Under the Umbrella // A WooSan Story ✔

Chapter 5

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" The scream echoed throughout the staircase so every tenant in the building knew of Wooyoung's dilemma.

Wooyoung was just coming home from practice, it was late at night, again, and when he opened the door to his apartment a surge of cold water run down the threshold over his feet. A lonely shoe drifted along the water and out of his apartment. Wooyoung took a moment to realize what he was looking at, before he entered his apartment and ran to the bathroom where the water probably came from.

The scream resulted of his realization that the pipe of his washing machine broke and was pumping water all over the floor. Wooyoung quickly closed the tab and then stood there for a whole minute, trying to process what just happened.

He left the bathroom and went to his bedroom to find it soaked in water as well. All his furniture was standing in water and his things that were on the floor this morning floated on the surface. Wooyoung picked up a soaked book just to find it dripping with water. The pages were swelled up by the water and the words were barely readable.

"This is a nightmare" Wooyoung whispered to himself and left for the living room and the kitchen. The situation here was no different from the other rooms. About 5 cm of water were flowing over the tiles and Wooyoung thanked god that his apartment didn't have any wooden floors or carpets.

Wooyoung sat down on a chair in his kitchen and took out his phone. It was 1am. Wooyoung laughed to himself. None would pick up at this hour. Wooyoung brushed through his hair in despair. What was he supposed to do now?

He pushed every thought of calling his landlord aside and took out a bucket and a broom from a closet in his bedroom. He first had to get rid of the water.

It was not an easy task, you might say. It wasn't like Wooyoung could just scoop bucket of water after bucket of water into the shower cabin. There were only 5cm of water in his whole apartment. He had to somehow push the water into his bucket.

He worked for hours. Around 3:30 am Wooyoung collapsed on his chair in the kitchen again. Somehow, he managed to get rid of most of the water. But everything was still soaking wet. And especially his wooden furniture was ready for the trash.

But for now, all Wooyoung wanted to do was go to bed and sleep till he could call someone for reparations. That wasn't so easy either.

Because his bed had a wooden frame his mattress and bedding were wet as well and he had to hang them up in the bathroom so it would dry.

Wooyoung let out a deep sign as he looked at the clock again. He wouldn't want to disturb his friends at this hour. So, he took his school uniform from his closet – thankfully at least this wasn't wet – as well as his training clothes and something to sleep in. He put everything in his trainings bag and then went back to his living room to get the blanket that was always laying there.

With this bag he then left his apartment again to go back to the agency. He would spend the night there and think of a solution tomorrow.

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The bell rang the moment Wooyoung opened the door to his classroom. His teacher was already there and gave him an angry look, but since Wooyoung wasn't indeed late, he didn't say anything. Wooyoung went to his desk and took out his books, still out of breath.

He had called the owner of the building early this morning and met up with him there. It was a long discussion and a lot of blaming from the owner. Wooyoung knew that he would have to pay for the repairs, but he didn't really think that his landlord would be that strict about it. But he wasn't able to talk to him at all. It was more like the landlord gave him a speech and said something like "shouldn't have let young irresponsible people here in the first place" before he left Wooyoung in the soaking apartment alone. No sympathy at all.

As Wooyoung took out his books he wondered how long the repairs would take and if he could save any of his furniture from the trashcan. And he needed to find a job to pay for all the costs. He had a job a few weeks ago which payed really well so he was able to quit for a short while to concentrate on his dancing, but now with the additional expenses he wouldn't be able to cover it all.

Wooyoung let out a sign as he made a list of things, he needed to take care of now and wondered whether he'd be able to practice at all the next few weeks.

"What's going on?" A voice asked beside him and Wooyoung looked up at the boy next to him. It was San.

"Why are you in my class?", Wooyoung asked bewildered.

"I've been in this class since the start of the semester", San answered with a smile. "You really never noticed me, huh?"

Wooyoung just shook his head and went back to his list, hoping he didn't forget anything.

"So, tell me, what's going on? You seem out of it"

"Nothing. Just something happened." Wooyoung didn't want to talk about it.

"What?" San asked again.

"Nothing that concerns you."

"I could help you."

"I don't want your help", Wooyoung said with grinding teeth.

"You sure about that? You look like you could need some help."

"I don't, so please let me be", Wooyoung answered, a bit louder than he usually would and regretted it immediately.

"Wooyoung, San keep it down, please", the teacher asked and gave them an angry look. Wooyoung looked back down at his notes and for once tried to figure out what the class was about, because he hadn't listened to a word the teacher as said.

"Sorry, I just want to help you", San whispered beside him.

"I know, but I don't need any help", Wooyoung answered in a quite voice. He took out his list again and wrote >find a place to stay at< down.