─── chapter ten.
❛ STRANGERS ❜
DEOK-SU HAD AN IRRATIONAL FEAR OF BEING THE CENTER OF ATTENTION. it wasn't exactly a fear, per se, but an uncomfortableness that lodged itself like a stone in his throat.
he didn't know if other people liked it, but for him, it was absolute torture. deok-su heard the classroom's malicious stares and taunting gazes as if it were his first day back at school, only this time they were directed at a familiar short girl standing at the front of the classroom.
after introducing herself as crystal choi, deok-su did his utter best to deflect her obvious stares in his direction. he knew the girl wasn't stupid enough to make a scene, so he prayed he could find a way to avoid her for as long as possible.
apparently, zack wasn't particularly gentlemanly enough to leave an obviously conflicted deok-su alone so he could gather his thoughts in peace.
"deok-su, wipe my nose." zack asked as he jutted his face up, leaning towards the bespectacled teen beside him. protruding from his nostril was a thin line of mucus slowly inching towards his lips.
following the events of the retreat, the boxer had been considerably clingier to deok-su, making the boy work as his personal caretaker when mira wasn't around (and frankly, the girl hardly went near zack anymore after the first week of dealing with his bullshit — deok-su couldn't blame her, he'd do the exact thing if he could).
this left deok-su in quite the situation, where he ended up being forced into doing everything zack wished in order to relieve the small prick of guilt in the back of his conscience.
"gross." deok-ah muttered in response, but brought a pack of tissues from out of his backpack and gently held it against zack's nose so he could blow into it.
secretly, he was glad for the distraction (although not for the boogers he'd have to wash off his hands) zack gave him.
"wait a second." deok-su paused as he threw the used tissue into the trash can placed conveniently behind him, shooting zack a glare. "your fingers are perfectly fine."
the boxer grinned slyly, shrugging.
"do you want me to break them for you? since you're clearly not using them." he added in a deadpan, making the smile on zack's face freeze.
"oh, look! my fingers are working again, haha!" he laughed nervously.
a small scoff left deok-su's lips, but then they twisted upwards into a small smile. this kind of attention, whether he acknowledged it or not,
was kind of okay.
WALKING HOME HAD ALWAYS TAKEN TWO. deok-ja and deok-su, deok-su and deok-ja only. maybe the occasional separation once or twice, but they always ended up together in the end.
deok-su was more silent than usual as the two exited the large school gate, their peers bidding farewells that neither bothered to return.
only until he was out of earshot, deok-su let out a relieved exhale.
"what's up with you?" deok-ja asked as the boy lifted his glasses to rub his tired eyes.
"chairman choi's daughter just transferred to this school." he said at last, making the younger kil's jaw drop.
"crystal?!" she half whispered-half shouted in surprise.
"it gives me a bad feeling." deok-su continued, rubbing his shoulder and ignoring his sister's shouts, "i know she recognizes me, but there's something weird about her showing up now. in her other body, as well."
deok-ja's gaze hardened on the floor, remembering her previous encounter with the girl. she let gun act like a rabid dog as he pleased, only to clip a leash on him at the last minute and leave like nothing happened. not to mention deok-ja's involvement with them was revealed in the process.
"just ignore her. i doubt she'll bring attention to herself just to talk to you. maybe she's not even here for us." she shrugged after a few tense seconds of silence.
deok-su nodded, ignoring the way his fingers twitched with the occasional jitter. he didn't say anything else for the rest of the walk home, only nodding and humming in agreement as deok-ja talked endlessly of her annoyance for a gun and how he wouldn't stop pestering her into accepting her offer.
hopefully, the very least thing this world could grant him was a silent slumber so he could awake slightly less fearful of tomorrow.
that, and some peace.
IF IT WASN'T OBVIOUS ALREADY, deok-ja was easily annoyed. people got on her nerves like a fly to food — all the time. of course, the natural reaction would be to swat the fly away, which is what she did.
with her fists.
however, this mostly applied to men who thought lowly of her, or were just too ghastly to put into words.
girls... it was an entirely different thing for deok-ja. she disliked punching them, mostly because it wasn't as satisfying — and frankly, they never fought back as much as a guy would.
yet, as she stepped into the girl's bathroom, hands dug into the pockets of her brand new uniform (thanks jace!), her heightened sense of smell caught the unmistakable whiff of smoke even before her foot hit the tiled interior.
she scoffed loudly as she walked in, making the conversation completely stop as they stared at her.
"oh, am i interrupting anything?" deok-ja raised an eyebrow, as though daring them to talk back to her.
one girl laughed nervously, hiding the cigarette in her hands behind her back.
"just pretend i'm not here and continue talking about the fashion department." she grinned, snatching the nearest cigarette and putting it out with her fingers before throwing into the trash can.
"and don't smoke. it fucking stinks." the dark haired girl said coldly, her face still maintaining her smile as she spoke into the silence.
before deok-ja could enter a stall, she paused and glanced at a starry eyed girl.
"if you're gonna talk shit about people behind their backs, don't bother trying to get deok-su to notice you." she snarled.
"he hates people like that."
"i'm not —!" yui began, her face reddening, but deok-ja cut her off by slamming the stall door after herself.
"get out if you're done smoking, some people actually need to use the restroom." she called, and smiled in satisfaction as she heard the patter of footsteps promptly exiting the room.
after deok-ja finally got her chance to piss in peace, she washed her hands, pausing as she spotted a pair of tiny pink shoes poking out from another stall.
"i know you're there." the girl said aloud over the sound of rushing tap water.
the stall door unlocked, and crystal choi peered through, shuffling over awkwardly. deok-ja only rolled her eyes.
"you didn't have to do all that." she said quietly, refusing to meet the taller girl's eyes.
deok-ja scoffed. "i didn't do it for you. they were just so fucking loud, it was pissing me off."
crystal frowned, but said nothing.
"i don't know what kind of errands you're running for the chairman, but i don't want deok-su and i involved. we already gave him an answer. so just pretend like you don't know us, and we'll do the same." deok-ja said, before walking out and leaving crystal on her own.
"she's still mad about what happened, i see." the shorter girl muttered to herself, letting out a breath she didn't even to know she was holding.
placing a hand to erratic heartbeat thumping in her chest, crystal choi was glad that she managed to survive yet another encounter with the girl without sustaining some sort of injury.
who knew transferring schools could be this scary?
THE KIL SIBLINGS LOVED ANIMALS. whether it was cats, dogs, frogs, turtles, snakes — even bugs — they loved them all.
so when daniel park asked around for someone who'd be willing to adopt a puppy, even deok-su couldn't keep quiet.
that was how the two ended up with a small bundle of joy, empty wallets, and grinning faces as they sat on the kitchen floor.
after a considerable amount spent calling out random names in an attempt to win over the restless puppy, he finally responded to deok-su's loud outburst of "moose!"
and that was how their first ever pet earned the name moose.
with deok-ja's promise to one day smuggle moose to school so that vasco and the burn knuckles would get a glimpse of her baby, and deok-su's agreement to allow daniel to visit and check up on the pup,
the two felt considerably happier.
# LOVE, RAY !
this chapter is all over the place and extremely short sorry y'all 😭
anyway some cute deok-su + zack moments, crystal's introduction, and yes the twins ended up adopting one of enu's puppies!! so jay has two and they have another one (i thought moose was such a kil sibling thing to name their first pet so that's what i named him lmaoo<33)
this covers until chapter 62 (i skipped sm 😭)
next chapter will hopefully be longer since it's ab that attention seeker (who is named after the actual artist of lookism — park taejoon 💀) and after that i think is when daniel meets johan (i'm not sure tho)!!
please vote and comment, i love interactive readers!! love y'all and stay safe!!