Hello Stranger

Part 7- An Unexpected Visitor

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Cool autumn air tickled your skin as you left the school building, exhausted after a long evening of studying. You finally decided to take Minho's advice and get someone to do homework with you after school, which was helpful, but was also how you found yourself on the front steps of the brick fortress after 7pm. Not the ideal situation after a long day.

The bus loop won't come back around for another half hour, you thought, checking your phone for the time. The sky held a dark purple tone, signaling that staying out may not be the best option for you right now. Walking would have to be the solution.
Shoving your phone back into your blazer, your legs began the journey along the sidewalk that would eventually lead you home.

Damp leaves squished under your feet as you passed cars, mopeds, and chained bicycles on the road, the occasional car hood reflecting some streetlamp light into your eyes while you made your way down the quiet street. The somewhat calm environment allowed your brain to wander back to last week, when you had that heart to heart with Minho.

That afternoon, he was so...vulnerable.

This whole time you perceived Minho to be rough around the edges, and while you didn't mind him being mostly closed off, you couldn't deny that you wished he would open up to you more. It had been weeks since you two first encountered each other, but it was only just now that you felt you were starting to finally chip away at his thick exterior, and you had to admit, you liked him a bit more with every new fact you learned about him.

He likes honey butter chips as opposed to the regular ones, he never wears his tie to school because he doesn't know how to tie it properly, and he knows which button combination will make the vending machine drop his favorite snack for free(because he saw a staff member do it once). None of those facts were relevant or important, but knowing them still brought a light blush to your cheeks because well, nobody else knew them. You were different, as he put it.

And he was starting to act differently too. You never found him on the roof every day; now he waited outside your Econ class so you could walk up there together. And he walked with you to math, and to your next class as well. He stopped ignoring your requests for him to take a break, stopped refusing your lunch when you offered to share, and he stopped...looking miffed all the time? Was he finally happy?

Was it because of you?

You quickly pushed that thought to the back of your mind, not ready to get carried away by what you had labeled as your "infatuation" with Minho. Yeah. That's what it was.

For now, anyways.

...

The sound of wheels skidding against concrete filled the halfpipe as Hyunjin watched his blonde friend sail across it, easily demonstrating a perfect axle stall on the edge before dropping back into the bowl. His mouth hung open in awe as the boy joined him on the deck, landing a 360 before lifting one end of the skateboard to a stop. His dimples accompanied his proud grin as he looked back at Hyunjin, who set the edge of his board at the edge of the landing platform.

"You make it look so easy," he chuckled, steadying himself on the board.
"It's all about balance," the shorter one said, beginning to ramble about physics as Hyunjin caught something in the distance.

You were walking towards the skate park.
And there was someone following not too far behind you.
You seemed to not be aware of the shadowy figure following you, and this made the other boy's words fade farther into the distance as you drew nearer to the concrete playground.

"Chan?"
"...you have to lean into the- hmm?" Chan stopped rambling, looking towards the taller boy who seemed to have placed his focus on something farther away.
"Can we meet back here tomorrow? There's something I need to do," he said quickly, picking up his skateboard and getting off of the platform. Chan nodded, rolling back into the half pipe before Hyunjin broke out into a sprint.