The Twisted Us [INDEFINITE HIATUS]

Uneven In Fire

Huit:

Uneven In Fire

What would you do when a person you are absolutely mystified about and interested in, found out that you just eavesdropped on him while he was talking about his past relationship with his ex? In Jongin’s case--just as any other sane person would have felt--he was completely mortified.


“Oh, Jongin-ah!” Kyungsoo exclaimed, wearing an innocent-looking bright smile one his face. Again.


Jongin froze.


Do Kyungsoo was grinning at him--'seriously though, does he have any other expression besides that?'--as if unaffected that they might have just been heard talking about private matters by an introverted younger boy. Joonmyeon, despite staying quiet, looked like he swallowed something bitter behind Kyungsoo.


The tanned boy kept opening and closing his mouth while racking his brain for some kind of excuse and trying his best to avoid the other two’s gazes. Though before he could voice something probably stupid out, expectedly, Kyungsoo talked through the silence.


“Are you gonna use the toilet Jongin-ah? You probably waited outside! Joon-ah you can go ahead first, I’ll just go together with Jongin-ah.”


Jongin’s head snapped up to look at the owl-eyed boy in complete mortification.


“Wha--N-no, y-you...y-you don’t h-have to--”


Jongin wasn’t able to finish his sentence when Joonmyeon--‘or should I call him Suho since we’re not actually close..?’--waved him off.


“It’s alright. I’ll go ahead then. Just make sure not to take too long since the others are already waiting at the cafeteria.”


Jongin didn’t know who the guy was talking to between the two of them but he nodded stiffly anyway. Joonmyeon gracefully exited the place that left Do Kyungsoo and Kim Jongin alone. The tanned dancer fidgeted nervously then realized that he should probably enter one of the stalls and do his business instead of looking like an idiot beside the toilet door.


By the time he finished and planned to wash his hands, Kyungsoo was leaning against the sink a little bit to Jongin’s left side, facing his direction with his usual grin in place. Being the introverted guy that he was, Jongin avoided the other’s gaze and bowed his head down and clumsily took place in front of a faucet.


“How much did you hear Jongin-ah?”


The said boy froze halfway in opening the faucet and glanced a bit at his reflection where he could also see Do Kyungsoo who was now facing him using the mirror as well, but with a different glint in his eyes.


A much colder glint than Jongin usually noticed it to be.


“W-wha--”


“Forget what you’ve heard Jongin-ah. It was nothing~!”


The dancer had so many questions going on in his head right now that he couldn’t even start to process understanding them. The other boy’s tone was hard and oozed out authority that Jongin wasn’t able to do anything but nod shakily. When he started to wash his hands, the smaller boy seemed to have decided to continue with a little talk with him.


“Neh Jongin-ah~ Do you know that I like to play games? There is one thing I learned from playing a lot. It’s that you should never start a game if you don’t know how to play it. That way, you’ll never lose, y’know? Oh! Since I want to be your friend Jongin-ah, I want us to know more about each other! What if I tell you one thing about me, then you’ll tell me one thing about you?”


Jongin saw Kyungsoo grin through the fringes of his hair. It was as wide and as spine-chillingly mysterious as the Cheshire’s grin. The tanned dancer thought of how perfect the example was. The tanned dancer didn’t know if Kyungsoo was either just plain talkative or plain random or plain creepy. Jongin’s heart rate spiked at what was happening, both a mixture of fear and interest. Something that Jongin would never know that he will deeply regret feeling later.


“O-okay...” the younger could only answer in a quivering, low voice.

“I loathe people who keeps meddling with other people’s business.”


Jongin shivered in fear. The way Kyungsoo said those ten little words pricked something within him. Was he talking about Jongin? Was he warning the boy to shut his mouth about what he heard earlier? Or was it about something else?

The older boy kept his smile on even though Jongin knew he wasn’t feeling the same. He was probably mad at Jongin now. The tanned dancer hated himself at the moment at what he just thought. They only just met after all. They were not even friends yet. And Jongin thought that at this point, it might be already impossible for the two of them to become such. They were just acquaintances. Done. End of story.


He couldn’t even glance at the innocent-looking boy now. Jongin felt ashamed with himself. He bowed his head even more that strands of his hair was now blocking his line of sight from the neurology-major student. Still, Jongin felt the other’s piercing gaze and it was making his skin crawl because of the atmosphere suddenly changing. From awkwardness to tension. From embarrassment to stiffness. From disgust to fear.


Jongin was starting to get suffocated because of the tension. He started to breath a little faster. It was as if what happened years ago was happening all over again. This time, from a boy he wrongly started to have an attraction. This time, it was from fear. But fear from what? Jongin didn’t know. He didn’t have a clue. All he knew was there were things Kyungsoo didn’t want him to meddle with. Jongin couldn’t think of anything else but the words...