try-hard •sunki au•

sixty-two

Riki hopefully comes up to the floor where Jungwon and Riki's room were. According to the dorm manager, one of the students already arrived yesterday in the afternoon.

He has been visiting here every day ever since last week when he and Jay finally came back to the apartment. Jay needed to finish some tasks before he started officially working on their family business and Riki didn't want to bore himself alone at the big house so he went along with his brother. Besides, his Mom already went back to Japan for some important things and their Dad is also currently having a big deal outside the country.

Also, Sunoo's phone cannot be reached. Ever since they split ways, Riki cannot contact Sunoo's number. He tried to contact Sunoo's sister, but she isn't answering as well. It made Riki really worried and he felt the need to see Sunoo again, but Jay told him that maybe Sunoo is only enjoying the time with his own family.

Riki hopes so.

He knocked on the closed door and waited until someone opened the door for him. To his dismay, it isn't Sunoo but Jungwon.

"Oh, hi Riki," the now junior student greeted him.

"Hi," Riki greeted back, scanning the inside of the room. "When is Sunoo coming back?"

Jungwon stared at him confused, "I was going to ask you that...Didn't you know?"

Riki shook his head, "He's not answering calls."

"My calls are always declined too, sometimes it's not ringing," Jungwon said.

Suddenly, Riki feels a little nervous. What if...?

+++

Jungwon stares at the empty bed beside him, hearing the other line on the phone rings but no one is answering the call.

The first, second and third days of classes have already passed but Jungwon was told by the department that Sunoo isn't enrolled yet. He only has two days left and Jungwon fears that something might have happened to Sunoo at their house.

He was tempted to skip class and visit Sunoo, but Riki didn't support the idea. Although he knew that Riki was also worrying about it, he couldn't change his mind about visiting Sunoo.

Jungwon was losing patience. He has no class tomorrow afternoon and no one can stop him from visiting Sunoo's house.

Until tomorrow comes and Jungwon's last morning class is finally dismissed. He went straight to the cafeteria to eat his lunch alone before he went back to the dorm.

He put the keys in the hole only to realize that the door was already open. Jungwon twisted the door knob and pushed the door open.

Jungwon found Sunoo before the open closet, silently arranging his clothes back inside.

"Sunoo?"

The owner of the name looked back at him, smiling faintly.

"I thought you decided to drop off school this time," Jungwon rushed to his best friend's side.

Sunoo stood up to welcome Jungwon's hug.

"Riki needed to know this," Jungwon said as he quickly detached himself from Sunoo to get his phone out of his pocket.

Sunoo held his arms, Jungwon looked up to see Sunoo shaking his head.

"Why?" Jungwon asked. "He's been worrying about you a lot."

Jungwon stared at his best friend, noticing the sadness lingering in Sunoo's eyes. There's something about him that changed. He looked a little pale and restless, black skin under his eyes. Jungwon stared down, also noticing the change in Sunoo's body.

He lost weight.

Aside from that, Jungwon also realized that there's a healing cut on Sunoo's left wrist. There were three cuts in total, the first one seemed to be the deepest judging by the visible stitches in the skin.

Jungwon held Sunoo's wrist, "Sunoo, what—"

Sunoo pulled back his arm, hiding it behind him. He burst out in silent cries and Jungwon can only hug his best friend, tears also welling up his eyes.

They stood there in silence, Sunoo still crying and slightly shaking inside Jungwon's arms. Until they heard someone knock on the door.

"That must be Riki," Jungwon whispered.

He detached himself from the crying boy.

"You should see him," Jungwon said.

Sunoo shakes his head. Jungwon sighed as he gently pushed Sunoo to the corner of the room before he wiped his own tears.

"What should I tell him?" Jungwon asked, but Sunoo remained silent.

+++

Riki knocks on the door again, waiting patiently for someone to open the unlocked door for him.

The door finally opened, revealing Jungwon who had the shoulder of his shirt wet with suspicious liquid.

"Is Sunoo already here?" Riki hopefully asked.

Jungwon avoided his gaze, "No."

Riki tried to sneak inside but Jungwon closed the door a little to stop him from doing so.

"He said he'll be back tonight, maybe he'll meet with you tomorrow," Jungwon said, stuttering a little bit.

Riki stood in front of the junior a little longer, staring at him judgingly.

"Okay," Riki finally said, stepping back. "Tell him to answer my calls too."

Jungwon nodded before he closed the door right in front of Riki's face.

Why is he hiding from me again?

Riki turns around and walks off the hallways.

"Did you see him?" The lady in the lobby asked Riki.

Riki only shook his head as he silently left the dorms.

He was definitely told that Kim Sunoo has returned. Why is Jungwon telling him otherwise? And why would Sunoo hide away from him again?

Whatever the reason is, Riki can wait until whenever Sunoo is ready to face and tell him everything.

tengyu_