Xiaojun stood outside the museum and he laid his head against the wall.
He just walked out but then he stood here frozen. He has only ever seen EunWoo cry once and that was when he was first confronted by Tzuyu. And right now that heartbreaking image was flooding through his mind. Though the first time he was really angry, this time it's different but he can't explain how different.
He feels worse like he had been the one that was scolded. It's sort of confliction . The truth is said to set free but this truth that he just told right now is like he just exploded something and he heard screams of a million souls dying. But the fact that he crashed a monster makes him no less one himself.
In the opposite side of the museum by the second fire exit, EunWoo squatted three meters from that door , about exactly the same place Xiaojun had dragged him after EunWoo had a show with Tzuyu. He sat on his heels as he rested his head on his knees while also cuddling it and he just cried. He again held a museum souvenir t-shirt that was in clear plastic, that he purchased so as to change into.
The souvenir shop is near the fire exit . When he bought it , there was no one at the counter so he paid very quickly but as soon as he stepped outside and heard people talking , he walked a few steps and fell to his feet as his brokenheart got the best of him.
He looked like he was abandoned by everyone,like his family just got burned alive in a raging fire and there was absolutely nothing he could do. It's like all the sadness that he felt ,all the loneliness, all the mess , the bullying, lies , manipulation and submission came running to him and hit him at rocket speed leaving a dark vortex or a black hole continually sucking him alive. His effort to resist felt as futile as his attempt to stay strong.
He cried between his knees and the tears dried to the ground . The distant mumbling of people got louder henceforth he tilted his head to the side and away from them and shed avalanches just like that for three minutes.
Because people like to cause a scandal, those students from afar snapped a picture of him and then posted it on the school group chat with the caption the devil's advocate. They added all sorts of stickers and already the whole school begun to comment on the picture. At the same time this happened Xiaojun walked away from the wall and he went to the library to study.
Hearing the bickering and judgemental chuckles of people, he stood up and he wiped his face before he headed to the nearest bathroom to take off his sweat-drenched uniform and change into the t-shirt. He stuffed his uniform in the bag and he went to the anatomy lab.
****
YeoReum turned and faced her colleagues and they all seemed to be in the same predicament as she is .
Mr Choi walked around the room and as he paced near WooJin , WooJin s face bloomed blood red and the air was scorching like he was caged in a volcano and was swimming in lava while he granted his lungs on piping hot gravel
He attempted to write down the answers but his hand was trembling and sweating profusely as if it was in a bowl of water. This also made it hard to grip the pen as it was as if coated in oil fused with grease.
' please walk away', he begged him and like he could hear him Mr Choi moved towards the other students.
He kept on walking and WooJin wondered if he should mention this but who will believe that he is innocent.
Principal Park will be forced to investigate this and since the masterminds behind this are good at covering their tracks, there is absolutely no way that WooJin will be set free. Supposing that the worst case scenario develops and he can't prove his innocence, he will inevitably face the worst charges and backlash possible in the history of Sejun. The cheating reports from last time, maybe even the flying computers may all be somehow eventually linked to him.
' what should I do?', he thought and when he raised his eyes to the clock nearly ten minutes have passed and he hasn't even done a single thing.
He moved his hand downwards and he wiped the sweat on his pants.
He forced himself to clasp the pen yet that on its own generated more perspiration therefore making his handwriting ugly and untidy. Since this was making him feel like he was being suspicious because he wrote differently than normal, he has no other choice. He can only keep frequently wiping his hands on his pants for the next two hours.
Those that could see him also begun to write and those that these ones also followed the team. Not because they wanted but because they have someone to help carry the burden. After all they can just say Mr president did it so we followed the leader , sounds reasonable?
***
" Please take all guidelines into consideration. It's important to note how the patient reacts to the test as well. no detail is ever too small", Dr Kim told them and they agreed.
The anatomy lab has a total of twelve work stations including that of the demonstrator at the far front. The stations are made of completely white material and have inbuilt drawers on the left and right , containing examination tools. There is also two sockets on the tables where the students can plug their models to activate their highly modern simulations .The demonstrator s bench is a duplicate of the students benches. Behind this station is a large white board that is always clean.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
By the demonstrator s bench there are two doors , one on each side. The other leads to the storeroom that has more models and the other is used by demonstrate to access the lab to display or by janitor to maintain hygiene which is a must.
Bordering the walls there are wall built-in tables that display things especially models that are going to be used for the exercise at hand. On the right and left side there are sinks , while on the back there is where the displays are. But because of space,the models can sometimes be placed in between the sinks. Additionally there are pinborads all over and they are always filled with charts similar to those in Dr Lee and Dr Kim s office. The pinborads are the first to see because the door for this lab is towards the front, adjacent the lab demonstrator s station.
On the first three benches , YunOh class captain was next to class black-ice ,Woonwoo at the bench far from the door which is on the left and they were just dead focused on what the professor was saying. Class peacock Baekhyun sat next to class prince SeongHwa on the bench close to the door and they two were just quiet. EunWoo, the class lotus sat in the following bench, behind them and was all alone. To be honest ,they have always been like this , pairing themselves and sidelining EunWoo.
" There are papers on table. Have a look at them and write your conclusion. I will give you back your papers from last assessment", he told them and they begun working.
Dr Kim was seating at the front station while Mr Hoseok stood next to him and they both gawked at the formidable seedlings that will rewrite the history of psychology , in white coats like angel avengers
" They seem light years away.. all of them..", Mr Hoseok whispered lowly to the Doctor who agreed as he saw that none of them seemed to move and they just wrote like robots
And he was right.
Baekhyun told YunOh that he feels like he is being stalked. SeongHwa had a fight with his uncle, Woonwoo was just indifferent as EunWoo was.Their personal lives are in a sea of turmoil but it's just best that they act indifferent to this and not jeopardize their futures.
( An hour later)
" Guys , wrap up and take a forty minute break while I bring in a trial quiz. Don't worry ,it's just to help you with the placement test and we will highlight the main points ", Dr Kim told them and he stepped out of the room while Mr Hoseok went and grabbed the papers.
Baekhyun sat quietly and he looked to the empty socket and YunOh went to him.He pulled a chair and he knocked on the table making Baekhyun turn back to him.
Baekhyun forced a smile and though it was weird and forced, it was the most subtle thing he had done to YunOh or precisely the most innocent he had ever seen him look. YunOh raised his hand and he rubbed his hair like a child. He faked the smile once again and he laid his head back on the table but he faced to YunOh and closed his eyes.
' all bark and no bite ',he thought to himself as he finger combed his hair. They seem less than strangers .
SeongHwa who was currently alone, took out his phone and he texted Woonwoo angry emojis. Nonetheless Woonwoo didn't take out his phone as he had it on silent. He too sat dignified on the stool but he was really light years away . SeongHwa snapped a picture of him so he can use it to scold him later and then he saw that he had an unread text from Sung-Hei , which is the name he gave to Win
SeongHwa got the number two days after opening schools but he never called or received a call from him. So in SeongHwa s mind Win probably doesn't have his number but this just changes things.
He didn't expect that Sung-Hei would actually text him . So he opened it and it read, ' hi it's Win... would you like a milkshake?' SeongHwa smiled cutely and he sent back a smiling teddy bear sticker and replied ' no, thank you. '
EunWoo at the back of the crowd just kept replaying what had happened to him. Thankfully that they have to wear lab coats otherwise this ugly t-shirt would also ruin his mood.
He reached for his bag to take out his phone to pass time but he could not find it . He checked for his pockets and remembered that after it fell on the floor at the museum for the second time when he bought the t-shirt, he never picked it up .
' Aish!!', he swore and he almost banged on the table .
His emotions had got the best of him and he left his phone in the museum. Hansol is so dramatic about EunWoo s gadgets and is probably going to get all worked up when he makes him program a new phone again. But worse still he is going to have to find a mature reason why he broke his phone without mentioning...
" Deju..", he spoke loudly but grasped his mouth nonetheless making SeongHwa and Woonwoo turn and look at him.
He lowered his eyes back and he put back the things in his bag.
" Mr Choi, can I be excused?", He raised his hand and he wished that no one had took the phone.
" Yeah but hurry up", he told him and immediately EunWoo blast off then he went back to the museum.
( Ten minutes later)
He arrived back to the place he had lost the device and it was clean .h e spotted a museum clerk walking by and he approached him
He bowed and explained his request. The clerk pointed to the help desk and told him to ask there. Immediately he ran to it and he bowed to the nice old lady
" I was here earlier and I lost my phone. It's a broken pastel blue one", he explained and the old lady said she does remember that a clerk gave her a phone and she took it out.
" Is this it?", She handed it to him . EunWoo sighed with relief and smiled a bit to that . He shoved it in his pocket and he took out his wallet to pay the nice lady to show thanks but before he could go that, she turned and she stared at him awkwardly
" Why were you two arguing?", She asked and that question just made him pain old uncomfortable
" It's nothing", he really doesn't want to talk about it
" The clerk who gave me this phone said one of you was looking for the other but the other wasn't pleased by that" ,she summarized but she skipped a lot of things.
" One of you ran around the entire place looking for the other but when they found that other one ,you fought instead.Let's see..Maybe you are the one who was being looked for and your colleague ran around the place for you. He couldn't find you so he gave up. Can I ask how you found him let alone WHY you found him?", She interrogated and EunWoo lost his ground.
When Xiaojun met him he asked why EunWoo was running around the school like he was under attack and as such he found him . Is it possible that he thought EunWoo was in trouble and wanted to help?
" It's nothing like that", he answered and he took some money , then handed it to her and she accepted it
" If you say so ", she answered and he defended himself saying that he did nothing wrong.
" I will leave first ", he bowed and he stormed out of the museum
The lady looked at him storming away and she smiled darely . For some reason she felt like there is a little lie in what he said especially how he keeps saying it's nothing but anyway she got free money and can go buy some tteoboki or soju or sushi. The cafeteria has some very delicious treats.
He ran back to class and made it with just two minutes to spare and surprisingly, no one not even Baekhyun commented.
He got on his chair and all the professors were there. He panted and tried to come back down his breathing and yet again no one even bother to look at him. It's like they didn't even care if he came back bleeding .
" I don't know what's the point of discussing the papers because you all got hundred. But I guess I just have to do it because the prof said so. So let's begin", Mr Hoseok explained to them. He is their lab demonstrator.
He handed it them all the papers and they did indeed get hundreds. He explained how they should present their cases to solidify their hundred
" Okay, everyone grab the twenty eye model and some cloves from the drawers plus some penlights . Use the clean sheets to make any rough work and use the quiz booklet to write the answers . Feel free to use anything else to aid in your assessment. Remember to ask questions where you don't understand plus you can consult each other. It's during the second round where you won't consult anyone and just have to choose the right method and reason for why you chose that method. I will explain that part when we get to it , alright... Woonwoo,we together? SeongHwa, YunOh, Khyun-Ah, are you catching up?", He questioned all of them and they nodded yes. He looked to EunWoo but he was already taking out his pens
YunOh went back to Woonwoo and they begun working for the next seventy or so minutes..
*****
" Okay everyone, it's exactly two hours since we begun.please put your pens down and wait till we collect your papers before you leave", Mr Gong instructed them while he already begun collecting the papers.
" There are thirty-eight of you and no one is absent. ",
He collected all the papers and he counted them . Afterwards gave them permission to leave.
They left uniformly and WooJin departed the last. Choi tried not to confront him so he focused on other task like sealing the papers in an exam bag