A+, meanie

Clubs

Friday, the 16th of October. The day Mingyu has eagerly looked forward to. Clubs start from today, and he couldn't be happier. Just the little escape he needs from his life.

His timetable had been adjusted with the help from Professor Choi, so Mingyu's supposed to be doing another class for Human Resources for an hour and a half, starting from now.

Instead, he's sitting alongside his friends in Pledis' massive auditorium, and the professor heading the entire theatre club, along with five more seniors, is giving an introduction to all the gathered students. "We have two departments for you all to choose from: it's either acting, or it's musicals and performing." Professor Lee announces. He hands out small slips of forms to the front row students to take and pass on behind. "Please fill these in to let us know of your choice. You are allowed only one of these."

Several groans surround around Mingyu. He's part of those, and Minghao too. Mingyu badly wanted to join both, but he'd have to choose only one of them now. Making his mind up by the time the form slips reach his row, Mingyu decides to go with acting. He's always had an interest for acting, only he never got a chance to do something in it. He won't ever, and attending the club for it would have to do, just for these four years. And then he'd lose all touch with it once again.

"You're taking musicals too?!" Soonyoung whisper-yells next to Mingyu, as he asks Minghao. "Mingyu?"

"The other one."

"Aw man."

"Acting interests me much more than musicals." Mingyu tries not to be sour about the fact that his only friends went with something else. Not that he'd have to be away from them, but it definitely won't give him as much time as he expected to spend with them. "It's alright Mingyu, it's not like we'd be at different ends of Pledis, both would be taking place in the auditorium itself."

"Yeah."

Minghao and Soonyoung thump him encouragingly on the back. Professor Lee's voice booms across the auditorium, telling the students to separate according to their chosen departments, making Mingyu move away from his friends.

He wonders how he didn't catch that annoying blob of dusty blond hair swimming amidst the students. To his horror, Wonwoo seems to be moving in the same direction as him. "Fuck, he's not in acting too, is he?"

A condescending smirk sent his way, as Mingyu observes from the corner of his eye, confirms that he's going to have to deal with Wonwoo's disgusting competitiveness for the entire time until the first show Theatre Club puts up.

∿

First day of clubs wasn't as enjoyable as Mingyu wished it would've been. It was mostly introductions, and briefings of the projects it would be carrying out throughout the year. And to his dismay, since it was too late to begin a new performance since the term ends in less than two months, everyone would have to wait until the end of the next academic year

That meant having Jeon Wonwoo's sorry ass compulsorily around him, twice a week, for nearly two years more. Could Mingyu's life get any worse? Mingyu's even starting to regret asking the favour from Professor Choi now. Not only does he not get to spend more time with his friends, but instead he'd have to deal with Wonwoo even more often -- he never misses to seize an opportunity to put Mingyu down.

The automatic gates leading Mingyu's car inside on the Kims' wide, gravelly driveway, slowly open as it approaches. Mingyu hates his chauffeur, he's bad at his job. Mingyu could finish reading an entire novel by the time he reaches the mansion -- that's how leisurely the chauffeur drives. He wishes his mother would allow him to drive himself to university. But no, Mingyu needs to stay safe, although he's sure his slow chauffeur would be the cause of a road accident if he decides to go any more slower.

When Mingyu enters the mansion, he sees new packing boxes strewn across the living room, and the maids designated to the ground floor swarm around them to pass them on where required. Most boxes go to the first floor, Mingyu observes, and into his mother's bedroom. As far as he could see from the bottom, there's only one maid handling it all near the bedroom. She's the most trusted maid, as Mingyu recognises her. He almost feels sorry for her; his mother isn't one to own minimal stuff. She's quite the opposite, in fact, boisterously showing off her worth and wealth so that everyone is constantly reminded of her position and power.

"Good afternoon, Young Master." The maid bows as Mingyu reaches the floor above. He'd give anything to have superpowers that let him jump as long as he could; that way he wouldn't have to walk a spiral flight of thirty three fucking steps just to enter his room.

Mingyu stiffly nods, yet again reminding himself to remain silent. Not even a minute passes since he has entered his room, when the door opens without prior warning. His mother steps inside, uninvited, yet she claims a spot in the room. "Since when were you allowed to shut the door?" She questions sternly. "And do you have no respect towards your mother to come and greet me after returning?"

"It's barely been a minute since I returned, Mother. And I was about to change out of the uniform just now." Mingyu says numbly.

"You weren't supposed to answer back."

"Sorry, Mother."

"Why was your timetable changed all of a sudden? I got the update last week."

"Professor Choi thought it would be better if I took an extra class for Human Resources."

"Are you failing?"

"No, I'm not failing, Mother," Mingyu inhales sharply.

"Watch your tone, Mingyu."

"I apologise. As I was saying, Professor Choi wanted me to practice a little more. Nothing else." Mingyu hopes his tone silences his mother's interrogation. But again, he should know she's quite insistent until she gets everything she wants out of him.

"That better be the case. You will not have it easy if I find out you're failing any of your classes."

"I'm aware, Mother."

"As you should be. You're not allowed to remain absent at dinner again, tonight. You must be responsible enough to complete your work like a sane person, not skipping meals. A successful businessman knows how to manage their time."

"Yes, Mother."

And his mother leaves right away, as her heels clicked farther away from Mingyu's room.

Fuck his homework, Mingyu needs to calm down to prevent any accidents right now. He doesn't want another of those specific painful headaches just because of the uncontrollable rage he holds for his mother at the moment. Stepping into the hallway after checking if his mother's gone, Mingyu walks to his closet - another room dedicated to his clothes and accessories - to get a pair of shorts and a tank to invest some time in the gym.

It's a long walk from his room to the gym constructed specially for him at one end of the mansion. He's strictly prevented from leaving the mansion for any reasons other than university. The moment Mingyu lays his eyes on the driveway extending into the comically huge garage from the gym's tall windows, he feels like running away, just for a while. But the mere sight of the several guards positioned with handguns near the menacing gates, makes Mingyu chuck the idea from his brain, because there's no universe in which he'd get a break from his life.

---

I hope y'all are liking this so far...