CHAEBEOL | minsung

twenty-six

ᡣ𐭩ྀིྀི₊ ⊹

"Seungmin, please. I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you here."

"What?" Seungmin's eye roll was almost lethal and followed up with a half-eyed glare. "You smoked some weed, Jisung, how is this life-changing?"

"No, I-" Jisung faltered. "It's not the weed. It's how I felt after. Like, clarity, or some shit. I'm just saying we should try it some time."

Seungmin scoffed. "Who'd you even get it from, anyway?"

If anyone else had been watching Jisung, they wouldn't have noticed the brief bob of his Adams apple as he swallowed dry, or the way the angle of his shoulders straightened as he tensed. But it wasn't anyone else. It was Seungmin, and Seungmin could read Jisung like a book. 

"Fine, don't tell me," Seungmin muttered with a huffed exhale. "Keep your secrets, psycho. But I don't need drugs. I have my coping mechanisms."

"Yeah? What's the flavour of the month, huh? Bullying new kids, or just verbally abusing anyone who comes within 3 metres?" Jisung toyed with the straw in his drink as he said it. 

They were in a café not far from Jisung's house, tucked into a corner out of the way where people wouldn't see them, each with an iced Americano and Jisung with a half-eaten piece of cheesecake on a plate in front of him. 

It was a little too late in the day for coffee, drawing close to 8pm, but Jisung had texted in their group chat looking for company after admitting to spend the whole of the Saturday in bed. He chose not to mention where he had woken up that morning, and how long it had taken him to drag himself off of Minho's couch and back to his own home.

Seungmin had watched the older eat a few forkfuls of cake, and then sigh, lacklustre, before clanging his fork noisily back onto the plate. Right after, he'd confessed; Seungmin, I tried smoking weed, and I think it changed my life. 

A shake of his head, like trying to clear water from his ears, before Seungmin forced himself back into the conversation with Jisung. "Why does everyone care so much about this stupid new kid?"

"Huh?" Jisung was frowning at the cheesecake like it had done something wrong. "Who mentioned the new kid?"

"...You? Literally, like, a minute ago? Saying some shit about 'bullying new kids', like that hasn't always been our thing. An initiation process for the poor kids who transferred in. But no, when it's... What's his name? Lim Minho-"

"Lee Minho."

"Whatever. Lee Minho. When it's him, he's untouchable. Like he's not just some povvo freak like the rest of them." Seungmin, too, was glowering at Jisung's cheesecake now. Neither knew what crime it had committed, but both needed something to focus their frustrations on. 

"There's something strange about him." Jisung had meant to keep this thought in his head, Seungmin could tell from the immediate clamp of his mouth shutting just after. 

"Yeah?" Seungmin prompted.

The fork scraped noisily against the plate, back in Jisung's hand now and stabbing mindlessly every now and then at the cheesecake - quickly becoming decimated, crumbs and cream mashed across the plate.

"I don't think he's poor, for one," Jisung said darkly. "But why would he lie? Like, I think he might even be rich, so he could've easily been one of us." 

"Can't you just ask your dad?" Seungmin crafted his words carefully, dedicating his energy into making the tone casual, light, trying to avoid Jisung realising what wound he was trying to poke at.