The Man Who Could Not Stop Time (Monsta X Fanfiction)

Chapter Four: College Days

I sat in my psychology class, vigorously taking notes as my professor lectured.

"Now, I had you guys do some research about Dissociative Personality Disorder last week," she said to the class, "one of the more controversial personality disorder. Can anyone tell me why?"

I rose my hand, trying to be as involved as possible. I was passionate about this, so it came easy.

"Yes, Miss Areum." She smiled at me, the class turning to look at me.

"It's considered controversial among the psychology community because some professionals don't believe it's a real disorder. Many psychologists and psychiatrists can lead patients into thinking they have it, making them act out the disorder when maybe they didn't have it to begin with. And it's also believed to just be a side effect of Borderline Personality Disorder. So it's argued that it shouldn't be considered it's own disorder, instead put under that same category with B.P.D."

The professor smiled at me, "Very good, Areum."

"D.I.D. is characterized as having two or more very distinct and very different personalities. Often time the personalities don't know about each other, and can't name facts or traits about the other personalities. Often this disorder is caused by trauma in one's life, usually in early childhood..."

I packed up as the lecture ended, some of my friends stopping by to greet me.

"Good job today." The professor said to me before leaving, "You have a real knack for this stuff."

"Thank you." I replied, happy to receive some praise. Understanding psychology seemed to come easy to me.

I studied really hard, because it interested me so much.

I slung my bag over my shoulder, walking out of the lecture hall. The college was bustling with people hurrying to their classes, luckily I was done for the day. I exited the building, walking out onto the scenic campus.

"Areum!" I heard someone call my name just as I was about to put in my headphones.

I turned to see Hyungwon. But he seemed to be back to his regular self.

"Hi." I replied, waving excitedly. Hyungwon seemed to have changed for the better, his personality more bright. "Fancy seeing you again today."

"Again?" He asked, brow quirked.

"Yeah..." I replied, narrowing my eyes at him. I guess he wasn't feeling as bubbly today. "You, Jimin, and I hung out yesterday? Remember?"

Hyungwon seemed confused before shaking his head, "Yeah, sure. Anyway the guys want to meet up today. Are you free?"

"I guess." I replied, trying to think about what I needed to accomplish today. But I could put off my studying.

"Good." Hyungwon said, grabbing my wrist to lead me away. But I pulled away, looking around to make sure no one had seen us. "What?" He asked, turning to look at me.

"I have a boyfriend..." I muttered. Yesterday I had hoped he understood after getting along with Jimin. I guessed not.

Hyungwon rolled his eyes, "Right, lover boy." He started walking away, leading me down the street.

"You're being so weird!" I said, catching up with him. "Just yesterday you like him!"

"Yeah, well my opinions change." Hyungwon muttered.

"Then why did you ask to hang out with him yesterday?" I asked, grabbing Hyungwon's jacket to slow him down.

Hyungwon stopped walking in a huff, turning to look at me. He seemed irritated. "Listen, Areum. You really don't know how guys work, do you?" He asked, "We're like snakes, okay? We try to get on your boyfriend's good side so we can steal you away from him. It's that easy."

Hyungwon turned and started walking away again. I stared blankly after him before jogging to catch up.

"That's mean!" I yelled after him. But I smiled, expecting nothing less from Hyungwon.

We met up with everyone that was available at a cafe. It was Minhyuk, Wonho and Kihyun. The five of us sat at a large table, already getting lost in conversation.

"So how has school been?" Wonho asked.

"Good." I smiled, taking a sip of the cappuccino I had ordered. It was good, but I made a better one at the cafe where I worked. "I'm majoring in Psychology now. I want to be a Psychologist so I can help people."

"That's sweet." Kihyun smiled. "I'm sure Hyunki will love to hear that."

"He actually inspired me." I replied. Seeing Hyunki struggle so much lead me to want to help people. "But what have you all been up to?"

"I'm working as a personal trainer for now." Wonho replied, "But I'm actually scheduled to start training idols soon. I might even end up on a TV show."

"Wow! That's impressive." I gasped. "But I'm sure that's perfect for you. It seems to be your calling."

"Yeah, what with all those muscle." Minhyuk laughed, reaching out to slap Wonho's bicep. "I can't relate."

"I'm not up to much myself." Hyungwon announced to the table, "Just trying to get back into college."

"It's the same for me." Minhyuk sighed, "It's hard deciding what I want to do for the rest of my life. But for now I'm working at a department store. I got promoted to manager recently. With my free time, though, I've been trying to learn a new language."

"Really?" I asked, "Which one?"

"Well, English." Minhyuk laughed. "I think that's the most useful one in case I travel in the future."

"I wish I could, but I don't have time." I sighed, wanting to be bilingual myself. But if I spent too much time trying to learn another language, then I would probably fall behind in my important classes.

"I actually learned Japanese when I was younger." Hyungwon said.

The guys were surprised. "What? Really?"

Hyungwon nodded. "But it's much easier learning a language as a child. So it just stuck."

'But... just yesterday he said he didn't speak Japanese...'

I looked Hyungwon up and down, brow quirked, noticing how much his demeanor had changed and just how many traits had shifted about him. This was a totally different Hyungwon from just a couple days ago.

'Dissociative Personality Disorder?'

I mean, it wouldn't be too farfetched to believe that he had it. Disorders had a way of lying dormant until stresses brought them back. I'm sure the stress of trying to get back into something as important as college could bring about D.I.D again, maybe it helped him escape the hardships of life. The stressed out Hyungwon dealing with school, while the Happy Hyungwon lived out the life he wanted.

He couldn't seem to keep his own facts straight, and the Bubbly and Nice Hyungwon can't speak Japanese and claims to have just gotten back from Japan while the Regular, Stoic Hyungwon can speak Japanese and likes coffee.

Something certainly was up. 

And I was going to get to the bottom of it.