C L O S E R || hwang hyunjin

ride

I slowly sat up what felt like the next morning. I took a deep breath and stretched my arms out. I rubbed my eyes as I just started to wake up. I slowly walked out of my room, to see my brother laying on the couch. "I want to go on that school trip," I muttered to myself as I made my way to the kitchen. 
"Yeah, why haven't you been back to school yet? it's been so long and mom mentioned it long ago." Jisung yelled from behind. 
I was confused. "Well, it's only been a few days. I still haven't thought about it." I reached up in the cabinet to get oats. 
"What do you mean? it's been like two weeks." Jisung laughed. By what he said, I was confused. I laughed to myself. "You must be joking." I didn't believe him. 
I suddenly got a text on my phone: "Hey, are you coming tomorrow? you haven't told me yet." 
By Changbin's text, my head started to spin in confusion. 
"Did I sleep for a whole week? what's going on?" I felt my heart beating. For some reason, time was going really fast and I was going in slow motion. I stood there, in a trance. "There's no way.." I muttered as I slowly started pouring my oats, but I just couldn't wrap my head around it. 
"But, last night I was out with Hyunjin at the coffee shop.. and I-" I started to think rationally. "I went to sleep. He texted me last night, I went to sleep..and it's today." I picked up my phone and looked at the date. "Wait, what?" I saw that the date was six days different from when I checked yesterday. 
"That's not right. I must be dreaming." I shook my head, and I started to blink really fast to see if the date on my phone would change, but it didn't.
"Why ...?" I shook my head, taking a deep breath. Hoping it was just a dream. "Maybe I was just dreaming yesterday?" As I said that Jisung started to mutter. "What are you saying to yourself over there?"
"No..uh, nothing." I took a deep breath. I then thought of Hyunjin from last night, picturing him in my head, a slight smile came onto my face. I made a small laugh at myself. 
"Hey, I am waiting for breakfast," Jisung said in a low voice. I shook my head out of my smiling trance. "Why am I smiling over Hyunjin so suddenly..?" I carried the two bowls of fruit oats to the couch and handed one to Jisung, who was lifting himself up to lean up again the arm of the couch. "Thanks." He made a small smile.
"Are you sure it's okay for me to go back? I mean..you were pretty messed up." I looked down at my bowl as I slowly started to eat. 
"Yeah, I mean, I am good now." He shrugged and moved his hair out of his face. By the look on his face, I knew he was still struggling but he has improved. He made a small smile at me. I didn't want to mention the whole time thing to him because I didn't want to worry him even more, Plus I am still confused myself. 
My mind started to wonder: "I want to see Hyunjin, and the class again, so maybe.." The rest of the day came by so fast, I could barely even count time. 
I sat at my desk in my room, it was getting dark outside. 
"Tomorrow morning is the trip...already." I took a deep breath, then looked back at my notebook. 
"Maybe if I start writing down the date every time I wake up, Things will go back." I wrote down in my journal. Then, I looked back up to see it was completely dark already. 
"It seems like every time I think of his face, my time slows down and the world around me goes faster." I shook my head, trying to get Hyunjin out of my head. I stood up and started packing my bag for the morning.
Then, my phone started to ring. I picked it up from my desk and put it up to my ear. "Hello?"
I heard a quiet voice: "Hey, how are you feeling?" I noticed the voice came from Hyunjin.
My chest felt a quick skip. "I am doing well..why?" As I was talking I looked at the time.
"No reason. I just felt like I needed to ask you that..." I heard his voice go all nervous. "Will you be coming tomorrow?" 
"Mhm," I said with a smile. "I am excited," I added.
"Okay." Hyunjin was silent, but I didn't know why. 
"Uh.." I tried to break the awkward silence. "See you tomorrow then." 
"Right.." He started chuckling nervously. I hung up the phone, then looked to see if I had any new messages. "That was weird..he had a weird tone in his voice..?" I thought, then shrugged it off. I folded my shirt, then put it in my bag. 
The thoughts running around in my head about how tomorrow would play out. A small smile grew on my face as the excitement in my chest built up.


The next morning I headed out bright and early. As I wandered through the house, I didn't see my parents anywhere nearby. "Hopefully it's okay for me to go.."  I thought to myself as I quietly walked out the door. I quickly made it to the school. As I walked up, I saw there was a minibus pulled up on the side of the road. I noticed Chan talking to another teacher, and some of my classmates waiting around on the sidewalk. 
Felix and Minho were together, chatting. Gracie and the other girls were over talking to each other as well. I slowly made my way to them. As I walked up to the bus, Chan noticed me and his face lit up. "Annie!" He approached me. "It's been far too long." He made a nervous chuckle. "Right.." I felt a bit awkward since I haven't seen all of them in so long. I continued to look around, I was looking around for Hyunjin, but I didn't see him. "Why do I want him to be here so badly?" I looked up and I felt as if everyone was looking at me weirdly. I awkwardly hid my face from everyone and looked back at Chan. "I should be coming back regularly now." I made a small nod. "Great, great." Chan cheered as he gathered everyone together. 
"Okay, now we are just waiting on Hyunjin, Changbin, and Rylee." He scratched his head and looked at the clipboard he was holding. "We must assign seats. Felix, Minho, and Changbin will be in the back." 
Felix and Minho quickly hopped in the bus and made their way to the very back. It looked very cramped in there. 
"Uh, Grace, Rylee, and Hailey." The girls hopped in. "Uh..I guess Annie, you'll be next to Hyunjin and Seungmin."
As he said the name a familiar face appeared in front of me. It was my deskmate from my other class. "Hello." He made a cheesy smile and a gentle wave at me. I greeted him with a smile. "I will be coming along today because my mom is going to be a chaperone so I am hoping on." Seungmin played with his sweater paws, with a cute smile. As I felt the cold breeze hit my face, I buried my hands in my coat pockets and tucked my fluffy snow hat on. I stood there, tapping my feet, waiting for Hyunjin to arrive. For some reason I only wanted to be around him, I wanted to see him, I wanted to be next to him, and I was getting anxious.
Chan looked at me as Seungmin got in the van. "You can get in too." Chan raised his eyebrow as he noticed I was waiting for something. "Oh, I am good. Just waiting." I looked out on the road to see if there were any cars pulling up, but there was nothing. I could feel my nose start to freeze. 
"I know you're waiting for Hyunjin, but, he will be here, and the bus ain't going nowhere." Chan made a nervous laugh. I felt embarrassed, so I just scratched my head. "Sorry," I muttered. But, then I heard loud steps coming up behind me, I turned around to see Hyunjin, running down the sidewalk, with a bag. He ran up to us, out of breath. "Sorry, I am a bit late." He said in a soft voice. All I wanted to do was look up to him. I hid my face a bit while Chan was talking to him. I kept wanting to look up to him, I felt an odd feeling in my chest. At that moment, I felt my time slow down. My heart, go faster. It seemed like the time all around me had stopped. Hyunjin quickly looked down at me, with a slight glare. "Annie?" He snapped me out of my trance. I shook my head. He offered to go on the bus. "You should go first." I nodded and followed in behind him. The bus was so tight inside, and the seats were confined together. "That was so weird..." I thought as I climbed to my seat, which was next to Hyunjin. We both sat down and buckled up. We were really close to each other, our legs were basically touching. I stared down, with a nervous beat in my chest. For some reason, I was really nervous to be that close to him, even though Seungmin was right next to Hyunjin too. 
"Okay, it'll take a few hours to get there, so prepare yourselves! we will be taking a few rests stops too." Chan said as he got in front of the bus. 
"You will be driving?" Grace seemed shocked.
"Yeah, why?" Chan buckled his seat belt. 
"I don't trust you with the wheel," Grace muttered.
"Ah, ah. I can see why but," Chan started to chuckle nervously.
"I have a question!" Minho yelled loudly in the back. 
"Yeah?" Chan looked back.
"Will there be snacks? I am hungry." as Minho said that, everyone chuckled a bit. But, then I remembered I forgot to eat breakfast. I looked down and realized how hungry I was. 
"I forgot to eat breakfast, so I am hungry," I muttered, so no one else could hear. 
"Me too," Hyunjin replied, I looked over at him, and he had a gentle look on his face. I wasn't sure what he was thinking, but I wanted to find out. I kept quiet as Chan started the bus and the vehicle started going.
I started to get comfortable, I got out my phone and put an earbud in to play some music. I quickly glanced over at Hyunjin to see him on his phone as well, texting his mom. I quickly smiled without him noticing and looked back at my phone. It was quiet for a bit of time, but then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked back to see the boys in the backseat. 
"Do you guys want to play a game together?" Felix offered the two of us a hand-held console.
"Sure!" I said while taking it from him. It was a fighting game. "We will be going up against each other." They handed Hyunjin one too. Hyunjin was a bit silent, but he looked like he knew what he was doing. "But, so do I.." I thought to myself. We chose our characters and started to play against each other. At first, I wasn't used to the controls but, then got used to it. We all went up against each other. Minho ended up losing first, then Felix soon after. Finally, it was just Hyunjin and I against each other. I felt the nervousness beat down on my chest. "I have to win and impress him."  I had a weird thought. I started doing the moves and the special combos, but Hyunjin fought back. I noticed the stern look on his face. I felt the struggle build up inside me because he kept avoiding my attacks, and he was so good. It was starting to look dim for me. In the end, Hyunjin ended up winning. 
"I felt my pride hurt there a little bit," I said as I handed the boys back their game. I shrugged, then looked back over at Hyunjin, who had a shy smile on his face. I could see he was proud of himself, and that made me giggle a little bit. I looked down, with a gentle flutter of my heart.