Caught (Sangwoo x Reader)

27: Fake

"Oh... thanks." Certainly, the same couldn't be said for him. Thin, grey and wracked with depression, Sangwoo was not the looker he usually was.

"If you tried to kidnap me again, I'd kill you." You said suddenly, revealing the real conversation you wanted to have. "I'm not going to fall for your tricks again."

"You don't have to keep coming to prove that to yourself or less importantly, to me." Sangwoo frowned. "I was sick and I was wrong. You should get to choose when to see me."

It was a gut shot. Were you really still coming just to prove to either him or yourself that you're not the same person you were? What was the point of that? It was obvious that you were not. "I-I-I'm not!" You yelled incredulously. "And why do you keep being nice to me?! I didn't get a choice to see you or not when I was locked in your fucking basement!"

"The person who likes the other the least should be the one who chooses when to see each other." Sangwoo repeated this robotic-ly. "That's what my mandatory counseling sessions taught me."

"Well, I hate you. I was just nice to you because you were my boyfriend's friend." You spat out venomously.

"Yeah." The gusto was lost from Sangwoo. "I figured... Someone like you wouldn't be interested in me."

"What does that mean?" You narrowed your eyes suspiciously. "Everyone loved you."

"Exactly." Sangwoo laid his head down on his arm, which laid upon the table. "They loved the me that I showed them."

"Fake."

"Fake. I was beautiful on the outside and ugly on the inside. And you saw that."

"Apparently not clearly enough..." You put your head in your hand. "I just thought you were too much."

"Too much?"

"Yeah." Sangwoo frowned, wanting you to elaborate. But he also didn't want you to feel uncomfortable and leave. The sight of you was his life right now. He would say anything to get you to stay just a little bit longer. There was more silence, but this time it wasn't so awkward. It was more like two friends running out of things to say. Not that you were friends, of course. But you were happy to examine each other in your own ways. He, in admiration. You, in curiosity. "Your hair..." You finally broke the silence.

"Yeah?" He raised an eyebrow and reached up to touch the mop on his head.

"It's not the same."

"Yeah..." He frowned very visibly. "No dye, no hairstylists and no gel in prison. Looks like shit, I know."

You looked a bit taken aback. That's not what you were going to say at all. "Uh, no, I was, uh, I was going to say that it's all black now. I think it looks less fake." You averted your eyes, making it clear it was physically painful for you to compliment him.

Sangwoo's heart swelled up and he was moved enough to sit up. You liked his hair. His natural hair. "Yeah! No, yeah, this is what my hair used to look like. An ex I had used to style it and it was her idea to bleach it a bit. After I got used to it, it was basically just a routine." He explained with fervor. "But no one ever said prison was all bad, right? At least I get a make over." Then, he smiled a smile that actually did reach his eyes and let out something that resembled a chuckle. The kind of laugh you have when you're alone, reacting to something that's kind of funny. A "haha" kind of funny as opposed to a "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA" kind of funny. A... chortle, perhaps.

And it made you chortle as well.