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the rest of the day had gone pretty uneventful. after that little scene in the cafeteria, mirae left to her class with minho following not to long after. the silence that hung between them as they were the only ones inside was tense and quite awkward.
when lunch had ended, students pouring into their class seemed to amplify the amount of whispering. judging looks were thrown here and there to the two of them. mirae had lost count of how many times she eye-rolled at her classmates' direction, but inside she was silently dying at the thought of if any details of the previous trouble had reached her parents' ears.
mirae knows she shouldn't get it into her mind but the idea of perfection might've engraved itself to her bones.
she was so engrossed in her thoughts she barely listened what the history professor was announcing, or noticing that he walked to her table. only when minho tapped her shoulder lightly she looked up.
mirae cleared her throat, "professor kim?"
"may i talk to you?"
taken aback by the sudden request, it took her a few seconds to process his words. she reluctantly nodded with anxiety crawling up and followed the professor out the class. on the way out, she glared at the wall and paid no attention to each of her classmates that turned their heads to them. once again, mirae is the center of the attention. kill her.
she quietly spoke, "how can i help you, sir?"
the professor heaved a sigh, like he was preparing for something, "it's not help, i was just gonna ask. but i am afraid this is a... sensitive topic for you."
"about what?"
"about whom," professor kim corrected. "about your brother, haneul."
mirae's breath hitched in her throat, she thought no one in her school knew about her brother. on orientation, she admitted that she was an only child like she had practiced with her parents. no one can know, what with their job being high up, it could've taint their reputation.
she hated it, her parents being so overzealous about their occupation like it was the only thing that mattered. when the two got promoted, they stopped looking for haneul and everyone else in the company had only heard of the ceo having a daughter. it's almost like her brother didn't exist, photos included him in the living area would be stored in his old bedroom that's locked every time, not even the maid cleans the room.
and here she was, standing in front of her professor asking about him.
the teacher can tell when people's hiding their feelings, he bowed apologetically after seeing mirae's eyes looking troubled. "I'm sorry if i was being inconsiderate, but this also regards of my younger cousin. you may have heard of someone in the class below you, lee felix, i believe?"
the inferior tried to not look too perplexed. lee felix was a popular kid among the students, you couldn't swing a cat in the school without hitting atleast someone who's talking about him. but how was this related to her brother?
"well, you see he and your brother were friends and, " professor kim exhaled heavily, "he was no where to be seen a few months ago."
"my family thought felix was just going out, he left the house with his usual clothes and bag. but he never came back. his number were unreachable then we found that he left his phone at his room. the last person he contacted was your brother, they seemed to be talking random stuff and even he was unable to reach."
"felix's room was searched for any possible clues of his whereabouts but so far, we've only found this," he handed mirae a photo of a building. "i excused about his absence as having family businesses out of town but the school will only stay unsuspicious for so long."
mirae examined the photo. it was taken at dawn, she guessed. lilac sky backgrounded the building, it looked old and possibly abandoned. there were vines trailing up to the roof and some windows were broken. the odd thing was the lawn was clean and neatly trimmed, in the edge of the photo, there were a mailbox that was slightly smashed.
with a pang, she realized that this is one of the buildings not far from the park near her house. the area didn't have much lighting but there's no way she could've missed it in the misadventure two nights ago.
"it was taken from felix's camera. the time dated to three years ago, on july." said the professor with a wistful tone.
mirae bit her lip, the photo was taken a month before haneul left. she pushed this info onto the back of her mind. "uh, sir, if i may ask, does─ does your cousin have a mental disorder...?" she asked carefully.
the superior frowned, "not that i know of, what does that have to do with this?"
she regrets asking the question and started making up some excuse but professor kim beat her to it. "let's just forget this for a bit, we have a project to do." he smiled softly, his dimples showing.
oh right, there are projects assigned, and she thought it involves...teamwork? shit, mirae!
before entering the class, the teacher turned, "oh, and since miss zhong is absent, you'll be pairing up with mr. lee. be good to him, okay?"
she was absolutely fucked, the last thing mirae wants is to have more association with the boy, not like it's his fault. nevertheless, the girl nodded.
"i will."
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