Legions of unspoken affliction

Chapter 14 : School

Riki has been attending dance classes with Jay for months, and this has allowed him to progress much faster and smoother on his road to recovery. He was confident in his skills and saw it as a form of light to do better, to live. After hearing that his fellow classmates will be attending school, he felt that he should attend one as well.

Despite the fact that he was still hurt by all the times he suffered and was expelled from schools in Japan, he wanted to take a step forward and put the past behind.

Besides, what’s the worst that could happen.

Knowing himself being physically and emotionally fit, Riki requested from his mother to allow him to attend school. He wanted to do his best, wanted to unleash his fullest potential. “Mama, please?” he said while pouting. No one is able to reject his adorable face, especially not Mrs Park. “Okay, I’ll look up some schools and we’ll decide on which one soon.”

Happiness was fully visible on Riki’s face as he gave his ‘mama’ a quick hug and ran off to tell his brother the news. He hasn’t interacted with people outside of home and dance classes, he was more than excited to meet them.

He knew Mrs Park was busy and doesn’t have that much time to research on schools, so he took the initiative to look up different schools. Although he didn’t receive proper education, even though there were multiple words that’s he was unable to read, the web pages were surprisingly easy to understand. He looked up schools that offer dance classes, he wanted to do his best in the sector he is best in.

Finding a school that spiked his interest, he zoomed over to the kitchen to look for Mrs Park who was preparing the ingredients for dinner. “Mama! Mama! Look! I found this school. I like this school.”

“Let me take a look alright?” she said while taking the laptop from Riki’s hands.

While Mrs Park was browsing through the web page, Riki was intensively staring at the knife and ingredients on the countertop. He froze, feeling an immense headache, reminded of Sunoo. “I will make new friends. I will move on. I’m sorry Sunoo hyung.” He told himself as he snapped out of it, pretended nothing happened and excitedly tell his mother about the school.

Since the application period to the school was over, Mrs Park did much to persuade the principal during a meeting. In the beginning, the principal was strongly refusing Riki’s admissions by coming up with excuses such as saying his school was prestigious and is only for the best or that they were no more available slots to take in one more, but after he watched videos of Riki dancing, he immediately changed his mind.

After all, who can reject such a talented and skilful boy?

‘We might be able to arrange something to take him in.”

“That’s great! Thank you, Mr Lee.” She said as she bowed to him with much respect before taking her leave.

He was able to be admitted alongside side other students and attend the orientation programme. To guide them, was seniors Yang Jungwon, Shim Jayoon, Kim Minseo and Park Jeongwoo who were part of the student council committee as the To-be-president, Assistant and members respectively. Riki was nervous since he hasn’t been alone with so many people in such a long time. He wanted his ‘mama’ to be by his side, he knew it was impossible so he tried to stay strong.

He attempted to imagine that his family was there with him, but it was of no use. He found his mind trailing off and thinking about Sunoo instead. He requested to go to the bathroom and completely broke down when he got there. He took such a long time that it worried the councillors. Jungwon gave the other 3 members the instructions before rushing to the bathroom to check on the younger.

He saw the boy squatting in a corner of the bathroom, crying into his knees. He approached him concerned.

“Are you okay? Did something happen?” he asked.

Riki didn’t feel like interacting with anyone, he didn’t give Jungwon a response. With Sunoo and his family around, he knew he was able to tame himself. But now he is alone and he is unsure. Many memories flooded back completely blocking out his excitement for school, he was now more afraid to make a mistake that would cause him to lose his chance of education again.