hiraeth - park jisung

2

"hyun!"
i hear the call of my twin followed by the squeaking of his shoes against the basketball court's slippery floor.

"hey brother" i look up from my book, giving him my signature lopsided smile.
"i was looking for you! stop hiding all the time." the tall boy jokes with aegyo and nudges me as i pack up my stuff.
"you're the one splitting away from me to see your friends remember?"

"and ew that's gross dude don't do that-" before i could finish, the loud sound of the echoing bell interrupts me.
"uh oh"

"oh, mr and ms. lee? thank you for joining my class today." my least favorite teacher sarcastically says while waving his ruler at our faces.
"sorry we-"
"ah ah ah sorry jeno. don't wanna hear your excuses again. straight to cleaning duty after school." he pauses watching my pathetic attempt to sneakily go to my seat.
"that means you too ms. hyun."

i internally groan and put on my teacher pleasing face.

"yes sir."

...

"really jeno? you got us cleaning duty!"
"mE? nonono hyun your brain is broken because- if i remember correctly- it was you i had to get in the gym so..." we sit down at our spot, the school's rooftop that we made into a hangout spot, and throw our bags on the floor.

"yeah yeah whatever." i roll my eyes and plop down to lay on the bench leaving jeno with no where to sit.
"excuse me miss your legs may be short but you're still taking up all the bench space"
"i'm tired, you and your loud ass gaming kept me awake last night." i give him a stupid excuse just hoping to see my mystery person. i close my eyes and cover my face from the now blaring sun.

"..so does that mean you're not eating this?"
"yes my dear twin brother, you can have my lunch" we say at the same time.

"twin telepathy. so cool isn't it?" the large metal door opens up to no other than the lee donghyuck and na jaemin.

"wow leave it up to lee donghyuck to make an entrance as grand as that" jeno rolls his eyes and hyuck flips him off.
"please i was just about to sleep- don't ruin it for me" i sit up and sigh at the three boys in front of me, already starting to talk up a storm.

"hey guys! sorry i'm late- i found my little cousin from china just wandering around the middle of no where so i brought him with me!" renjun says in one breath, dragging a tall pretty boy behind him.

"that's fine just stop yelling!" i dramatically cover my ears.
"you're the one yelling!"
"am not!"
"am too!"

"alright twins cut it out and say hi to the new addition of our friend group!" renjun brings the much taller kid to sit down on the folding chair across from me.

"m- my name is chenle.. i'm from china and i'm a renjun's cousin!" his accent makes me wanna hug him.

"oh my god you're a second year! right? all of us are third years- that's cool" the rest of the guys give their nods in response to chenles introduction.

"i'm jeno- this twats twin brother" he flicks the back of my head before hiding behind jaemin.
"i'm jaemin! i'm bad at school but i can cook.. kinda..." he says with his chin in the air.
"donghyuck here! the sexiest, most good looking person in all of korea of course." he dramatically checks his nails and smiles.

we all roll our eyes at hyuck's cockiness and chenle laughs.

"and you know me of course." renjun throws his arm over the kid who looks annoyed but stays in his spot anyway.

...

"we've been here for a weirdly long time... right guys?" i cock my head and the guys slowly nod.
"oh my god the bell was supposed to ring 20 minutes ago-"
"just tell your teachers that you were showing chenle around- no big deal" donghyuck leans his head onto renjuns while playing a game on his phone.

"easy for you to say hyuck! you always ditch your classes anyway." i reply to the boy who was notoriously known to ditch his classes and pack my things up, dusting myself off while standing up.

"don't worry! my dad is one of the district people so i'll just ask him to excuse your lates!" chenle claps and whips out his phone to text his father.
"woah- does this mean i can skip more often and get away with it?" donghyuck and jaemins eyes light up with mischievousness.
"well yeah technically-"
"hell yeah!" the two boys stand and do a little victory dance.

"do you guys want to go the bakery after school?" renjun asks- referring to my mothers bakery where we hang out in when it's closed.
"nope. jeno and i got cleaning duty" my brother pouts, remembering what happened this morning.
"ah well i could ask the teacher to excuse that too!" chenle grins and jeno cheers after hearing the boys words.

"i love this kid! come with us after school?" jaemin smiles and asks his question to chenle.
"okay!"

...

"hyun-ah! wait up!" donghyuck runs over getting the attention of the people in the halls and throws his heavy arm on my shoulders.
"ugh you stink- stop being so loud hyuck!"
"well duh i stink! gym is my last class!" he enthusiastically says, eyes glimmering while recalling his favorite class.

"anyways- the guys and i are all gonna need a ride sooo"
"dude my moms car isn't a van!" i puff my cheeks out and shake my head.
"its only-" he pauses to count all of the people in our friend group.
"- five of us- with chenle! or six including you.. uh that's-"

"fine. if you can all squish together in the back."

i unlock the car, other boys already waiting by the side.

...

i pull into the staff parking and unlock the glass doors of my mothers empty bakery.

"welcome to lee's bakery lele!" i turn the lights on after closing the front blinds.
"cool!" everyone walks inside, grabbing their favorite items from the snack bar.

we're all sitting down, spread across the small
bakery tables when,

"hey guys!" mark walks in from the back door, cardboard box in hand.

"mark!" we all light up to greet our favorite employee of the bakery.

"mark?"
"chenle?"

we all widen our eyes, faces laced with confusion.

"you know each other?" renjun cocks his head and asks no one specifically.
"yeah! i tutor this kid!" mark smiles and points to lele.
"mark hyung helps me with korean!"

"well he also works here part time- speaking of that, mark why are you here? there's no work today" i ask the older boy.
"ah well i'm here to pack up the things in my work locker" he lifts the empty box in his hand.
"wait why? you're not quitting are you?" we all look at each other in worry and confusion.

"nah i just need to bring this stuff home to wash! don't worry i would never leave this place!" we all breath out in relief and sit down again.