Satisfaction [NCT]

8.

Jaehyun had already met the swim coach when he tried out. He's coming into the season late, but if he becomes a good enough swimmer he can be allowed to compete at the swim meets.

Although he already knows the coach, that doesn't mean his first swim practice wasn't awkward. He tried to follow along in what the other members were doing, but most of the time he just stood back and watched. The coach wasn't there yet, so one of the members, Taeyong, was leading the group in dry-land exercises. Taeyong had come up to him, asking for his name to make sure he was in the right place. Suddenly, a boy he recognized rushed in. What was his name? Jaehyun thought to himself. He cursed himself for not remembering one of the only people who talked to him.

The other boy talked to Taeyong for a second before his attention shifted directly toward Jaehyun. Winwin!! Jaehyun said in his head. Jaehyun was proud he remembered Winwin. The boy walked over to where Jaehyun was trying to participate in their dry land exercises.

"Hey, Jaehyun right? We have math together." He smiled. Jaehyun nodded, opting for silence instead of butchering Korean sentences. "Well anyway, I'm one of the captains for the swim team, along with Taeyong, who graciously shared his role with me." Winwin tried to explain. Jaehyun understood about half of the words the other boy said but decided to just nod and act like he understood. "Do you have any questions for me?" He paused, Jaehyun shook his head. "Do you want to speak at all?" Winwin poked fun at him.

"No," Jaehyun said in English before correcting himself but saying it in Korean.

"Still struggling with the change I assume." Winwin said, making small talk with him.

In English, "Yeah, I—" he stopped himself, changing the language. "Yeah, I have many problems with Korean." He said.

"That's alright, I still understand you, Korean is my second language, what's your first?" Winwin asked.

"English." Jaehyun spoke, slowly understanding all of the words in the sentence. "What's yours?"

"Chinese." He stated. "Well, I'm glad you want to join the swim team, if you have any questions feel free to ask." He walked away and joined Taeyong to lead the exercises.

Jaehyun participated with the other boys, moving closer when he felt confident about something. Another one of the team members moved closer to him.

"Hey, I'm Mark." Jaehyun heard in a familiar language. "I'm originally from Canada but I moved here a couple years ago." He explained in English.

"So you're bilingual?" Jaehyun asked.

"Yeah, I overheard you talking to Winwin so I figured that if you actually had a question, come ask me because I'm the only other person on this team that speaks English." He smiled welcomingly to Jaehyun, who did a small bow in response. He's learning.

"Thank you, Mark." Jaehyun said in English.

———

Find one thing he finds attractive about her. She's attractive to everyone else, what's so wrong with Ten. He felt nothing but an acquaintanceship with her.

"Hey," he greeted the girl in their shared class. Today she was wearing her uniform as usual but she also curled her hair. Her normally straight orange hair looked even better than usual. That's something Ten likes about her. Her hair. Although Ten is gay, he wishes his partner would have hair that he could play with whenever they relax together.

"Hey, Ten." She smiled.

"Your hair looks really nice today." Ten complimented. She smiled, squinting her eyes to be nonexistent as she shifted so Ten couldn't see her smile easily.

"Thanks." She mumbled.

"Is it for any specific reason?" Ten asked making for conversation with the girl.

"Umm, yeah. It's my birthday today." She told him.

"Really? Happy birthday Lisa!" He said excitedly.

"Thanks, what's gotten into you?" She asked nicely but direct.

"I don't know, I just realized I don't talk to many people in this class. I wanted to change that." Ten said hoping Lisa would give him a chance to get close to her. He knows he is not allowed to be gay in this society, but he hopes that doesn't matter for her.

"Uhh..." Lisa thought about it. "Ten, I'm not- I shouldn't be seen with you." She said quietly, as if she was unsure of herself. Ten frowned.

"Yeah, I thought you might say that. I do want to move past that mistake. I don't know what I was thinking. I don't want to be labeled as the gay guy. I didn't even like it." Ten lied. He doesn't think of it as a mistake, he only regrets people finding out. He did like it.

"Ten, you don't have to lie to me. I accept you if you're gay," She spoke quietly so the other classmates wouldn't hear. "Much more than the other people here do. I just, can't be seen hanging out with you." Lisa said dismissing the conversation as the school bell rang for class to start. Ten nodded.

"Yeah, okay, I understand." He walked slowly to his seat, away from Lisa. She felt so bad about what just happened, but she planned to be there for Ten if he ever got into trouble. She knows it is bound to happen and there's nothing either of them can do to stop it. People will all hear the story, as it gets spread all across the school. All Ten and Lisa can do is prepare for the damage. Lisa won't be able to help if everyone thinks they are friends.
She wrote on a small piece of paper:
"Here's my number, text me and we can talk."

As the class was dismissed she bumped into Ten and shoved the paper in Ten's hand as secretly as she could. He was surprised by the action but didn't say anything about it. Lisa scooted away making a disgusted face for show in front of her "friends".

———

Today Haechan felt distant. He wasn't sure what was wrong but he knew something was. He didn't feel sick, he didn't argue with anyone, and he didn't feel overly stressed. Mark sat with the more popular kids today at lunch, but he usually does that. He didn't have plans to hang out with Mark after school either, but that's not something that is abnormal. They may act like they are joined at the hip when they are together, but their relationship isn't overly dependent on each other.

Haechan has other friends other than Mark. The only thing is that, for the most part, his other friends aren't in his grade. This makes lunch very boring for Haechan. He likes his 4th period teacher, she usually lets him sit in her room during lunch and she puts on something to watch so that they don't spend lunch just listening to each other chew. She's really interested in the news, and Haechan doesn't mind it being on while eating. Another guy in his class, Jeno, sits in the room with them.

Haechan and Jeno have become friends, more like acquaintances, in the past month. They hadn't met before this year but lunch has really brought them together. The one thing about Jeno that Haechan doesn't like is his love for cars. Haechan learned very quickly to not bring up cars around him because he will not shut up once he starts.

Haechan's other friends are all first years, so they aren't allowed to eat lunch together. They have grown slightly distant since middle school but they are still close enough that they will text every now and then.

Overall, Haechan is pretty lonely. He doesn't see many people outside of school aside from Mark and his parents. He kind of likes it, he doesn't have to entertain more people, but it also leaves him feeling pretty bored. Maybe loneliness is the cause of him becoming distant, although he doesn't think that it would be the cause of this sudden change. Maybe there is something truly wrong in Haechan's life, he just isn't aware of the problem.