𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧'𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭

ch 12

Lee Minho fell into a regular routine over the course of the next week. He was a good student like the original body's owner was, and he remained relatively quiet during lunch recess or the little breaks they had in between classes. Every other day, he would have a small quest to torment the usual two targets and whoever badmouthed him, but he realized that he could always give them a few extra coins under the pretext that "he can count correctly, so don't correct him" or stay behind under the pretext of "sending a stronger warning" to bandage them. Even if it wasn't much, he would feel awful for not doing anything else.

He never greeted anyone first, said please or thank you, or anything that would make him seem like a decent passerby. But slowly, Minho got used to it.

Plus, there was one part of his routine where he was able to release all his pent-up energy.

And that was playing soccer.

For some reason, on one of the rooftops, there was a small storage room that had some sports equipment. And there laid a soccer ball. He happened to find it when he was eating lunch alone, and he kept it in his inventory since.

In his previous body, before Baek-Hyun fell acutely ill, he played soccer a lot. He was on his school's team, and though he was benched most of the time for his health issues when he did get to play, the adrenaline was the best feeling in the world.

He was worried that Lee Minho's body wouldn't be able to match his previous body's skills. But there was no need to worry; Lee Minho was quite athletic. Thus, for the first time in his life the boy was able to run without worrying that he would collapse the next moment.

It felt so so freeing.

Even if it felt childish the first time, he found himself running around on a field on top of a hill no one climbed after school.

He would just run.

His lungs felt like they would burst by the time he was done kicking around the soccer ball. But that was the best feeling in the world for him.

So after another sunset spent on that overgrown field glowing in marigolds, Minho made his way back to the dormitory to shower and spend the rest of his day studying for the midterms.

When he got back to his room, changed into his bathrobe, got his toiletries, and walked into the bathroom, there was a person by the sink washing his hands.

Lucas Francois looked up from his hands to Minho.

"Oh," he smiled. "Minho, what a coincidence."

It had been a while since the two were together alone. They would bump into each other sometimes in the bathroom in the mornings, but there were always other people around to put space in between.

Minho frowned and simply walked into one of the shower stalls.

"No fact today?" he heard from the other side of the large bathroom. He turned on the faucet and continued to ignore Lucas.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming closer to his stall. Reflexively, he checked to make sure it was locked before continuing to shower.

"Really? Silent treatment?" Lucas asked. "This hurts."

"Why don't you keep scrubbing off the dried blood from your hands?" Minho retorted.

There was a silence as if Lucas was shocked, and then there was a laugh.

"You saw that? Well, I ended up eating the floor when playing basketball earlier. I didn't realize it was this bad until my friend told me to rest."

Again, Minho decided not to respond, but he heard no sign of Lucas walking away. After a minute, he became impatient.