Dark to Baby: A Changjin Story

Chapter 21

The sun was at a forty-five degree angle, creating long shadows of the trees and sporadic playground equipment. The swings squeaked back and forth with the help of the breeze and the sound of giggles filled the air. As it was the beginning of October, the breeze was still much appreciated and cut through the lingering summer heat and the overpowering smell of mulch.

Seungmin sat on a wooden bench, desperately trying to hold onto a piece of paper and keep his textbook open at the same time. He put his arm over the book and stuck his pencil in his mouth. He looked around for some way to weigh down the book, but with the path being paved and everything else being covered in mulch, there weren't any good solutions.

Giving up, he took the pencil out of his mouth and shut the book on the paper, only to screech and open it again to see the paper and multiple book pages creased. Sighing heavily, Seungmin straightened the pages and held them in place as he shut the book again. He placed it in the backpack by his feet and grabbed his pencil pouch.

It was turquoise with a spiralling zipper. If he unzipped it, it became one long line of fabric with orange teeth. It reminded him of a weapon, and Seungmin liked that. However, instead of unraveling the whole thing, he just unzipped the top and put his pencil away before zipping it back up. He dropped the pouch into his backpack and returned to just sitting on the bench. 

Not knowing what to do without some sort of paper in his hands, Seungmin wiggled his fingers aimlessly until he spotted his phone in the mesh pocket on the side of his backpack. He extracted the device and clicked the home button, mildly acknowledging the time. 5:15.

Seungmin clicked through his regular apps, not surprised that nothing was happening. Locking it, he flipped the device around and around in his hand and crossed his legs while staring at the ground and thinking about how bored he was.

A particularly loud scream rang out from his left and he looked up just enough to see Hyunjin and his cousin rolling around on the ground, getting mulch all over them.

Well it looked like today was gonna be a bath day.

Seungmin sighed and checked the time again. 5:20. He sat up stiffly, head tilted, and eyes squinting slightly. His mouth opened and closed as his normal unaffected face returned.

"Yo, Hyunjin. It's 5:20." He called out to the boy giggling on the ground while Jeongwoo laid across his stomach and Kkami licked his face.

Hyunjin quickly sat up, eyes wide as he scrambled around, grabbing Kkami and simultaneously trying to remove the mulch from his clothes.

"Why didn't you warn me? I'm sorry, Jeongwoo. I have to go." Hyunjin bent down to the child's level and patted his head. Jeongwoo pouted.

"Okay, Uncle Jinnie. See you next week?" Hyunjin grinned at the boy and scrunched up his nose.

"Of course! Kkami say bye!" Hyunjin picked up the dog's paw and waved with it. Jeongwoo waved back, also saying bye.

Hyunjin stood up and ruffled Jeongwoo's hair one last time before walking to the edge of the park. He turned back once to see Seungmin packing up and throwing his backpack over his shoulder before taking Jeongwoo's hand and leading him in the other direction. Hyunjin smiled sadly and once again began to make his way out of the park, texting Felix that he'd be at his house in about fifteen minutes.

Hyunjin ran, jostling Kkami in his arms. About ten minutes later, he was ripping his front door open. He carefully put Kkami down right inside the door and shut him inside before running to Felix's.

It didn't take long before Felix's form came into view. The boy was leaning his back against the metal fence, phone in hand, tapping rapidly with both thumbs. Hyunjin panted and slowed down. Felix looked up and smiled. His lips were more pink than normal and Hyunjin mildly wondered if he was wearing lipstick.