that boy | hwang hyunjin | ✔

Chapter 22

I can't help but glance at Hyunjin more than just once as he's busy raking some fallen dead leaves together in the distance. I don't know how a person with a rake can be so interesting, but somehow he managed to. Maybe it's how he forgets to be serious sometimes and drops the rake to kick his legs through the heaps of leaves he created. Or maybe it's the way how he picks up leaves that catch his attention and closely inspects them before carefully placing them back on the ground. But I think it's the fact that he can make something as stupid and boring such as raking look so... graceful. 

My mind keeps wandering off like this, but then I remind myself that we're not exactly on good terms and I also shouldn't forget that he's a boy. These thoughts are a bit out of place, coming from me.

But it's only a matter of minutes before I'm spacing out again.

And I'm just hoping that Hyunjin doesn't notice.

shaking my head, I reach for the sponge that floats in the bucket filled with water. It's my job right now to wash all the bird poo from the fences surrounding the sports field and since there are a lot of birds here, there's a lot of poo.

My back is aching from all the bending, my arms are worn out and my hands are freezing cold. I feel like I've been doing this all day, even though it's been only a mere hour since I started this low job. It's a good thing most of the poo comes off rather easy because it's not the thing that needs to be done.

We also need to clean the locker rooms, a task that will take up a lot of time as well.

I'll force Hyunjin to help me once he's done playing with leaves. He's good at basically everything I've seen so far so I'm sure he excels at cleaning bird poo as well.

--

"I think we're done," Hyunjin states, looking at all the cleaning supplies at our feet. Two buckets filled with now cold and dirty water and a few bubbles as a remnant of all the all-purpose cleaner we threw into it. A dripping wet mop that looks like it should be cleaned itself is dropped onto the pavement within a small puddle of water. Several bottles with different cleaning products lay scattered here and there and wet, muddy sponges leave small puddles of water on the tiles.

I wipe some sweat off my forehead as I enjoy the feeling of relief washing over me. Somehow, I survived this cleaning duty with Hyunjin. It wasn't as hard and stressful as I expected it to be. We were mostly busy with cleaning in silence, far away from each other. And I was totally fine with that.

"Looks like it," I reply, refusing to look at the boy.

Hyunjin just sighs, giving one of the sponges a lame kick with his foot.

"Yah," he calls out. "Let's put everything back so we can go home."

I just nod. I haven't found a good moment to talk to him yet and now it looks like he's in a hurry. It makes sense, he just wants to get away from me as soon as possible. I mean, that's why he avoided me for the entire day. Plus, he probably doesn't expect that I want to talk to him all of a sudden, after I turned him down harshly so many times.

But I don't want to go home without talking.

So I halfheartedly bend down once more, ignoring the screams of protest coming from my back as I grab the sponges and toss them into the bucket, where they disappear into the brownish water with a splash. Then I grab the mop and lift the bucket and without a single word, I walk off towards the maintenance shed, leaving Hyunjin with the bottles of cleaning products.

Hyunjin calls out from behind me but I ignore him, continuing my way to the shed. I know it's not very nice to leave him with all that but I need a moment to come up with a plan. I don't want another day of feeling miserable because I couldn't get myself to talk to him. It has to happen and it has to happen now.