The Perfectionist

3

Pt. 3- Perfect; Never Show, Never Tell

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Suho worked over the next hour, trying desperately to fix the mistake of not finishing his homework.

Even if the mistake was corrected, would it we good enough to please them?

“Hyung! Put on your gear, or whatever, it’s time for the park!” Siwoo yelled, opening the sealed door.

“Okay, okay, go find the soccer ball. I’ll be down in a minute.” Suho said, placing the homework back into their respective piles, neat and tidy.

That was another rule.

Having a neat room.

Suho was not planning to break anymore rules tonight.

He changed into shorts and a long sleeve shirt, clothes acceptable for soccer. Suho didn’t like soccer much, but it was the sport they wanted him to play, so he played.

“Hyung, I found the soccer ball!” Siwoo yelled from downstairs, Suho racing down so they could leave. Any extra seconds spent inside the house are bad.

“Let’s go. Me and Siwoo are leaving!” Suho yelled, then flinched at his mistake.

He had forgotten the rule.

But, it was too late to go back.

The two left, headed straight for the park where Suho’s teammates were waiting for his arrival. True to what Siwoo had told him, Yejoon and his parents were there as was Suho’s team. Time for the performance.

“Siwoo, go play with Yejoon. I need to go join the team for warmups.” Suho said, directing Siwoo towards the three. “Do not, I repeat, do not, leave this park without me.” He said before running to the team.

Suho knew none of their names, they weren’t important, he called them by their jersey numbers. They never conversed, it wasn’t important, they didn’t need a friendship. All that mattered was that he was the best on the team.

Suho knew the coach didn’t care he was a bit late, he was on time enough to not stop them from practice.

“10 laps around the field, then drills. After we’ll scrimmage.” Coach ordered them, some boys whining in protest. Suho simply started running around the field, a few following behind him.

The laps around the field was draining for the boys, Suho wouldn’t let them know how much he wanted to sit down for a minute like they were. No. Not even after drills or scrimmage game did he allow himself the luxury of a break.

“Hey, Suho, you should take a break. Sit down for a minute maybe, you look pale.” One of his teammates, 24, said. 

Suho smiled and waved it off, lying through a clenched jaw.

He could not show or tell.

 “I’m fine, just a bit tired.” in reality Suho was close to collapsing.

Suho packed up, leaving the field to retrieve Siwoo. The two boys were on the playground, Suho not wanting to chase them merely yelled.

“Siwoo, come on. We need to go home now.” The younger pouted, but listened after seeing how dark it was getting. They walked to the house in a comfortable silence, Suho biting his cheek to stay awake.

He couldn’t show, nor tell.

Opening the door, Suho mustered the last of his energy and put it into smiling and talking to them.

Suho couldn’t show weakness to them.

Weakness meant a rule was broken.

The rule of never showing, or telling.