𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐞 | 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐢

001.

PART ONE: GIVEN-TAKEN

sunoo walks down the dimly lit hall of the orphanage, his encounter with the younger boy earlier roaming in his head.

he didn't seem to care, i guess.

maybe people stare at him often?

he's gorgeous, though...how can such a pretty boy land up in an orphanage?

sunoo can recall his long, dramatic eyelashes, soft black hair, and plump lips all adorning the young boy's face.

he really must be the prettiest boy sunoo's ever seen- especially with his androgynous features.

sunoo snaps out of his trance and realizes he's in the small cafeteria of the orphanage already.

there, there are not too many kids, but he spots a few teens around the area.

he gets in the line for food next to a tall boy, his face peppered with cuts and bruises.

"what's your name?" the tall boy asks after a while, startling sunoo.

"kim sunoo." he answers quietly.

"new here?"

"yeah."

the lady serving food is smoking a cigarette, her eyes wandering around sunoo.

she serves them food whilst laughing at sunoo. "who's letting these pretty boys in? first the japanese one- and now this one?" she says to herself, shaking her head.

"follow me." the tall boy says as they have their trays in hand.

they settle down at a small table- just the two of them.

sunoo reaches for the food, tasting it, but quickly decides he doesn't have an appetite anymore.

the bruised boy looks around before talking to sunoo again.

"lee heeseung. i'm seventeen. you look young, sunoo." heeseung notices.

"yeah, i'm fifteen. what do you want with me exactly?"

"did you know this is a mental health based institution, sunoo? it's where all the crazy people are. you don't seem very crazy, though."

"i didn't know." sunoo answers, questioning why he is at the orphanage now- and avoiding the second part of heeseung's implication.

"what's your story, hm?" he asks.

"story?" sunoo asks, cocking his head to the side.

"why you're here."

memories flashed through sunoo's mind, fire lit in each one of them.

"my family died in a car accident." sunoo replies, giving a cliché answer.

the older snorts, "i'm not stupid, sunoo. something else happened, didn't it?" he retorts, placing a hand through his hair.

"does it matter?" sunoo replies, rolling his eyes.

"damn well it does." heeseung replies before spotting two other boys walking to their table.

one of them whistles, and the other just scoffs.

"yo heeseung, who's the pretty boy?" the boy who whistled laughs mockingly.

heeseung sighs and watches as they sit down at their table, while the boy who scoffed takes out a pocket knife and rotates it over his hand continuously.

"sunoo, this one," he gestures to the boy who whistled- "is park jongseong."

"you can just call me jay, pretty." jay smiles and winks at sunoo.

jay is good looking, sunoo must admit. he has longer hair than the the rest of them, and his jawline is sharp and defined. he seems to have a playful attitude- which makes him wonder how a boy like jay could be at this orphanage.

"and this," he then points toward the boy with the pocket knife- "is park sunghoon."

sunghoon says nothing and keeps rotating the pocket knife in his hands.

sunghoon has a few cuts himself, but nevertheless, he's just as good looking as jay.

jay starts eating his food, while the other three at the table don't touch theirs.

"you know, i thought the japanese boy was pretty- but this one is just as pretty." jay chuckles.

"japanese boy?" sunoo asks.

"yeah. surname's nishimura or some shit." sunghoon finally speaks- but his voice is quiet.

"apparently he doesn't say a word, don't know what's up with him- but he only came maybe a few months back." heeseung adds.

nishimura...so that's who he is...

interesting.