sᴀᴠᴇ ᴍᴇ 〢 ᴄʜᴀᴇ ʜʏᴜɴɢᴡᴏɴ 〢

T W E L V E

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Jung Miyoung POV

"Nightmares?"

Hyungwon sipped his cup of hot cocoa as I stirred mine. He looked completely and utterly drained. He bore minimal resemblance to the Chae Hyungwon I was familiar with. Gone was his air of arrogance and charisma. In this place was a broken boy, sad beyond imagination

"I can't believe they're back" he muttered in disbelief "I thought they would be gone forever"

I drank from my cup. The liquid seared my lips but barely noticed

"What happened that night? The night you got into that accident last month?"

Hyungwon peered vacantly at his mug

"I was in the front seat of a taxi. I needed to get away. And then there was a collision, but it wasn't major. All I sustained was a fractured leg. But the driver, there was a massive cut on his head and he passed out and he fell sideways, onto me. He was bleeding so much and I couldn't move. My shirt was completely soaked in his blood"

Despite the hot cocoa, I was shivering

"Hyungwon" I said hesitantly "what are your nightmares about?"

He lifted his head and directed his eyes onto mine. I almost gasped aloud. They were filled with immeasurable anguish

"It starts seconds before the collision. My day is driving. I am in the backseat. Then everything slows down. The windows burst. I get thrown sideways. I hit my head. The front of the car is in flames. I see my dad, unconscious, bleeding, presumably dead. Just as I try to open the car door and leave, he awakens and grabs me by the arm. He tries to keep me from leaving. The flames engulf him and the front of the car. My arm is burning. He is burning and I can see the outline of his skeleton. 'It's all your fault' he says 'you'll never be perfect. You're such a disappointment'"

Hyungwon shakily drew in a breath

"And then he bursts into flames. And I wake up"

I almost couldn't believe that he told me all of this. He wasn't even bothering to hide anything anymore. He didn't have enough energy

"I can't have them, again, Miyoung" he whispers "I don't think I can take it"

Right then, I felt something foreign blossom in my chest. A type of pain, one that I've never experienced before. Seeing him in pain hurt me so much. It was so raw. So vivid

"You don't have to shoulder it all by yourself. You have me"

His eyes lingered on mine for a few moments and his expression was guarded

"You should go" he said

It was 5 am and the buses were running. I was in no shape to argue with him, so I did. I grabbed my bag

"Don't do anything stupid, okay?" I said as I pulled on my shoes

He didn't look at me

"Yeah"

I managed a tight smile before shutting the door behind me

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●

My eyes were trained on the clock that hung above the blackboard. It was advanced integral calculus, the last class of the day. Professor Kim drone on, but it was all white noise to me. I could hear the clock ticking, but I could not detect any movement of the hands. There was supposed to be less than a minutes left before class ended