entry #13 | σηℓïηє

━━━━༻ ♣ ༺━━━━

online

00100000

━━━━༻ ♣ ༺━━━━

Did you know that humans are the only animals who have chins? This proves that chins are unnecessary, totally extra things that are the result of evolution's oopsie when creating humans. Why do we even need chins beside to look aesthetically pleasing? Does that mean more chins make you prettier? Not even chimpanzees have chins!

(Y/n) did not believe in the usefulness of chins. She thought they were dumb and only got in the way. At least for today, she was right.

It took all of her mental strength to refrain from cursing out loud in a foreign residence or flip a table over. Not that she was capable of doing so, of course. And even if she could—nevermind, she couldn't.

Tears threatened to well up in her (e/c) eyes at the sharp pain hammering at the top of her head. She forced them down, her fingers digging into her skull as if pressing down on the definitely bruising area would alleviate the pain. She was doubled over, a strap of her backpack sliding off her shoulder and her teeth clenched.

(Y/n) made several discoveries that day. One being Kieran was not lying when he said he owned a whole floor of the dormitory, and that he lived with three other people. The second being the fact that Leon had a very hard chin.

'I am god's child, I am god's child, I am god's child,' she chanted like a mantra in her head. 'I do not kill, I do not lie, I do not steal, especially not other people's lives. It wasn't the zebra's fault, so stay calm. I am a good child.'

The black-haired male, on the other hand, was barely affected by the impact. He had a shocked look on his face when the (h/c)-haired girl suddenly appeared in front of him while he was preparing to leave his dorm. Not noticing her before it was too late due to their height difference, let's just say several unfortunate accidents happened which resulted in her head colliding with his jaw.

Very painful. Don't try this at home, kids.

His confused expression morphed into a stunned one as he stared at the hissing girl. He had stumbled back from the impact where she almost flew away had he not caught her arm. Now the silver-eyed male was simply massaging his jaw while (Y/n) cursed evolution under her breath.

Evolution is dumb. Who even thought of it in the first place?

In her case, maybe evolution went in reverse.

'What is his chin made of?!' She shrieked internally. The pain subsided enough for her to raise her head, her angry glare meeting his widen silver eyes. 'My skull is made of bone. His chin is made of bone. So what's the difference between us that makes him shrug it off like it's nothing?!'

One glance at his arm answered her question. 'He looked like Carrie male version,' (Y/n) observed. Long story short, the girls had gone on a shopping spree that mainly involved Isla and Lucinda forcing Carmen and (Y/n) into countless outfits. They had caught a glimpse of the brown-haired girl's abdomen and boy were they shocked.

(Y/n) never knew a girl could have abs. She has been enlightened.

"Who are you?" Leon said finally, breaking the silence that fell between the two. His eyes narrowed and then widened in recognition. "Ah, you're the pipsqueak."

"Who are you...and what right do you have...to call me pipsqueak?" (Y/n) scowled. "I prefer 'closer to...the ground.'"

He blinked in puzzlement. "You mean gravitationally challenged?"

"Are you calling me fat, you oompa loompa—"

"And, that's enough of that!" A force sent the black-haired male reeling to side. He would've fallen over had it not been for his fast reflexes, catching the edge of the wall with a single hand. He and (Y/n) both swiveled their heads towards the perpetrator, his a dark glare and hers a stunned face of astonishment.

Because whoever could manage to pull something like that off definitely earned her respect—

"You're early, koneko-chan," Kieran grinned, dusting his hands off casually as he approached her. The white-haired male was dressed in a loose-fitting white shirt with an unzipped black jacket on top. He shoved his hands into his pockets. "Do you want anything to drink? Leo-chan here probably still has a stash of soda shoved into the back of the fridge somewhere."

Nevermind.

"Don't 'Leo-chan' me," Leon growled as he regained his balance and stalked up to the other male with a murderous aura. He seized him by the collar and pulled him forward so they were eye-to-eye. Even with Kieran's height, Leon was still taller. "What the f*ck was that for, you bastard?!"

But the golden-eyed male appeared unfazed. He simply shrugged and spread his hands. "What can I say? I accidentally tripped over a wire and you were conveniently right there. What do you want me to do about it?"

"We have no loose wires in this house, you f*ckboy! Or is it a screw that's loose in your head instead? 'Cuz I'd be more than happy to shove it back in for you!"

"Hmm, what's with that, Leo-chan? Getting kinky, are we—OW OW OW, NOT THE FACE! ANYWHERE BUT THE FACE—and Kieran Jr., of course—WAIT, LEO-CHAN STOP ITTTT!"

(Y/n) decided it was a good time to leave before someone associated her with these two.

"(Y/n)?" Came a small voice, stopping the (h/c)-haired girl in her tracks. She turned around. It was Jaehyun, surprise written across his face. "What are you doing here?"

She turned fully around to face the blond boy, ignoring the scuffling of the two in the background. "I'm here for a project with sno—Kieran," she answered truthfully. "You...live here too?"

His face was unreadable with a hint of vulnerability as he took in her words. Jaehyun quickly changed it to his usual placid one. "Yeah, with those two"—he frowned at the two males, his eyes slightly narrowing at the sight of the white-haired male—"And one other. Do you want me to show you around?"

"Um, sure," (Y/n) agreed with a shrug. After all, Kieran didn't look like he'd be doing the project, let alone walk, anytime soon.

"Follow me." The blond smoothly took her hand in his and pulled her in the opposite direction. She blinked in surprise at the action but chose not to comment. The hallways were almost wider than her own room and relatively austere, with the occasional painting decorating the white wallpaper. Expensive paintings, no doubt.

As they turned the corner, (Y/n) swore she saw the Mona Lisa smirk at her. 'Wait, why do they have the Mona Lisa? Shouldn't it be in the Louvre? Nah, this is probably a replica. Yup, that makes sense.'

Her companion caught her staring at the portrait and stopped in his tracks. "She's a beauty, isn't she?" He smiled. "Almost like the real thing."

'Whew, so they didn't buy it.' "Y-yeah," she agreed. "Are all these replicas?"

"Some of them," Jaehyun confirmed. "Like the Guernica in the lobby."

Her eyes widened as they approached the massive painting. "Woah, they look so real..."

"Thanks," a light blush appeared on his face and he fiddled with the bottom of his shirt with his free hand. "I made them."

'What.'

"You...made these?" She said slowly, staring at him in wide-eyed disbelief.

The blond flushed and looked away. "I tried my best."

'Your best is too good!' The (h/c)-haired girl gaped. She slipped her hand free from his and pulled out her phone, missing the brief look of hurt that flashed across his face. 'Guernica by Pablo Picasso,' she searched up on her phone. The image loaded and she pinched it with two fingers to zoom in.

(Y/n) walked as close to the replica as she dared and held her phone up to it. Her mouth fell open. 'My word...the brushstrokes, pigments, style—everything. It all matches the original perfectly.'

Not believing her eyes, she switched to a more detailed image of the famous painting and enlarged it. The brush strokes and their textures all matched. 'How is that even possible?!'

"Is...this actually the original?" She turned towards the blond beside her. At this point, it was more believable if they had bought the artworks from their respective museums. How could a single high school student replicate all of them perfectly?

Jaehyun shook his head regretfully. "The museum wouldn't sell them to us, so I decided to copy them instead of buying the replicas online."

"How...long did it take you?"

"All of these including the bust of Nefertiti and Michaelangelo's David took me two years."

"T-two years?!" Her eyes bugged out. "To copy every single stroke?!"

He bowed his head and tugged at the cuffs of his sleeves nervously under her sharp gaze. "It really hurt my eyes," he admitted. "But it wasn't undoable. Mother brought me to many art museums over the years, so I've long memorized the paintings���"

'What. WHAT?!'

"—A-and I bet you could do it too! I-I've seen your work in art class, a-and I think it's really good!"

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks, but you don't need...to flatter me. I wouldn't exactly call...smearing paint onto a canvas...good." 'Sorry, Mr. Pollock,' she added internally.

"B-but—"

"Anyway," (Y/n) hastily interrupted before they got into a full-blown argument about the legitimacy of her nonexistent artistic talent. "Can you show me where...the best spot to do a project is?"

Jaehyun bit back his words and shoved it down. The passionate air she'd heard in his voice died down, replaced with his usual nervous murmurs. "You could use the living room," he offered, making sure to steer the (h/c)-haired girl far away from their bedrooms. "Or the garden if you're the outdoors type."

'Hah, is that even a question?' "Then the living room it is," she declared, readjusting the straps of her bag on her shoulders. "Where's sn—Kieran?"

"Probably in the hospital by now if he's lucky," the blond shrugged nonchalantly. "Out the windows, if he's not."

'That's some really brothership I see there,' the (h/c)-haired girl sweatdropped. "I'm going to look for him. Thanks for...showing me around, Jay." She turned on her heel to leave.

"W-wait!" He gripped her wrist, halting her progress. "I'll go with you. I only showed you the first floor—"

'There's three more of this?!'

"—And you could get lost. Let's go, Kieran's probably still here."

"Oh...okay. But...could you let go first?"

He looked down at where his hand was wrapped tightly around her wrist as if he'd forgotten he'd done that. Jaehyun released her, his face blanching as he stumbled back. "I'm so sorry I did that! I'm so sorry, I'm—" He caught himself at her warning look. "S—I apologize..."

'Why does he apologize so much?' She wondered as he led her to another hallway. 'Ah, well, that's none of my business. It might be a touchy subject like the last time.'

They arrived at a large room at the heart of the dorm's first floor. It easily beat her own living room in terms of size, with its capacity to hold a long, blue corner sofa that faced a large, flat-screen television and a coffee table. Multiple white and blue cushions were placed neatly on the sofa. A matching rug was laid out under the table, and a tall, modern lamp stood in the corner near a large potted plant.

The curtains on the large glass windows were all drawn, displaying the bright, afternoon sun that peeked out from countless burnt bronze clouds. A sprawling garden could be seen with hedges and flower bushes clustered purposefully in a shape the (h/c)-haired girl could not make out around a lavish white summer house. A maze, perhaps.

Across from the couch was a long mahogany table with matching chairs around it. Past it led to another section of the room blocked off with a wall. Through the glasses window in the wall, (Y/n) saw a kitchen with all the latest appliances.

The size of their refrigerator made her stomach growl.

"Have a seat," Jaehyun said, leading her towards the couch. As soon as she sat down, he took a step back. "Do you want tea or something? I-I think we've completely stocked up lately, so we should have basically everything?"

"Everything?" She echoed.

"Everything. W-what would you like?"

"Water's good...thanks," (Y/n) replied. She had immediately lost all sense of discomfort from being in a new place as soon as she touched one of those cushions, and immediately sank into the sofa. 'They are so soft...' she sighed blissfully. 'I think they just made my hands soft from how soft they are.'

Make that two screws loose.

"Well, okay then," Jaehyun dropped his hands from where he was fumbling with his fingers. "I'll be right back." He made a beeline for the kitchen, off to get her a glass of water. While he was gone, (Y/n) took the opportunity to get back the sleep she would've gotten had she been allowed to sleep in.

Naturally, it wasn't easy to just fall asleep in an unfamiliar area, especially when the home belonged to people she wasn't particularly close with. But duty called; when you gotta sleep, you gotta sleep.

The (e/c)-haired girl pulled a sleep mask from her backpack before leaning the bag neatly against the sofa cushions. She slid the mask over her head and leaned back. 'The trick to falling asleep instantly is emptying your mind. Stop worrying about all those insignificant things. Grades? Deal with that tomorrow. Responsibilities? You'll manage. COVID-19?'

'Wait, that doesn't exist in this universe.'

It would've worked, but she hadn't been counting on the blond to return so early with two glasses of water in his hands. She clicked her tongue in irritation and ripped the mask off her face, forcing her drooping eyes open. Jaehyun set the cups down softly onto the coffee table and took a seat next to her.

"I brought the water," he said. "Although I wasn't sure where Kieran is."

"Oh, thanks..." (Y/n) cupped her hands around the glass and raised it to her mouth, taking a sip. "That's okay...he'll show up eventually." I hope. "I'll...text him." She took out her phone and unlocked it. She tapped on his contact name and sent a quick message.

'We need to do the project,' she texted. 'Where are you?'

'Seconds later, his reply came. I'm hiding,' he said. 'Leo-chan's too shy to accept my affection, so now we're playing hide-and-seek. He's it :D'

'I hope he realizes when he's caught he's done for,' (Y/n) sweatdropped, remembering the look of anger on Leon's face when Kieran shoved him over. 'Have fun, but not too much fun,' she texted back. 'I'll start on the project, then. I'm in the living room.'

'Okayyy,' the white-haired male responded. 'I'll be over there in just a sec.'

Satisfied with his answer, she slipped her phone back into her pocket, only to hear a bloodcurdling scream and a "Wait, stop it Leo-chan!" echo through the hallways.

'He sure can scream,' (Y/n) observed with wide eyes. 'Izzy would be jealous. Anyway, I thought he said it would be quiet. Sounds to me he's the one making all the noise, though. That liar.'

"I'll tell them to be quiet," Jaehyun sighed. He didn't flinch when the white-haired male started screaming. 'He must be used to this,' she felt sympathetic for the blond. Poor guy. "Make yourself at home, okay, (Y/n)?"

"Thanks again for the water, Jay," she said with a small smile. "I'll...be fine here." The blond opened his mouth as if to say something but decided against it, settling for a nod instead before heading out of the room. She turned back to her copy of Macbeth. 'Which scene should we do?' (Y/n) mused as she flipped through the play. 'Maybe the past where Lady Macbeth hallucinates. Yeah, we should go with that. Snowman can act her out and I'll be the nursemaid and doctor simultaneously. Less work for me!'

Since the white-haired male wasn't there to offer his opinion, she decided to go ahead and settle with that idea. Pulling her laptop out of her bag, the (h/c)-haired girl opened a new document and began creating a digital copy of the scene, namely being Act V Scene I in the play.

'Should I start the report now or wait?' She flipped through the play listlessly. 'I'll wait. No way am I going to do all the work by myself. Let's play the Google dinosaur game, the game people play when they have no life.'

(Y/n) purposefully turned her phone's hotspot off just to play the game that has no reason to be on Chrome but was installed there. 'The developers were probably bored.'

A door slammed open and Kieran rushed in, his shirt crumpled and his breaths coming out in labored pants. He doubled over and placed his hands on his knees to support himself, his chest rising and falling heavily. His cheek was bruising, she noticed, and he had something that looked suspiciously like blood—or lipstick—on his collar.

"How nice of you...to finally show up," the (h/c)-haired girl drawled, returning her attention to her laptop screen. "Even though you were the one...who invited me here. What happened...to peace and quiet?"

He grinned sheepishly and looked up, his hair falling into his eyes. "Leo-chan was too rough with me, koneko-chan. I'll keep it behind closed doors next time, alright?" He threw her a suggestive wink.

She was unimpressed. "I don't know the guy," she began. "But I'm sure...if he heard that, you'd end up with...more than a few broken bones." 'My head serves as proof of that. Ow, it still hurts.'

The white-haired male chuckled and straightened, striding towards the kitchen and opening the fridge. "You already know him so well," he purred as he took out an ice tray. "I'm jealous. I was sure I got to you first." He took out an ice cube and popped it into his mouth. He dumped the rest into a ziplock bag, sealed it, and pressed it to his cheek.

"Ah, I just remembered," (Y/n) realized. She was doing a lot of that lately. "Zebra...he's also in my history group. And Jay...he's in my art group. We all have a lot of projects...are the teachers conspiring against us or something?"

"That's a likely theory," Kieran chuckled as he approached her. "I can see Edward doing that."

She frowned. "Edward?"

"You know, Brooks. The physics teacher."

She did not know that was his first name. It almost made him seem normal. 'Hold on, (Y/n) thought. Isn't Edward that guy in one of the romance shows Lucy made me watch? What was it called again, midnight? He's that really creepy vampire dude. I forgot what it was called, but it was weird. Really weird.'

But Mr. Brooks really did look like an Edward.

He sat down next to her, closer than she'd like but she chose to ignore it for the sake of world peace. "So?" He asked, casually slinging an arm on the back of the sofa behind the (h/c)-haired girl. "Did you come up with anything for the assignment?"

(Y/n) showed him her screen. "This is the part I choose," she told the golden-eyed male. "Since someone wasn't here."

"Still hung up on that, I see," he snorted.

"We'll...write a report on this," she ignored his comment. "And then act it out. I'm not an actress...so can you play the role of Lady Macbeth?"

"Can I?" His grin grew wider.

"Okay, let's aim to do half the report today," she bulldozed past his attempt to distract her. "I have the...project sheet here somewhere." (Y/n) pulled a folder out of her bag and opened it.

It was empty.

"Whoops, wrong one." 'I forgot I don't use folders.' Then to the male beside her, "Um, do you have the paper?"

He cracked a smile and rose to his feet. "Yeah, I'll go get it." Her eyes followed him as his frame disappeared out into the hallway, only to reappear a few minutes later. Kieran dangled in the sheet in front of her face, snatching it away as she tried to grab it.

"Where's my thank you?" He said in a teasing tone, flashing a wide smile at her.

"Thank you," (Y/n) said in the flattest voice she could muster. "Can I get the sheet please?"

"Ehh, I don't know about that~"

'I'll smother you with this super-soft cushion.' "Please," she stressed through gritted teeth, shoving her more morbid thoughts down. "The assignment."

"Alright, have it your way," Kieran handed her the sheet of paper. She took it with both hands and skimmed over it, before placing it onto the coffee table. She began working on the first paragraph of their report wordlessly.

The white-haired male sat down next to her and peered over her shoulder. "One second," he said, interrupting her. He pointed at the screen. "You should reword that sentence. Rather than using passive voice there, it's better to use active voice here since it's a report and everything. May I?" She let him take control of the laptop. His fingers flew over the keyboard as he edited her work. "There, that should do it. And here too...and there..."

"You should replace Mr. Howards as my English teacher," (Y/n) said jokingly as she watched him work. "Wanna write...my essays for me?"

"I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to pay for my services," Kieran slid the laptop back to the girl.

She scowled indignantly but did not look up from her laptop. "I might not look like it, but I can still afford tutoring fees!"

"Ah, that's not what I meant," he waved her anger away. A corner of his mouth quirked up into a roguish smirk as he leaned forward. "I don't accept money, koneko-chan, unless you're willing to abide by my terms."

"What do you—ouch!" Her forehead collided with his jaw as she looked up. His head snapped back and she doubled over with a hiss, clutching her bruising forehead.

'God, I knew chins could only get in the way!'