tangled; park woojin

23

Lee Daehwi was tired.

Well, for a student and somewhat of an Internet sensation—technically it's just Soundcloud but whatever—this was already a given, but his hyung and colleague Park Woojin was worsening his stress. He had been relentlessly bothering him last night already. With their different Thursday schedules, Daehwi prayed he wouldn't see him all day, but apparently, the universe hates him today.

"What's up?" Woojin greeted Daehwi as soon as the latter left his Math classroom. He had his fist out towards Daehwi, who had no choice but to bump his own fist with his hyung's.

"Don't you have a next class?" Daehwi asked him as he began to walk to another room for his next class.

"Mr Hong always comes late," Woojin replied.

"That's convenient, then."

"You have it with you?" Woojin asked. The way he talked made Daehwi feel like it was some sort of contraband.

"It's in my locker," Daehwi answered.

"Damn," he heard Woojin mutter. "Well, can you give me your code, then?"

"I'll just give it to you later," Daehwi told him. "It's not like it'll disappear or anything. We'll see each other after dismissal, anyway."

"Come on, Daehwi," Woojin pleaded. "It's not like I'm gonna steal whatever's in there. I just need it right now."

"Listen, I know you're trying to win Soojin-noona over, but like, don't overdo it."

"That's stupid. What are you talking about?" Woojin asked, but something told Daehwi he was only feigning innocence. He kept on licking his snaggletooth to the point that Daehwi felt a little grossed out.

"You're probably gonna do something cheesy, like, leave it in her locker with a love letter," Daehwi suspected.

"Who even still does that?"

"Youngmin-hyung did it a few days ago."

Woojin gasped. "No way."

"Yeah, ask Hayun-noona. She showed me the letter. I almost puked."

"Doesn't Hayun already have a ticket, though?"

"Which makes it more tragic."

Woojin tried to restrain his laugh because Youngmin probably felt awful after that, but he simply couldn't. He stopped after a moment, and then realized that Youngmin never told him about any of this.

"Youngmin really gave Hayun a ticket?" Woojin exclaimed loudly.

"You go, hyung, I'm sure Youngmin-hyung wants everyone to know."

"But did Hayun accept the ticket?" Woojin asked.

"He wouldn't say."

"That bastard," Woojin said. "I can't believe he stole my idea."

"I knew it."

"Shut up."

"It's the corniest thing ever."

"Like you know better," Woojin said. "Now give me your code."

Daehwi sighed. He stopped walking and rummaged through his bag. He retrieved a pen and a piece of paper, and then wrote his code on it. He handed it to his hyung. "Don't you steal my stuff."

And then he began to walk away before Woojin can bother him any further.

✨✨✨

Soojin collapsed on her bed immediately after arriving at their house. It was so warm and soft. She thought whoever thought of inventing a mattress was a genius. She was about to fall asleep when she realized she had tons of stuff to accomplish for tomorrow.

She then emptied the contents of her bag-slash-trash-bin on her bed. It was a mess. She collected all the pieces of paper she was to throw away. While sorting through her notebooks, she noticed a folded paper sticking out of her binder. Soojin doesn't remember putting anything there, though.

She retrieved it and unfolded the paper. Inside was probably the most precious thing Soojin has ever held in her life: a Buzzer Beat ticket. She internally squealed. Maybe Daehwi had put it in after he claimed his ticket?

Another piece of paper fell out. Soojin picked it up, and it read:

[ X ] Phase 1: Acquiring the ticket.
[    ] Phase 2: Getting permission.
[    ] Phase 3: D-Day.

Two more to go.
- Woojin

P.S. Let me know if this is too cheesy for you.

Oh, it was cheesy. But Soojin wasn't complaining.