The Elephant Between Us || SKZ

chapter seventeen

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LYING IN WAIT LIKE A SNAKE IN THE GRASS

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"Check the window. Fast." As his sister discreetly checked the cars outside, he whispered and walked over to the door, pressing an ear on its wood.

"Do you think it's Felix?" Jeongmin whispered, her heart escaping her ribcage at every beat.

"Maybe--"

F.ck.

Another knock on the door interrupted Jeongin's reasoning, causing him to flinch.

Jeongmin was about to speak when they suddenly heard a calming voice coming from the other side.

"Jeongmin? Are you home?" 

Bangchan?

Jeongin automatically straightened up, rolling his eyes as his left hand came up to touch his chest, his accelerated heartbeats audible and his ears on fire. 

"Tell your friend to leave." On his way to the room, he passed by the kitchen to turn off the stove, shutting the door behind him.

Jeongin didn't even look at his sister. 

Inside his head, he had prepared himself for the worst. He had thought about where he had placed the knife he was using, as well as how Jeongmin would exit by the window, or hide under the bed until they had an opportunity to run away. Inside his head, Jeongin had already imagined him dealing - or fighting - with the guys coming in. He had already closed his fists and tightened his muscles, and his heart had already sped up to the point he felt his mouth drier than a desert. 

Inside his head, Jeongin had seen the worst, yet it was just the boy next door. It was just that smiling boy again and, for some reason, his heart wasn't slowing down.

In fact, his breath accelerated even more.

He could hear their voices on the other side of the wall and, although he was unable to decode what they said, he was sure that You should leave now didn't take so long to be said.

As much as he tried, Jeongin couldn't control that situation.

While he knew what to do if armed men entered the house, he had no idea what to do when a smiling guy passed by that door and approached his sister. He didn't know what would happen, and that afflicted him, overstimulating his nervous system.

Jeongin took a deep breath the moment he heard the door shut, leaving behind a silenced living room. 

Finally.

"What did he...?"

Leaving the room, Jeongin didn't find his sister.

"Oh..."

That made his ten fingers run through his hair, resting on his head as he slowly closed his eyes, breathing in and out deeply three times. 

She left.

His heart was so exhausted that he just turned off the lights, put the pasta and tuna in the fridge, and went straight to bed, lying down on the right side of the bed he shared with his sister.

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"So... what is your brother studying?" Jeongmin asked, smiling as Bangchan opened and held the door of the building for her to exit first.

"Economy." Closing the door, he joined her side, looking at her as he spoke. "Yet he's not sure whether or not that's what he really wants for himself. He's kinda confused."

"Isn't he enjoying it?"

"Depends on the days." The male chuckled, his arms hugging his own torso as they randomly walked through the neighbourhood. "Have you gone to college?"

Jeongmin pressed her lips into a thin line before responding.

"Not really." She looked away once she noticed his frown. "I mean, I started it."

"Really? What did you study?" His eyebrows rose and the corners of his lips raised, forming a subtle smile.

"Journalism. But I left after three months, so... I don't really think I can say I've studied something."

That made his smile widen.

"What?" Jeongmin asked, her pupils gleaming under the light of the street lamps as she looked up at his round delicate features.

"It's funny, 'cause most people in college don't even study."

"What does that even mean?" She took a step back, raising both her eyebrows. "Are you saying I didn't try hard?"

"No, of course not!" Bangchan replied in a split second, running his ten fingers through his light brown hair as he strolled casually, with a sporty and carefree gait. "But most people say they're studying something when, in reality, they're not even attending the classes and reading the books."

"So you think I didn't attend classes? Is that what you think of me?"

"That was not what I meant!" 

"I don't get it." Shaking her head, Jeongmin stopped walking and looked at Bangchan, who stopped two seconds later, when he realized she had stayed behind.

Hiding a smile with no success, he turned around, tilting his head as he spoke funnily. 

"I mean that maybe, just maybe, you've studied more in those three months than most students in a whole year."

At that point, he had already started laughing at her frown. Was she mad? Really?

"I don't like that maybe."

Although she didn't get the fun of it, his laughter made her slightly chuckle, restarting the walk.

"But... ahm..." Bangchan started, looking at the empty street in front of them. "Why did you leave then?"

They slowly walked in the middle of the street surrounded by houses and buildings of all ages and sizes, certain that no car would pass there at those hours.

Actually, no matter the hour, no car would pass by in that middle of nowhere. The mammoth fossils were the only things catching attention in that old, antiquated, silent, fossilized town.

"No money," Jeongmin said, pressing her lips into a thin line before smiling widely, gesturing with her arms. "Besides, journalism wasn't really my thing."

Oh, and I also had a freak setting me ambushes.

Have I mentioned his gang?

"To be clear, I don't mean to invade your personal life." Bangchan introduced, chuckling. "But I believe you still have a lot to do, make and create. Don't let money be the one stopping you from achieving the things you deserve."

She laughed.

"Like that's possible." Jeongmin cupped her face with her hands, the warm night delightfully comforting her.

She was so tired of being overwhelmed, that Bangchan's casualty was the pill she needed to remember breathing.

Suddenly, there was a groaning-like noise, and an embarrassed boy hugging his stomach.

"Are you hungry?" Bangchan asked.

"Starving."

Laughing, the two of them continued their night walk, which became a night run the moment Bangchan started running, carefree and freely, challenging her to follow along.

Jeongmin was so distracted laughing and observing him, that she forgot the person she was, as well as the baggage she carried.

Jeongmin was so distracted, that she didn't notice the eyes glued to her shapes, or the camera capturing her movements, hidden in the dark neighbourhood.

Click!

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