STRANGER [SEONGJOONG]

CHAPTER XIII

*+:｡.｡ɪ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʜɪᴍ｡.｡:+*

The time he spent at the library wasn't a real big deal as he had expected it to be. As he walked down the street in a pace definitely faster than other days, shoes clicking against the pavement floor in a satisfying rythmic sound, he couldn't help but ponder about all that transpired back within the premises, even though he knew this would make him late for his errands

This was one of those days when Hongjoong didn't have his brother to accompany him. Usually, it would be on days when Wooyoung had some inevitable circumstances and could not attend school, and, his usual 'inevitable circumstances' would include being genuinely sick. So sick that he couldn't bear to set foot out of his bed. Because, even though he didn't sound like one, Wooyoung was a regular school attending enthusiast. It was Hongjoong who did it out of discipline, while his brother, out of fun.

Hongjoong didn't like it when his brother wasn't there beside him. He could swear that he hadn't grabbed a wink of sleep the previous night. As the morning of a new day dawned onto him, the first thing he did was to call his mother, who had spent her entire night at the hospital ward. The boy had kept his fingers crossed and much to his dismay, no one picked up the call.

Hongjoong had wondered whether his mother had fallen asleep. He had initially planned to skip school and dash to the hospital early morning but he couldn't. Perhaps the thought of project works and the leftover syllabus lurking behind his head had forced his academically brilliant ass to trudge to school. He had swore to himself that as soon as the last bell rings, he would be the first one to run out of the school, straight homewards and then to the hospital. Hongjoong didn't have time to make himself a breakfast, so he decided to grab some on his way. After that, everything went as it probably was supposed to.

The teenager had always been a mere nobody of his class. Blue hair, a pair of thin rimmed spectacles occasionally stuck to his nose, head crammed into a book or his pen scribbling away in the back pages of his notebooks. A typical nerd. A few friends including his brother did indulge in merry making around his heavily introverted self and he didn't mind, he loved them.  Perhaps those little incidents about him getting dragged against the bathroom floors or bearing cruel punches until blood gurgled out his mouth were some of the memories he didn't want to think of.

Rest, everything was mundane and moderate, only if he excluded his brother. He had to. Wooyoung didn't fit those adjectives.

But yes. His life was mundane and moderate...

...unless there came this person with an anonymous persona with the name of 'Park'.

Hongjoong pondered. All the while they were in the library, his eyes had hardly left the mysterious lad. Hongjoong tried his best to extract something from him, if not from his mouth, atleast from his presence or personality. But surprisingly, he couldn't get any informative response.