Shallow Abyss || Zb1

16

Matthew looked at the present in his hand and lightly smiled.

'Will hyung accept this?' He murmured. He opened the door and saw only Zhanghao in the classroom. He was packing his books. Once he heard the sound, he turned and saw Matthew.

"Hyung–

"Hanbin's not here." Zhanghao interrupted him and looked away. Matthew furrowed his brows.

"No hyung, I'm actually here to see you" Matthew said and Zhanghao paused what he was doing. He turned to Matthew with his expressionless face.

"What do you want?" Matthew heard the tone of his voice and immediately disliked it. But he kept it to himself.

"Uhm actually, yesterday when I was running some errands for my mom, I saw something and it reminded me of you. So I got it...For you" Matthew said showing Zhanghao the item.

Zhanghao eyed the item. It was a plush toy of an angry mochi. It looked so cute but Zhanghao didn't want to admit it. Matthew looked at Zhanghao's face for his reaction but to his dismay, he got none.

Zhanghao scoffed and continued packing his books.
"Why are you suddenly gifting me? I'm sure you know everything about Hanbin by now. I have nothing to tell you" Zhanghao said and zipped his bag.

Matthew clenched the toy and looked at Zhanghao.

"What did I ever do to you hyung?" Matthew muttered as he was tired of masking up his feelings.

Zhanghao looked up from his bag and brushed his hair backwards as he scoffed.

"Why do you always have an attitude towards me? Why do you treat me like I don't exist? What have I done wrong? I have been nothing but kind to you and you were too, so why did you suddenly change?-

"Because you stole Hanbin from me!" Zhanghao yelled making Matthew shocked.

"You came into our lives and totally ruined our friendship. YOU destroyed our friendship...You think I don't see the way you look at Hanbin? Huh?"
Zhanghao said smirking.

"You replaced me Matthew. You made Hanbin abandon me-Don't you get it Matthew?! You have a family, you have friends and you have Hanbin... Matthew, I only have Hanbin. My only source of Sanity" Zhanghao said feeling his chest tighten.

"You just.. stole him. I don't hate you Matthew..I just hate that...Hanbin left me for you" Zhanghao muttered. Matthew gulped as he saw how broken Zhanghao was.

"Hyung.." he muttered and tried walking towards Zhanghao but Zhanghao raised his hand making Matthew stop.

"I don't want to create a problem Matthew..I don't want to fight with you. So just do me a favor and be out of my sight" Zhanghao softly said and walked past Matthew.

Matthew heard the door bang close and he flinched.
He sighed and looked at the toy in his hand.
"All I ever wanted was to make friends"

-

Tae Rae looked at his exam paper in shock. His hands began to shake as he kept muttering 'no'.

"Mrs. Kim, I- uh..I think there's been a mistake"
Tae Rae said as he stood up. His hands shaking as he couldn't handle what he has just seen.

Mrs. Kim looked at him in confusion.
"What's wrong Tae Rae? You're the first in the exam"

"N-No. I don't care about that- I got an A-. I'm sure there has been a mistake-I c-can't get this. Please"
Tae Rae said as his voice wavered.

Matthew looked at his own paper and saw that he got a B-. "The heck?" He muttered looking at
Tae Rae in amusement.

Mrs. Kim was confused "You did a great job Tae Rae, I'm sure your Father is going to be happy" she said and continued sharing the papers.

Tae Rae plopped to his chair in fear. He felt beads of sweat form on his forehead.

"I'm fucking dead" he muttered as his eyes welled in tears.

-

Tae Rae clutched his bag tight as he got into the living room. "Good Evening Father" Tae Rae greeted still looking uneasy.

"Mm. I see you're back from the cramming academy" His father said and Tae Rae nodded.
"Mrs. Kim called me today and told me that you did well in the exam, let me see your grade" he said.

Tae Rae almost fainted in fear. He slowly unzipped his bag and took out the papers. He place the paper at the bottom of other papers. He gave them to his father.

"A, A, A...." his father recited with a smile as he counted the A's Tae Rae got. Tae Rae was a sweating mess as his father neared the last paper.

"...A, A- A minus?!" His father roared as he sprung up from his seat. Tae Rae gulped as he walked backwards.

"What the heck is this Tae Rae?!" His father yelled and slapped Tae Rae. Tae Rae bit his lip as he held in  his tears.

"You lost Tae Rae! Losing is a bad habit! And a bad habit must be fixed. I didn't invest in you to see this kind of report!" His father shouted and threw the paper at Tae Rae's face.

"If you failed to keep your grade high, how do you expect to get into a medical school in Seoul?!" His father shouted as his nose flared in anger.

"You're grounded. I'm taking all your devices, You will stay in your room till you finish your high school and get admission into a medical school. I see I have not been hard on you. That will change from now on!
Get out!" He yelled.

Tae Rae grabbed his back and ran into his room.

He locked the door and sat on the floor. He brought his knees to his shoulder and rested his head as he cried.