Best Served Cold

Chapter 09

"Ugh..." A headache was stabbing his head when he woke up, making him feel utterly horrible. Wooyoung sat up straight from the table, feeling his back and chest ache like no tomorrow. He stared aimlessly at the circles of the wood, feeling his mind far away as he could barely think with all the chaos in his mind. The back door opened and he jumped up, only calming down when Yeosang walked in with a confused expression before it became one of realization. His friend's eyes were bloodshot and his dazed look only reminded him of the other times this had happened.

"Wooyoung."

"No. No. Just don't."

"But-"

"Please. I'm tired," Wooyoung whispered in a hoarse voice as he sat down and Yeosang stopped.

"Hah... How many times has it been?"

"I don't know," he responded while laying his head on the table again. "My head hurts. My back hurts...."

"Wooyoung..." Yeosang patted his back gently and he whined. "I'll go get some medicine for you. Why don't you go home and rest for today? I'll take over."

"No. I can't keep doing this to you," Wooyoung squeaked. "I can still handle this."

"Then, I'll just help out. Okay?"

"O-okay."

Yeosang hurried out to get medicine for Wooyoung whilst the other could barely move from the chair. He felt like crying again at how pathetic and useless he was but his eyes were too tired to even produce more tears. Eventually, he fell asleep again and an old memory resurfaced in the form of a dream.

"Sannie!"

"Wooyoung." The young student ran up to his friend and barged into his arms as San caught him. School had just ended and the two had agreed to go to the supermarket together since Wooyoung had a sudden keen interest in baking.

"Let's go, let's go. Before the eggs get sold out a-"

"Calm down. It won't sell out that fast," San chuckled, following his friend who pulled him by the hand. "If it did, we would all be in trouble."

"You still haven't made any other friends, Sannie?" Wooyoung asked as they walked side by side.

"Do I have to?" was his simplistic response. San never really felt like he had to fit in or be in a group unlike Wooyoung who had friends in almost every corner of the school.

"Well, no. But don't you get bored being alone?"

San shook his head and smiled. "I'm plenty happy when I'm with you."

"Ugh, such a sweet talker."

"Just being honest. I'm fine with you being my only friend."

"Seriously. I won't be able to be your friend if my parents decide to shift places for their jobs again, you know?" Wooyoung sighed, worried about his friend's future.

"We can still keep in contact. You have my number."

"I still haven't gotten ungrounded from using my phone."

"Oh. What was it that you did again?" San asked as they entered the supermarket, dragging along a cart as they both pushed it together side by side, arms stuck to one another.

"I'm not supposed to bring it to school but I did and I might have butt dialed my dad so he found out that I brought it to school and kept it. I'm irresponsible after all," he sighed again as he started taking the ingredients he needed for the recipe while San moved the cart close to him.

"But once you have it, you can save my number."

Wooyoung checked to see if the paper with San's number was still with him since he remembered throwing out a lot of things from his bag the other day since it was getting too heavy. It was gone but he guessed it wasn't a big deal. He could just ask San for it again, something that the future him had completely forgotten.