01. monsters (1/1)

I feel these limbs are growing cold to numbTake a good look at what I’ve becomeThere’s a hole in my chestAnd I don't think it’s leaving room for anyone[Fr: Jisoo] are you up? The vibration of Jeonghan's phone set atop the wooden bedside table made the sleeping boy stir in his sleep, though still not fully waking.The load of work he was experiencing for the past couple of days had started taking toll on his body; the countless, sleepless nights, the going back and forth between rooms and corridors, those were the reasons why his body was refusing to get up despite his mental will telling him to. [Fr: Jisoo] jeonghan, i know you're tired. you need to wake up. Another bout of vibrations, and it was finally time to get up. Jeonghan lifted a hand and rubbed at his dazed, half-open eyes, simultaneously releasing a yawn. He didn't know it would be possible to have every part of the human ache in unison. His feet were sore and full of blisters due to the copious amount of walking he had to do the previous day, while small, purplish bruises littered themselves around his fingers due to the effort that cutting up thick boxes with only a pair of scissors had bore. Apart from all the pain welling within his joints, his back was also sore, as he had stayed hunched almost the whole day yesterday while he was writing up a three-page essay. Although it was not necessarily the first thing that Jeonghan does in the morning, he stretched his hand out, as far as his sore arm could to grab the phone sitting by the table, only to see that Jisoo had left a bunch of messages for him to read. Jeonghan had incessantly told him that there was no need for Jisoo to send him text messages in the morning so he would wake up, but his best friend insisted, especially since Jeonghan really has a hard time waking up in the morning. More often than not, Jeonghan would sleep through his alarms, which of course resulted in disgruntled mornings for Jeonghan, and his hair tied up in a messy ponytail. Once he’s gotten a hold of his mobile phone, he quickly opens the message, but he doesn’t bother reading through it since he had assumed it would be Jisoo asking him if he’s up, or telling him to. It’s always either of the two. [To: Jisoo] im up, im up. don't worry. i’ll see you in a few minutes. It was already 6:30 in the morning, and he only had 30 minutes to prepare for school until he needed to meet Jisoo where the streets of their neighborhoods meet, so that they can ride the bike together to school.Getting up from his bed, with his disheveled long hair, he only had one wish for today: Hopefully, it won't be as tiring as yesterday.  Little crumbles of crust falls to the floor, coming from the piece of toast that hung from the gentle grip of Jeonghan’s lips on its crisp edge. “Crap, he’s going to kill me,”  It was already 7 minutes past the original time that Jeonghan and Jisoo usually met during the mornings—he was not at all bothered about the possibility of being late in school basically because it would only take them a few minutes to. Rather, he was more worried about Jisoo waiting there all by himself.Jeonghan knew that Jisoo wouldn’t mind waiting at all, it was just that his conscience had always bothered him, especially since he owes Jisoo so much, considering all that he’s done for Jeonghan.He then began to reminisce about how they met. It was the third day of school in his freshman year in college when a certain doe-eyed boy was introduced as an exchange student from America.Jeonghan couldn’t be bothered at all, as he was too busy thinking of what kind of ingredients he could afford for tonight’s dinner with the money that he had left in his pocket. “Nice to meet you, everyone! My name is Joshua, but my Korean name is Jisoo. You can call me either of the two! I’m an exchange student from United States! Let’s all get along together,” Of course, the other students couldn’t help but let out secretive giggles and whispers at the new kid’s rusty Korean but of course, Jeonghan couldn't care less. He’s only taken notice when their homeroom teacher motioned for the new kid to take a seat at the only available chair there is inside the room—which happened to be the one right beside Jeonghan.He wasn’t quite sure why nobody dared to take the seat beside him two days ago when school started, but he didn’t mind it.“Hey, I’m Jisoo.” The boy simply smiled at him and Jeonghan barely gave him a glance, but in acknowledgement and in a poor attempt to not come off as someone rude, he nodded his head.  "Mm,” He was too busy musing over the number he’s scribbled down the piece of paper, crossing out a few ingredients that he knew he wouldn't be needing or weren’t completely necessary for tonight’s dinner.After a few more traces of lines on the paper, he was satisfied, with around 10,000 won to spare. For the first time today, Jeonghan broke into a small smile.Though his momentary minute of celebration was cut off when he lifted his head, and very unconsciously, he found himself tilting it to the side where he met the boy’s eyes, which was staring right at him. Jeonghan was quick to react, his hair falling in front of his face as they come untucked from behind his ear. “W-what…?” Jeonghan muttered, his gaze lowering back to the piece of paper that he no longer had any business with. “I’m Jisoo.” This time around, with nothing to distract him, Jeonghan finally introduced himself. “J-jeonghan,” Jisoo could only smile wider, thoroughly amused and interested with the shy boy with long hair who sat all the way in the back row. “So I guess I assumed correctly that you weren’t paying attention to the first—the second time I introduced myself, huh?” Jisoo muttered under his breath, having no intentions of letting Jeonghan hear what he just said. Basically the days that followed after that, Jisoo tried so hard to befriend him, talking to him in between times where the teacher would turn around to write something on the blackboard, and definitely during breaks. Every kind of effort that Jeonghan had exerted in pushing him away deemed futile so in the end, he just hung out with Jisoo.  “You made it—And your hair. It’s all over the place,”Jeonghan sported a quick pout at his remark, as he leans to one side, supporting his bicycle with one foot pressed to the floor while letting go of its handles so he could quickly press down on the of of his head, flattening out his hair.Jisoo stood calmly beside his own bicycle, as he motioned to Jeonghan’s bangs with his fingers. “I should really get a hair cut… But… Yeah, sorry for being late. As usual, right?” Jisoo could only smile at that while watching Jeonghan tinker around with the hair tie wrapped around his hair in a low ponytail. “Yep. Definitely not Jeonghan if he isn’t late. Let’s get going,” With that, the duo mounted their bicycles and heads right for school. Jisoo and Jeonghan were both taking up their last year in college and were also taking up the same course: Literature. Jeonghan loved reading, writing and just literature in general. One of his favorite poets is Sylvia Plath, as he simply adored every word that she wrote despite the heavy background that her life bore. As sadistic as it may sound, Jeonghan found Sylvia Plath’s beautiful writing contrasting with her melancholy life highly amusing and all around likeable. Nonetheless, he aspired to be as great as her, to become a novelist, a poet—an admirable writer. Jisoo has never mentioned any writer that he liked amongst others, though occasionally he would show growing fondness over the works of E. E. Cummings. Most of the time they bonded over reading books, geeking out in the library as well as hanging out around cheap book sales that sold second hand books, hoping to find treasure in another man’s trash. Somehow, despite how rocky their friendship started, they have formed a bond so tight—just tight enough to be able to depend on one another regardless of whether its passing up answers during exams, or just lending an ear for someone who needs to talk their feelings out. Somewhere along the turbulence of their dysfunctional but oddly comforting kind of friendship, Jisoo decides to let Jeonghan in on a secret—probably one of the biggest ones that Jeonghan pledged would tell not one soul. He remembered that day completely.  “This is Jamie Park reporting live where the Governor has attended the official ribbon cutting…” Jeonghan stared into the television as Jisoo emerges from the kitchen with the popcorn he promised. The smell of butter filled the room and Jeonghan’s stomach began to grumble.  Despite being momentarily by the aroma of the freshly popped kernels, his eyes remains glued to the screen where the reporter was describing the whole grand event of the opening of the new power plant project that he started three years ago.  “Wow… It’s finally finished, huh? Well, let’s hope that this will be put into good use.”  Jisoo takes a seat beside Jeonghan as he continued with his musings on the happenings on the other side of the screen. “I mean… That tragic event three years ago… Not a very pretty good image for the Governor, huh?”  Jeonghan shakes his head as he recalled the event. Jisoo couldn’t quite read what kind of expression Jeonghan had, and it troubled him. His own eyes trail towards the screen of the television, his shoulders slumping upon seeing the familiar man standing in front of a large pink ribbon with a pair of scissors in hand as he was just about to cut the ribbon in commemoration of the power plant’s grand opening. “Yeah, but… Do you think he’s a bad man?”  Jisoo inquires, no longer unable to stop himself from asking, as he truly could not grasp Jeonghan’s opinion about it. Jeonghan was leaning just slightly forward and Jisoo stared daggers into the back of his head, staring now at his friend’s long, blonde hair as he awaits a response. Jeonghan was quiet for a moment, probably pondering on Jisoo’s question. “Well, a lot of people did die on that day…” Jisoo felt his heart twitch, his insides twisting, down to every gut in his stomach at the longhaired boy’s answer. He had many great things about the governor, but the bad always outweighed the good. “But…” Just before Jeonghan could reason out his opinion, Jisoo cuts him off halfway. “He’s not a bad man, you know. My father… He’s not a bad man.” “…..”  Jeonghan’s whole body tenses up. Slowly, he shifted his attention from the screen to the friend sitting beside him with his eyes wide open. “Yeah… I’m his son,” They spent the night talking about Jisoo’s father, the governor over buttered popcorn and canned colas.  “Wow, we have a shitload of homework. Is he having some kind of man menopause or something?” Jeonghan overhears one of his classmates from ENGLIT 1126: Advanced Shakespeare as the class ended after having been stuck inside the classroom talking about general knowledge regarding Shakespeare’s life. It was like he was all the way back to his freshman year and he was once again having his English Literature course. For some odd reason, Jisoo’s schedule got mixed up when he enrolled for this semester, and this was the only class that they didn’t have together. It was almost time for lunch, and as usual, Jeonghan immediately swerved from the route to the cafeteria, knowing pretty darn well how crowded it would be in there. He instead searched for a lone bench around the campus to make up for as his pseudo cafeteria seat, eager to drown himself in a book that Jisoo lent him. Jeonghan didn’t have much money, and he always has a budget for everything. Most of the time, this budget didn’t make way for any kind of leisure spending, which was severely upsetting since the library in their university lacked taste. He had just about borrowed every book that interested him in the library, and he was getting tired of having to reread one of the few, available books in the library written by Haruki Murakami. Thankfully, Jisoo was always kind enough to lend him the books that he has. Being the son of the governor, Jisoo possessed practically whatever it was that he took pleasure in. Whether it be books, expensive cars or the most expensive sets of guitars in the world—ranging from electric to acoustic, by the way, he had them all. Though he does talk about it in minimal, not ever wanting to make i