Flawed Perfection

|➵ mundane monday mornings

. . *･゜ﾟ

❝ Baby, you and I
were born to rise. ❞

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┊　　┊　　┊　　★
┊　　┊　　☆
┊　　★
☆

➷

Bubbling like soda, Zuki was over cloud 9. It was Monday, the day Taehyun joins college and Felix could see the excitement dripping out from his friend.

It erked him- it really did, but that didn't stop him from looking forward to Taehyun's first day of college. As far as he knew, Taehyun had been homeschooled so today would make it his first ever working day in this godforsaken education system, making it a little bit special.

In the span of the last two days, Felix had cleared his head a little bit. He had baked-the one activity that brought him peace- and it had once again saved his face. It occurred to him, as he whipped eggs and flour together, that he wasn't jealous of Taehyun. It was quite the opposite, he liked the guy. What really bothered him was Zuki's obsession with making him her love interest. It was something about Zuki being desperate for a relationship with him or maybe it was just the feeling of hurt accumulated inside of him but whatever it was, it made him grow distant from her and he hated that.

 
He loved her, let that be established. He treasured Zuki and adored her in ways unimaginable but perhaps it was because he loved her so, that he was worried about her. He wanted her to realize herself, who she really was and free herself of her shadows of insecurities.

Felix had thought of confronting Zuki about it, being straightforward and honest, as he had dumped scoops of batter in the brownie mold. As the dough had inflated, minute by minute, he had reviewed his idea, layer by layer: twisting it around to calculate the countless ways it could go, weighing the pros and cons of his step, blazing his brain cells to imagine every variable.

The almonds on top of the cake then grew golden. Felix's mind, almost a puddle of mud. With a melodious ding of the oven, the brownies had been baked and so had his plan. The only difference being that the brownie wasn't burning in blue fire like his brain was.

And that, thus, brings us to fresh Monday morning with Zuki nearly asleep with her eyes open and, a mind numb Felix with a scowl carved on his face. Both walk alongside a graveled road that lead to their school's main entrance. Zuki's feet skipping as she floats over the path, arms swinging back and forth and her short hair strands bounces along, being tortured by a rubber band around them. She had made extra efforts to wake up earlier than usual to tie her hair in a sleek ponytail. The problem had been, and it appears still is, that her hair being the non co-operative type, refused to be repressed by layers of serum and gel, and constantly fought against the oppression of the silver elastic band she had snuck out from her mum's drawer. The result of this patriotic struggle was Zuki's round flush face sprouting hair strands in all directions and her ponytail stood attentively behind her head like a duck's tail.

"Oye, Felix. Say, how do I look today? Does my hair look classy?"

Felix almost laughed at the hopeful eyes Zuki stared at him with. Only almost. He didn't even crack a smile actually.

"You look like you were electrocuted.", his lips curling at one corner despite his wish to remain serious.

Zuki kicks his knee, hard and pokes her tongue out at him. "At least I don't look like a minion gone rogue."

"For the record, everyone I've met till now has only complimented my hair. Sometimes when it feels like the world versus you, its highly possible that the problem is you." Felix walks ahead, leaving her behind.

Zuki kicks his knee-pit this time, making his knees buckle and his feet stumble.

"Oof- what the heck!"

"Dare I say, deserved."

Zuki gives his falling structure an anchor with her small body holding him up, his arm swung over her shoulder. She looks up at him, eyes peeking through sparse bangs, "Also, people lie to you. I show you the reflection of truth, you ungrateful toad."

"Yeah, right."

A genuine smile finally spread on his face and Zuki visibly relaxed.

She had noticed his mood the second they had locked eyes and despite hinting towards talking about it, she had been continuously blocked by his surprisingly cold wall. He hadn't even attached his habitual 'dont eat all at once' post-it note on the brownie container.

But now, with brown crack in her dangling bag and Felix's warmth right next to her, his smile shining in her eyes, the morning sky looked brighter than before.

➷

Taehyun was shaking.

It was half an hour to eight in the morning and he stood frozen in the middle of his room, thoughts jumbled into a pile of compost.

His body shook with an unknown yet nostalgic tremor: anticipation, along with the anxiety and adrenaline rush it's often accompanied with.

'My first day of school.'

Within the next second, everything blurred and in a crazed frenzy Taehyun had brushed his teeth and scrubbed shampoo on his blonde head. He had pulled up black pants and tucked his crisp white shirt in. His hands worked hurriedly to brush his bangs out of his face and pull a grey vest over his torso.

At a quarter to eight, he descended the stairs, his bag and a navy tie hanging in his hand and beelined into the kitchen. A million tasks flashing across his eyes: make lunch, pack lunch, make breakfast eat breakfast, wear the tie, find the shoes, wear the shoes, rush to school rush to school-

Thud!

His mouth was agape, bag fallen from grasp onto the marble floor, eyes wide like saucers; this morning had turned out to be a series of surprises for him.

Before his shaking eyes, in all her glamorous glory, stood her mother. Her eyes tired and half closed, her hands rubbing her face to wake herself. Her weak figure was leaning on their white counter, hair disheveled and feet bare.

"Mother? What're you doing here?"

Taehyung was stunned to see her mother there. He moved cautiously towards the other end of the counter, voice accidentally high pitched with surprise.

"Oh, what else? I packed your lunch, sorry about the quality though. You know I haven't cooked in a while-", she stood back up, sliding two tupperware boxes towards him. "-and we're out of groceries so like, have an omelet!"

Taehyun couldn't shut his hanging jaw. Seeing her there, lunch boxes packed and a plate of omelet at her side. His eyes searched her frail face for any boredom or annoyance. Nothing. Nothing but tiredness and genuine excitement clouded her pale bony face.

"Baby? Are you not well? Should you- do you wanna, I mean should we skip today's class-"

"No mom, I'm just- I'm fine. A bit disoriented from waking up so early. I'll go now."

His mother smiled with sleep weighing her eyes, her cold hand taking the tie from the floor and wrapping it around Taehyun's neck while he stuffed the boxes in his bag. With a few swift bites Taehyun gobbled the omelet, drowning it with water after. All the while his mother stood there and watched him eat.

Taehyun was at the door now and her mother was leaning on the open door frame.

"Ready to slay, Taehyun Kang? "

He turned back to her, eyes drowning in her warm ones,

"Yes mom. Thank you."

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