I get up.
I get up out of my bed.
Him
*He
was there.
He had his kind smile. The one from before.
But not from too far before. That was different.
It has changed. He did too.
"I made you breakfast."
Him
*He
says to me.
Says with that twinkle.
"Tha..."
"Th-... ...nk-"
It won't-
I can't make it-
work?
"Okay."
I step passed him. The door.
Dark. My vision goes dark.
What?
-do I do?
I feel it. A presence looming over me.
It's not looming.
It's here.
I feel it. Gnawing at me from the inside.
It knows.
Even though I didn't.
I don't.
It calls out to me,
"Jisung."
"Jisung."
"Han Jisung."
Nope not this trick again. I've done this "Jisung-name" thing three times now and I refuse to fall for it agai-
"Han Jisung! Get down here and eat your breakfast!"
Panic rises as I realize what's happening. If I don't hurry, my mom will be mad. Quickly, I rush down stairs to see her tapping her foot, waiting for me. I sit down at the table.
While stuffing my face with fluffy pancakes, I think about my dream. I don't understand it and it doesn't help that I've been getting it a lot recently. I almost never get dreams so this is a lot different from what I'm used to.
I don't really want to look so much into this; I'm too sleepy.
I run smoothly through my morning routine and head out the door and onto the bus. Felix and my usual spots are taken by a boy and a girl holding hands. I do a quick scan of the bus to see that Felix wasn't here.
"Hey, kid. Hurry up and sit down." the buss driver glares at me. I hastily sit down in the first open seat.
Next to me is a boy looking out the window. The boy is too busy listening to his music to speak to me. His volume is turned up so loud that I can hear Love Scenario by iKON playing through his earbuds.
"Hey," I say, "you have a great taste in music, but I can hear it playing. Turn it down so you don't damage your ears."
"Hmm? Oh yeah, sorry." The boy turns around and I notice that his face is identical to Minho's.
Wait a minute-
"Oh! Hey, Jisung. I didn't realize it was you at first."
"Hey, Minho."
"You wanna listen too?" he says, holding out one of his earbuds.
I hesitate for a second before taking it. Maybe if I interact more with him, I can be a bit more comfortable when I'm around him.
We sit there for a while until, soon, the bus pulls to a stop in front of the school. Why did this drive feel so short? I kinda wish it lasted longer so I could stay and listen to music with Minho. His playlist was pretty good but I guess his presence wasn't all that bad either.
The two of us leave the bus, smiling. Once we get into the school, I see Hyunjin across the hall. Minho says a quick "goodbye" and runs over to him.
I can't help but notice Minho's grin widen when he talks to Hyunjin. I feel myself starting to get jealous and try to shake the feeling away.
There's no point in standing here. I should be headed to my homeroom.
Once inside, I go to sit next to Seungmin and we talk until the teacher enters. By now, I've nearly forgotten about Felix not being on the bus. But then it hits me.
Where was he?
The next two classes go by and I wait impatiently to see my best friend during lunch. I get to the cafeteria and go to our table. I see our usual group there, Felix included.
A few heads have been added to the count, though. Going around the table, I see Felix, Changbin, Jeongin, Seungmin, Chan, Woojin, Hyunjin, and lastly, Minho. My luck is outstanding, isn't it?
I cautiously sit at the only other chair left between Felix and Minho.
"Hey, 'Lix? Why weren't you on the bus this morning?" I ask him.
"Yeah, I had to deal with him." Minho says with a cute little giggle. I roll my eyes and turn my attention back to Felix.
"Changbin drove me to school." he says. Woojin does a double-take and Chan pats his back.
"What'd you say?" Woojin says between coughs.
"Changbin drove me to school?" The boy repeats.
Changbin turns into a Chang-Tomato. "We're dating. We've been dating," he corrects himself. "I thought it would be a nice thing to do so I picked him up before coming here."
I look over at Minho to see him trying to keep his eyes averted from the couple. If this guy is homophobic, I'm giving up on being friends with him.
Before my attention turns back to Seungmin, who's making that stupid face at Jeongin again, I catch Hyunjin whisper something inaudible to Minho. Minho shows off his cute little giggle and whispers something back.
It's as if they're in their own world. I wish Minho would buy a spaceship and visit mine.
"He doesn't have enough money for that." Chan laughs.
I jump a bit, "What?"
"We were talking about Felix moving in with Changbin. Keep up, Jisung." Woojin says playfully.
"Oh, sorry." I feel my ears turn pink.
"Aww, cute." Minho comments, only making it worse.
Lunch period ends and everyone scrapes their trays and leaves. I exit with the only shards of dignity that remain. Now, off to my next class, social studies.
Right as I was about to head in that direction, I hear Minho's voice call out after me, "Jisung, wait up!"
I stop and turn around to see him and Jeongin speed-walking in my direction. "What is it?"
"Chan left without us, but since we're in the same class, we should walk together." the younger says with a toothy smile.
How can I resist that?
The three of us go to class and take our seats. The teacher, Mr. Choi, introduces to us a new project where we have to research a country of our choice.
Not to brag, but I'm not too bad in this class, so this should be fairly easy.
"Oh, and you also get partners. Everyone has been pre-selected. Once you know your partner, you can start working."
Mr. Choi calls out students' names and I wait patently for mine.
For some reason when he calls out Minho's name, I pay extra attention to who his partner is...
"Lee Minho and Han Jisung."
...only to find out that it's me.
Maybe this project won't be as easy as I thought.