Lucifer : Tainted | Woosan

13: "Turtles And Tourist Attractions" (Wooyoung)

October 5, 2020

(Little filler chapter, nothing rlly important happening here.)

Wooyoung POV:

Remember me saying if someone told me I'd be going to school I'd pronounce them delulu?

Except now it is no longer clear who the delulu is- I am now an actual student at Aurora Christian High, with my own assigned seat, textbooks just like everyone else's, and my name in the roll call. Just like I've always dreamed of. Except now for some reason it doesn't seem the least bit as grand as when I'd seen it first.

I hadn't gotten much sleep these past three days, though I've tried. There was too much on my mind. Whenever I'd close my eyes I'd see San- San being choked, San crying, San unconscious. The words he had said. That ominous term the nurse had said just wouldn't leave my head.

I would remember fragments of my argument with Yeosang and Changbin, Mom's and Dad's huge fight with the aunts and uncles and grandparents, and the sleep would flee in an instant, right then and right there. It was all growing into one big, massive headache I just couldn't get rid of no matter how hard I'd try.

San himself had arrived to school late these past three days, as I'd heard from Jisoo, and apparently that was as rare as snow in Florida- according to the janitor, Andy, San was the only person to ever come to school the same time as he did. And the janitor was at school at least two hours before anyone else.

And he'd slept throughout all the classes, which everyone said was even more rare- "if there was ever an attentive person in the class it was Choi San". I'd gathered that if it weren't for his general reputation he would no doubt be every teacher's favorite. As much as everyone dislikes San, they all seem to agree on the fact that he is smart.

Speaking of San, he must be running late again, for the man is nowhere to be seen. I shrug it off. He was recently hospitalized after all, and he needed rest.

I had been assigned a seat behind a small, quiet girl with long black bangs and hair covering most of her face and flowing over her shoulders. With her white jacket and long white skirt, she looked almost ghost-like. Her name was Kang Seulgi. And behind was Stephen, whom the teacher called Keeho- the class clown, who frankly was the funniest person I'd ever come across, although the class didn't seem to think that way.

I had been placed in the very front. While from what I remember, San sits in the very back. And Hongjoong and his team sit smack in the middle, but Hongjoong hasn't come to class at all since the cigarette incident, Mingi had told me. He'd only been at the cleanup San's father had organized for our house.

And maybe I'm relieved. Hongjoong is beginning to scare me. And I don't think I will ever not feel iffy about San, although I have to admit he's nowhere near as evil as the rumors make him seem. But he's still a bad influence, and the things he does are not something I find in myself to tolerate. I really do wish I didn't have to spend all that time with him against my will.

I shouldn't, but something draws me to him. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the way that he thinks so differently from anyone I have ever met. Maybe it's the way that he says things I've never thought about in that way- things that, deep inside, force me to question everything I've ever been taught. Maybe it's his weirdly blunt sense of humor, or the way he knows so many things and words I have never even heard of.

Or maybe, just maybe, it's the way he's just so stupidly, effortlessly pretty. So pretty it actually hurts.

I force myself to focus on the small inky print of the book in front of me- some dumb love story of a young couple who were on a ship that failed to dodge an iceberg and sank. They ended up sinking together, from what I've gathered. Or maybe I'd missed something, I don't know.   It's not my cup of tea.