Distant Luminosity | Hanjoo

Chapter Three

A few days have passed by, it's Wednesday now, and we still haven't gotten anywhere in our project. Hansol's drawing the other day ended up being a butterfly, instead of relating to it. Which, I'll be honest, it was beautiful nevertheless.

Mr. Taeyang has been making us do other assignments in class now, so needless to say, Hansol and I have to meet up somewhere else to work on it.

How am I going to approach him about this, though? He probably doesn't like me, considering I move an inch and he flinches. I can't invite him to my house, either because my mom's going to freak out that I'm actually bringing someone to my house for once. I don't know about his house, but I'm pretty sure he won't let some weird kid he barely knows come over. Maybe we can meet up somewhere — yeah, that's it.

After class, everyone was rushing to get home, Mr. Taeyang even left for a small teacher meeting, but I stopped Hansol at the board.

"Hey, Hansol!"

He turned around, making eye contact with me as I walked closer to him, "I wanted to know if, um, you wanted to meet up somewhere after school tomorrow? Like, maybe a coffee shop or library?"

I watched as he made an eye smile, "Sure, how about the library down the street from here?"

Wait, did I hear that correctly? He wants to meet with me after school?

"Sounds like a plan," I grinned, but an idea cocked in my head as he began to walk past me, "Hey, wait."

Hansol spun back around in the door frame, locking in eye contact with me again. He looked concerned as I pulled out a pen, "Got something I can write on?"

He swung his backpack over and set it on an empty desk, unzipping the front pouch. He rummaged through before pulling out a sticky-note pad. He handed it to me and I jotted down my phone number. I peeled the sheet off and stuck it on his forehead jokingly.

His eye smile and snicker was enough to satisfy me. See? These are the kind of things I wish I could do with people.

"I'm going to go now. See you tomorrow, Hansol."

I bolted out of the room, but I wondered if he's ever going to look at the note.

–

As I walked through the front door, I was immediately tackled into a hug.

"Byungjoo! I have something to tell you."

"What is it, Eomma?"

My mother pulled me into the kitchen, pushing me into a seat then finding her own across from me. She clapped her hands together and smiled at me.

"So, I've been thinking that maybe," she paused and blinked a few times, must've been thinking of words to say, "you should go to the LGBTQ+ youth meetings they have on Fridays."

I almost forgot my mother is the only one who knows I'm secretly bisexual.

"What?" I blinked, "They have those here?"

She nodded, "You can make friends!"

I shook my head slowly, "Nah, nah. That's okay, Eomma."

I watched as Eomma's face saddened, "You don't want to go?"

"No, not really. I'm sorry if that's what you wanted me to do."

She chuckled, obviously trying to hide that she was upset, "Ah, that's okay. I was only thinking of what's best for you."

I nodded, "Well, you're doing a great job of what's best for me, but I just don't like gatherings."

Eomma got up from her chair and scurried around to pull me into a tight embrace once again. I swear, one day, she's gonna suffocate me with her hugs.

–

As I laid in my bed, bored to all hell as I scrolled through Instagram, I haven't gotten anything from Hansol yet. I'm guessing he hasn't read it or he just doesn't have a phone. I probably should have asked before rushing my number to him. Bah, I'm so stupid sometimes.

Around eight o'clock, I made the choice of hitting the hay. Frankly, I was enjoying my beauty sleep until someone decided to ruin it by calling me.

I reached over, my hands fumbling around the side-table before finding my phone. When I checked the caller ID, it was Hyosang. I frowned, I was hoping that it could have been Hansol.

"What is it, Hyosang?"

"Dude, you need to come meet me at the school ASAP. It's important."

I pulled the phone away from my ear to check the time. Holy shit, it's 4 in the fucking morning.

"Hyosang, it's 4 AM. What makes you think I'm going to drive-"

"Just come on!" He hung up.

I rolled my eyes, sitting up to look around for a shirt to put on.

–

It wasn't that much of a surprise that the roads were empty, so I made it to the school at a reasonable time. As I drove into the parking lot, Hyosang looked over at me from where he sat at the entrance. I parked and immediately hopped out of the car, locking it before I went to Hyosang.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Hyosang sighed, banging his head against the door he had his back against, "I got kicked out of my house again so I decided to come here."

"And rudely wake me up and drag me along?" I asked.

He shook his head, "With how you put it, you make me sound like a dick."

Well, Hyosang, sorry to burst your bubble but-

"Well, sorry you got kicked out," I said, finding my spot on the ground and sitting crisscross.

He made an agitated click, "This is the third fucking time he's done this."

"Who?"

"My stepfather!" Hyosang snapped, making me flinch a bit. He sighed again and rolled his eyes, "He's always kicking me out of the house when I do some stupid shit."

"Hyosang, I mean, you're not exactly the nicest kid at this school."

"I know that," he growled, "Thanks for the inspirational talk."

He what.

"Are you, now?" I raised an eyebrow, the sarcasm was clear in my voice.

"Well, it's pretty clear that I'm some selfish asshole who doesn't deserve the attention he gets. Yeah, I know about my little value here." I was about to protest but he punched my shoulder quite hard, "Tell anyone and I'll kill you."

–

I personally don't think I did a great job on this chapter (ﾒ▼_▼)

But thanks for the votes! It means a lot to me.

Ciao e amare se stessi.