•How long till you start falling apart?•
Locking away his past in the States, Min Sehyuk enrolls in Hanhwa University, South Korea.
An attempt to defend the weak lands him squarely in the crosshairs of the bully, Kang Kihyun. Sehyuk retaliates each...
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Sehyuk runs, holding onto his art canvas bag with no time to get to his motorbike. He looks back and Kihyun is closing on him at full speed. He wonders how a guy who has been limping his way throughout the day is running as if Usain Bolt's spirit just dropped into him.
"Today I will end you!" Kihyun yells, adjusting the straps of his backpack.
Sehyuk curses at how the sophomore sounds too serious to be joking. He has no other way but to wear him out and hide somewhere. He focuses on the path in front of him, trying not to trip or lose balance. The streets are crowded as it's a time when almost everyone is on their way to their homes. As the chase of cat and mouse continues, the two pass through bustling people on the footpaths and honking vehicles in the middle of the roads. If it weren't for Kihyun, Sehyuk would've enjoyed the light breeze on his bike, basking under the blue purples of the evening sky. But the boy is hot on his heels, with no sign of giving up. If Sehyuk could just lose him for today, the anger boiling in the other would simmer down.
The blond hadn't expected his little prank to blow up on his face like this. Damn, Byun Jaemin and his intrusive curiosity.
He stops on the footpath, taking in a long breath, eyeing the other side of the road. He needs to cross it before Kihyun catches up to him. There's no traffic signal for the incoming cars but Sehyuk would be fast enough to cross. He braces himself, clutching his art bag and running towards the opposite end. He turns to take a quick look at Kihyun, only to find him wide-eyed, his hand reaching out as if to catch him.
"Min Sehyuk, look out!"
That's all the said boy hears before the headlights of a car blind him and its front bumps his shins. He falls on the rough asphalt and hits his head. The sounds around him disperse into white noise and the lights dull until there's nothing but darkness.
"Can we go home now? Do you have everything you wanted?" A man in his late forties asks, ruffling the boy's hair and patting it.
"Yes! Uncle Yeonwoo." The boy shakes the plastic bag in his left hand.
"Let's get to the car then."
The two walk, Yeonwoo holding the child's wrist, and guiding him toward the parked car a few feet away from them.
"Balloon-man!" The boy yells, eyes almost sparkling at the street seller who stands with a bunch of hydrogen-filled balloons. He yanks his hand from the man's grip and runs to the other side of the street. "I want that!"
"Wait!" Yeonwoo fusses but the boy is faster, unaware of the traffic he has to cross through to get to the seller. The older man sprints, trying to catch up to the boy as a car approaches him. "Sehyuk!" He pushes him to safety in time but isn't able to do the same for himself. The boy scrapes his palms when he falls, a sharp pebble cutting through the side of his forehead.
