Saturday Part One (1/2)

<b style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;font-weight:normal;">Kyungsoo is walking towards the school gate after swim practice, the afternoon sun beating down on him making the nape of his neck sting slightly. He whips out his cell phone and scrolls through his contacts until he reaches ‘Kai’. His finger lingers on the ‘call’ button as he hears his name being called.

“Good work today!” the fellow swim team member smiled, patting him on the back.

“Oh, Chen,” he acknowledges.

“I’m surprised you’ve been properly showing up at practice recently!” he remarks with a chuckle.

“Ah. Yeah, because if I don’t participate I’ll be scolded,” Kyungsoo replies. Chen looks at him, slightly confused, but assumes that it’s probably the coach who will reprimand him for skipping too many practices.

“Well, whatever,” he says, brushing off his thoughts. “Hey, want to go somewhere for lunch together?”

Kyungsoo looks down at the phone in his hand, eyeing Kai’s name and responds politely with a smile, “I’m sorry, I’m already meeting someone.”

Chen, noticing the phone, lets out a gasp and points his finger towards the phone. “Ahh, the rumored weekly girlfriend?” he says slyly.

Kyungsoo averts his gaze slightly, bothered by the words. Weekly... He feels himself feeling more bothered than he expected as he freezes in his steps and let his thoughts wander, eyes staring blankly at the ground.

Chen takes his silence as a ‘yes’ and continues playfully, “I see! So if I wait until the day after tomorrow, it’d be fine... right...” He notices his friend’s silence and stops himself. Uwah! Did I upset him?

He breaks out of his thoughts and turns to a flustered Chen. “Can I make a phone call?”

“U-uh, sure.” Did I say something wrong...?

They’re at the gate now and a moment after Kyungsoo pushes the ‘call’ button, he can hear a ringtone wafting through the air. Recognizing it, he rushes the the other side of the gate to confirm his suspicion.

“Ah,” Kai says through the phone, looking over at his boyfriend. “I thought I heard something like your voice... Waiting at home was boring so I kinda ended up here.”

Kinda ended up here, he says... That’s... cute. Kyungsoo glances down at the electronic in his hand and ends the call. He recalls Kai being weird on their way home together yesterday after visiting his house and looks gently at the man in front of him. It was Kai who had asked to meet today. He brushes away the thought as he remembers that Chen was following him.

“Ah~ I see! You were meeting with Kai-sshi! Forget what I said then,” Chen waves his hands in front of him, smiling with his eyes. “Kai-sshi, if you’re at school then you should have stopped by the pool for a bit!”

Kai smiles at his friend from the swim team and replies, “Well, if a person who quit shows up too often it’d be annoying.”

<b style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;font-weight:normal;">“What are you saying? It’s not like anyone hated you. If you drop by for a bit then everyone would be more motivated!” Chen laughs.

“No way! Well... if you say it like that then maybe I’ll come to tomorrow’s practice....”

“Really?! You have to, okay?” They laugh and give each other a high-five.

Overly affectionate chitter-chatter... Kyungsoo thinks staring at the two, annoyance starting to pool up inside of him. Aren’t they a bit too close?

Kai looks over at Kyungsoo then with a curious face. The older flinches slightly and starts to feel nervous. Just now... what kind of expression did I...? If it was a horrid, terrible face then...! Augh, jealousy is scary! He averts his gaze and grips his hair with both hands. A few more swim team members exit the gate and notice them, giving their greetings and leaving.

“Well I’ll be going then. See you tomorrow, maybe!” Chen says, waving as he trots away, catching up to the other members ahead of him.

Calm, calm, Kyungsoo chants as he tries to control his facial muscles and bring up a natural smile. “You sure are popular!” he manages, turning to his boyfriend.

Kai has a pout on his face as he gazes absently at the gravel under their feet. “What was the ‘forget it’ with Chen just then?”