City Wall | K.Sn

| 27 |

I quietly watched Sunoo as he rumaged through a small chest, eventually pulling a knit cardigan out and handing it to me with a small smile on his face.

"You don't have to wear school uniforms?" I quietly questioned him and he just looked at me in confusion.

"No of course not," he remarked almost as if it was such a far off idea for him, "let's  get you into something else than your pajamas and we'll go to school, okay?"

"And you're sure you don't mind me borrowing your mom's clothes?" I questioned and he still shook his head.

He carefully shoved the skirt and white shirt into my arms before softly pushing me into his room, closing the door to barricade me from his sight. Quietly I got into the clothes, having it fit me surprisingly well.

"Sunoo?" I called out making the door crack open and Sunoo peek in to look at me, "the zipper is stuck," I remarked and Showed the zipper on the skirt, which only had zipped up halfway before stopping and refusing to budge any milimeter more.

"Hmmm," he frowned as he walked over and carefully grabbed onto the zipper. 

With a few tugs, and zipping it down a bit before zipping up again Sunoo somehow managed to zip it all the way up, buttoning the top button on the skirt, to secure the zipper didn't run too far down throughout the day.

"I was thinking... if I could go grab a few of my belongings after school today," I admitted as Sunoo grabbed his satchel and threw a few of his books in, "I have my West passport now..."

"If you feel alright with it then I'll glady go with you," Sunoo assured me softly with a smile, "let's just go to school and see how you feel at the end of the day."

I quietly nodded and followed him out into the hallway, pulling on my boots and quickly zipping up my jacket. With a yell to his dad that we were going to school Sunoo had quickly rushed out the door with me right after him and out onto the street.

Quickly grabbing my hand in his I felt his warmth spread up through my arm and into my chest as he walked me towards the school he attended.

"Yah, Kim Sunoo!" a loud voice called out and I turned my head along with Sunoo, watching two boys rush towards us on a bicycle, one furiously stomping on the pedals while one sat on the front carrier of the bicycle, a mischevious grin on his face.

Somehow it made a smile tug on my lips, seeing how wild they looked on that bike while the boy stepping in the pedals slowed down once they both reached us.

"You got a girlfriend?" the boy on the front carrier let out a small teasing laugh, to which Sunoo just rolled his eyes, "she's pretty."

"I know she's pretty," Sunoo reminded, making me quickly look to the ground.

"And quiet," the boy actually riding the bicycle added on.

"No shit, it's that girl from the East," the boy on the front gasped, "the one Riki talked about, isn't it?"

"So what if she is?" Sunoo snapped back.

"Geez, I'm just saying," the boy on the front held up a hand of defense as he used the other to hold onto the bike, ensuring he didn't fall off, "brave to take her to school. I heard a lot of the ones that came to the west is in treatment for PTSD."

I glanced over at the boy sitting on the front carrier, he just looked at me as if he was waiting for me to break out into some psychotic break or act.

"What?" I questioned, making a distorted and amused grin spread on his face.

"So she do talk!" he loudly exclaimed.

"That's the Park twins. Jay and Sunghoon," Sunoo let out a small laugh, pointing out the boy on the front carrier as Sunghoon.

As I looked over at the two twins something about them seemed oddly familiar. One of them was mischevious and all teasing, like Mark, meanwhile the other was more reserved and seemingly responsible, like Tania. 

It was first really now that it hit me that I hadn't seen the two after I ran off to the West back when it was allowed to travel freely between the two parts of town. I didn't know where they were... or even if they ever moved out from the East.

It was first when a pair of gates in front of us stood open that I really looked up, watching as we walked across a school yard and right up into a big red building. The school inside looked a lot like my previous school in the East, just with less Russian and Communist propaganda on the walls, and the people seemed happier. A teacher even passed us, smiling and chatting a 'good morning' to us.

"This is my classroom," Sunoo murmured as he pulled me over to a door, "you can just sit beside me throughout the day."

I quietly nodded as he opened the door and pulled me inside, to which I carefully followed. I caught a few people looking at me with confusion, meanwhile Niki and Jungwon sat in a corner both smiling widely as they saw me.

Glancing around I stopped in my tracks,letting my hand slide out of Sunoo's grip and having him turn to me immediately.

"Are you alright?" Sunoo questioned.

Instead of answering I was quick to rush over to a table, where a blond boy sat looking out the window. His curls were so faded that his hair looked more frizzy than curly.

I stopped right beside him, patting his shoulder softly and redirecting his attention from the window beside him and up to my face. Upon eye contact his eyes immediately widened and he stood up.

"Where's Tania?" I quietly questioned as he just looked at me in disbelief before pulling me into a tight hug, "Mark, where's Tania?"

"She refused," he quietly admitted, "she refused to go with us to the West, so did mom. My uncle and I are here now."

"Are they alright?" I whispered as he pulled away and just shrugged at me.

"I heard someone say that some of the Eastern residents had moved to Russia, my uncle went back to get a few things in the weekend and they were gone... I think they might've moved to Russia," Mark remarked and I just quietly nodded before he glanced back over my shoulder, "you're staying with that Western boy, are you not?"

"Yeah," I whispered and a small smile tugged on his lips.

"Well, Lianna. It's great seeing that you're alive and sensible," he commented and nudged my shoulder, pulling me down in the seat beside him.

I smiled slightly at the thought of being able to still go to school with Mark. Absentmindedly I let my head fall down and rest on his shoulder as he just dug a hand into my hair to ruffle it slightly. There was some sort of familiarity and comfort over Mark, and I felt quite relieved now that I sat beside him once again.