Bully Me ✔️

18. Inevitable Doomsday

"And how often does that happen?"

He's answered with nothing but a tight smile.

"W-what about today? At the subway station."

Kihyun remains mum, picking up the nonexistent dust on his joggers. "I think that's enough therapy session for today." He says after a moment, getting up, only to be pulled back into his place once again.

"No, I need to know how you could decide in a flicker of a moment to just throw your life away like that."

"It wasn't in the heat of the moment, okay!" Kihyun yells, shoving Sehyuk's hand away. "It was a calculated risk."

"A what? Enlighten me, please! I'd like to know how a bochchan's mind works."

"Stop butting into my business, Min. I'm not answerable to you." The older crosses his arms and juts out his lips like a petulant child.

Sehyuk has noticed this particular trait in Kihyun. His stubbornness kicks in when he's not getting his way, making a face quite similar to a lost puppy, with shiny eyes and drooped lips. But he's not going to fall for it right now. He needs to stay firm. Sehyuk's view of the boy has taken a drastic change in these weeks. He had thought of him as an irredeemable piece of trash that stepped on others because of his wealthy background. But all he sees now is a scared, hurt boy in self-destructive mode.

"I...I have been reading about your condition," Kihyun starts, wringing his hands together anxiously. "Maybe not fully but it's partially my fault you were in the wheelchair. I felt like I needed to do something to compensate for it. So, after that call from my mom, I had been feeling crappy." He tilts his neck upwards and stares at the white ceiling. "I took the risk of you saving me on instinct. And look where we are, you're finally walking."

"If your genius plan, which was very stupid by the way, didn't work, you could've died!" Sehyuk punches the handrest of the couch in frustration.

"We all are going to die anyway. Death is probably the only thing ever that's fair at all times. It comes for us all, young or old, man or woman, rich or poor. If I had died, then..." Kihyun shrugs.

The nonchalance in his voice sounds wrong, so damn wrong that it makes Sehyuk angry. It's beyond him how someone could talk about dying as if it is the easiest thing in the world to process. Once dead, there's no coming back from it.

"Death is inevitable, you're right. But there's a difference between you running towards death and death coming to find you." Sehyuk grits his teeth, the tip of his tongue caressing his cavern.  "So don't you dare throw your life away like that!" His eyes are sharp, voice commanding.

"And why should I do that?"

"Because you're living in my house and the rent for one day is you breathing for one year. So that makes about at least fourteen years of living."

Kihyun laughs, slapping his palm over his thigh. "You're ridiculous! How can you even spill absurdity with a straight face." He's cackling, tears collecting at the corner of his eyes.

"I'm serious!" The younger boy unstraps the watch the other had given him earlier and drops it in his lap. "And if you don't want me to hold a grudge against you for bullying me all these months, no matter how crappy your life is, keep moving."

"So, am I allowed to freeload in here until I'm breathing?"

"Sure."

"Alright, then get me a bed at least."

"Now, you're pushing it."

"And..." Kihyun gets up from the couch. "Don't worry, I'm not suicidal."

Sehyuk doesn't believe a word he claims.