A+, meanie

Dinner

"Can you stop being so childish and petty for once?" Mingyu whispers, gritting his teeth at the boy forcefully been made to sit next to him.

The principal's instructions had already been put into action since the past three days, and at this rate, Mingyu doesn't ever think he'd be able to stay away from Wonwoo any time soon. Since Monday, Mingyu sits next to Jeon Wonwoo for all of his Calculus, Statistics and Arithmetic classes; to his hard luck, Mingyu has at least one of those each day of the week. So the only chance he gets, to go without coming across the boy with glasses is on the weekends. It would've been the most golden time Mingyu ever gets, only if he didn't have to remain cooped up in his mansion under the hawk-like presence of his mother.

Life's suddenly completely miserable for Mingyu. Wonwoo acts like a fucking toddler, probably even worse than what Mingyu thinks he does while in headspace. Or maybe Wonwoo just does that to get on Mingyu's nerves -- maybe it's his mission to not let Mingyu spend a day in peace. Mingyu's convinced it is, seeing how much of a fucking sadist Jeon Wonwoo is.

"I'll have you both thrown out this moment, Mr. Kim and Mr. Jeon." The professor warns, interrupting the class for a few seconds. Mingyu has the decency to apologise, whereas Wonwoo simply shrugs like a psychopath, and pretends to bury his head back into the book he's supposed to be paying attention to.

"Thank you for cooperating." The professor jabs sarcastically, which Mingyu thinks was absolutely unnecessary.

The class is given an equation to work out, making Mingyu readily dive into solving it. Calculus is so fun, he thinks to himself, busy scribbling variables and constants down in his notebook. From the corner of his eye, he sees Wonwoo glance into his work for a split second, Mingyu thinks he imagined it. "I thought you were smart enough, Jeon. At least your dirty fucking attitude says that." Mingyu taunts, not bothered about the boy glaring holes in his side.

"Well I am, fucktard."

"Doesn't look like it." Mingyu smirks. And he's done with the equation before Wonwoo even began working it out. As the professor demands the solution, Mingyu's the first one to answer, earning a brief acknowledgement from him.

Class gets dismissed a few minutes later, and the students slowly pile around the door to exit. Mingyu's about to do the same, until a hand roughly pulls him back. It's Wonwoo, of course.

"What?" Mingyu asks, tone making it clear that he has better things to do. To his surprise, Wonwoo looks like he's about to cry. Clearly, he wouldn't, at least Mingyu doesn't expect him to.

"Why do you always do this?" Wonwoo asks.

"Do what?"

Wonwoo's about to say something, until he exhales roughly and gives up his statement. He pushes past Mingyu, purposely bumping into his shoulder quite hard, and he's out of the classroom before Mingyu could even process what the fuck just happened.

∿

Hiding his face deftly once he comes out of his car, Mingyu rushes into the house before too many servants could see him.

Pulling a stupid move while at university, Mingyu made the mistake of blowing his face up with water as he drank from his bottle. The reason? A ridiculous dad joke Chaeyeon had said out of the blue, making Mingyu snort the water he was about to swallow.

The water, apparently, managed to dissolve quite a portion of the few things he'd put on his face to cover up the disgusting bruise on his left cheek. Mingyu's glad there's no swelling, it makes it easier for him to mask it with some basic makeup. 

He couldn't go around the mansion without anything to cover up his nasty-looking cheek, hence he runs as subtly as he could to his room. Taking a shower before fixing his face up, Mingyu changes and sits at his desk for the two hours he gets before dinner. Missing meal timings was a serious crime in the Kim household. Well, anything out of the high standards was considered a crime here.

He doesn't realise how fast the clock hands read six P.M., and he makes his way downstairs for yet another tense dinner across his mother. The length of the dining table had felt quite unnecessary to Mingyu at the time he'd just returned to Korea and seen the extravagance of the new furniture. But now, it's a blessing that the distance just at the dining table makes Mingyu feel a bit safe from his mother's ever-hardened eyes.

Kim Minkyoung's already seated on her chair, an empty plate set in front of her.

As dinner begins, she brings up a topic Mingyu hoped she'd forgotten about. "How are things going with Chaeyeon?"

Mingyu, foolishly enough, thinks she meant it casually, since she knew he's good friends with Chaeyeon. "Great, actually. She's the only friend I have."

Maybe he should have only spoken the 'Great, actually' part; he wasn't ready to receive a glare that made him realise what his mother actually meant.

"I thought instructions were clearly given, Mingyu. It's a necessity." Minkyoung insists.

Mingyu scoffs, not afraid of it being heard by the woman. "Did you just scoff at me, Mingyu?" He has a newfound, alien courage in him sparking out of nowhere.

"Yes I did."

"This attitude will get you in trouble, I think you're well aware."

Indeed he is. He'd been deprived of several things the last time he'd acted this way -- way back in high school. That time, those things had been important to Mingyu, those which he'd been deeply attached to. But he just doesn't care now, he's seen the worst his mother could do, and Mingyu can't comprehend how he'd even been terrified of it earlier.

Instead, Mingyu continues to speak. "I don't think it's necessary in the least bit, Mother. And I think you're well aware about Chaeyeon, and her relationship. I don't expect Minjun to have kept silent about it."

Minkyoung looks furious, but she's speechless for once. With one last piercing look towards Mingyu, she throws her fork down in her plate with a loud clatter, and leaves the dining room without another word.