⋇⋆✦⋆⋇
"Jeong Yunho, the principal wants to see you."
All eyes fall on him. Yunho slowly stands up from his seat and walks across the class to the teacher who called out his name, bowing to her and leaving the classroom.
There's this crippling sensation grumbling in the pit of his stomach as he steadily makes his way to the lowest floor of the school building. As Yunho enters a hallway where the principal's office is located, he sees two silhouettes also walking towards the room from the opposite direction.
"Mum, dad. What are you doing here?" He asks the two elderly who return him a stern look. They are still dressed in their work clothes as if their presence at the place wasn't anticipated earlier that day. Things were fine before Yunho left for school.
"How can you tell me to calm down when my son is in the hospital right now undergoing surgery?! Where are his parents?!"
They could hear a female voice coming from inside the principal's office and the principal calming her down. Mr Jeong knocks on the door and opens it only to bring great shock to both families upon realization of who they are. Mr and Mrs Kang leap up from the sofa staring at the Mr and Mrs Jeong who also stare back, both sides dumbfounded.
The unsettling tension in the room remains still for a moment until the principal himself clears his throat. "Mr and Mrs Kang, this is..."
"Jeong Seungho."
"Kang Yeongchul."
"You all know each other?" Principal Nam looks back and forth to the families.
"Like brothers. We go way back." Mr Jeong steps into the room to shake hands with Mr Kang. The wives also come together for a hug, leaving Yunho being the only one feeling uncomfortable in the room. "You're ageing like fine wine, Kang."
"Likewise." Mr Kang smiles.
"Let's take a seat first, everyone." Principal Nam invites them all to the sofa. Yunho takes a seat next to his parents who sit across the latter family, with Principal Nam seated in between.
"So what seems to be the problem here? What has my son done?" Mr Jeong fixes the button of his blazer, side-eyeing his son who squirms in his seat.
"Mr and Mrs Jeong believe that your son, Mr Jeong Yunho, has oppressed their son based on the recent incident at yesterday's carnival. Yeosang went home with a broken hand and his broken aircraft which was assisted in the making of the school's montage. They demand compensation and a sincere apology to Mr Kang Yeosang for the damages done."
"And why is my son the only one responsible for this?" Mrs Jeong raises her brows.
Mrs Kang looks at her husband for a second and replies, "Yesterday, Yeosang came back and threw a fit while mentioning Yunho's name. Even sometime before, Yunho often came up in our conversations so we seek to know what he has done to our son and why he decided to hurt him."
"I never hurt Yeosang."
"Silence, Yunho." Mr Jeong utters, shutting his son up.
"Principal Nam, I reckon Yeosang has been receiving a continual amount of mistreatment from his peers for the past couple of weeks. He has been coming home looking all muddled and untidy along with missing belongings. He refused to talk to us about it when we confronted him."
"So you're accusing my son of bullying him?" Mrs Jeong crosses her arms at Mr Kang's explanation. "This is outrageous, Principal Nam. Surely Yunho isn't the only one contributing to the damage. What about the other students? There's no way my son is the sole cause of the occasion."
"We are nowhere near blaming Yunho for the entire thing, but Yunho's the only person Yeosang ever talks about." Mrs Kang defends her husband kindly, in which Yunho's ears perk up at the last sentence. "We just wanna know what really happened to Yeosang when he was in school."
Principal Nam directs his gaze to Yunho. "Well, Jeong Yunho, what do you have to say on that?"
Yunho takes a deep breath, trying to twist the truth so the parents wouldn't suspect his past relationship with Yeosang. "Me and Yeosang got into a huge fight a few weeks ago. We were good friends ever since he first came to this school but he never disclosed about our childhood. When I found out about it, I was offended and totally lost it. But I swear on my life, Mr and Mrs Kang, I never wanted to hurt Yeosang physically and I never knew he was being bullied."
"And the drone? What happened there?"
"I suppose it must've lost control. I saw it flying towards me so I punched it away. I guess Yeosang saw the whole thing and got really angry."
Yunho didn't know how to continue about the hand incident, but they were all waiting for him to go on. He imagines the darkness in Yeosang's eyes moments before he hit the wall, those eyes were screaming to hurt him. But why didn't Yeosang do it? Why wouldn't he hit Yunho after he had spoken those mean things to him? Didn't Yunho deserve that?
You live in the same body as the person that I fucking love!
"Yeosang he..." Why is it so hard to get those words out of his mouth, Yunho scolds himself. "He wanted to hit me but... He didn't. He took it out on the brick wall that was behind us. It was my fault for pressuring him."
There. Yunho said it. He took the blame for indirectly hurting Yeosang. Whatever happens next, he will be accountable for it.
The door suddenly barges open and everyone spins their heads towards Mia running in.
"Excuse me, principal!"
"Miss Han, we're in the middle of a very important discussion-"
"It was me. I spread the rumour." Mia confesses, bowing 90 degrees.
"You did what?"
"I made up the stories and shared them with a couple of students. And I was the one who stole Kang Yeosang's controller and gave it to two little boys so they could play with it. I didn't mean for them to almost hurt Yunho and break the drone. It's my fault, sir. I'm turning myself in."
"Mia, why would you do that?!" Yunho growls as he gets on his feet, his tone scaring the girl. "Do you realize what you've done?!"
"Son, sit." Mr Jeong holds his son's hand and tugs him back on the sofa. "Calm down."
"I'm so, sorry, Yunho..." Mia whispers, shaking her head. "I'm sorry for doing this to Yeosang, Mr and Mrs Kang. Please punish me, principal Nam. I've messed up everything."
Principal Nam sighs. "Very well. In that case, Miss Han, I will be calling your parents regarding your violation of the student's code of conduct and you will be punished very soon. Please wait outside while I settle this with the parents."
"How could you, Mia?" Yunho mutters under his breath at the betrayal. Mia blinks a tear and walks out of the office.
Suddenly, the room is occupied by a soft sob coming from Mrs Kang. The woman immediately goes to Yunho's parents and kneels before them with her face down and hands clasped together.
"I know this might be too late but by any chance, please forgive us for what our son had done to Yunho in the past!" Mrs Kang cries beneath them as her husband goes after her to keep her from going too far. "We will do anything to atone for what he did! I am so, so sorry for putting your son through such suffering! He was just a precious little boy, he didn't deserve it! But please, forgive our Yeosang!"
"Honey..." Mr Kang caresses his wife's back gently, but Mrs Kang is quick enough to rush to Yunho and hold his hand, tears swelling up in her eyes.
"Please forgive Yeosang, hm? Forgive our son, Yunho. Oh, my poor boy..."
Watching Yeosang's parents begging on their knees in front of him might be the most heartbreaking thing for Yunho. He pictures his young self crying on the ground with no one there to comfort him after being mercilessly beaten. Yunho wants to save him so badly from this trauma but it sickens him to this day. Tears gush down his cheeks when Mrs Jeong embraces him tight in her arms, not knowing what to say or do.
Because the child inside him is crying too.
In the end, Mr and Mrs Jeong forgave them, wishing for their bond to be tied again. Yunho hadn't realized what a kind-hearted household has he been growing up in until he found out how easy it was for his parents to forgive them, much less wanting to grow a stronger brotherhood. But Yunho isn't ready for it, perhaps not until he meets Yeosang for himself and sees whether his heart will choose to forgive him or not.
To Yunho, there are two people living in Yeosang's body. The guy that he absolutely loathed, and the guy that he was deeply in love with. If he could split him into two then maybe he could do something about it, i.e. love the current Yeosang and get rid of the old Yeosang. But they both are the same person and he couldn't forget one while knowing the other. Who is even Kang Yeosang to him? Somehow Yunho doesn't feel like he knows Yeosang anymore.
On that account, Yunho is gonna be able to find all the answers to his questions when Yunho comes over to the Kang's house that following week.
⋇⋆✦⋆⋇
Knock! Knock!
The door to the apartment opens and Mr Kang greets Yunho with a kind smile.
"Thank you for coming, Yunho. Yeosang is in his room, not doing anything in particular. I have let him know that you're coming today." Mr Kang says, letting the boy in.
"Thanks. Uh, how is he?"
"He was in a lot of pain but he took a good nap a while ago, so now he's feeling better. Try to speak to him a little softly. He's still under a lot of pressure."
"I will, sir."
Mr Jeong reassuringly nods for Yunho to enter the unlocked room. Yunho knocks on the door twice, waiting for a few seconds then making his way in. He glances around the messy room; a bunch of clothes piled in one corner on the floor, Yeosang's leftover meal sitting on his study desk, pills and bottled medicines on the bed, and Yeosang himself, sitting on the windowsill with his legs crossed and facing out the window.
Yunho notices the bandage wrapped around Yeosang's hand which brings him back to the time when Yeosang took care of him at the hospital. He wishes he could do the same.
"If you're here only because your dad told you to then don't bother wasting your time," Yeosang speaks up first, breaking the silence.
"I'm not gonna waste my time because I do have something important to say. Yeosang, it was wrong of me to storm out without listening to you and also on how I treated you after we broke up. You didn't deserve any of that."
Yunho hears the younger scoff. "Is that so?"
"Yes. And it did hurt me to the guts when I found out that you proceeded a relationship with me while ignoring all the things that happened between us, but then I realized how scared you were with the thought of losing me."
"How do you know that?"
"By the way you looked at me, Yeosang," Yunho responds, still hoping Yeosang will turn to face him. "I've never had someone who looked at me with those eyes before. When you begged me to stay."
Yeosang pauses, only for a short while. "Why are you like this? I lied to you, Yunho. I hid everything from you and you're thinking of me this way. Why?"
"I guess this is why I'm always taken advantage of. But you didn't. You never took me for granted because you loved me purely. You hated me at first, didn't you? I believe that your feelings were real and that they developed for the person I am now. I can't help but let it all go."
Yeosang releases a long sigh through his nose. "I think... I think we shouldn't see each other again. Or at least for the time being. It will be bad for the both of us."
"What are you talking about?"
At last, Yeosang goes down from the windowsill to face the guy standing by the door. Yunho stares at his ex's pale, monotonous face that has lost its shine.
"There will be phases in your life where your past will flicker back into your mind if you choose to be with me right now. Even before, you always dreamed of me when you were stressed or tired or sick. There's plenty of time and space for you to sort yourself out without me being in the way. It's your job to try and heal yourself from the trauma before entering a proper relationship, not with me but with just anyone. What I did to you was not a mere push to the ground. I beat you up, Yunho. We can fix this love between us but I think we both need time. Maybe, forget us."
Upon those words, Yunho shakes his head refusing to do it. But when Yeosang walked closer to him Yunho could see the desperation in his eyes wanting to let him go.
"Please, Yunho. For you it's easy to forgive but not to forget. I can't stand seeing you get hurt because of me again."
"Yeosang, no..."
"At least if things take a turn for the better, then maybe..."
"We can work out again?" Yunho finishes his words to search for a spark of hope that could extend their ending. Yeosang didn't reply, he was too unsure about the future of them being together. "And what if they don't?"
"Then I guess... Being in love with your childhood bully was never a great idea."
A small smile forms on Yeosang's lips that lifts his cheeks to his watery eyes, oh God Yunho misses that smile so bad. This time, he doesn't want to turn Yeosang down. He understands that and eventually agrees with the rational decision they're making.
"Right, so let's get this over with." Yeosang sniffles. "I'm sorry, Yunho. For hurting you, for lying to you, and for loving you."
"I'm sorry, Yeosang. For mistreating you, for ghosting you, and for hating you."
"Goodbye, Yunho."
"Goodbye, Yeosang."
And that was the final conversation Yeosang and Yunho had before they parted ways, living their new lives that took a turn for the better.
Yeosang was homeschooled for a couple of weeks to heal himself, physically and mentally. When he came back, he changed classes, made new friends and cleansed his name with his warm personality. Yeosang no longer talks to any of his old friends, including San, Wooyoung and Mingi. Of course, Yeosang and Yunho would cross paths anywhere around the school but they pretended to be total strangers.
The two paved in their own ways throughout final year which they'll be working on their college entrance exams. Yeosang was told that his family would only move to Pohang after he finished high school, by then they'd be ready to leave their nice little home. All he needs to do now is study hard.
That was how life was, at least for now.
⋇⋆✦⋆⋇
A/N Almost cried while writing the ending of this chapter but anyways UHM-
THANK YOU FOR 8K READS! 💙