In my heart // Hwang Hyunjin

-1-

It was a vivid dream, the memories of the past that kept returning, the nightmares they caused, almost as if everything happened only the day before.

"Yohan is really good at baking, he also is a really talented artist, I hope he will find an amazing boyfriend in the future" as his project partner uttered those words the gasps that came from their classmates made him want to run, the disgusted looks didn't help either.

Those words, although they had no ill intentions, they threw Yohan's life upside down, the person meant no harm, he was just innocent and didn't understand what would happen, he kept telling himself that.

Yohan woke up and sat up instantly, he hated it, these nightmares kept happening just before he had to return to school even now being 21 those memories of being 13 still haunted him endlessly.

He heaved a small sigh, and got out of bed, and grabbed his phone, he checked the time and saw he only woke up 30 minutes before his alarm would've gone off anyway, so he got his clothes and went to wash up and went downstairs to get heat up some leftovers from the night before.

He sat and watched some videos on youtube as he ate before going back to his room and gathered his things for school, and waited for a bit in his room, the knock on the door indicated that it was time to go and so he got up and walked out of his room.

He was met with a man only slightly older than he was, the man was also only slightly taller than him.

"Morning Yohan" the man greeted.

"Morning dad, did you sleep well?" the older nodded with a small smile.

They were biologically related, but they weren't father and son in that sense, the man was his uncle, he took him in when he was going through a lot and needed a place to go, so the older just became a father to him even though they had only a 10 year age gap between them.

The two left their apartment and walked out of the building towards the car.

"Dad, do you have swim practice today?" Yohan asked and the older nodded,

"Yeah, we had practiced these last few days so we will have again today, we will have practice almost every day since there is a friendly competition happening soon" his dad explained, Yohan nodded a little.

"Okay... then I will wait after my classes end, I need to find a club to join but the club sign-ups are only in a few days"

The two talked a little more, they made arrangements on what they would do once Yohan's classes were over and they then talked about what they would do for dinner, whether or not they would get take out or if they would cook.

when they got to the campus they split up, Yohan went straight to class, it wasn't his first time at the campus but he did take the second half of the year online since he couldn't handle being in class anymore.

When he got to class he went straight to an empty desk and unpacked his stuff for the class and waited.

Slowly more students started entering the room.

"Yoooooooooo" a voice called out excitedly.

"Sungie" Yohan called back.

Han Jisung, the only person who was able to get close to Yohan, they met in their first year, Jisung was persistent even when Yohan was cold to him so eventually, he ended up tolerating the boy, and slowly he started to rely on him more and now they were basically inseparable.

Jisung was quite open about his sexuality so slowly it made Yohan more comfortable with his own, slowly he started hating himself less than he did before.

The class went by quite fast, they didn't really do much work since it was their first day back.

When their classes ended they walked together to the on-campus cafe, Yohan was hungry and he was sure his dad was as well.

He got coffee and some food and the two-headed towards the pool, when they entered it was still quiet. He walked over to his dad.

"Dad, I brought some coffee and lunch," he told the man who fondly smiled at him.

"Thank you Yo~," He said, patting the boy's head.

"I'm going to sit with Sungie so we aren't in the way," the boy said and the older nodded.

The two walked over to the bench next to the pool and chatted while eating, they spoke about their breaks and what they did during them. Slowly the team started filling the building.

Some of them looked familiar, sometimes he would drop food off for his dad but he never really paid attention to every one, since he wasn't very fond of people.

"Coach!" one of the guys called out, there was a taller figure next to him but from the angle, they were standing in it was quite impossible to see who the other was.

"Hm Channie" he replied.

"This is the guy I told you about, the one who wanted to join the team," Chan said with a big smile, Yohan a d Jisung couldn't help but curiously listen in on the conversation.

"Hello Coach Kang, I'm Hwang Hyunjin" The name causes Yohan to shudder.

'it can't be right?" Yihan thought to himself' there are plenty of Hwang Hyunjin's out there, plus the one I know is short and tiny, clearly, it can't be him' he started panicking, memories slowly flooded in.

"Yohan? Yo is everything okay?" Jisung's voice ringing in his ears snapped him out of it.

"Yohan can you get the application forms in my office" he heard his dad call.

At the call of his name the two guys spun around, Chan smiled a little, he had met Yohan before but he never had the luck of getting close to him, and for Hyunjin he was as pale as a ghost.

As Yohan got closer to them the boy soon mirrored Hyunjin's expression.

Yohan almost yelled a loud NO and ran out but then he knew he would just make his dad worry, he kept repeating that it was in the past as he walked past them all.

But his father noticed something was off between the two, 'wait no, it can't be... Right?' he thought to himself, 'of all places they wouldn't meet here, it's impossible.'

Chan and Jisung could just observe the odd scene, but neither of them missed the concerned looks on Coach Kang's face and the guilt that showed on Hyunjin's face.

'what's going on?' they both thought.