fluid: haobin

6

"gyuvin, you're kidding..." the blonde student looks at the papers in his hand. "i'm not even korean and yet, i'm passing this class with a b."

"be quiet, i know how bad it looks," the korean slumps onto his desk face and lets out a sigh. "and also, i won't be able to log into my pc for the next month or god knows how long."

"what?!" gunwook and ricky exclaim. this is kim gyuvin they're talking about, the one who always spends at least 3 hours a day either at a pc room or in front of his own monitor.

"it was that or dance, and no way in heck am i giving up on my team like this 2 months before one of our most important competitions!"

"ok, so what's the condition then? taerae hyung was lenient enough for him to take your offer on your pc and games but you know he's ready to pull you out at any time," gunwook points out.

"i have to raise my korean language grade to at least a b, my math grade need only 2 good test grades to get to an a, and for science, i just need to stop falling asleep cause i'm submitting incomplete work. english is good though."

"well...korean is gonna take some work but i know you can do that on your own. the next semester is just reading the texts and completing the reading guides that go with it. how are you with math?" gunwook starts to count down on his fingers.

"i don't know what the hell is happening in that class," gyuvin gives a couple of blinks to make his point.

"honestly, mood," his cousin chuckles. "so, you need help with it then?"

"that would be very much appreciated."

"lucky for you, we happen to be best friends with the winner of the international math olympics," the two then look at their chinese friend, who stares at them with a deadpan face.

"ok one, winning a competition has nothing to do with my abilities to teach someone. and two, that was a team even, it wasn't just me."

"you had to try out to make the team, therefore you're qualified," gyuvin rolls his eyes. "but please? i know you're really busy but even if it's just going over the notes, it would still be a lot of help."

"i'm free on weekends after practice," ricky checks his phone. "but that's if you wanna meet in person. otherwise, we can facetime in the evenings."

"weekends will work, and if i need some emergency help, then i'll text you to face time?" gyuvin gives a hopeful look.

"then that's the plan," ricky then looks at his watch when it lets out a ding, and frowns. "sorry but there's a math team meeting in 5 minutes. bye!"

the two friends wave the chinese good bye and when he leaves the classroom, gunwook then turns to his cousin.

"i want to believe that you were purposely failing at math just to get your crush's attention," he elbows the taller, who gives a good slap to the shoulder.

"shut up, i didn't think it would turn out like this. and besides, you're the one who suggested that he tutors."

"to help you make a move! jeez, i'm getting so suffocated by the amount of opportunities you have but you never take them."

"cause i don't need him to feel uncomfortable with it," gyuvin gives a sad smile. "the last thing i want is for him to feel weird around me because of this.

"if you think it's because he would think it's weird to like the same gender, trust me when i say that's not the reason."

"huh?"

"just something for you to think about. anyways, i gotta get back cause break is about to end," gunwook gets of the desk he was sitting on and heads to the doorway. "see you later!"

.

.

.

"what colors do we need?" zhang hao speaks into the phone as he stares at the display of light bulbs in front of him.

"neutral white and horizon daylight. just get 4 neutral whites and 5 of the horizon ones," taerae speaks through the other side. "oh and hyung, can you see if they have the double sided tape? the super strength ones? some of the panels are coming off of the vocal rooms so i gotta fix those."

"i'll see what they have, gonna hang up now," the older says before he ends the call and heads to the aisle. "double sided..."

"hao?"

the manager turns at his name and he immediately bursts a bright smile when seeing his long-time friend.

"jui!" he hugs the blonde and they both pull back. "oh my gosh, it's been so long."

"i know! sorry, i've been so busy but i was gonna reach out to you when i had the chance," kuanjui says. "never thought i'd run into you here."

"yeah, we're running out of lights so i wanted to stock up. how about you?"

"the school is putting on a recital next week so i'm getting last-minute supplies," he holds up the basket of paintbrushes and glues. "how's the studio doing?"

"great! taerae is still teaching and matthew is just taking a break for now."

"their wedding is coming up really soon, right? i got an invitation and i'm so excited to see everyone there!"

"it's been chaotic but they're doing well during planning. how about you, how've you been?"

"i'm teaching at the academy a couple of blocks from our college. mostly ballet and contemporary."

"i thought you were going to go back to taiwan?"

"my mom actually came here for treatment. there's a program here that has everything she needs so i thought it was best she moves here."

"is she better? i remember there were some complications last year," hao recalls how difficult it was for his friend to balance out his student life and his mother's health. it came to the point he had to leave school for 2 months just to go back home while she was hospitalized and stay at her side as a support system.

"the doctor said she can stay at home now but needs to come in every week for a check-up. the tumor has a chance of coming back but so far, everything is good," kuanjui smiles. "i'm sorry, but i have to get back to work really soon."

"i'll let you go, but we have to make plans soon! it's been way too long!"

"for real! i'll text you sometime this week and we can figure something out."

the friends wave to each other and the manager turns back to the aisles but his concentration is broken when his phone rings again.

"hello?"

"hyung, i'm sorry but yujin's parents are here right now," taerae's voice making it clear that he was panicking a bit at the situation.

"wait, but it's only 8:10," zhang hao looks at his phone's clock in confusion.

"i know, but they have something to get to really soon so they want to meet earlier. when is the soonest you can get here?"

"i'm leaving right now, give me 10 minutes," he hangs up and runs towards the cashier, where he quickly scans, pays, then speeds towards the parking lot.