretty intimidating. You have no idea what kind of impact a group of boys can have on a girl. And I don't mean it in a romantic kind of way... I mean it in a scary kind of way..."
Confused, Kyun watches his mother. "Scary?"
His mother sighs and puts some bowls on the table. "The world is a cruel place, Kyunnie... especially for women. Try to get to know her! Be charming, but not obtrusive! Give her time to get used to you and she will tell you... eventually..."
What an unsatisfying answer. But his mother is right. She doesn't know you... but he doesn't either. And there's no chance you might actually trust him enough someday as long as you refuse to let him get close...
"You know what I love the most about you?"
With a compassionate smile, she lets her hand glide through his hair and he looks at her confused. "How attentive you are. And how much you worry about people you like..."
Kyun knows he's hypersensitive to other people's feelings. But could it be that he actually likes you?
"I never said I like her?" he quickly says and his mom rolls her eyes.
"Yeah of course, that's why you literally talk to your mother about her!" she smirks and kisses his cheek before going back to her work. Gulping, Kyun watches her. He's known you for a few weeks there's... there's no way that he actually...?
Confused, Kyun looks down at his phone as it vibrates late in the evening. Without hesitation he picks up.
"Josie?" he asks into the speaker. "Something wrong with Shownu?"
A light chuckle appears. "Don't worry! He's in a food coma next to me! I'm sorry for disturbing you, do you have a moment?"
Kyun shuts his laptop, still confused. Josie never calls unless it's about Shownu...
"What's wrong?"
"Eh..." she pauses before she keeps on talking in a low voice. "It's about earlier... about y/n and this whole... thing..."
He feels his body tensing. Will she tell him now what's wrong with you?
"Listen... I know you like her..."
"Why is everyone assuming I like her?" he rants and rolls his eyes annoyed.
Again Josie chuckles. "I meant as in liking... as a friend... but okay, burst out!"
Shit...
"Keep talking!" he groans.
"There's nothing I can tell you to understand but I hope you could bear with her a little... y/n went through a couple of things and—"
"What things?"
He's annoyed that everyone is talking in secret about you. Especially yourself.
"The situation at home and... the pressure of getting into a college and all this. She has a short temper lately and tends to burst out a lot. This is nothing personal—"
"She literally told me that she doesn't wanna hang out with me because it lowers her self respect!" he interrupts her again. Fine you're stressed out because of school but they all are! This isn't an excuse.
"You don't know her parents.." she mumbles. "She got in a hell of trouble because of this party she went to. Her parents thought she was at Hayden's..."
"Oh..." Kyun says. This actually is his fault. He made her come. But she could've said no?
"Just... try to be gentle with her okay?" She keeps on talking in a low voice and Kyun scoffs. "How about she's gentle with me?"
"She will!" Josie immediately says. "I promise, she will!"
"Fine..." he mumbles.
Still, it's so unsatisfying whatever Josie said. This wasn't just anger or exhaustion. It was more...
What if his mom is right and you're scared of somehing? But what could it possibly be?