Serendipity | SunKi Au

23: Very New

A beeping of an alarm makes his eyes open, slowly. He stares at the ceiling, furrowing his eyebrows slightly before the realization hits him. Right, he wasn't in Japan anymore.

It's been over a month since the shift but he still finds himself confused at times, usually when he wakes up and is only half-conscious. 

He takes a sigh, thinking of how dumb he was for still forgetting such facts as he sits on his bed for a second before getting up, walking towards his closet. He picks up his school uniform before heading to the restroom where he begins to get ready for the day.

Soon enough, he descends the stairs which lead to the kitchen, leaving his backpack by the service door, muttering a "Good morning" to the people that walk by him. He sits on the kitchen bar chair, laying his head on the table right away after murmuring a greeting to his mother.

"Morning Riki," she replies as she puts down a plate of breakfast in front of his arms. "You should really start eating. You only have 3 minutes before the young master is outside waiting at the car," his mother warns.

Riki widens his eyes, putting his head up, glancing down at his phone before hopping off the chair. "I was sure I woke up early today!" He exclaims before chugging down the healthy smoothie his mother made, taking a toasted bread in his hand. "I'll get going!" He shouts, running away with the bread in his hand, slinging his backpack through the other as his hand grabs onto his shoes, all done as quickly as possible before his mom can scold him to eat all of his breakfast. 

He runs through the garden towards the parking lot, glancing every once in a while to see the time. By the time he arrived, he leaned on the car, panting heavily. He looks at his watch. 1 minute late. "Fuck," he curses under his breath. He picks his head up, ready to see Sunoo's annoyed expression only to see that he didn't have it but rather an unusual look on his face. Riki swore that just yesterday, he was ready to scream at him for being seconds late.

"Why did you run barefoot?" The older asks, a tone that sounded like worriedness laced onto his voice.

Ni-Ki widens his eyes, looking down at the floor instead, "I didn't want to be late."

"Wear your shoes next time," the silver head pronounces before opening the car door, sliding in.

Riki glances at Mr. Im who was watching the scene unfold with a questioning look. He gives him a small, unsure, hesitant shrug before following inside.

~

"Do you want a ride back home?" A voice from behind asks making the blond turn around.

"Huh?" He questions in confusion, taking his earbuds off to make sure he hadn't heard wrong. Just a couple of days ago, Kim Sunoo did his absolute best to not have a conversation with him, and all of a sudden he's even offering to go home together? Was there something going wrong with him?

The other points, "Mr. Im is waiting, take it or leave it."

"I would rather walk," he answers sincerely with an awkward smile, rubbing his nape.

"Why?" The older male asks, furrowing his eyebrows slightly as many thoughts went through his head.

He shrugs, "It's relaxing to walk slowly and freely, listening to music."

The boy says nothing more, walking off to the car. Riki shrugs, turning around to continue his way back home. He heard running footsteps behind, making him turn around. He widens his eyes.

"Where are you going?"

"You're not the only one that can choose to walk home," the other mutters, walking ahead, a hidden smile on his face.

Riki confused, continues to walks slower than usual, his heart speeding up. 'What has gotten into him?' He wonders as he looks at the figure ahead.

~

"Jay-Hyung!" 

The said male turns around just as he was about to open the studio's door, a smile quickly tugging up his lips. "Riki-san," he says, followed by a small chuckle as the younger reaches him, his hand moving to ruffle the boy's head. "Ready to practice?"

"Yes," the Japanese boy answers, his head nodding firmly which made them both giggle. "Is Sunghoon-Hyung here?" He questions as they step into the building.

"He has a shoot today so I don't think he's gonna make it," he answers, earning a nod from the other. 

They curtly bow to Jia who was at the front desk as usual before heading up the stairs, talking about school and some other random things. Just as they were about to open the door to the one labeled Level 4, Jay stops.

"Okay, you're acting weird. What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Riki asks, genuinely confused.

"You're shifting a lot, playing with your bag, obviously you're thinking about something," he answers with a 'duh' tone. The younger freezes, momentarily thinking about his actions. Has he really been acting abnormally?

"Just... just nervous for the competition, it'll be my first," he replies after glancing at the poster behind the one in front of him. 

Jay sighs, "Thank god I thought it would be something else." Riki raises an eyebrow. "I mean this is serious but I really thought it would be something else, something that we should worry about. We definitely don't have to worry about the competition. It's your first and you'll do amazing, you could even win first," he says with a reassuring smile, rubbing one of his shoulders comfortingly.

"Thanks, Hyung," he replies with a bright smile, the scenes from before haunting him at the back of his brain.