unknown

unknown: let's meet up

seungmin: who are you?

unknown: hyunjin, duh

change contact name from 'unknown' to 'hyunjin groupmate'?
yes|no

seungmin: how did you
get my number?

hyunjin groupmate: i have my ways

seungmin: okay

seungmin: i'm sorry for
what i said last tuesday

hyunjin groupmate: whatever

hyunjin groupmate: can you come meet me at my house? i'll give you the address

seungmin: why?

hyunjin groupmate: because of the stupid project, duh

seungmin: i thought you didn't want to work with me anymore

hyunjin groupmate: i'm only doing this for a good grade

hyunjin groupmate: nothing else

seungmin: right. got it.

hyunjin groupmate: i'll give you my address in a sec. don't come late.

seungmin: i won't

***

seungmin shouldn't have been that surprised by the sheer grandoisity of hyunjin's house, but he found himself speechless as soon as he stepped in through the wide gates. some middle-aged man in a suit -- who seungmin presumed to be a butler or something along those lines -- took the initiative to bring him into the house itself, and once again seungmin was stunned beyond relief.

the livingroom itself was a large room, with more space then furniture, and a glass chandelier hung from the smooth ceiling. there was an extensive display of wine cellars inside the spotless kitchen island, and the marble floors were so squeaky clean seungmin swore he could see his own reflection on them.

"i will take you mr. hwang's room," the man spoke, his voice startling seungmin a little. the red haired student left like a main character in some chaebol kdrama as he and the butler guy ascended up the spiralling stairs, their steps echoing through the otherwise empty house.

seungmin just couldn't get used to the architectural design of the house, despite how grand and jaw-dropping everything looked. the house in itself felt cold, devoid of the warmth of any other living organism. and it made the redhead feel slightly uncomfortable.

"sir, your friend kim seungmin has arrived," the man called out once he and the student had gotten to the door at the end of the long hall. seungmin cringed at the way the man addressed him as, once more feeling guilty at the way he'd spoken to hyunjin earlier.

the white door was soon opened, revealing hyunjin's stoic face and a head of dark curly hair. although seungmin had never felt nervous by the taller's presence, at that moment he got a little intimidated by the older's stern stare.

"i'm taking him. you can go now," hyunjin told the grey haired man. he then took in seungmin by the elbow and brought him inside, closing the door in the butler's face.

seungmin immediately stepped away, fingers fumbling with the straps of his bag. met again with another wide, spaceous room, he felt inferior, self-conscious.

his eyes landed on the older's wide bed that was close to the equally as wide wardrobe, noting the several childlike multi-coloured pillows placed on it. he could even spot some little plushies here and there.

"ugh, i hate that guy."

seungmin blinked, coming back to the present. he watched as hyunjin walked over to a desk with his laptop placed on it, taking one of the available seats.

"what's wrong with him?" seungmin found himself asking.

hyunjin sighed, opening up the laptop. "he's so...uptight. it irks me." he looked up at the shorter boy, and his eyes narrowed. "well..."

"well what?"

"aren't you going to sit down?"

"i -- oh. sorry." seungmin's cheeks burned with embarrassment. he headed to the chair next to hyunjin and sat down on it, planting his bag on then table leg next to him. he inwardly recoiled as he felt hyunjin's stare forming holes into the side of his head.

when their eyes met, hyunjin's lips lifted up to form a smirk. "why are you so nervous?"

"i'm not nervous," seungmin lied, bringing out a notebook from his bag. inside it held some ideas on what he and hyunjin could research about, but they weren't much.

the older boy continued to watch him for a few tense moments, before finally shrugging and dropping his heated stare. "whatever. anyway, i found something we could talk about." he opened up the search engine on his computer. "one that doesn't involve that 'missing students' topic. it freaks me out."

"then what do you suggest we talk about, then?" seungmin questioned, a little discouraged at hyunjin's answer. yes, those news reports about the missing male students unnerved him a lot, but he was interested in the topic as well. the mystery surrounding the whole incident only made him more curious.

"it's... something i've had someone close to me experience," hyunjin spoke, his voice soft. "and it's a social issue as well."

seungmin watched as he typed a word into the search bar and pressed 'enter', several results and related articles coming up.

bullying.

"bullying?" seungmin thought out loud. he stared at the dark haired male next to him.

"yeah... several people experience bullying, so it'll be easy for us to get some information on it. plus, it's something i'd like to talk about."

"oh," seungmin nodded. he was a bit relieved that hyunjin had contributed something to their group project for once, and he supposed the topic itself wasn't something that was difficult to research or find leads on, unlike that case of those missing males. "i guess that's okay."

"yeah..."

"is it okay if i ask what you meant earlier?" seungmin asked. "i mean -- you did say you had someone close to you experience bullying."

hyunjin's fingers mindlessly drummed on the hard surface of the table. he was clearly uncomfortable with the redhead's question.

"i'm sorry. you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to -- "

"my little brother soojin had autism," hyunjin spoke. "he wanted to be a normal kid and go to a normal school. but the other kids didn't think he was normal. some boys bullied him relentlessly, but...he always hid it from our parents and i. it all got too much at a certain point, and then he killed himself."

seungmim froze, not knowing what to say. he'd known about hyunjin ever since they started attending high school together freshman year, but he'd never heard anything about the taller having a little brother. he'd always assumed hyunjin was an only child. "i'm sorry..."

"it's fine," hyunjin replied. he released a brief chuckle, bringing out his phone from his pocket. his hands were shaking.

to distract the taller, seungmin spoke again. "we can use the topic. i'd also like if we did surveys by asking other people at school what their experience with bullying was like -- if they had any."

"i'd ask those guys on that dating app," hyunjin added, clearly joking, but seungmin just smiled and shrugged.

"you do you, man. plus, i'm pretty sure you just want to find an excuse to use your phone while we work."

hyunjin tried to look offended by seungmin's statement, his eyebrows raised all the way up to his hairline. "no. of course not."