⁀➷INTAK:

Loud music filled the streets that you walked through that day, and actually everyday of your life ever since you went to high school. Last year was extremely stressful and you couldn't be grateful enough that it finally ended. No exams, no studying and no homeworks for months. Could anyone ask for better?

Summer break started next day and since your friends were already packing their stuff up at home to leave for their family trips, you didn't know what to do with your life. Your backpack wasn't that heavy anymore so you thought about getting some ice cream to eat on your way home.

Soon you witnessed the source of the music. You couldn't tell if it was some kind of hip-hop or noise but you could tell the boy, who was dancing to it, was actually talented at freestyling not to even mention he was kind of good looking. He probably went to the same school as you, that's why his face seemed so familiar.

People were watching and standing around him, some liked it so much that they even gave him money.

You moved just a little bit closer and started to admire his moves from the distance. You had such a great view from the bench you were sitting on and you thought you wouldn't even see anything if you moved even closer because of the crowd.

Hours passed by and he kept slaying every choreography. You didn't even know the reason why you stayed so long.

When you saw him packing his stuff you immediately took your phone out of your pocket. For some reason, you didn't want him to see you staring at him.

"Hey there!"

From the corner of your eyes you saw someone sitting next to you. Of course it was that brown haired boy. You were surprised and he even seemed like he surprised himself when he decided to talk to you.

"Hi!"you waved at him, not knowing what to do.

"You looked amazing there."you spoke up finally. You were just being honest, there's nothing wrong with that. Right?

"Thanks!"he nodded, gifting you a bright, cheerful smile. You couldn't help thinking about the fact that he reminded you of a playful puppy.

"Do you think I could improve my skills?"he asked enthusiastically. Just by looking him straight in those sparkling, big eyes, you knew his excitement was genuine.

"Why would you want to improve any of them?"

"So now you're telling me I am...perfect?"

He was teasing you for sure.

"I didn't say that!"you stated.

"Anyways, I'm Intak."

"Oh, that Intak?"

"Which one?"he asked, full of confusion.

"You know we go to the same school, right? Some teachers were talking about you."

"What did they say?"he asked now with some curiousity appearing in his voice. "Only good things I suppose"

"Yeah, totally..."you rolled your eyes, finally getting a chance to tease him a little bit like he did to you before.

"I recognized you though."

You could barely keep up with him and the topics he was bringing up every two minutes. He seemed a little bit too energetic to you.

"Did you?"

"Yeah, we went to maths together during our first year of high school"

"Did we really?"

He simply nodded. You suddenly came to the realization that Intak changed a lot since you last had classes together. He used to be the quiet kid in the corner but now he was extremely tall, handsome and a bit more confident. You remembered that he even came to see your mum every once in a while because he needed help with maths and he knew she's a teacher.

"I'll get going now."you stood up from the bench because you didn't want to hold that conversation for too long. You were afraid that you could run out of things to say and make everything awkward, but you were not expecting him to do anything about it.

He grabbed your wrist with his fingers softly touching your skin and suddenly, he was standing in front you.

"I'll walk you home. It's getting late, and we live quite close to each other."he winked and started to walk to the exact opposite direction you were going.

"We're going that way, Intak!"you called, failing to hold in your laugh. You couldn't stay serious around him.

"Have you heard anything about the new kid?"a girl asked her friend, who was some kind of president in your class. She was always loud and she knew everything. No, literally. Every single thing.

Minutes before your first class started, there was a huge chaos in the classroom. Everyone was so excited about the new student and you haven't even heard about this until this morning. You knew who it was since you've met him in the directors office when your teacher brought you there to meet the new student.

You knew how much backlash you're going to get for this but you were the only one in you class who could speak Japanese fluently. That was an actually needed skill since the boy could barely even speak your language.

You two were introduced to eachother but you didn't have a chance to talk to him earlier.

"I heard it's a boy. And that he's Chinese."one of their other friends laughed.

Well no, he wasn't Chinese.

Everyone in your class who was sitting alone, had a reason to it. The class president girl sat in the front row just to be close to the teacher but you...you were there because nobody actually wanted to share the amazing experience of sitting through lessons together with you.

The bell rang and soon after your teacher walked in with Shota, the japanese student. You saw the terror in his eyes as soon as he got closer to the class so you waved and shared a friendly smile with him.

"This is your new classmate, Haku Shota."the teacher introduced him.

You heard everyone whispering things about him and this time, you were glad he couldn't understand the language so well.

Everyone was surprised about the fact that he came from a whole different country with different culture than theirs.

"So is he Japanese?"

"No, you idiot"

You rolled your eyes. Says who, you thought to yourself.

"Please introduce yourself, Shota!"the teacher requested.

"Well I'm...I like potatoes. And french fries."he looked down, staring at his shoes.

He seemed so disappointed in himself. That might have been the first and only thing that came to his mind.

Your classmates somehow found his little introduction hilarious and failed to hold in their laughs. He couldn't even speak the language properly, for heaven's sake...

"Please take a seat."your teacher pushed Shota gently so he had no chance to stay still.

He could have chosen between the class president girl or you but he started to walk towards an empty seat in the back. He was probably afraid to go near everyone since he might have heard their insulting words. This poor boy. You felt so sorry for him.

"Sit down!"you whispered in Japanese when he was about to walk past you.

"Can I?"

"Of course."you nodded and made some space on the table for his books.

"Are you ok?"you leaned towards him a little bit.

"I-

I don't know just yet."he laughed out nervously.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to this"you patted his shoulder. "What about I show you around after school?"you offered.

"Thank you"he smiled back at you before the teacher could start the lesson.

"Of course...S-

Can I call you Shota?"

"I like Soul better"he looked down shyly.

"Is that a nickname?"you asked full of curiousity.

"Yeah, one of my childhood friends used to call me like this."

"So you like french fries?"

You didn't mean to tease him about his previous words because you knew how it was to be the victim of bullying. You already knew some jerks might try to come near the boy and make him feel bad about himself but you also knew how to handle them.

"Can we not talk about that?"

"No, I mean I was just trying to say that there's a cool place near our school. Their fries are absolutely delicious!"you explained.

"Oh, and...and how can I get there?"he took a pen out of his pencil case and got ready to write on his palm. You nearly laughed at how unintentionally adorable he was.

"I can take you there after showing you round the school."you smiled at him again.

He nodded cheerfully so you thought that might be a great opportunity to get to know him a little bit more without your classmates staring and trying to find out what you two are talking about.

What could normal teens want for their 16th birthday? Definitely not a huge grill party thrown by their parents. No, actually, they invited the whole neighbourhood without even asking you and the most fun part was that they told them to invite their friends too!

You were never the type of person to be comfortable around new people and you knew that bringing your neighbours' friends here would only make you feel even more lonely in the crowd.

You were cutting eggplants in the kitchen to be away from everyone for a while when you saw someone from the corner of your eye, looking at you.

"Hey, I-"

You didn't even let him finish his sentence, you already knew who he was.

"You're Keeho's friend, right?"you asked not even looking up from the kitchen counter.

"How did you know?"he asked, moving around a little bit.

"You know him, he probably wanted us to meet"you giggled. "He's my neighbour"you added, throwing a smile at the red-haired boy.

"I'm Jongseob, by the way"

He seemed very mature for his age. Yeah, ok, you two were the same age but still. You haven't talked to a boy your age for years because most of them were childish and couldn't even keep a conversation up for five minutes.

"What are you here for anyways?"

"Keeho sent me to ask if..."he looked at you with realization in his eyes. "Oh, man..."he laughed out.

You couldn't help letting out a little giggle again since you already knew Keeho will try to play matchmaker with you and one of his friends. Also, Keeho wasn't so wrong. You liked Jongseob already.

"Hey, can I help?"he walked into the kitchen.

"I hope Keeho didn't teach you to cook."you immediately thought about that time when the guy next door burnt that stupid tortilla.

"No he didn't, for all the tortillas' sake!"

"Well this chicken looks a little unseasoned, so you could just..."you handed Jongseob the seasoning you wanted to use and he started to help you.

"So you heard about that tortilla?"

"We're still teasing him about it sometimes."he exclaimed.

"As you should!"you joked.

"You don't seem like you're enjoying this party at all though..."he turned around to look at you.

"Yeah, you know I didn't even want this to happen."you pointed your finger at your backyard.

"I see your point. I like smaller parties myself too."

"I know right, it's so much more fun to celebrate with your close friends and family."

"Anyways, happy birthday!"he cheered."I should've started with that."

You handed him some plates and you walked out together with some chicken and eggplants. You saw that Keeho already was taking over the grill and was trying not to burn anything.

"Guys, I see you two were talking!"he exclaimed, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, we were but please Keeho, for everything that's holy, look at the chicken!"

It was already too late.

"Not the food!"someone from Jongseob's and Keeho's friend group shouted at the blue-haired boy. He was probably Intak, as much as you remembered those boys.

Jongseob and you looked at each other and both of you bursted out laughing at poor Keeho and the burnt chicken. What a nice way to get to know someone new.

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