The Boy From The Bridge - Jakehoon

Chapter 39: Escape 6/7

"One last thing?" Yun asked. Sunghoon and her were sat against the bed's enormous headboard.

"What is it?" Sunghoon asked. His voice was quiet, his tone soft after having spent several minutes speaking intimately about his internal struggles.

"When I asked you how your day had being you said that it 'was' going well." Yun leaned on the word 'was'. "What happened? Was it after you came the party?"

"Uhh..." Sunghoon sounded reluctant. 

"...Is It why you have skulked off around the house?"

Sunghoon tried pushing his fringe out of his eyes only for it to fall back in place. "I'm sad I guess."

"Sad about what? The thing that made you come up here"

"Okay - let's say... alright, let's not pretend - look, I like someone and I saw them..." Sunghoon couldn't stomach finishing the sentence, he felt so pathetic - longing after someone who had no reason to see him the way he saw them. Jake was his own man, not Sunghoon's. 

"Saw someone do what?"

"Saw the person I like go off and leave me for someone else"

"Leave you?" Yun took a moment, "Are you talking about Jaeyun - I swear he's the only person you're ever with" Sunghoon reacted by burying his head in a dusty pillow. He removed his head slightly and looked away from the bed at the room's closed door. "I'm going to take that as a yes" Yun laughed. Her humoured tone offset the hurt Sunghoon was feeling.

Sunghoon exhaled deeply and sat up, swinging his legs over his side of the bed, getting into a sitting position. "What am I going to do?" He asked .

"Does Jaeyun know that you like him?"

"Yeah, I'm fairly certain he does"

"But Sunghoon if he doesn't like guys it's not going to go anywhere - if he's off with Aicha or whoever then that's his choice"

"I know but it's... hard"

"Why is it hard? Just don't fall for straight guys"

Sunghoon breathed deeply, he wanted to say that it was complex, that Jake had kissed him  twice. That they had bared themselves to one another, literally and metaphorically. Despite wanting to, Sunghoon was unable to say anything to the effect he desired, "It's... he's shown, argh. Sorry, I can't talk about this with you. it's not my place" Sunghoon had become flustered, unable to articulate himself. He couldn't just out Jake as having done things that could be perceived as gay, that wouldn't be fair. 

"What will help you clear your head?" Yun asked considerately, putting her arms around him.

____________

Jake and Aicha placed their ears to the door, trying to hear the commotion outside. The sound of footsteps was great for a few moments but  there were only a few murmurs of voices. They waited there for a few moments until the sounds silenced and they concluded that the house had been emptied.

"I think everyone's gone?" Aicha whispered.

"It sounds like it" Jake agreed, "Shall we open the door?"

Aicha nodded and Jake slowly pushed the door open and crept out. The humour was lost on him that when he had entered the bathroom it had been under the auspice of masculine bravado, now leaving, he was silent and timid.

Jake heard Aisha creep behind him. The reception rooms that had been full of teenagers were now empty. Full cups of alcohol and half empty bottles of beer littered the room illustrating a sudden and unexpected departure.