neighbours (hyungwonho)

8

'hyungwon, this boy' he thought to himself, 'i'm starting to really like you aren't I?'

it was a few hours later on the same day and the two boys were in class again, listening to what their teacher, mr choi was saying.

'and here I thought you never left the house' wonho thought to himself as his teacher's dull voice drowned him.

wonho's eyes were fixed on his taller neighbour who was sitting on his left in the row in front of him. hyungwon always sat in the seat beside the window and only now did wonho realise that the beams of sunlight that escaped the cheap curtain made the taller boy shine so much.

it was almost as if the taller boy were an angel as wonho watched the yellow-orange light engulf the boy's head.

it had been on wonho's mind the whole day. 'who or what was chae hyungwon?' there were so many things that wonho wanted to ask the taller male but who was he? hyungwon had made it pretty clear to wonho last night that he didn't see him in a good light. wonho didn't know what to do, should he go to hyungwon and ask to be friends or leave the boy alone like he wanted to be? 

groaning wonho ruffled his hair in frustration as he buried his head into the textbook that wasn't even open on his desk.

"wonho?"

wonho quickly looked up with alarmed rabbit eyes as he looked at mr choi who was staring right into him.

"can you solve this problem on the board?"

wonho nervously looked around, he obviously hadn't been paying attention and he knew that the teacher knew. the teacher knew that wonho knew that he was in trouble too, so after a few moments of awkward silence, the teacher sighed before telling wonho that he would be having detention at the end of the day.

luckily the bell rang before wonho could get into more trouble and the class quickly flee. wonho, kihyun, minhyuk and jooheon were now eating in the cafeteria. wonho was still being sulking about his detention while jooheon and minhyuk were goofing around, throwing food around and laughing loudly.

"yah!"

the three boys sitting at the table looked up in surprise as wonho stood up abruptly.

"you! watch where you're going!"

now all four boys looked behind wonho to see jaemin glaring at them.

"ah sorry" wonho muttered before sitting down again.

all three pairs of eyes were on wonho now as they wondered about his sudden outburst. wonho looked at them wearily before sighing.

"sorry, it's just some stuff in my mind"

minhyuk and jooheon still looked confused but nodded as kihyun told them about wonho's detention. 

the four boys continued to eat before kihyun nudged wonho and slightly pointed to their far right. the four boys all turned their heads to the direction in which kihyun was pointing to.

wonho's eyes widened as he saw jaemin talking to hyungwon. hyungwon was sitting alone on the far side of the cafeteria when jaemin walked up to him. wonho's neighbour had his head down and jaemin was looking at him with a smirk.

jaemin, the school's 'bad boy'. his full name was kim jaemin and he was always hanging out with the rich people, the people that fought and the powerful, and so he became influential within but not only in their school.

it wasn't the first time that wonho had seen jaemin with hyungwon but before wonho hadn't really given a second look to the two. now everything was different and wonho could see how hyungwon was clenching his fists tightly and how there was both anger and fear radiating from hyungwon's eyes. wonho could see the triumph in jaemin's eyes and the confidence that he could feel from jaemin's stance. 

besides the four boys who were watching - with mainly wonho and kihyun paying attention- there weren't that many people watching. it had become a common occurrence that jaemin 'fed' on the weak people in the school so there wasn't much to watch.

that changed when hyungwon abruptly stood up, throwing a punch to jaemin. a crowd of people instantly appeared and gathered around the two boys. minhyuk was the first to get out of his seat, followed by the three boys as they ran to the crowd. at first wonho couldn't see what was happening and he desperately tried to get to the front of the crowd but failed as the people didn't budge.

a loud voice interrupted the chants encouraging the fight and the crowd of students dispersed quickly. wonho looked behind him to see mr choi running up to him. 

in the blink of an eye, mr choi had already reached where the two boys were and separated them. hyungwon and jaemin were still fuming and mr choi who didn't want any more troubles told them to not waste energy in explaining to him as they were led out, probably to the principals office.

***

the atmosphere was as cold as ice as the three boys sat in mr choi's detention class. jaemin was sitting in the far back corner while hyungwon and wonho - who had chosen to sit next to hyungwon- was sitting near the front.

clearing his throat a little, wonho decided to ask the question that had been on his mind ever since, "hyungwon, what happened?"