Under the Umbrella // A WooSan Story ✔

Chapter 9

It was a strange day for Wooyoung. He wasn't able to concentrate in class at all, like yesterday. But it was a different reason that day. He spent the first period staring at his hands, wondering why they felt so empty.

At lunch he found Yeosang standing in line at the cafeteria and went straight to him. "Hey Yeo!"

"What's up?" Yeosang asked in a happy mood and put his hand on Wooyoung's shoulder. Wooyoung remembered the feeling of San's hand there from last night and a shiver ran down his spine. In a random thought he took Yeosang's hand in his.

"Let me see your hand real quick", Wooyoung said but didn't feel anything from it. It was more strange than comfortable to hold Yeosang's hand.

"What ... are you doing?" Yeosang asked slowly.

"Just checking something", Wooyoung answered and let go of Yeosang's hand again.

"And what? Is there something on my hand?" Yeosang looked at his hand to see if there was anything wrong with it.

"No, don't worry about it." Wooyoung answered. "What are you getting?" He then changed the subject and Yeosang let it go.

They joined their friends at the usual table and Wooyoung was happy to see that there was still space available beside San. Without thinking about it, he sat down only to realize that the space was a bit to small for him, which was why his thigh was brushing against San's. Just like last night.

Wooyoung's face lit up again, as he thought about their cuddle session in the morning and was quite for the rest of the lunch break. He wasn't able to follow the conversation at all, since he was concentrating on eating his meal without thinking about their touching legs.

A hand suddenly appeared on Wooyoung's thigh and he jumped in surprize. He looked at San in panic and noticed him staring at him. It looked like San was waiting for an answer.

"What?" Wooyoung said confused, since he didn't notice that he was asked a question.

"I said; what are you going to do after school? Do you have to go to work?" San said a bit slower than usual.

"Yes ... I mean no ... I mean yes", Wooyoung stuttered. "I don't have to work until 4, but I have to clean up my apartment. Get rid of everything that is damaged and broken."

"Do you need any help?", San offered.

"Don't you need to go to practice?" Wooyoung asked.

"We just decided to meet up at 4, because the others have late classes", San explained.

"Oh ... okay. I mean ... If you don't mind, I could use your help?", Wooyoung said, even though he didn't actually need his help.

"Great!", San said and put pressure on Wooyoung's thigh to stand up. Wooyoung looked around in confusion and noticed that his friends were already walking back to the school. Lunch break was over. "I'll meet you at the gates later", San said with a smile and waited for him to get up, too.

Like he promised, Wooyoung could already see San standing at the gate when he left school.

"You really don't need to help, if you have other things to do", Wooyoung said as soon as he was standing in front of San. San didn't answer, but his rolling eyes were talking loud enough. Wooyoung sighed and they made their way to his apartment. "I have to warn you", Wooyoung said before he typed in the code for his apartment, "it's a total mess."

"I thought so", San answered. "Isn't that why I'm here? To help you clean up this mess?"

"Yeah you are ... but ..." Wooyoung hesitated another second with his fingers on the numbers. "Ah whatever." He unlocked the door and let San in. Everything was the way he found it two nights earlier – minus the water. Wooyoung didn't even know, why he hasn't collected the broken stuff that was washed around his apartment by the water. So, he was embarrassed by the fact, that San could see the mess that his was apartment now.

"Sorry about that", Wooyoung said in a quite voice and felt San's hand on his shoulder again.

"I told you to not worry about it. Where are your garbage bags?"

"In the kitchen", Wooyoung answered and took them from a cupboard, trying to get rid of the shivers from his shoulder. "So, I thought of going through the stuff on the floor first and see if anything is still okay. The rest goes into the garbage bag. After that we should have a look at the furniture, if these are still okay?"

"Sounds like a plan! Where should I start?", San asked with a bright smile.

"Eeh in the living room", Wooyoung pointed at it. "I'll start in my bedroom."

"Okay!", that was the tiny-font voice again and Wooyoung followed San with his eyes, an affectionate smile on his lips. He then collected himself again and went to his bedroom.

There was a lot of clean up to do and Wooyoung was disappointed to find nothing worth saving. His books that were lying on the floor were ruined, the CDs had scratches and his clothes were all messy and dirty. He could probably save a few of them but the ruined white ones were truly a case for the garbage.

He just looked under his bed, if something has ended up there, when he heard San shouting in the living room. "Hey, Wooyoung!"

"What's up?" Wooyoung answered screaming.

"Come 'ere! I found something!" San sounded excited, so Wooyoung went to him. San was sitting on the floor in front of his TV and had the cabinet with his electronics wide open.

"Oh no! Are my gaming consoles broken, too?", Wooyoung asked shocked and walked straight to the other boy.

"A few probably, but I think these will be okay, if we dry them correctly!" San said and held up two handheld consoles. "I haven't seen a Gameboy Color in ages!"

"Oh, yeah ... I think I might have some Pokémon games, too. If they aren't broken now." Wooyoung said quietly and kneeled down to go through his cabinet. He found a cable and the games and gave them all to San. "There you go."

"Let's play at home and trade Pokémons! Just like old times!" San looked at them like he was a kid under the Christmas tree.

"Seriously?" Wooyoung asked in disbelieve. "It's just Pokémon."

"Just Pokémon?", San asked loudly. "This is the game that singlehandedly shaped a whole generation! Can you even imagine? A game that came out in the 90th was still so popular 4 years ago when it released as an app that the stock prize of the company skyrocketed in a span of 2 weeks just because of the anticipated success? And don't forget about all the adults playing it and introducing it to their children! Last Halloween I saw a parent with her kid walking down the street both wearing trainer outfits from Pokémon! Tell me any other thing that achieved that generation-crossing love for it!"

"Harry Potter", Wooyoung answered blatantly.

San's mouth stood open because of a loss of words for a second. "Okay ... but Harry Potter is a book and Pokémon is a game and it wasn't like parents were happy about it when their kid played Gameboy all day. While they were probably pretty all right with their kid reading."

"Yeah, yeah I get it. You love Pokémon", Wooyoung said with a smile. "Pack them up, we'll see if they are still running later, okay?" Wooyoung looked at his watch. It was already past 3 pm. "We need to hurry, or we won't get finished today. I have to leave for work at 3:45 pm. And you have to go to practise."

"Fine, fine", San said and put the handheld as well as the games and the cable in a separate bag. Wooyoung left for his bedroom again and in a few minutes, they finished cleaning up the floor. The rest of the time they checked all the furniture and Wooyoung was happy to see, that his chairs were still okay and the tables as well. But most of his closets that were standing on the ground were in a bad shape. As well as his bed. Wooyoung decided to ask a carpenter if anything was worth saving, but he guessed that this would probably be wasted effort.

In the end they threw out the broken stuff and San went to practise while Wooyoung had to go to his first shift at work.

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Sorry that this chapter is so long again. The next one will be a bit shorter, I promise!