President's Delinquent (&TEAM)

TWENTY

When Jo woke up, he was greeted by unfamiliar surroundings. As he sat up from the bed, he winced in pain and clenched his stomach. The pain pulsated around his body as he sat up straight. Once he finally sat up, he realised that there was a boy next to his bed, sitting on a chair. However, the boy was asleep, his head resting on the bed where Jo was lying in.

"Look at what happened to your face..." Jo said as he started to reach out to the sleeping boy's face.

Jo stopped his hands just inches away from the other boy's face, realising that he shouldn't touch him. He dropped his arm and just stared at the boy. He examined his face that had a bruise, and the small traces of dried up blood on his face.

"I did this to you... Didn't I?" Jo mumbled to himself.

He replayed the moments just before the fight had begun.

"How annoying,"

Jo looked down, feeling guilt that Nicholas had suffered just because of him. The boy jumped as he heard a groan from the boy beside him. He watched as Nicholas stretched, waking up from his nap.

"Good evening?" Jo said, smiling at Nicholas.

Nicholas looked at Jo, confused for a minute. When he finally realised that the boy was alright, he leaned towards the boy, putting a hand on his cheek.

"Are you feeling okay? How's your face? What about your stomach?" Nicholas started asking.

"Woah, slow down. I'm fine," Jo replied, shocked at Nicholas' words.

"Are you sure? You took so many hits that you fainted. Not only that, you fell on the ground. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, it just stings. I'm sure I'll be fine," Jo reassured.

Nicholas sighed as he sat back down in his seat, his hand leaving Jo's cheek. As he sat down, reality suddenly hit him and his cheeks turned red, embarrassed by what he just did.

"How long was I out for?" Jo asked.

"You've been out for about an hour and a half. It's about 5:30 now," Nicholas replied.

"Oh no, my parents will be mad about me not being home," Jo said.

"It's okay, I can explain to your parents. Surely they won't be that mad, it's a Saturday, you should be hanging out with friends," Nicholas said.

"Sure, they definitely won't be mad that I am clutching my stomach because it hurts so much after being punched," Jo joked.

Nicholas felt his body become stiff. Guilt swallowed him whole. The sight of Jo being punched replayed in his mind. He felt awful that all he could do was watch because he had been restrained. What made his heart drop even more was Jo falling to the ground, unconscious.

"Are you okay? It was just a joke," Jo asked, seeing the boy's expression change.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Oh, I also want to give you this," Nicholas said as he placed a bag onto Jo's lap.

"Huh? What's this?" Jo asked as he opened the bag.

He became confused when he pulled out a bunch of groceries. The groceries that he had gotten for his mother.

"Wait, why do you have this?" Jo asked as he looked at Nicholas.

"Well, you dropped the original bag, causing everything to spill or roll out. I quickly took a photo of what you had and while you were unconscious I quickly bought everything," Nicholas explained.

Jo's eyes widened and he felt tears welling in his eyes.

"H-hey! Don't cry, please," Nicholas said as he quickly put a tissue to the other boy's face.

"Thank you, for buying this again for me. It was really nice of you. You know, I never expected for you to act this way," Jo said truthfully.

"I am a nice person. Just because I beat people up, doesn't mean I'm not nice," Nicholas laughed.

"Well if you're nice, then can you do me a favour?" Jo asked.

"What is it?" Nicholas replied.

"Teach me how to fight."