The Boy From The Bridge - Jakehoon

Chapter 99: Help Me Help You 6/7

The grunt that left Jungwon's lips was restless, impatient and it did not fail to go unnoticed by Minki. 

Jungwon was doing as the older boy had instructed and had positioned himself into a plank position. The exercise created a tight pressure in his core that caused him to shake as he forced himself to maintain it. 

As with most endurance based activities, the measure of success was based upon how long one could put up with the pain. Said pain meant that discomfort was not uncommon but Jungwon's vitriol was not with the exercise. 

"Are you alright?" Minki asked, taking a moment to pause from his own set to stand next to him. 

"I'm fine" Jungwon said curtly, briefly glancing up to the eyes of the older boy before staring, with a frown, at the wall in front of him. 

"Are you sure?" 

The truth was Jungwon wasn't, he was tired - and so would anyone be if they were as totally unhappy with their situation as he was. When he had meant to be sleeping he had spent the night considering whether or not to run away. He had gone so far to get out of bed at 3am, when his household was asleep, to make a start of packing his bag. 

Ultimately, he had resigned his desires to being the reckless fantasies of a teenager and had moped around between frequent pauses to stare  out of his bedroom window at the illusions of freedom that lay in the darkness beyond it. 

The marks of his tiredness were clear to see. Jungwon had seen his reflection in a mirror. Heavy dark circles blotched the skin below his eyes and his eye lids were unusually heavy.

"I said I'm fine" Jungwon hissed, aggravated by Minki's persistence.

Upon hearing the older boy retreat to give his some space, Jungwon allowed himself to shut his eyes. Despite the exertions caused by the exercise, the resting of them was a welcome reprieve. 

"You're going to the party right?" He asked Minki some time later. 

The sound of a weight 'clunking,' preempted a reply, "Which one?" 

"Yun's?" Jungwon said nervously, it felt weird to say the name of an older pupil casually. The idea of a party with an attendance spanning several high school year groups was unusual. 

"Ha! I think so. Why? Are you going?" 

"I dunno. Do you reckon it will be fun?" 

"It might be" 

"I hope so, I really could use some entertainment" 

"Hah - what's got you so sulky?" 

"I'm..." Jungwon allowed himself to collapse on the floor after two minutes planking. "...I'm not sulking, it's just... school is boring. You know?"

The audible smirk that was made in response to the blatant lie was unsettling for Jungwon, he didn't like that Minki was able to see straight through him. A pause of silence followed as both boys returned to exercise, the sound of weights hitting one another allowed Jungwon to hide his embarrassment

He thought he was doing so successfully until, three minutes later Minki called over, "So - are you going to tell me why you're sulking or what?" 

_________

Sunghoon should be frowning. The painting he was staring at made no sense. It was just a canvas coated in various colours and textures of blue, it was meaningless. The condemnation that caused frowning was the natural reaction to something as seemingly meaningless as that. He thought that a callous teenager like him should probably make a remark deriding the so called art before him.