I Need You | Seonghwa

18

Hongjoong hurries to the same classroom he's been meeting Seonghwa in every day for the past week. He smiles to himself while thinking of Seonghwa, excited to see the other's expression when he finds Hongjoong there before him this time.

As he's approaching the entrance, he realises the door is slightly open. Seonghwa must be there already. He decides to scrap his idea to surprise Seonghwa and just enters straight away.

As soon as he walks in, he freezes. Everything happens in a split second.

Standing right in front of him is Haerin, and within the blink of an eye, he experiences a chair to the face.

This is followed by another, and then another. "What do you think you're doing?" Hongjoong screams while trying his best to fight back, but it's futile. His head is already pounding and he can barely stand straight now.

He stumbles forward and instantly collapses onto his knees, the world spinning around him. He weakly struggles against Haerin who is tying his hands and legs together.

❁

It's been two weeks since San's accident, but this time Seonghwa isn't lonely anymore. He's been secretly meeting up with Hongjoong in that same classroom every day at the same time and his only joy left now is Hongjoong.

When he's not with or thinking of Hongjoong, he is plagued with self hatred and paranoia. No matter what he does or where he goes, he can't shake the feeling of being watched. The only time he feels safe is when Hongjoong is by his side, yet at the same time it brings him anxiety.

He feels like something will happen at any second. So is he selfish for relying on Hongjoong anyway? Perhaps he is.

He definitely is in his own eyes, but Hongjoong refuses to believe it.

Every day, he reassures Seonghwa that he shouldn't blame himself but Seonghwa is finding it hard to believe.

Either way, Seonghwa just knows that if Hongjoong hadn't approached him a week ago, he wouldn't even be slightly sane right now.

When he sees the door of the classroom ajar, he feels a little more cautious. This wariness quickly turns to unease and the hairs on the back of his neck start to stand when he hears faint voices from inside the room.

He begs himself to calm down, that he's shouldn't listen to his paranoia. He's on a university campus after all, of course there's someone inside a classroom.

He inches closer with his heart in his mouth but he nearly collapses when he recognises the voices inside to be Haerin and Hongjoong's.

No. No. This can't be happening. Hongjoong is in danger he thinks to himself. He concentrates on the words they exchange and his blood runs cold.

"You really think Seonghwa will like you if you do this? He'll hate you for the rest of his life," Hongjoong forces out. It sounds like his voice is strained, like he's having trouble saying anything at all.

"He already likes me. You were the one who was trying to turn him against me. And now I see that you're trying to steal him from me too?" Haerin spits back. Seonghwa's phone is already in his hand at this point, and the emergency line is ready on his keypad.

"You're not actually going to use that knife, are you? Don't do this, please!" Hongjoong screams next. Seonghwa nearly drops his phone and holds a hand over his mouth. Knife?

He frantically looks around and feels like kicking a hole in the wall when he sees that no one else is in the building right now. For once, Hongjoong and Seonghwa decided to meet after the college day ended instead of at lunch time. Most classes are over by this time every day and there's no one to help Seonghwa or to hear Hongjoong's screams.

Oh, how Seonghwa regrets deciding to meet Hongjoong this late in the day.

Seonghwa hurriedly dials the emergency number and jumps into another empty classroom. He can't stop shaking and tears pool in his eyes.

As soon as they pick up, he doesn't hesitate to utter out everything in a shaky voice. "My friend is in danger, he's about to die, please hurry, I can't do much, please hurry," he rushes, giving the address of his university and the location of the classroom quickly.

After some more questions, Seonghwa can finally cut the call and go back to the front of the classroom.

"My love is taking too long. I'll just leave your dead body for him to find in his own time," Haerin sighs on the other side of the door.

Seonghwa panics again. He's afraid that Hongjoong will get hurt whether he enters the room or not, but at this point entering is the only thing he can do. He might be able to persuade Haerin, he still has a small chance. Even if he can stall her until the police arrive, everything will be okay.

Seonghwa suddenly bursts through the door and shakes even harder when he sees the glistening knife held firmly against Hongjoong's neck, who is tied to a chair. He stares at Haerin with horror in his eyes and doesn't know how to react.

"You're here? Finally I can finish this," Haerin smiles. There it is again. The most loving smile Seonghwa has ever seen.

It disgusts him.

"You don't need to do this, I'm here! I'll date you, okay? I've always loved you more than anyone, I was just too shy to admit it," Seonghwa blurts. Haerin's expression softens and her smile grows.

"Do you really mean it?" she asks with a tone saturated with hope. Her eyes sparkle longingly at Seonghwa and he forces his face to twist into an exaggerated smile in response. "Of course! We should talk this out over coffee, I'd love to catch up with you," he lies.

His eyes travel to Hongjoong and his smile falls a little. The other man looks so battered with cuts and bruises littering his beautiful face. He flashes Seonghwa a small smile and much to Seonghwa's despair, a teardrop falls elegantly from Hongjoong's eye.

Seonghwa's lip wobbles as he feels a loud cry coming from within. He tries to give Hongjoong a reassuring smile before returning his eyes to Haerin, who looks beyond moved.

"You don't understand how happy this makes me feel. We can finally be together, you can finally be free in expressing how you truly feel about me with him out of the way," she chuckles, eyes sparkling with tears of joy.

Seonghwa smiles back before it hits him. "With him out of the way."

His heart beats faster again and he turns his attention to Hongjoong. "Wait, what do you mean by-"

Before Seonghwa can even finish his sentence, Haerin's hand slides the knife deep through the flesh on the side of Hongjoong's neck in one quick and smooth motion.

A/N
Sorry :'3