A Day Without You

Fear Of Falling

We could here the screaming from outside. It was obvious that it was Hwitaek’s voice but we did hear Shinwon’s voice before as well. Having an argument with a friend isn’t exactly a weird thing, but it came as a surprise to us when we heard it. Although hyung always said Shinwon got irritated from time to time but we both knew he wasn’t the type to raise his voice easily.

The voice kept getting louder with time. Both hyung and I were standing right outside Shinwon’s room. Hyung was closer to the door so I assume he could make out what he was saying… because his face started to change as the conversation went on. I could only keep assuming what was going on from his face. As I went closer, I heard the door slide open and Hwitaek closed it behind him rather loudly. Everyone in the hallway was baffled and so was I. I could see the rage on hyung’s face and Hwitaek looked almost the same. He was surprised to see the two of us right outside but he tried to avert his eyes… but hyung didn’t allow him to walk away. Hyung finally said, “How could you say that to him?! I thought you were lying that day when you told us you didn’t care about him… you’re actually this pathetic…” and all I could do was watch and try to understand what was going on. I understood from hyung’s words that Hwitaek had said some unnecessary things but I still didn’t know clearly what was going on. But when Hwitaek-shi said “Says the person who keeps lying to his face all the time”, I could understand that things had taken the wrong turn.

And what made it worse… was that I could see Shinwon on his wheelchair right behind him.

I couldn’t react in time and it was too late till I actually saw him. Hyung didn’t realize it either till I called him. Hwitaek didn’t react to it at all and tried to walk away before I got a hold of him. I didn’t want to let go of him just like that. He was the reason behind this mess and he knew those guys beforehand so I wasn’t prepared to let him leave so soon. But Shinwon’s voice caught me off guard. When he said “Leave”, we could see who he was talking to. He wasn’t looking at me or hyung… he was looking directly at the man I was holding. That was the first time I saw his eyes like that – he was glaring. I tried to reason with him but his voice only got louder the next time he spoke, calling out his name. I was frozen at my place. I could feel Hwitaek flinch a bit and I knew the reason all too well. None of us expected Shinwon to call him like that. But I was helpless in this case. Just like that, I had to let go of his arm.

That was the worst decision of my life.

Without Shinwon’s testimony, we wouldn’t have been able to restrain Hwitaek for more than 24 hours… so it was no use. But I regret my decision now. Shinwon’s back home and hyung is back at work but Shinwon won’t talk to either of us after that incident. I understood why he was acting like that but, seeing hyung regret his decision wasn’t a good sight. But who knew, things would bring us in the same place once again. After finding out the car of the drug dealer, we saw that the money was gone. We went back to interrogate him but he still claimed that he didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t see the CCTV footage before since I was busy with everything that had happened earlier, so I didn’t know the faces of the accomplices till later. Sunbae brought the tape to the station that day so that we could check it out carefully. “He was telling the truth about not hiding the car away, but he might be lying about knowing these people”, he said before starting the video. I looked at it carefully and I didn’t have to look for too long… to realize who I was seeing on the screen.