try-hard •sunki au•

thirty-five

Sunoo pulled his cap lower to cover his face, trying to walk anonymously on the sidewalk to the near school supply. His pen lost all its ink and he needed to finish a quiz until five in the afternoon. And what's the pen for? To cheat with a ready made answer key. At this time, Jungwon is in his classes and Sunoo had to push himself into going outside again.

Although Jungwon have told him many times that the students stopped talking about the issue already, Sunoo couldn't take a risk. He still feel nervous showing himself in public, afraid that he'd suffer from bullies again. Even though Jungwon have convinced him that the studens didn't said any negative comments and that they're just curious and asking if him and Riki are really dating.

Sunoo is still afraid of a crowd suddenly questioning him. They may be just asking but Sunoo felt like he's being interrogated and judged. He has enough experience from the past and he's gone through a lot of traumatizing events. It took him years to build his confidence but it isn't enough to burn the memories of the past.

Finally, Sunoo managed to reach the store without any student running up to him. The student he have crossed path with simply ignored him.

However, when he finally looked up, he met eyes with someone whom he doesn't really wanna meet as of the moment. Riki.

Yet again.

“Keep the change,” Riki speaks before breaking the eye contact.

He took the cardboard on the seller's hand and placed a bill on the counter. He didn't even looked back at Sunoo and just straightly walk away.

Sunoo heaved a sigh, tears suddenly clouding his eyes. Why?

“O-one black pen, please,” He told the person behind the counter.

Sunoo waited for not more than a minute before the lady behind the counter handed him the pen. He put his money down and quickly leave the store.

He walks faster, head hanging low. He didn't even bother to look up and apologize to the student he just bumped into. He didn't even recognize the cardboard the student is holding.

He just continued walking, his goal is to get back to the dorm as soon as possible. His eyes were clouded by tears and it's threathening to fall off his cheeks soon.

But, why? Something inside his chest felt like its burning, hurting. Is it because he saw Riki? So, what?

If Riki avoided eye contact, so what? If he pretended like he saw no one, so what? If he seemed like he didn't know him, so what? Isn't it what Sunoo wanted ever since the beginning, for Riki to leave him alone?

Sunoo himself even said Riki is the person he didn't want to see. Sunoo wanted to avoid him and pretend like he didn't know him. But why does it hurt so much to see Riki actually pretending like they don't know each other?

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Jungwon quickly put his school bag down the small table after he heard small sobs coming from the room he shares with his best friend. He entered the room and found Sunoo sitting on the end of the bed, crying.

He walked towards Sunoo and sat beside him. He hugged his best friend in an attempt to comfort him.

“Why? Did something happened while I was gone?” Jungwon asked.

The look of pity and guilt return in his eyes while watching his best friend cry. His broken sobs were like a knife stabbing Jungwon's heart. If he could just take Sunoo's bad experiences, he would willingly take everything, he was the cause of all of it anyway.

“It hurts, Jungwon,” Sunoo speaks after a while, his voice hoarse and tired.

“You can always tell me,” Jungwon encourages.

Sunoo kept silent for a while, only his small sobs echoing on the four corners of the room. It took him a lot of deep breathes to calm himself and to be able to talk clearly.

He rested his head on Jungwon's shoulder.

“I hate Riki,” Sunoo finally speaks. “I really h-hate him.”

Sunoo's voice cracks as he breaks into crying again.

Jungwon tightened his arms around his best friend. He was so thankful that Sunoo was too distracted to even hear the door closing behind them.

He must've already left after hearing everything.

+++

A/N

This chapter was written way before the first chapter. I waited too long for it to be finally published, lmao.

But...was that really everything there is to hear?🤔

tengyu_