That's The Way Of It

11: Layer By Layer

Wooyoung tried to shut his bloodshot eyes for a little while longer but after several minutes of staring blankly at the ceiling, he knew that it was no use. Anytime that he closed his eyes, all he could see was Brenna’s face. Lee Know’s story about what he discovered had been haunting Wooyoung every single second since he heard it.

He had known that things were bad, he could see it every time Brenna would come see them. He could hear it in the way her voice had changed, how she had lost a little bit of the sparkle that had always been in her eyes. Hell, he even knew Niragi was fucking shite the first second he laid eyes on the psychotic weasel, which had actually taken a while to happen.

Brenna, who was normally honest with Wooyoung about everything in her life, had been hiding the fact that she had met someone new, let alone started dating them. Wooyoung only found out because he had seen a message come through on her phone and then, in true best friend fashion, confronted her on it, waving the phone in her face and ranting about how best friends were supposed to tell each other EVERYTHING.

Brenna admitted to it instantly, having already been feeling guilty about the dishonesty. She apologized profusely for hiding it, hanging off of Wooyoung’s arm with puppy dog eyes until he forgave her and snuggled up against her in their shared bed.

The two had shared a bed since they were kids, never willing to be without their comfort person for more than a little while at a time. Even in the orphanage, Wooyoung would sneak his way into the girl’s dormitory to climb in bed with her. There had never been anything sexual between the two, they had always been purely friends, non-romantic soulmates.

Wooyoung and Brenna had stayed awake all night that night talking since she was finally opening up about her secret Romeo. When Brenna showed Wooyoung a the pictures saved on his phone, he had jerked the phone out of her and screamed out about how “fucking sexy that asshole is” and “do you think he’s bi like me? If you ditch him do I stand a chance?” as well as, “do you two need a third?”, causing Brenna to dissolve into fits of laughter.

Wooyoung had pouted at her laugh, because, hello! He was definitely sugar baby material!

Brenna had stated that the guy, Niragi, was just so amazing that she wanted it to be s special-them-alone thing for just a little while longer before she told people. Brenna talked about how she had never experienced anything like what they had and she didn’t want the magic to fade away. Wooyoung had gone along with it at first, ever the gooey and hopeless romantic, eating up every single tidbit and morsel of information that she would feed to him.

And then he met Niragi in person and all of that quickly changed.

Brenna had finally decided that she wanted her best friend and the “love of her life” to finally meet. Niragi had even suggested to Brenna that they all meet up at one of Wooyoung’s favorite restaurants.

(His best friend having a hot boyfriend who let’s Woo choose the food and offers to pay for it? Yes please!)

Wooyoung instantly hated him and could tell that Niragi felt the exact same way. The guy was hot, but in person, he had bad vibes. And Wooyoung was a ful believer in trusting the vibes.

When Brenna was around, Niragi was, in all aspects, the perfect boyfriend. Devilishly handsome, well mannered, smart, doting. But when she left the table, the air turned sharp and cold, Niragi eyeing Wooyoung like a disgusting bug that needed to be squashed as soon as possible.

Wooyoung had kept the indecent to himself at first, not wanting to rain on Brenna’s parade, trying to be a supportive best friend, thinking that maybe Niragi had just had a bad day. But after Brenna had canceled plans with him for the third time in a row, his concern started rising. Brenna started acting distant, not even bothering to text that she wasn’t coming home that night.