Entangled With You (B X B)

Chapter 01 : Not a complete stranger

Present times, 2017

Minjun was transferred to a new high school in his third year. He admitted that he was kind of wasting his time for two years and never set any satisfying scores on his papers. He didn’t regret anything but Minjun knew better that he couldn’t just keep acting immature like that. So he changed, he was determined to change to be a better version of himself this year, in his last year at high school.

Minjun stopped joining street racing then joined this movie club for the start.

He couldn’t do much, he didn’t have to anyway. That was what his homeroom teacher told him. He only needs to write his attendance on every activity this club holds, not putting too much attention to it because Minjun’s full attention should only be directed at the university exam ahead. Joining this club was only for his extra points and surprisingly enough the members of this movie club understood and didn’t seem to bother the freeloader.

It was not that Minjun didn’t have any conscience, he just felt that he couldn’t do much anyway. He never had any kind of excitement towards a movie, moreover to the production of it. He was one hundred percent sure he would only become a burden. While he had a Sony HDR camera ignored in his room, he has never used it again since what happened last year.

Minjun was a bit jealous of Chan though. That guy was in his third year as well, but he still managed to get a hold of every project and was even active on them. Chan was the president of this movie club and he still looked ambitious about it even now. Not only that, Chan managed to keep his academic scores in a ‘safe position’ that no teacher bothered him about it any longer.

Chan, also the reason why no one had it against Minjun became a freeloader at this club. The guy must have told them to understand about it. That was why Minjun always took Chan out for dinner at least twice a week. He was a thankful man after all.

“You really don’t have to keep it as a habit, y'know. I really did nothing.”

“Just eat.”

They laughed, it was a boring joke, but they got along really well, so using a lame joke really didn't matter at all.

"Uh, anyway, I don't see your bike, you're auctioning it?"

Minjun gave him the look, there was no way in hell he would sell his sexy baby away for a mere sum of money. "Come again?"

"Chill bro.." Chan gave him a sheepish grin and gave Minjun his give-up hands. "One of my friends seems to take interest in you… uh I mean your bike."

Ah, this pissed him even more. He lost his appetite now. What a waste of food. It was his favorite seolleongtang.

"Who?" Minjun slapped the chopsticks on the table and gave his friend attention.

"Oh, you know him." Chan didn't even give him a concerned glance. No one knew whether the guy was being serious or teasing Minjun only. "Yunjin."

Motherfucker

Chan was laughing so hard and loudly, "Angry?" It was fortunate that he had already finished with the food. Almost as if he was planning to piss Minjun off, so he finished the food faster than usual.

"You really know how to pick a fight." Minjun didn't know whether this guy in front of him was jokingly being a jerk or just stupidly joking. He was pretty sure that Chan knew his deep hatred towards that person named Hwang Yunjin.

"Then stop treating me to dinner out of gratefulness or whatever the f**k is."

"No, I'm not. I only need a way to spend my money."

"Hm right, you're that wealthy. Buy me a pair of studio headphones then." Chan cleaned his mouth then downed his last drink. He left Minjun alone to pay for their food. Minjun ran after the club president, who was not that far away and patted him on the shoulder. The sky was dark already. Good thing they headed to the same bust stop.

"So what happened to your headphones? You broke it?"

Chan stopped his track and looked at Minjun in disbelief. "If I tell you I did, will you buy one for me?"

Minjun sensed that he shouldn't nod his head, so he stayed silent over the question. But he wanted to say ‘yes’ though.

But being friends for more than a decade, Chan knew what he was thinking even when he didn't say anything.

"Woah!" Chan slapped his own nape and stared at the dark sky. "Unbelievable. I feel like I am the one who should check my intention of befriending you. What are you? My sugar daddy?"

Minjun laughed at that last statement and kicked Chan's ass playfully.

They waited for the bus in silence. They had the same bus stop, but the numbers Minjun and Chan would take were in different directions. Out of boredom, Minjun played with his phone and Chan was just chilling there, listening to music and humming some of the melodies. And Minjun thought it was the right time to speak.

"I don't have a lover and I need a replacement vessel. You are accidentally my longest friend, so just let me dump it on you."

Chan sighed deeply, "Should I feel touched?”

Minjun shrugged, ignoring the chance that Chan might not see that. Everyone, no, maybe some people around him knew that Minjun had a unique way of using words to describe his feelings. At least Chan knew that well, that was what mattered. Minjun didn’t take a second consideration for those who didn’t understand.

“Whatever, just let me treat you later,” Chan said.

Minjun straightened his back, the bus was coming. “Ah, then I’ll choose the place with no limit on price, yeah?”

They parted ways with laughter, the smile still etched on Minjun’s face once he was inside the bus and seated himself comfortably. Today he didn’t have the luxury of picking the seats beside the window, all his favorite seats were full. Looked like they were not his only favorite.

Minjun sat on the only empty seat, right beside the path between the seats. It was a pretty tiring day. Again, school life in its third year will always be tiring.

Yunjin

When Chan jokingly told him that someone was interested in his motorbike, which was Yunjin, Minjun knew that it was not entirely a joke. At least, fifty percent of it would be right. Chan was not an unreasonable person who would carelessly pique someone's sensitive topic. If he took the risk of piquing Minjun, then it meant he wanted to tell him something.

Ck! Chan and his riddle hobby, something that Minjun truly thought should have been annihilated since long ago. The thing was, only hearing that guy’s name already made Minjun’s temper boil in anger. Forget about solving Chan's riddle, he couldn't even stop himself from saying bad words.

Yunjin was two years younger than him, but the fucker didn’t even know what respect was. That dude even dared to challenge Minjun in a race one time. Minjun won, of course (Minjun got his name for a reason). That was why when he announced that he would stop racing for a while, it ignited various reactions. Yunjin was one of the happiest about it, and he didn’t even bother to hide it.

But that was not the sole reason why he hated Yunjin. There were more of them. And Minjun was sure the feelings were mutual.

Minjun clenched his fist, his whole body was tense. He glared at the moving views through the bus's window, thinking how he wouldn't feel this bad if he could lean his head on that cold window and lose himself over those moving buildings. Just like how it always did.

"Uh, hyung." Someone said. Probably the person at the back called their acquaintance. But then Minjun felt a nudge on his elbow, he moved his gaze to the person sitting on his right. “Uh… is- are you okay?”

Minjun’s train of thought stopped at the unexpected intruder. His gaze started to gather its focus towards the guy beside him.

"D-do you want to sit here?" The stranger pointed his thumb towards the window. "I don't mind switching seats."

Minjun cleared his throat, feeling somehow embarrassed. “ Yeah yeah- no, I mean, no. Don’t worry about it.”

The boy beside him nodded and went back to his business (whatever it was, not that Minjun was paying attention), so Minjun did too. He fished his smartphone out of his pocket. There were about thirty minutes to spend on this bus before he reached the stop. Minjun better use the time to do something useful rather than think about Hwang Yunjin and their past story.

There was one university Minjun was interested in. It would be better to find an expo or event to attend. It would be more effective to ask some seniors there rather than just scrolling down on the internet honestly. The thing was, Minjun didn't have any idea how to find whether some universities held out such event or not. Or should he just simply visit those places?

“Uhm, excuse me, hyung.” It was the previous voice again, the guy who was seated beside him. Minjun mentally sighed, he was seriously not in the mood to be nice or simply friendly towards a stranger at the moment. But assumed he couldn't be such an ass either right now. Especially not when it turned out that the person called him was wearing the dark blue uniform under that grey jacket he didn't bother to zip up. The same uniform as Minjun, as he noticed.

Minjun lifted his head and looked at the boy again. The face was not familiar to Minjun, he wasn't sure if he had ever seen this guy at school. But those waiting eyes cornered Minjun's consciousness (he didn't even know why), added with what this guy called Minjun as 'hyung', such an unknown familiarity.

“It's me, Han Jisun.”

Obviously, Minjun didn't remember if he knew any kid with a family name like Han, to be precise, Han Jisun. And that little pout from the Jisun guy just added to his guilt. "You really don't know me?"

Should he know a guy named Han Jisun?

Okay, it was a clear case that Minjun is such a meany for not knowing this little guy beside him. But it was not like he should pretend to know him either to make that pout go away. Right? Also, how the hell did he supposed to know this guy with a face like quokka and funny front teeth-

Oh

"Han Jisun," Minjun mumbled the name, suddenly remembering that one person he once thought looked like a quokka. "You're in the movie club too." The Han Jisun nodded enthusiastically. Gone was the pout and disappointed look in his eyes. Minjun felt slightly better for some reason.

“Sorry, didn’t realise it’s you.” Jisun gave him an ‘it's alright’ smile while Minjun, he didn't feel smiling would wash away the guilt left, so he would just keep his face like how it always was. "So what is it? You need something?"

"Hm?" The younger asked him back, confused.

Minjun frowned, "Isn't it you have something to tell me? You called me earlier."

"Oh," The quokka widened his eyes and gapped in realization. Jisun turned half his body towards him a little bit and suddenly looked nervous. Well, now that Minjun thought a little more deeper, Jisun had been looking so nervous since a moment ago. “Uh so sunbae, th-there’s this famous movie competition coming and tomorrow the club gonna talk about it. You’ll join us?”

It was a bit odd to hear Jisun called him sunbae instead of hyung like he did before, but Minjun was not picky so... whatever. “Yeah, yeah, of course." He remembered Chan told him about this before. "I never missed any meetings, did I?”

He didn’t have any position or role in the movie club, so the least he could do was be there at every event. He wouldn’t say anything at the meeting though, but again whatever.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Jisun agreed immediately.

Minjun went back to his phone. This Y University would open its gate for high schoolers tomorrow, ah, and there would be some performances from some of their famous clubs. Interesting, what a well funded institution in Minjun’s opinion.

“Oh sunbae, which uni do you plan to apply to?”

Minjun stopped his scrolling, "I haven't decided yet, still doing some research."

“Oh you should hurry then, I heard that the enrollment is due next month.”

“In six weeks actually, but yeah thank you for reminding me.”

Six weeks. Minjun’s father has been pestering him to fill out the form since months ago and now he has more than forty days left until he should finish contemplating what he wants in his life. He wasn’t sure there was enough time. He was a bit upset that he didn’t do what father had told him the first time, but it was not late until it passed. So he would try his best, just like others, Minjun wanted to study at a great uni and leaded a great future too.

Still scrolling through the screen, a thought came across Minjun's mind. Minjun had been told by a lot of people that he had a strong physical build for his age, not too extraordinary but enough. Moreover, Minjun wasn't a fan of complicated calculation or analysis. So maybe enrolling in a Physical Education major would be a great and safer solution.

“My brother majored in P.E. and I’ve never seen him become that exhausted about anything before.” Jisun shook his head, the creases between his brows were apparent. Then he laughed, “He thought P.E would be an easy peasy, no-brainer, but then he cursed about it every single day.”

Minjun looked at Jisun in horror.

Did he sneak a look into my phone?! What the f**k, or he reads my mind?! Because it was exactly what Minjun thought just a moment ago before Jisun interrupted his prospecting activity.

Sensing the judging look sent by the senior beside him, Jisun was panicking and held both of his hands out.

“I- I’m sorry I- I didn’t mean to, uh… it’s just I happened to see it. And I think at times like this any kind of real life information will be useful for you. So…” The poor boy slumped his shoulder. “I’m sorry sunbae, my mouth worked faster than my brain.”

Minjun sighed and shoved his phone back inside his pocket. “I was considering choosing P.E with that idea in mind actually. So, thank you for… sharing your brother's funny attitude.”

Realising that what he just said might be a little bit too rude, Minjun took a quick glance at Jisun, who by chance was looking at him too, with those big pair of eyes.

shit, he looked surprised. Did I offend him? ck, should I apologise? f**k it

"sorry." Minjun said in tiny. Even his own ears couldn't catch the words.

The Jisun boy shook his head, then nodded his head, apparently he heard what Minjun had just said.

Ok but seriously, what’s wrong with him?! Does he accept my apology or what?

“He is funny indeed.” Jisun nodded, none of them were looking at each other anymore, for Minjun the chair rest in front of him somehow looked appealing. “My brother really really loves sport. It's just the way he approached it kinda… hahaha.”

Minjun hummed, he got what Jisun meant, and he actually took a note about it in his mind.

“But what do I know? I’m still in my second year anyway. I still have one more year to go. Who knows maybe I would have a lot more ridiculous thoughts when choosing uni." Jisun laughed nervously. Minjun could see from the edge of his eyes that this boy started scratching his head awkwardly.

Minjun nodded as a sign for himself to end this topic as he was close to the stop. “Anyway, thanks for the tips. I gotta go now, it’s my stop. See you later, Jisun-ah.” He tapped Jisun knee lightly for his goodbye and left him to get off the bus. Once he stepped on the ground again, Minjun continued walking towards his house without even turning back or at least taking a glance back at the leaving bus. His mind was occupied by the matter he just had with Jisun to even bother about it.

Come to think again, Minjun wasn’t really sure of what he liked, he didn’t even remember if he had any dream when he was a little. One thing he was always serious about was racing, but he knew by heart it wasn’t something he wanted to do to build up his career. He only liked it as a hobby, something he would do in his idle moments.

So what is it exactly? His head hurts in realization that he only had several weeks to figure it out.

It only took him ten minutes to walk from the bus stop to his house. Usually he would heave a deep sigh once his body met the sofa, but now he only thinks harder. And what exactly was he thinking?

Damn it, have I always been this airhead?