Running to You | Park Han + JL + Steven | Haneulz + Stejay AU

Chapter 83: Even Those Who Are Broken

Han couldn't stand it anymore. "Let me have a moment alone with him."

When everyone else had gone, he closed the door to the room and stepped forward, jaw tight, fists clenched at his sides. His voice, when it came, was like gravel scraping against concrete.

"Look at me, JL."

JL didn't move, but something flickered -- a tiny shift, a faint ripple of acknowledgment beneath the surface of his stillness.

Han took another step closer, bending down until he was at eye-level, close enough to invade the empty space JL had built around himself.

"I know you hear me," Han said, his voice low and sharp. "You're allowed to be angry, to hate all of this. But don't you dare disappear. Don't give up like this. You're stronger than this."

JL blinked slowly, a shadow passing across his eyes, as if Han's words were small stones breaking the glassy surface of his detachment.

JL's eyes finally lifted to Han's, full of bitterness and disbelief. His voice cracked like a fractured mirror, thin and ragged from disuse. "Stronger for what, Han?"

"You'll fight," Han said fiercely, unyielding. "You'll fight because running is who you are. You don't give up -- "

"You're telling me to fight for something that's already gone," JL's voice was raw. "There's nothing left to fight for."

"That's not true," Han said, softer but no less intense. "If there's even the smallest chance -- "

JL's bitter laughter broke through like shards of glass. "The doctor said no recovery, Han. No conductivity. No hope."

Han exhaled slowly, his eyes dark and steady. "Doctors don't know everything. The odds aren't zero. Even if they're almost nothing -- "

"So that's it," JL interrupted coldly. "Torture myself through months of agony, clinging to that almost nothing? Is that how you're going to save me? Force me to break myself even more?"

Han didn't look away from JL's gaze. "Yes," he said quietly. "Because I know you. You'd rather break yourself a hundred times than live without even trying."

JL laughed again, low and ugly. "Maybe you don't know me at all. Maybe I've had enough breaking. Maybe I want to stop hurting, even if it means never standing again."

"You don't mean that," Han whispered.

"Don't tell me what I mean." JL didn't shout but the words were explosive, furious. His hands shook violently in his lap, as if his rage was the only part of him left alive. "I can't run, Han. I'll never run again. Stop pretending you can fix me."

"I'm not here to fix you," Han shot back, voice rising to match JL's. "I'm here because I won't let you disappear without a fight. Even if it hurts, even if you hate me -- I don't care. You're not allowed to give up on yourself."

JL's eyes filled with angry tears, spilling down his cheeks unchecked. "Why won't you accept that fighting might break me completely?"

"Because the alternative is worse," Han said fiercely. "If you don't try, you'll live the rest of your life haunted by what could have been. I won't let that happen."

JL stared at him, breathing ragged, shoulders shaking. He looked utterly exhausted, utterly lost. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Han softened, just slightly, the fury in his voice giving way to quiet determination. "Because I know you'd rather hate me than accept never running again. And I'd rather you hate me forever than watch you disappear."

JL looked away, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles whitened. His voice came out in a harsh whisper, broken and bitter and desperate.

"I don't know if I have enough left in me."