Chapter Text
As in many typical young adult stories, the protagonist may say I do not know what got me to this point. “This point” being whatever circumstance that the protagonist is at the beginning of the film, to reel the reader or viewer in to find out what exactly got them there.
All that is suffice to say that Chan does know how he ended up at this point, in a university in a big city. He worked as hard as humanly possible to get here and two years prior, he actually did it. Chan knows his parents were certainly less than pleased with his decision that they perceived to be impulsive, but despite that he does not regret it.
Well, maybe a little bit. He did not expect to be cut off from his parents in this way, though it was not all credited to his “outrageous” choice of attending university. He did not expect to spend all his precious free time working at a convenience store, scanning items almost endlessly. Maybe he does know what got him to this point, but it is still surreal to think about.
“Your total is 5 dollars.” Chan watches as the student pays, grabs her item, and briskly walks out of the store, not sparing a simple nod. Chan knows he should not blame her when he does the same exact thing to other cashiers.
He is grateful that his job has minimal conversation with people, apart from reciting the order total. He has always been the type to keep to himself, to loathe any social interaction except those with people he was close with. Which is precisely zero at the moment.
More than work, Chan is not particularly excited about the next day. The first day of the spring semester of freshman year. It is almost ironic that he is worried for school starting, but he could use a longer break.
It is half past midnight and Chan raises his head from where he was resting his head. To his dismay, the customers were not the regular bone-deep tired students but rather the main reason for his hatred of big cities and higher education.
That may be pushing it too far, but still Chan did not like these people. Back home in his small town, though he was antisocial he still slipped through the cracks and avoided being the target of the typical school bully. Here, however, he never expected to encounter bullies in university.
Maybe he does fit in the place of the teenage protagonist who does not know how they got to a certain point after all. He does not know why these people were so hell bent on tormenting him of all people.
Chan holds his breath as, what he assumes to be the leader of the bunch, grabs his collar and seethes out “No one likes a stuck up know it all, especially a creep like you. You should do everyone a favor and kill yourself.” Chan does not even know the names of these boys, though he supposes that is a good thing because it gives them less importance in his brain.
He believes that he has perfected the art of a blank expression. After the first few encounters with these bullies, he quickly learned that the thing they were looking for the most was a reaction. Sure, not giving them one would not end it immediately but at the very least it would get them bored enough to stop more quickly. And so, Chan sat there as the boys continued their torment, not giving in though many comments made him want to pull out his hair. Luckily these boys were too cowardly and unfit to physically bully him, and Chan let out a huge sigh as he watched them leave the store.
Maybe he should have paid more attention to the classes he was signing up for instead of aimlessly picking the first one that matched with the requirements he had to fulfill. If he had done that, he would not be in this nightmare of a class. A semester-long group project.
He could not even drop the class because all the other ones for this requirement that does not conflict with his other classes are full. Zero open seats, no matter how many times he refreshes the page. His luck is absolutely amazing.
“Alright class!” he shifts his attention to the professor at the front of class, who is desperately trying to bring down the noise levels. Chan is not sure how well the professor’s efforts were working, though, as he could still hear whispers of conversation and see people distracted on their laptops from where he’s sitting in the back.
The professor just ends up talking louder than he was before. “Now I know a lot of you may be taking this class to hang out with your friends, but that’s not how it’s going to work around here” Chan could hear some conversations die down, and people starting to actually pay attention. “I will be assigning the groups and I expect every one of you to take this project seriously and not think of this class as a blowoff class.”
Groans erupted all around the auditorium but Chan was secretly happy. Not having to choose his own group is a blessing. Either way, he does not have a say in who he is working with because no one would willingly work with him until the teacher forces him into some unexpecting group that not so secretly loathe him for being there. Maybe he is being dramatic.
“How high school” he hears someone whisper to her friend nearby, and could not agree more. High school, complete with bullies and everything.
“-Chan Lee, and Minghao Xu. You will be in one group.” Chan did not realize he had stopped paying attention until he heard the professor call his name. He awkwardly gets up from his seat and heads to the front of the lecture hall to join the three other members of his group, all of whom are not so subtly glaring at each other. Chan does not really care to unpack what that means though, content with just standing there and waiting until the professor finishes assigning all the groups.
He stands there, noting that none of the people in the group seem to want to speak up or take any action. The other groups in the class started to talk, introducing themselves and discussing the project, a stark contrast from Chan's group. Instead they continue to glare at each other, which Chan finds more suspicious.
“I didn’t realize they let art majors into classes like these. Are they not busy drawing stick figures or whatever?” one of them quite literally, in every definition of the word, sneers.
The one this comment was directed at chuckles quietly, though not out of humor. “Petty indirect insults? Really Jeonghan? You’ve stooped so low.”
“Fine. I can’t believe they let incompetent people like you, Minghao,” he stresses the name “to classes like these.”
Chan's sure if he had a third person point of view of this scene, he would see his confusion painted across his face. And what’s worse, none of the people in his group seem to be as confused as him. Even the other member, who was not involved with whatever just happened, was just laughing into his hand. Chan wants so badly to speak up, to ask what the fuck is going on? But that requires confidence, which Chan just so conveniently lacks.
The rude banter continues for a couple minutes and Chan realizes that he probably has to speak up or nothing is going to get done. “Uh, guys?” All eyes immediately flicked towards him, as if they did not notice his presence before. “Do you want to figure out a time to start working on the project?” Even after rehearsing the line over and over again in his head before speaking, his voice cracks at the end and he cringes at how weak he sounds. How soft his voice is.
The others at least have the self-awareness to look ashamed at their bickering for his sake. They return to the awkward silence again. It is so uncomfortable, Chan scratches at his wrist and racks his brain for anything more to say.
The one less involved in the extremely confusing fight slowly says “I’m free weekends and most days after 5? My name is Wonwoo by the way,” he was unsure in his speech, as if revealing even the tiniest of information to the other two was treason.
Somehow, by the time the class ended, they ended up deciding on a time to meet. Chan couldn’t say he was looking forward to it in the slightest, quite the opposite in fact. However, despite the original reluctance of his group mates, he had to admit he was glad that they didn’t harass him from the get go. Sure, this was only the first meeting out of unfortunately many, but Chan could not help but feel relieved for a break.
Days passed by the same as they always do for Chan. Filled with classes and work, he barely has any time to do anything for himself. The time to meet up with his group mates was quickly sneaking up on him and he was starting to feel anxious again.
He walks slowly to the coffee shop they were to meet up in, taking almost twice the time it would have taken him on a regular day. The walk helped to calm his nerves and by the time he reached the shop, his heart did not feel as though it was going to beat out of his chest. Small victories, he supposes.
Pushing the door open, he is immediately met with a bright “Chan! Over here!” somewhere to his left. Turning, he sees Jeonghan, having finally learned his name after his insistence of Chan getting his contact that first day.
Jeonghan excitedly sits there waiting for Chan to come over. Chan figures that excitement would fade once the other two show up, but he will indulge in friendliness in the moment.
“It’s nice to see you again!” His smile is so contagious that Chan is infected the moment he walks up to him. “I probably should actually show up to lecture to see you more, huh?”
Chan does not know what to say to that. Why would he possibly want to see him at all? He is saved from responding by Wonwoo showing up. There’s a certain tension in the air that shows up along with him, and Jeonghan’s smile becomes stilted.
“Hi Chan, it’s nice to see you!” Wonwoo completely ignores Jeonghan as he pulls a chair to sit down as well. Chan smiles, and repeats what Wonwoo says back as courtesy, internally baffled as to why his groupmates hate each other. It’s almost the same scene that happened the first day.
Jeonghan and Wonwoo individually are talking to him, asking questions and making small talk, but entirely avoiding each other. Though, at the same time, it feels nice for someone to talk to him. Chan cannot remember the last time someone asked him how his day is or what his favorite color is.
“Is this your first time at this cafe Chan?” Wonwoo sweetly asks him. Honestly, Chan had been intimidated by him during their first meeting, but after talking for a while, he seems like a kind person. Chan cannot understand why these two nice people could hate each other.
“Yes it is. I don’t really have any reason to go out to cafes. Too busy and no one to go with,” he tries to avoid sounding pathetic in his response. Jeonghan opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted by Minghao abruptly appearing and pulling a chair over to their table.
“Hey Chan!” Minghao has an intoxicating smile. “Sorry for being late, the bus did not come on time.”
Wonwoo scoffs “Are you sure you were not carried away by your over-obsession with meditation?”
“Really Wonwoo, none of us have time for your useless comments. Isn’t that right, Chan?”
Jeonghan puts his arm around Chan's shoulder. “Hey, don’t bring Chan into your immature arguments.” He sighs. “I can’t believe out of a class of 60 people I somehow end up in a group with the two of you. God must be laughing at my misery right now.”
Minghao says an apology to Chan while Wonwoo mumbles something like “God has been laughing at you since the day you were born.”
Somehow, they finally start talking about the project. Chan has to admit, the topic is something he loves. Ancient Greek mythology was the main reason for why he enrolled into the class in the first place, even causing him to ignore the part that said the class was a group project.
With the way his life always goes, he knows that eventually his groupmates would hate him soon enough like everyone else in his life does. But he’ll choose to bask in the pretend sense of happiness for now.