facade / the boyz sunwoo

sixteen

the bus was quiet, there were only a few other passengers on board including them. the silence was comforting at first but as time went by, shiho had this unsettled feeling in her stomach. sunwoo didn't say anything since they board the bus and his silence was getting to her. either he could careless about her situation, or he was simply being respectful to not ask questions, but one way or another, she knew she owed him an explanation. it was the least she could do after he had helped her.

"aren't you going to ask me anything?"

she was met with sunwoo's confused gaze once the boy turned to look at her but only for a second because he averted his gaze back to the window, watching the traffic outside.

"it's not my place to ask." he replied after a moment, "but i appreciate it if you are willing to.. clarify things."

there was a long pause. shiho looked down to the caramel candy she was holding in her hands. she debated on telling sunwoo the whole story of her pathethic life but she was worried of how he would react. would he judge her for living such a shitty life?

"once, i've attempted to commit suicide." she finally spoke after a deep thought. she could feel sunwoo tensed at her statement and his eyes showed how shocked he was at her statement when she briefly met his eyes. she had expected him to frown, or gave her a disgusted look but there was none — and she was thankful for that.

"i was fifteen and life was so hard at the time. my mom died and my dad completely changed. i had no one to depend on, so i thought ending my life was the better option." her lips curved into a bitter smile at the memory. she gripped on the candy tighter, her eyes casted down to her feet. it felt weird to open up about her dark past to someone.

"what happened then?"

"someone saved me, right before i jumped off the bridge. " jungkook's face appeared on her mind, "not only he saved me at the time, he basically saved my whole life."

"you mean...?" sunwoo got the gist from her story, but he didn't want to jump into conclusion just yet.

"he introduced me to sleeping pills that night, said that why bother dying when you could just sleep all your problems away, and life has so much in it and to end it just because i was having a hard time is not going to be worth it."

what sunwoo thought before turned out to be the truth. this person who had saved shiho didn't sound like a good person, regardless the fact that he literally saved her from committing suicide. introducing sleeping pills to a stranger was not something a normal person would do.

sunwoo decided to keep the matter of this sick savior aside, at least for now. he was more concerned of what happened to her after that. "have you been taking the pills regularly?"

shiho shook her head to his question, "jungkook will get mad if i finished the pills too quickly. that shit is expensive, y'know?" she joked lightly, hoping to ease the growing tension between them. sunwoo was staring intensely at her, like he was a father worrying for his child.

"calm down. i'm telling the truth, i promise." she nudged his side softly, urging him to relax a bit. "i only took them when... life is a little bit too hard to handle." she assured and sunwoo's stern features softened slightly.

"then, what happened yesterday?" his question caught her off guard. "something must have happened yesterday for you to take the pills again, that is if you're telling me the truth. did anything happen after you went home yesterday?"

she was not expecting that question.the memory of her fight with her father flooded back into her mind. she bit down on her lips, not really willing to talk about them. "i— i had a fight with my father, that's all." she answered curtly, throwing him a bitter smile before looking away.

"did he hit you again?" sunwoo's hand moved on his own accord, grabbing her chin to face him again, his eyes looking for any sign of violence.

"s-sunwoo..?" shiho was flustered with his sudden caring act. the fact that his face was inches away from hers was not helping either. her cheeks reddened when sunwoo's gaze met hers and he quickly jumped away from her, looking away and clearing his throat. then, she heard him muttered a rather gibberish, "sorry."

not wanting the awkwardness to come in between them, shiho spoke again after a short silence, "no, we just had a verbal fight. he was making decisions for me and i couldn't do anything against him." she smiled softly when he hesitantly glanced at her again. "thanks for worrying, kim sunwoo. it feels good to have someone cares about your wellbeing after a long time."

sunwoo merely nodded and turned his gaze towards the window again. he was having a hard time to keep his cool when in reality, his heart was racing inside his chest and his ears heated up in embarassment.

fuck you, kim sunwoo! what the hell did you do just now?! he mentally cringed at his own action.

their conversation died and silence took over the rest of the ride. shiho didn't mind though, the unsettling feeling in her stomach was long gone and a foreign, flattering feeling took over her system.

her stop came first than sunwoo. the latter wanted to send her to her house but she politely refused, seeing that it was late and she didn't want to trouble him even more. she bid goodbyes to him and hopped off, watching as the bus drove away before making her way home.

no one was home when she entered the house so she went straight to her room to prepare herself for bed. it was a long, tiring day but she was strangely happy for some reasons.

she placed the caramel candy she had been holding on top of a small box on her study table, smiling at the sight before leaving for a shower.

—

meanwhile, back at sunwoo's house...

the light was off.

it was 10.30 at night by the time he reached his home. he was slightly wary when he stepped inside, as his family never turned in the night this early. his parents sometimes slept early, but minwoo had never slept before 12 so it was kinda suspicious as to why the house was dark.

he was a few steps away from the stairs when the light flickered open and sunwoo froze in his track.

crap.

he was quick to curse his luck, mentally preparing himself with bunch of excuses before turning to face the wrath of his parents, or so he thought.

minwoo bursted into laughter when he saw the scared look on his brother's face. he clutched onto his stomach, laughing his heart out as sunwoo's annoyed frown became more prominent.

"stupid kid." sunwoo muttered, rolling his eyes at his younger brother. "where's mom and dad?"

"they are out for a company dinner." minwoo was still laughing as he answered, "where did you go anyway? why are you back so late? you should be thankful that mom and dad left in the evening or else.."

"none of your business, kid." sunwoo was too tired to entertain his younger brother. he continued his steps and climbed the stairs, only to stop once again when minwoo spoke up tauntingly.

"you know, i heard that someone ditch school middleway to go dating with his girlfriend. i wonder whether i should tell mom and dad about this?"