Chapter Eight (1/1)

Luhan wakes with a whisper of a name caught between his lips.Sehun.That name alone makes him feel as if he’s intoxicated and dizzy yet so refreshed and cleansed of all the bad things this world loves to lay on him. Luhan doesn’t know why this is, however, he doesn’t question it. This feeling of adoration for a certain someone is very rare to see in him, considering how many times he has banned it from his spectrum of emotions – but in those rare times when he opens his eyes and all anybody can see in those chocolate brown orbs is affection, it’s beautiful.Luhan snuggles up in his pristine white sheets, and his milky complexion against the shade is almost enough to make him look like an innocent baby doll to anyone who takes a glance at him. Curled up in the pureness of the blankets and the pillows, he lets out a sigh. The name is still circling around in his head, clouding up his thoughts from the beginning of the day, but he doesn’t bother trying to get rid of it.Seven days passed by in a flash, the boy on his mind never leaving once.Sehun.Sehun.Sehun.“Luhan.”Broken from his thoughts, Luhan sits up in bed, the white comforter falling off his body into the pile of pillows. He has to stop the groan from escaping his throat when he sees his best friend at his door, his hair a somehow neat mess. “Yes?” He asks, his voice tinted with obvious irritation.Jongin doesn’t know how to word it, so he struggles, causing the blonde to roll his eyes. Luhan almost lies back down to ignore the male from ruining his day from the start when a certain sentence makes him halt midway.“I think I got us a job.”-Two coffee mugs are set in front of each boy as they sit across the wooden table from each other, bed heads sitting on each of them.Luhan picks up his cup and brings it to his lip, the steam causing it to moisten a little. Testing the heat from the steam, he sets it back down on the table, not risking burning his tongue again. “So, what job is it?”Jongin yelps and slams down his coffee cup after supposedly burning his tongue and takes out an application form from his bag quickly while a string of profanities escape his thick lips. When he shakes off the burn, he mutters, “Uh, that famous arts studio and theater down the street. I walked by it the other day and some dude was handing out these forms. Apparently, a group of workers there got fired for giving out information about the new play before it was even open to the public. And this means –” Jongin pauses and lets out a breath. “– they have a couple of slots open. They are mostly in the construction field of the studio, but our major in arts and degree has to help us in some way.”Luhan nods, letting all the information process through his brain. “When do we turn this in?” He asks as he picks up a form and skims over it.Jongin picks up his mug warily and blows on the brown liquid slowly before bringing it to his lips and taking a quick sip. As he puts it down, he takes out a pen from the bag next to him. “The deadline’s tomorrow. We have to go drop it off and when we get in we have to fill out another form, and then go in for a quick interview meeting right after. I’m guessing those two are the biggest factors in getting this job, so Luhan, please do well and don’t hit on any of the guys.”“Shut the fuck up, I want this job as much as you do.” And it’s true, Luhan really wants a job. He’s been doing some thinking lately and the damned question of what he’s doing with this life pops up in his head to taunt him every once in a while. Despite the disownment from his parents, he still feels like he needs to get a job soon, to make them proud – and himself proud, as well. Only no job openings were helping him out the past months and he had slowly given up until today, that is. This may or may not be the only chance he has, so he’s determined to do well.The application form is simple. It’s just one page about the basics of what his name is, how old he is, his personal information, why he wants this job, etc. Lu Han, he writes down in perfect penmanship. If this is going to help him get a job, might as well try as hard as he can on it.This is just the beginning, and tomorrow would be the day he fills out the official form and goes in for an interview, so he takes a deep breath and swallows down a mouthful of coffee.He looks across the table to see Jongin filling out his own paper carefully.Luhan finishes the form before his best friend and sets down his pen next to the paper, looking over it. The light in the dining room flicker once. Twice. But Luhan doesn’t pay consideration to the dying light bulb, his brain absorbed into the black ink filling the page.Jongin had better be ready for this, because Luhan is sure he is.-Pulling his tie to a tight knot at his neck, he doesn’t tear off the gaze with himself through the sparkling mirror, free of any stains. He breathes in and out for the nth time and brings his hands up to mess around with his waxed hair, perfecting it to every tweak.“Are you ready, Luhan? Let’s go quickly, I want to pick up Kyungsoo at the airport afterwards and go out for dinner,” Jongin rushes as he pulls on his last black sock and slides across the hardwood floor to the front door. He finishes tying the slightly dirtied shoelaces on his black converse when Luhan exits the bathroom with a click of the light switch behind him. “Kyungsoo’s flight comes in at four, dude. That’s in like five hours.” He doesn’t skip over the mirror hanging next to their front door and gives his stunningly styled hair another touch up with his fingers. “Yeah, whatever. Just hurry up, this is first come first serve.” Luhan bends down to put on his white converse and ties it slowly, leaving no room for imperfection.When Luhan finally stands up, Jongin’s eyes twinkle and he nods curtly before opening the door and slipping through it. “Don’t forget the keys. I have our application forms,” he calls out behind his shoulder as he lets the door slam in front of his best friend, silence cutting in suddenly. Luhan doesn’t even scold Jongin, his nerves punching him in the stomach ten times over and leaving a cage of butterflies to flutter around in his lower abdomen.He takes a deep breath before opening the door, making sure to give himself one last look in the hanging mirror before he steps out and lets the door shut on itself behind him.-“That was easy,” Jongin whispers to no one in particular with Luhan on his heels as they explore deeper into the studio in search of the work room. That’s where they are supposed to fill out their second form.The two best friends had showed up at the entrance of the studio a couple moments ago with thumping hearts, and nervousness breaking them down slowly. They were worried nobody would be there to accept their forms but thanks to the heavens, someone happened to be sitting around the ticket booth with a lazy toothpick wedged between his teeth. He had taken their forms, promising to get it safely to the manager and waved them inside, giving them directions of where to go next.Now they are standing in the middle of a huge storage area, completely disoriented in where to go. The directions the man at the entrance had given them dissolved into the air and oh how they regret letting the information pass by them. Their confidence of assuming they knew everything was sometimes a negative aspect to carry around – especially now.Unfinished projects and numbers of gigantic wood blocks dress the place; the entire room smelling of wood shavings and the pungent odor of paint sneaking its way up the two male’s noses. Jongin makes a face evident of his discomfort with the smell; Luhan is straight faced, completely determined to seek the work room.After walking around for a little while without a clue of where they were going, they finally stumble upon a big red door on the east side of the entire area. With a simple shrug, Jongin turns the knob and pushes open the heavy door to reveal a hallway. The place is floored with rough, gray carpet; on each side of the hallway, several doors are placed next to each other, the line stretching out to the other end of the hallway where there is a big open space.Luhan takes the lead and Jongin follows along, leaving the big red door behind them ajar. Reading the labels on each door, Luhan snaps his fingers and exclaims an “aha!” when he eventually finds a room with a piece of paper hanging on the door reading “Work Room 2”.This is it, and Luhan can’t say he’s not nervous. In fact, saying he’s scared is a huge understatement. The two men are already aware that they are both completely terrified.Luhan wishes Sehun is here with him to hold his hand and tell him that it’s okay.Instead he’s stuck with this stupid idiot on his right.“Okay on the count of three, we knock simultaneously and –”Luhan opens the door hastily, cutting off Jongin’s annoying deep voice and is met with a startled woman on the inside. It’s silent for a while and Jongin leans in to whisper into his best friend’s ear. “I think we’re in the wrong room.” Luhan’s eyes widen and the lady just stares at the two males in shock. He bows hesitantly and Jongin mimics him before backing up so Luhan can shut the door, the awkwardness refusing to let go of the duo.When they both end up in the hallway, they turn around and Jongin feels like strangling the blonde next to him when they come face to face with a door labeled “Work Room”.“We never speak of this again,” Luhan mumbles and opens the door to the room before his words reach Jongin. The latter scurries in after his presumptuous friend and glares metaphoric daggers into the soft blonde locks next to him.Inside, a male is sitting on a small sofa with a clipboard on his lap. Luhan takes a deep breath before he bows and Jongin follows suit, not forgetting to whisper into Luhan’s ear, “you need to stop doing that.”The male inside the room picks up his clipboard and stands up as well, bowing to the two men at the door. When he straightens his back and smiles, his eyes form crescents a