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after leaving the house through his bedroom window, beomgyu headed to the only place he had ever thought of as an escape.
the local skatepark.
for some reason, no one really ever seemed to go there. it was always relatively empty, but beomgyu wasn't complaining. he preferred being able to skate in peace especially at times like these when he just needed to get his mind off of things.
honestly speaking, the only time beomgyu had seen anyone else there besides him was when he hung out with his newly found group of friends. not many people in this town really seemed to be interested in skateboarding enough to make use of the skatepark besides them.
and just as he had hoped, the park was empty. not another human in sight, just as he had liked it to be.
stepping off his skateboard and sliding it beneath his arm, beomgyu pushed open the gate and made his way inside the park. he quickly placed his bag and phone down on one of the nearby benches and then immediately headed towards the ramps.
dropping his skateboard down onto the ledge of the ramp, beomgyu carefully stepped on top of it and begun skating up and down the u-shaped surface with ease. his face remained neutral and stoic as the cold breeze brushed against his open wounds and blew his hair back.
on the surface, he was calm and unbothered.
but on the inside, he was a mess. he wanted to cry and scream about how unfair life had been to him. after all, what had he even done to deserve being treated the way he was?
he always did as he was told whether it be to do the household chores or just get out of his uncles sight.
he always went to school unless there was a serious reason he could not. i mean, maybe he didn't always attend class, but at least he was making an effort to be there.
he even lived a quiet life with minimal interaction with others for the longest time up until now in order to ensure he would not cause any trouble for himself or his uncle.
he did everything in his power, yet life still gave him the short end of the stick.
"it's not fair," beomgyu complained to himself. "why me? me of all people? it's just not fucking fair-"
CRASH!
and in the midst of his rant, the wheels on beomgyu's skateboard gave out, sending him onto the ground while his board launched itself forward to the other side of the park.
"are you fucking kidding me?!" he screamed in frustration as he laid flat on the floor, finally giving up on holding in his rage. "it's always me! why can't anything ever go right for me?!"
the boy breathed heavily and stared at the sky above him, not even bothering to get up and grab his skateboard and broken wheels that had been sent to different ends of the park. "seriously... out of all these people, why me..?" he muttered, tears slowly building up with every word that left his mouth.
"beomgyu..?" a voice called out, the sound of the gate creaking open followed. hearing his name, beomgyu instantly wiped away the few stray tears that had managed to slip out, hoping that it wasn't obvious he had just spent the past few minutes crying. "that is you, right?" the person questioned as they cautiously approached him.
beomgyu sat up with a groan due to the pain of quite literally crashing to the ground earlier, and looked up to see who was calling him. "oh, it is you!" they sighed. "it would've been so embarrassing if it wasn't, let me tell you that right now."
"what's up, huening? what're you doing here?" beomgyu questioned, watching the blond as he sat down beside him on his own skateboard.
"oh, am i not allowed to be here? do you own this place or something?" huening kai shot questions back in retaliation.
beomgyu's eyes widened and he frantically waved his hands. "no, no, no! that's not what i meant! i was just wondering why you're here at this time since you guys usually come here later in the day, that's all..." he defended himself.
the blond laughed at the elder's panicked response. "i was just teasing you, don't worry." beomgyu let out a sigh of relief— he was worried that he had offended the other boy. "you're right, we usually don't come here until later, but yeonjun and soobin are busy today so taehyun and i decided it'd just be us two this time. and he wanted to come a little earlier since he has a project he has to do so! here i am!"
"and to answer your question from earlier, i'm doing good, how about you?" he smiled.
returning the smile, maybe a little less brightly, beomgyu answered, "i'm alright."
kai gave beomgyu a skeptical look. "are you sure? not to be blunt or anything, but you look pretty beat up right now, dude."
beomgyu raised an eyebrow, asking the younger what he meant, so kai pulled out his phone camera and showed the boy his current state. "don't those hurt..?" he asked concernedly, referring to the cuts on beomgyu's face.
"oh, these?" beomgyu laughed awkwardly. "i just got them after taking a bit of a fall." he points to his broken wheels and skateboard that were scattered around the place. "i was gonna clean them up once i got home, no worries." he reassures the blond.
sure, they weren't all from falling, but huening kai didn't need to know that.
at least, not yet.
huening kai relaxes a bit and nods. "if you say so! but just know that you can let me know if anything even happens or if you need help. you don't just have haeri, you know? you also have me and the other guys!" he beamed.
"i know and i appreciate it, seriously. i'm fine though."
"alrighty then!" kai exclaimed as he stood up and lent a hand to the long-haired boy who gladly accepted. "well, you should probably go and get some new wheels before the shop closes."
beomgyu tilted his head. "closes? but, it's only like 2 o'clock?"
the other shrugged. "i don't know, man. for some reason they close really early on weekends."
"weird..." the elder mumbles. "okay, thanks, huening! see you at school."
the two share a quick side hug before beomgyu gathers up his belongings and makes his way towards the nearby skate shop.
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after walking for roughly five minutes since his skateboard was currently unable to be used, beomgyu had finally made it to the skate shop.
peering through the gaps on the poster covered windows, he observed as much of the shop as he could. it was surprisingly kind of busy today. maybe because it's the weekend? "guess i might have just figured out why they close so early..." he mutters, straightening his posture and making his way to the door.
the sound of the bell above the door could hardly be heard over the amount of voices that filled the shop. for hardly anyone ever being at the local skatepark, there sure seemed to be a lot of people interested in the skate shop. perhaps these people just found more joy in just freely skating around the town.
and while that didn't necessarily make any sense to beomgyu personally, he respected it. everyone has different opinions and preferences so who was he to judge? plus, less people at the park was more beneficial for him. it helped him feel at peace almost as there was hardly anyone ever around to possibly judge him for whatever reason they might choose to.
beomgyu roamed around the store for a few minutes as, honestly speaking, he had no idea where the aisle that contained the wheels were. but just as he was beginning to get impatient and walk out of the store emptyhanded, he managed to find exactly what he was looking for.
"they need to invest in signs for these aisles, seriously." he complained under his breath and he walked down the aisle, scanning the shelves for his preferred wheels.
as he mindlessly looked at the shelves from top to bottom, he had finally managed to find the exact ones he had just broken. however, much to his dismay, an obstacle stood between him and his goal.
a worker.
"you've got to be kidding me..." he groaned while watching the worker stocking the shelves through his curtain of hair. maybe i'll just like do a lap around the store real quick and they'll be gone? or i could just say 'excuse me' and quickly grab it? or, um, i can just grab it and run away?
while he stood there chewing his nails as he contemplated between the choices he had laid out for himself, he had failed to notice that the obstacle had moved from its spot next to the box of items and was now standing directly in front of him.
the worker waved their hand in front of the boys face in attempt of pulling him out of his daze. "hellooooo..? are you okay?" they asked, but sadly failed to receive a response. "earth to choi beomgyu?"
at the mention of his name, he froze and dropped his hand to his side and slowly looked up at the person in front of him. "oh, haeri?"
"finally!" she sighed. "what're you doing spacing out like that? and quit chewing your nails, stupid! that's not- what the..?"
beomgyu stumbled forward as haeri abruptly grabbed his face with her hand and pulled him down towards her, bringing them face-to-face. "w-what is it?" he questioned, mentally beating himself up for stuttering.
"follow me." haeri ordered and began walking away.
"wha- okay, just wait a second. i need to grab the wheels i need real quick." he told her, causing her to turn around and blankly stare at him. "now, which ones were that again..?" beomgyu began to ponder with his chin in hand as he eyed the different items on the shelf.
haeri rolled her eyes and strolled back over to him. "let's go." she said grabbing him by the hand and dragging him along down the aisle.
"but my wheels!" he whined. "i just spent so long finding them!"
"i'll buy you them later, alright? just be quiet and come with me for now." she stated as they approached the door to the staff room.
haeri opened the door for the two of them and gestured for beomgyu to enter as she held the door. he cautiously stepped inside and gazed around the bare room before turning to the girl shutting the door behind him.
as their eyes met, beomgyu could've sworn he got goosebumps from the cold stare she was shooting at him. "haeri..? what's wrong..?" he carefully. "i didn't do anything, right? you're not mad at me, right? i'm sorry if i did, i promise i didn't mean it if i did-" the boy began to ramble in a panic, his voice audibly shaking as he went on and on.
the girl's harsh and cold stare instantly transformed into a warm gaze as soon as she noticed that beomgyu had begun to start trembling. she quickly approached him and pulled him into her embrace, rubbing his back soothingly to try and calm him down.
"i'm sorry, beomgyu..." she apologized in a hushed tone. "no, it's nothing you did, i promise. let's just sit down real quick, okay? we'll chat once you think you're ready to."
beomgyu nodded his head as she broke apart from the hug and allowed himself to be pulled towards the couch in the corner of the room.
"okay, take a seat and i'll be right back."
"where are you going?" he looked up at her with a slight frown.
haeri grinned at him and ruffled his hair. "i'm just going to tell my manager that i'm clocking out so we can talk. my shifts basically over anyways." she answers, walking towards the door. "when i come back, i better see a smile on that face, alright?"
beomgyu hid his face and he felt his face heat up and just waved her off causing haeri to laugh before leaving the room. "she has got to stop doing whatever it is she's doing to me..."
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literally had no idea when or how to end this chapter so sorry about that!
i hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading as always! <3