"Can you stop being so childish and petty for once?"
Whispered Mingyu, gritting his teeth at the boy forcefully being made to sit next to him.
The principal's instructions had already been put into action for the past three days, and at this rate, Mingyu didn't ever think he would be able to stay away from Wonwoo any time soon. Since Monday, he sat next to Wonwoo for all of his Calculus, Statistics and Arithmetic classes; to his hard luck, Mingyu had at least one of those each day of the week. So the only chance he got to go without coming across Wonwoo was on the weekends. It would've been the most precious time Mingyu ever got, only if he didn't have to remain cooped up in his mansion under the hawk-like presence of his mother.
Life was suddenly completely miserable for Mingyu. Wonwoo acted like a fucking toddler, probably even worse than what Mingyu thought he himself did while in headspace.
Or maybe he just acted that way to get on Mingyu's nerves – maybe it was his mission to not let Mingyu spend a day in peace; he was convinced it was, seeing how much of a fucking sadist Jeon Wonwoo was.
"I'll have you both thrown out at this moment, Mr. Kim and Mr. Jeon," the professor warned, interrupting the class for a few seconds. Mingyu had the decency to apologise, whereas Wonwoo simply shrugged it off, and pretended to bury his head back into the book he was supposed to be paying attention to.
"Thank you for cooperating," the professor said sarcastically, which Mingyu thought was absolutely unnecessary.
The class was then given an equation to work out, making Mingyu readily dive into solving it. Calculus was really fun, he thought to himself, busying himself with scribbling variables and constants down in his notebook. From the corner of his eye, he saw Wonwoo glance into his work for a split second – Mingyu thought he imagined it. "I thought you were smart enough, Jeon. At least your dirty fucking attitude says that," he taunted, not bothered about Wonwoo glaring holes in his side.
"Well I am, fucktard,"
"Doesn't look like it," Mingyu smirked.
And he was done with the equation before Wonwoo even began working it out. As the professor demanded the solution, Mingyu was the first one to answer, earning a brief acknowledgement from him.
Class was dismissed a few minutes later, and the students slowly piled around the door to exit. Mingyu was about to do the same, until a hand roughly pulled him back. It was Wonwoo – unsurprisingly.
"What?" Mingyu asked, his tone making it clear that he had better things to do. To his surprise, Wonwoo looked like he was about to cry. Clearly, he wouldn't. At least Mingyu didn't expect him to.
"Why do you always do this?" Wonwoo asked, his voice so low, Mingyu nearly didn't catch what he'd said.
"Do what?"
Wonwoo looked like he wanted to say something, until he exhaled roughly and gave up on his statement. He pushed past Mingyu, purposely bumping into his shoulder, and was out of the classroom before Mingyu could even process what had just happened.
--
Hiding his face deftly once he stepped out of the car, Mingyu rushed into the house before too many servants could see him.
Pulling a stupid move while at university, Mingyu had made the mistake of blowing his face up with water as he drank from his bottle. The reason? A ridiculous joke Chaeyeon had made out of the blue, making Mingyu snort out the water he was about to swallow.
The water, apparently, had managed to dissolve quite a portion of the few things he'd put on his face to cover up the disgusting bruise on his left cheek. Mingyu was glad the spot wasn't swollen too much – it made it easier for him to mask it with some basic makeup.
He couldn't go around the mansion without anything to cover up his nasty-looking cheek, hence he ran as subtly as he could to his room. Taking a shower before fixing his face up, Mingyu changed and sat at his desk for the two hours he got before dinner; missing meal timings was a serious crime in the Kim household. Well, anything out of the high standards was considered a crime.
He didn't realise how fast the clock hands read six P.M., making him reluctantly drag his way downstairs for yet another tense dinner across from his mother. The length of the dining table had felt quite unnecessary to Mingyu at the time he'd just returned to Korea and seen the extravagance of the new furniture. But now, it felt like the biggest blessing that the distance just at the dining table gave Mingyu a feeling of safety from his mother's ever-hardened eyes.
She had already been seated on her chair, an empty plate set in front of her.
As dinner began, she brought up a topic Mingyu hoped she'd forgotten about. "How are things going with Chaeyeon?"
Mingyu, foolishly enough, thought she meant it casually, since she knew he was good friends with Chaeyeon. "Great, actually. She's the only friend I have."
Maybe he should have only spoken the 'great, actually' part; he wasn't ready to receive a glare that made him realise what his mother actually meant.
"I thought instructions were clearly given, Mingyu. It's a necessity," Minkyoung insisted.
Mingyu scoffed, not afraid of it being heard by the woman. "No it's not."
"Did you just scoff at me, Mingyu?" she countered, looking livid at Mingyu's sudden bravery of speaking back.
The disbelief on her face gave him a newfound, alien courage in him sparking out of nowhere. "Yes I did."
"This attitude will get you in trouble, I think you're well aware."
Indeed he was. He'd been deprived of several things the last time he'd acted this way – way back in high school. Those things had been important to Mingyu at the time, those which he'd been deeply attached to. But he didn't find it in himself to care anymore, since he'd seen the worst his mother could do, and Mingyu couldn't recall why he'd been petrified of her measures back then.
Instead, Mingyu continued to say, "I don't think it's necessary in the least bit, Mother. And I think you're well aware about Chaeyeon, and her relationship. I don't expect Minjun to have kept silent about it."
Minkyoung looked furious beyond limits, but was still speechless for once. With one last piercing look towards Mingyu, she threw her fork down on her plate with a loud clatter, and left the dining room without another word.
