Trust? - LuWoo ✔︎

Chapter 16

Lucas glanced at Yuta with a raised eyebrow and slowly nodded.

“Yeah, that’d be me,” he sniffled. “Am I supposed to know you?”

“Well, no, BUT I know you,” Yuta stated proudly.

The two stared at each other and Sicheng wasn’t sure what was going on with their stares. He glanced out the window for a second to remind himself that all was okay but they now had to help someone with a rough patch and when he looked back, he had to launch himself onto his boyfriend before he did something stupid.

“Put back the spatula, Yuta!” Sicheng scolded, holding his boyfriend tightly in his arms.

“No! don't you see?! He deserves to be whacked!”

“Did you not hear his reasoning earlier?”

Yuta stopped struggling at the reminder and lowered the spatula he held. Lucas sat staring with wide eyes, tears flooding down his face freely as it had been doing the entire time. It seemed as if the liquid had no off button.

“Go to our room and I’ll talk to him, alright?”

Yuta nodded, throwing a small glare at the crying male before stomping off to his room. How dare he hurt Jungwoo even if it was for a good reason?

At least he didn't have to deal with a crying individual. He would probably end up bullying him into crying harder.

Sicheng took a seat by the male and gently grabbed the large hand in his slightly smaller ones, rubbing circles on the back to attempt to comfort him to the best of his abilities.

“So tell me,” Sicheng began, “was it necessary to break up or did you just assume that would be the best choice?”

“To be honest, I think I was mostly scared. Y’know Jungwoo─ that’s his name─ he’s soft and shy and adorable and the people that are out to hurt him are the complete opposite and if I can prevent him from being hurt by being away, then that is my only best option, I assume.”

Sicheng nodded, understanding where he was coming from and smiled a little to show that he didn't think the younger was completely stupid, just a little.

“I see, I see. But don't you think you would be able to get back together if you asked someone for help or at least asked someone to deal with your ex-friends? Surely you would want to get back together, wouldn’t you?” 

Lucas sniffled a little and nodded.

“But I don't want him to get hurt.”

Sicheng sighed and got up to make a cup of tea for the male. He would just have to send him to sleep in the guest bedroom since he wasn’t taking any consideration just yet. Hopefully when he was less distraught his mind would clear up.

Lucas slowly drank the cup of warm tea, liking the way it brought a feeling of comfort in his tired body. 

Sicheng stayed beside him until he was completely done before sending him off to sleep.

“I just hope Jungwoo is holding up,” Sicheng whispered, heading to his room to find his boyfriend.

._._.

Jungwoo sat with a blank expression staring at the wall. He didn’t know how to react.

Was he even supposed to react that way even though they had only been dating for a little over a week? Was it normal to feel such pain within him?

He didn't think so and he wanted the feeling OUT immediately.

Taeyong and Jaehyun had simply been watching over him and not really doing much more. They decided that the only thing they could do was distract him by at least making him do homework so his brain would think of other things than the current situation.

“Come here, Woo,” Jaehyun gently called out. “We can do work.”

In a robot-like state, Jungwoo walked out of the room to where Taeyong and Jaehyun sat waiting for him with open books. Internally, the pink-haired male felt a tinge of guilt that they were worrying over him so much but at least he knew they cared and he appreciated that bit.

So they worked until all the work was completed and Jungwoo was too tired to do anything else but fall asleep. Lucas didn’t return that night and although they were all slightly worried, they figured that an actual adult could take care of themself and didn’t question his whereabouts.

Whatever he did now, no one could judge.

._._.

Jungwoo awoke with a throbbing headache and no appetite. He sighed knowing that his love for food had just come back and suddenly, it disappeared. A shift as great as that had never happened before and he blamed it fully on Lucas. 

He slowly got ready, making sure his eyes weren't too puffy and headed out the house to walk to school without telling Taeyong or Jaehyun anything. He really wanted some outside air for himself to breathe peacefully in although morning traffic wouldn’t really allow that. But hey, at least it'd be better than continuous pestering. Hopefully the other two wouldn't panic and start searching for him and just assume correctly where he was.

It seemed as if everyone could feel the pink-haired males sadness radiating off him as he walked, which was okay in a way only because everyone moved out the way but it was also bad because they’d then stare at his sorrowful figure. 

He didn't like the attention. He didn't like that others could read him so easily and he especially didn't like how they could easily point out that he wasn't with Lucas as usual. How the hell had they already noticed from the first two days that he and Lucas were separated? He called witchcraft. Utter ridiculousness that they began whispering because of that. But it kinda made sense since they had been attending that school from the start and they knew a lot of people.

“Hey, hey,” a familiar female voice said, gently touching Jungwoo’s arm, almost cautiously. “What's with this gloomy attitude? Who do I need to beat up, hmm?”

Jungwoo looked to the side, being met with the pretty face of his newest friend, Chaemin.

“Oh, nothing really. Just- just broke up with my boyfriend because of- of bullies, that’s why,” Jungwoo replied with a forced smile, his lip suddenly trembling as he felt hot tears burn the back of his eyes.

He hated it. He hated it so much he just wanted to get rid of his emotions and never deal with them again. He was strong. He knew he was and that was why he blinked several times to clear himself of any unwanted liquid.

“What?!” Chaemin asked in pure shock and concern. “Oh no.”

Gently, she wrapped Jungwoo in a comforting hug as he steadily took in breaths, denying himself the satisfaction to cry as he held in his tears.

“Should I deal with the bullies? Who are they? What exactly did they do?” she asked, prodding for an answer as gently as she could in her angry state.

“I don't know their- their names but they were Lucas’ friends.”

She stared at Junwoo’s face intently, as if by doing so she would be able to see his memories, as if she would then be able to tell who the people were. And though she had definitely seen them around, at that moment all she saw was red and all she could do was urge her brain to remember the faces.

"It's okay, Woo dear. We'll figure this out," Chaemin comforted.

Jungwoo simply nodded with a smile, deciding it would be best to head to class before he would have to walk in with the entire population staring at him. With Chaemin at his side, they headed towards the room but before they could fully enter, his friend suddenly had to leave.

"Oh dear! I just remembered I can't be in class today!" Chaemin gasped, facing Jungwoo. "Tell our teacher I just remembered I had something important to do and I'll be back this evening or tomorrow."

With that, she dashed down the halls, not waiting for a response from Jungwoo as he watched in puzzlement as her figure disappeared.

With a shrug, he entered the room, his sadness still present but he didn't want it to affect his performance during class which was much more important than any situation with Lucas, so he pretended he was fine for the rest of the day. Of course, that didn't mean that he himself was fine but if he could pretend that his hurt was gone, then he could live peacefully, couldn't he?