Colors ♡ Kim Hongjoong

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 5

Date: November 14

"Good morning, Yeona," greeted Hongjoong, placing a small strawberry milk carton on my desk. I watched as he placed another on Seonghwa's desk and on his own. Picking it up, I examined it.

"It's poisoned, isn't it?" I asked.

Seonghwa opened his and took a sip, "I seem to be fine."

Hongjoong chuckled, "It's completely normal strawberry milk, I promise you."

"Yeah, Yeona," commented a girl, "Why would he risk poisoning you when he has a whole successful life ahead of him? If you don't want it, you can give it to me."

Frowning, I replied, "Oh shut up, my grades are much higher than yours. You shouldn't be talking."

"I have no doubt Yeona will be just as successful," Hongjoong said, "She's just as intelligent as I am even if it's in a different field. In fact, I admire that she can do things I can't."

Taken aback, my head spun in his direction, "What? Don't defend me, I can defend myself!"

"Bold of you to assume I was defending you," he snickered, "I was just speaking my mind."

Feeling my face warm slightly, I opened my milk carton and took a drink, turning away from him. He was annoying. He thought he was hilarious, didn't he? I couldn't wait until I finished school and could go home. I was supposed to get some mechanical parts in the mail today for a small project I wanted to do. Not for school but for myself.

"What are you thinking about?" The male rested his head on my desk.

"When did we get to the point where I feel comfortable telling you what I'm thinking?" I shifted my gaze to look at him.

"When will you?"

"When you stop being Mr. Perfect," I crossed my arms. I wasn't sure what kind of response to expect from him, but I chose to be honest whatever the consequences.

He barely reacted, only giving me a short, neutral stare before turning around in his seat. It was odd, but I found myself not hating him anymore. I still found him annoying, but he wasn't completely unbearable.

When lunchtime came around, I was seated next to Wooyoung and across from Yeosang. Not much different from the usual. Unfortunately, while I was taking a drink of my juice, I made eye contact with Hongjoong. I guess he took this as a friendly gesture or something and smiled brightly. He walked over, tray in hand, with Seonghwa and Yunho following close behind.

"Do you mind if we join you?" Hongjoong asked, setting his tray down next to me.

I sighed, slightly nudging my tray away, "There goes my appetite."

Hongjoong ignored me, picking up his chopsticks and looking over at Yeosang, "How are you?"

"I'm doing well, and you?" Yeosang didn't seem to mind Hongjoong at all.

I watched as the boys surrounding me engaged in conversation and chatted about their exciting grades and ideas. All I wanted at that moment was to go home, open my package of parts, and get to work on my next project. I had three classes left though, and something told me that the day was only going to drag on.

I finally decided to resume eating as I should be strong for the rest of the school day. There was no sense in wasting so much food either. Suddenly Wooyoung slung his arm around my shoulders.

"Yeona can tell you all about them," he said, grinning.

Trying to pull myself out of my daze, I slowly turn to him and blink a few times, "About what?"

"Were you not paying attention?" Yeosang chuckled in amazement.

I glanced around the table, "No..."

Wooyoung removed his arm and gave me a mock annoyed look, "About your robots."

"Oh," I realized, "My robots. Um, well... I like to build mini robots." I shrugged, not knowing what else to say. I had never really talked much about my hobby except to Yeosang or Wooyoung. "They're not really useful or anything — they take up space on my shelves — but I find them fun and cute in their own way."

"I think she's just embarrassed right now," Wooyoung spoke up, "She never stops talking about them at home. She's constantly walking around the house with one and sometimes she just leaves them lying around and we find them in the most random places."

I frowned, "I think you're exaggerating a little."

Hongjoong smiled, "You guys are really close, aren't you?"

Wooyoung nodded, "I'm their neighbor so we're practically siblings."

"Seonghwa is very similar," Yunho began, "He builds legos and keeps them in a special case."

Seonghwa beamed, "It's just something fun that I do on the weekends."

The rest of lunch and the day went fine with the exception that it seemed to go on and on. When the bell finally rang, I jumped out of my seat and packed my things. I was ready and I was going to make a run for it once I took her first step out of the school building.

As I speed-walked through the hallways and down the stairs, the others — Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang, and Wooyoung — somehow caught up to me. For them though, it probably wasn't as much effort as their legs were longer. They were happily chatting away as if I wasn't in a big hurry and appeared completely oblivious to my rush. And since when had Yeosang and Wooyoung been best friends with Hongjoong and his friends? They were speaking to each other as if they had been close since their younger years. Annoying.

Once I made it through the doors, I burst into a sprint toward the school gates. Freedom was not far away — I could taste it.

"Kang Yeona!" I could hear Wooyoung call from behind. "Why are you leaving us?"

I kept running, determined not to let anyone get in my path home. It didn't take long before I heard Wooyoung chasing after me. I knew what he would try to do. He'd catch me and invite me to go hang out and do something but all I wanted was to go home and change out of my uniform. I wanted to start on my next project and eat dinner, maybe take a nap.

"Wait up! We're going to ride the bus together!" he called as we passed through the gates.

I kept running. He'd catch me eventually but it had to be after the bus stop. If he caught up to me before then...then I'd have to ride the bus with everyone. Home wasn't even that far. It'd probably be healthy to jog home.

Daring to glance behind me, I realized that all of them were gleefully taking part in the chase. What had this even turned into now? They may have long legs but I had participated in track during middle school. It was a few years ago, but I had been fast. Perhaps I could use that as some sort of advantage.

As I rounded the corner, the bus stop was in sight. I would pass it and be safe. They couldn't possibly make me ride the bus.

I was proved otherwise when Wooyoung suddenly caught up to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me off the ground. I had been defeated just as we neared the bus stop.

"I got you!" Wooyoung exclaimed. I scowled, prying myself out of his grasp. The others had caught up now, all out of breath and grinning from the excitement.

"This wasn't a race," I whined, "I want to go home quickly."

Yeosang pointed to the bus coming to a stop, "Then just take the bus, silly. Don't run an entire marathon."

I turned away from them, pouting in annoyance.