Distant Luminosity | Hanjoo

Chapter One

- Byungjoo -

Psychology class is the best class. Most of the assignments are a piece of cake and the teacher is pretty cool. He actually gets us, probably because he seems young for a teacher but like, he knows every term the current generation are using and he knows when someone is being an ass. He and I are close, too. Whenever something major happens, he'll let me stay in the back of his classroom for the rest of the period, letting me do whatever I want.

Although I see him with a couple of other students sometimes, I think I'm the only one who's allowed to call him by his first name. I still add the Mr. though, just to pay my respects.

Another fantastic thing is, I don't have to worry about the guys bothering me. No one I'm supposively friends with is in this class. I'm actually able to sit in the back, away from people's views.

Right as I laid my head down, Mr. Taeyang shouted over the loud class, "Alright, everyone, listen up!" Yes, I did flinch. No, I'm not lifting my head.

He waited for everyone to quiet down before he continued, "Has everyone finished copying their question of the day?"

That's when I realized I didn't, feeling a sinking beat in my heart. I sprouted up, sloppily copying the board before he switched it to the next slide. He probably saw me, but I still played cool.

"Today, we're going to do my most favourite thing: partner work." I swear he glanced at me.

Well, that didn't make my heart feel any better. As I stated before, I have no one in this class. He knows that, too. What is he planning?

"You'll have to find one partner and si-" some kids started to get up from their seats and whispering, but he stopped them, "Ah, ah! Not yet!"

He sighed, crossing to in front of the board and clapping his hands together, "You have to find one partner and since this class is unevenly made, we'll have to have one group of three."

His eyes bounced around the room, glancing at me again before he flicked his hand in the air, "Alright, go ahead."

As the class shuffled to different seats while whispering and laughing with their friends, I looked around anxiously. What the hell is he thinking? I don't have anyone to be with! Anyone I'd try to would probably skin me alive.

Mr. Taeyang and I made eye contact; a cheeky grin on his face as he tilted his head over to the side. I figured he was suggesting a partner for me, so I looked over. Bam, there was a male, looking down at his lap and playing with the fabric of his gloves. Why is he wearing gloves indoors? I've not the slightest clue.

I looked back to Mr. Taeyang across the room, feeling my eyes water a bit. If anything, I'm not able to approach someone properly, since I'm scared of rejection or something another. His smile lightened up as he mouthed go.

I groaned but followed his word. I stood up from my desk and stumbled over to the one in the corner. "Hey," I called out in a moderate tone, but he ducked his head down as if I were to hurt him. Yeah, okay, Mr. Taeyang, because a partner who's scared of me is the best psychological evaluation, right?

He must've saw this scenario since he popped out of nowhere from behind me, "Hansol, this is Byungjoo. You may know him as some other impression, but he's not going to hurt you."

Hansol looked up slowly, meeting with my eyes. Holy shit, are his eyes that beautiful or are my own deceiving me?

I waved my hand and nervously spoke, "Hey, uh..."

"Hi."

Mr. Taeyang patted my back before going back to his desk. Ah, fuck, now I have to make conversation by myself.

I pulled my desk over to be closer with his, leaving a small space in between us so I don't accidentally make him claustrophobic or something. After sitting down, I tried a kind smile, "I know I don't seem all that great of a person but," I chuckled, "believe me when I say I'm not going to do anything remotely bad."

He nodded in a slow motion, pulling his mask more over his nose. See? This is why I hate talking, if I try to be normal, I'm a jerk. If I try to be nice, I'm still a jerk.

Since Hansol obviously didn't want to talk to me, I rested the side of my face on my hand and made a bored, probably obnoxious, sigh.

"Okay," Mr. Taeyang spoke eventually, making me sit up correctly, "now that you have your partners, it's time to discuss the actual project." He switched the board to the next slide, "Each group will have to create a poster, short film, or a collage of drawings of a certain mental illness or physical condition and how it affects a patient's mind. You won't have to present this in front of the class, if you don't want to."

Well, at least I don't have to worry about embarrassing myself publicly again.

"I'll call each group one by one to assign something." With that, he sat back down at his desk.

I glanced over to Hansol, though he was already looking at me. Was he staring at me? Odd.

"What do you want to do?" I asked.

He looked down to the desk in front of him, shrugging his shoulders. I sighed, "Okay, well, maybe we can do something simple, like anxiety disorder or depression."

Hansol pointed up to the board, directing my attention to it. There, we saw an entire list of things.

As I skimmed down the list, I came to realize that I barely knew what half of them were. Yeah, we studied a lot of disorders and whatnot, but I don't think I've actually remembered anything. The only things I recognized were the common disorders, like depression, bipolar, panic disorder, social anxiety, self-injury, etc.

After thinking about it, I looked over at him, "How about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?"

He seemed startled, but nodded with his soft speech, "Sure."

"Hella sweet."

Was that an eye smile I saw? Did I make him smile?

What an interesting coincidence that once we decided our case, we were called on. I scurried over to Mr. Taeyang's desk, letting him know of our choice. He nodded, writing it down on a piece of paper. "Excellent choice, Byungjoo."

"Huh?"

He chuckled, "Excellent choice."

–

and here we have the first chapter. i'm probably going to update maybe one or two more times, since i'm going to my father's soon, but don't quote me on that. ヽ(▼ｰ▼ｷ)

stay awesome!