golden boy

chapter 10

"did you manage to wash the shirt?," minho asked as the two walked into his house after school.

"no, and i even tried bleaching it. you would think that for so much money a garment would sustain a little bleach.. but it just ended up ruining the fabric," jisung replied nonchalantly, hands in his pockets. it was jacket season and he was wearing a black fluffy coat that made him look super small. 

"ah, so you bought a new one?"

"ha, no way. 250 000 bucks for this shit. do you know how many cigarettes that is?," the shorter lifted his brows judgementally and looked down, "i diy-ed it. nobody noticed the whole week," he laughed, "i took the school logo off and resewed it to another shirt i had."

"wow," minho couldn't help but exclaim. he didn't expect a guy his age to actually be able to do that. it kind of seemed like black magic to him.

"it doesn't take too much effort," jisung giggled at his surprise, "it would've been easier to do it with a sewing machine but i don't have one anymore.."

"wait, so you.. sewed it by hand?," the taller's eyes widened and he looked at the symbol that was perfectly attached to the white shirt.

"uh-huh. the thread isn't the right shade of red if you look at it carefully but thankfully no one did the whole week so i trust they won't find out now."

"that's.. amazing," minho mumbled, truly impressed.

"i'm no prodigy, just a boy who likes repurposing clothes and mending. my grandma taught me that," jisung smiled and pointed to the seam proudly, "when she died my mum sold her stuff though, including the machine."

"oh, why didn't you keep it?"

"there's no space in the apartment for that.. i share my room with my brother," the shorter pouted and rolled his eyes.

"well, i don't know if anyone at home can make a stitch.. but if we don't have a machine in the house it's only because my parents haven't thought about it yet. otherwise they would've bought like, three already," minho giggled.

"haha, i imagine you keeping a sewing machine in the house and making a seamstress come over to make changes to your clothes. like you have a kitchen and you make a woman come and use it, instead of ordering something to eat.."

"it's illogical, isn't it?," the taller chuckled and dropped his backpack on the couch, "i trust you don't want to drink anything?"

"you know me too well," jisung laughed and sat down, taking out his notes, "the sooner we start, the sooner we'll be finished."

minho felt a little deprecated by the comment but nodded. he took out his printed notes, kept together with a blue paperclip, and signalled for the shorter to start their presentation. they repeated it a couple of times until the noise of someone going up the stairs was heard.

minho's eyes lifted up fearfully and jisung, who wasn't going to pay any attention to the footsteps stopped in his tracks. he opened his mouth to ask something but then he noticed the host standing up as a thin middle aged woman entered the room with a swing of the door.

"mum," the taller exclaimed and jisung immediately jumped up too, "i didn't expect you home so early."

"yes, i thought the meeting would go on for longer but it ended early," the woman replied emotionlessly. she was wearing a white shirt with a black blazer and pants. she looked modern and boring at the same time, and a little scary. she shot jisung a curious glance.

"uh, hello, mrs lee, i'm han jisung, minho's classmate," the boy greeted and offered a shaky hand. he was so uncomfortable in this situation that he didn't know how to act.

"han? like the son of ceo han?," the woman returned and a pleasant smile grew on her lips.

"um, no. just.. regular guy han," jisung answered politely.

"oh," she let out, then turned to her son and lifted her brows. jisung noticed that minho turned away when their eyes met, "and why are you here?," she addressed her son this time around, politely as if talking to a stranger.

"we're doing a project together," the host justified, and the woman once again couldn't hide her disappointment, "we'll go work in my room," minho added and took the scattered papers from the couch.

jisung, as if on cue, picked up his bag and walked after the taller boy, leaving the cold and weird woman behind.