Don't play the music yet.

"Alright, class. Please take your seats and settle down. We have a lot to do today," the chemistry professor, Miss. Melody, announced to the sea of children who had just flooded into the laboratory, laughing and chatting and deciding who is going to sit next to whom.

Miss Melody stood over her desk, gripping its edges with her hands while leaning over it observing the distorted class before her.

Summer was over and it's another day and another year of course. Another tiring year for a professor trying to handle a bunch of unsystematic teenagers.

It was not a surprise that Lindsay was the only student who had already taken her seat with her books arrange into a neat pile on her desk, patiently waiting for the class to commence.

She sat there lonely and isolated as Laila is practically the only friend she had from the entire school and Lindsay was not the most sociable girl in the area to interact and make friends with many people.

Plus, it was not like many people even wanted to be friends with her while acknowledging her clumsiness. Lindsay had found out quite long ago that friends like Laila are limited in supply and are an exclusive edition.

"Class please, settle down and take your seats," Miss Melody hollered desperately trying to silence the class. She banged her palm hard on the desk repetitively to get their attention but they only ignored her harder. She couldn't help but clutch the sides of her temple and groan in extreme frustration.

Lindsay saw her mess of a teacher and felt extremely sorry for her. she wished she could help in some way but her trying to silence the class would have been an absolute comedy.

Just then, the door swung open and in stepped the God of perfection- I mean Kim Namjoon.

Lindsay let her eyes glaze over his supernaturally flawless nature and how he glided inside the classroom. Yeah, you heard that right.

He didn't apparently walk; he was so graceful in his gait that he looked as if he's gliding on the floor like how an ice skater does at an ice rink or how a swan skims through the ripples in a lake under a midnight sky which carried a pure white full moon.

"Oh Namjoon," the professor exclaimed in ecstasy at his arrival and Lindsay could have sworn that she had the dreamiest expression ever so much that her eyes were almost turned into two hearts.

Of course, what did you expect?

A student like Namjoon was definitely each and every teacher's dream child. Namjoon is the kind of student that a teacher would love a little more than she loves her biological child.

Namjoon stood in front of her and turned the corners of his mouth upwards and gave her a lovely smile. "Don't worry, Miss Melody. Let me take care of it," he softly said.

Then he turned towards the class where most of the students hadn't taken their seats.

"GUYS!"

That one word was all that it took for the entire class to be covered in a thick blanket of silence within mere seconds. All ongoing activities were halted as everyone directed their gaze towards Namjoon, waiting for his next word in anticipation.

"Y'all, we have a lesson to start, so if you don't mind taking your seats now, we will be more than ready to commence," he barked.

His voice was stern and authoritative, quite nothing like the honey coated tone he had used earlier.

Lindsay, together with her professor, gazed around in astonishment as everyone instantly clambered to their seats and started to take their books out of their bags.

"Everything alright now, miss?" Namjoon pleasantly asked the teacher, his charming smile resuming itself on his face.

"Yes, thank you so much, Namjoon," Miss. Melody sighed in content while placing a hand on Namjoon's shoulder gratefully.
Namjoon gave her one last smile before shuffling away to his seat at the front desk.

Hoseok who was sitting next to him gave him a wink followed by a thumbs up and Yoongi seated on his other side squeezed his shoulder.

Yeah, everyone paid the utmost respect to Namjoon as the entire school sort of idolized him. Almost everyone liked him, well except for Lindsay.

A couple of months ago, Lindsay too had liked him like the rest, sure, she had thought that he was a bit too perfect in nature which made him appear as a robot or something but at the same time she had also grown quite envious of his spirit and personality.

She used to think that he was actually a pretty nice guy all in all and was not some sort of big jerk. Until that view completely changed one day.

I shouldn't be thinking about that! I shouldn't!

Lindsay furiously berated herself mentally as she struggled to shut off her hyperactive mind which was unmercifully trying to remind her of that incident. Anything but that!

It was the during the swimming class. While everyone had splashed around in the water and had fun, Lindsay had stood cautiously a few meters away to the side.

As she had watched everyone being drenched in cold water under the scalding sun, she had tried not to remember why she was not able to join them. From where her sudden phobia of water had arose from.

She had continued to busy herself with the yoyo she had brought along with her to keep her company throughout the classes.

She had thrown the yoyo further and further, wondering just how far it could go.
Alas, the next time she had thrown it, she had thrown it with a little too much force because the string stretched so far that the yoyo suddenly detached from its string and went flying across the room.

To Lindsay utter dismay, it had rolled on its edge before finally falling into the depths of the pool with a sharp plop.

"Oh no," she had gasped while wringing her hands together. She had risen from her seat and had scuttled towards the busy pool and had peered in to see her red yoyo floating away in the middle of the pool. It was however just a little further away from the pool's edge.

Lindsay could have had reached over and taken it but she was too afraid of toppling over. She knew her chances well enough when it came to her luck with not toppling over. She had huffed to herself with her hands on her hips while she had tapped her foot and pondered just how on earth was she going to get it out.

She had seen a boy paddling away across the water while lying flat on his back on the surface of the water. "Hey, excuse me?" she had called out to the boy. The boy had glanced at her with an expressionless face.

"Ye?" he had said.

"I'm really sorry to bother you, but could you please get my Yoyo which is floating right beside you in the water? It sorts of fell in," Lindsay had explained with a smile.

"Umm..." the boy had hesitated as he straightened himself to stand in the midst of the water to peer to the waters to his side to search for the yoyo. Lindsay had sighed in relief because her yoyo was about to be returned to her.

"Girl, why don't you just get it yourself?"
Lindsay had looked over her shoulder to see the owner of the signature honey coated voice. It had been a bare chested Namjoon wearing nothing but a pair of black swimming trunks. He had looked like a straight up Greek God as Lindsay so distinctively remembered.

"Well, I can't go in and all," she had stuttered out. Namjoon had scoffed with a brief shake of his head. "Not go in, silly girl. Why don't you just reach over and grasp it. It's right in front of you."

"I can't do that," Lindsay had whispered timidly while biting her trembling lower lip.
Namjoon had let out a scornful laugh at her.

"Seriously?" he asked. "You never go inside the pool. What's the matter with you?"
Lindsay had felt the lump in her throat growing bigger and bigger with each word he had uttered. "I just...I can't- "

"Just go in like this," Lindsay barely had time to let out a proper scream because she had felt a sharp force push her forward and within moments, a huge splash echoed in her ears and she found herself unwillingly swallowing rogue water.

This seriously can't be happening!

Was what Lindsay would have shouted at that moment if she hadn't been suffocated by the cold, tasteless water.

You may play the music now.

She had felt the ripples of water caused by the splashes of the passing by swimmers push and pull her, shoving her from side to side, like in a horrendous game of tug and war where Lindsay would be torn into two.

She had heard the loud gurgling sound of water as it flowed into her ears and her eyes had started become sore from all the contact with the rough water.

To top it all up, Lindsay was a horrible swimmer.

As she was repetitively pushed into the depths by a cruel invisible force only to be resurfaced making her gasp out loud for huge breaths of air.

Lindsay had stared around her in pure horror as the walls of the swimming pool room melted away, the teenagers who had accompanied her in the pool and the ones who stood on the pool's edge simply vanished in puffs of smoke, the crystal clear waters of the pool had suddenly took on the hue of a foamy dark blue completed with fierce waves as big as mountains hurling themselves at her.

Alarmed, she had looked up and her heart started to pace in terror as she had found out that the once cloudless sunny day sky had been completely wiped away and had been painted with one of a dark starless night.

She had felt like bursting into tears as cracks of raging thunder boomed around her and she had seen in the distance purplish crooked streaks of thunder collide with the horizon.

No, please no. I beg you.

Lindsay had miserably pleaded within her mind as her mouth was too preoccupied in letting out heaving sobs to allow her to speak.

Then it had started! The most petrifying part of all. The voices.

The roaring of the waves had raged on and amidst the noise and the splattering of raindrops as it hit the ocean, Lindsay had heard, so clearly, her father's voice.

She didn't have any option but to give in and listen in tears.

"Lindsay, where are you? Are you here? God tell me where the heck you are, Lindsay!" he had dreadfully screeched.

"Daddy, I'm here!" had followed the voice of middle-school aged Lindsay. "I can't breathe.... The water is too much its going up my nose!"

"Hold on Lindsay. Just hold on to me!" her father had said while spitting out water as the waves rolled him and his daughter on and on.

"Daddy look at mommy. Oh daddy, mommy is unconscious. Her body looks limp in your arms....and her eyes are closed.... Daddy, is mommy ok?

Oh, how Lindsay had wished that she was deaf so that she wouldn't have had to endure this pain. As the water toppled her forward and back, Lindsay had covered her eyes with the palms of her hands and had wept profusely.

"Leanne! Oh God no!"

"Daddy is mommy... dead?" at that point middle-school aged Lindsay voice had been on the verge of cracking and breaking into sobs.

"No, no. She's ok. I'm sure, she's ok!"

"Daddy!!! That giant wave! Daddy please save me, I'm scared!" that was the last thing little Lindsay had screamed out before both herself and her father who was clutching on to his wife's body was engulfed by the deep ocean waters.

Lindsay's huge sobs had started getting more vocal as she howled and cried. She had felt an eerie chill trail itself down her spine and then she had felt her whole body including her arms and legs going into a motion of paralysis.

Simply, she had been no longer able to move. Not even an inch. It was as if her whole body had been locked in a cage.

A cold metal cage of water. After a few moments, she had felt herself being succumbed in a daze and then she had felt a pair of broad arms hold her from the waist and she had felt herself being gently lifted up into the air.

"Mom, dad. I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry," Lindsay had wept and whimpered miserably.

"It's ok. You're ok, now," a deep masculine voice had assured her.

Her lungs which had been filled with water were desperately gasping for huge gusts of air.

Exhausted and worn out, she had let her eyes close but they had remained closed only for a few moments because soon after she had felt herself being placed on a hard surface.

Her eyes had widened in shock as she had realized that the dark and stormy night had started to fade away and dissipate into a blurry scene and the view of her school's swimming pool room had started to slowly emerge in front of her eyes.

It was as if she was waking up from a dream. No. From a nightmare. The lightening streaked sky was no longer there and the sunny, clear skies had returned once again.

"Someone go get the nurse. She had breathed in too much of water," Lindsay had faintly recognized it as the same deep voice she had heard before. She had weakly looked up to see that it had been their swimming coach. He had rescued her.

The school nurse had come over and had performed a range of medical activities in order to get the tons of water out of her lungs.

The process had been a success although Lindsay's throat had felt raw and painful and swallowing had become a daring task.

Soon after everyone had left, Lindsay had been left all to herself to sit on the edge of the pool with a blanket around her shoulders, trying to rearrange her thoughts and calm herself the best she could from the horror she went through.

"Were you really serious back there?"

Lindsay had inwardly groaned as she had looked up to see Namjoon, changed out of his trunks, wearing a sweater and a pair of jeans.

"Did you had to make that huge drama and act like a damsel in distress when you could have just pulled yourself over from the edge?"he scorned.

"Just leave," Lindsay had coldly spat.

She had wanted to yell at him and curse him with the vilest words in this universe but her throat which felt as if she had swallowed a thousand needles stopped her from doing so and made her settle for the briefest answer she could have given him.

"Damn, you're such a pampered loser. Can't reach over and grab something off the pool. Acting as if you were drowning when you were just in the shallow end," Namjoon had cruelly mocked her while laughing.

Lindsay felt the hot tears brimming up in her eyes, before they cascaded down her reddened cheeks.

"Whoa, get a grip. I'm sure you're just crying because the water washed off your precious make-up," Namjoon had guffawed.

"Look out. Your crocodile tears may just wash off the little mascara you have on right now as well," He had laughed loudly before spinning on his heel and leaving the room, leaving Lindsay all alone in the emptiness.

All alone in the silence

It was at that moment, Lindsay had realized it. Namjoon was an absolute cold hearted monster.

.......................................................................
A/N: I hope you're curious about Lindsay's water phobia and what actually happened.

My dear reader, don't forget to vote and comment! 💜