Paper cuts & Paper rings | JayWon

35. Only way we'll win

Jungwon shifts silently in his seat and forces his eyes to the window instead of his mother's unreadable expression. He had only ever been to his parents work once, but he knew that they had many conversion camps spread throughout Seoul and this one seemed unfamiliar. He turns way and shuts his eyes, praying to some God that could change his mother's mind.

His looks up at the roof of the car and refrains from breaking into to tears – maybe this is all a test, some sort of sick torture sent down from God to see whether he'll stand up for what's right and accept and be belittled. But the thing is, he has no idea what is 'right' anymore.

Thinking made him feel numb so he stopped that as well and so his mind wandered back to the thoughts of his friends; Sunghoon, Jake, Heeseung, Riki, Sunoo and Jay. God – if being gay was the wrong option he'd be damned because how in the world could he forget about Jay – how could he be the evil in this world and not these people?

"You'll be okay here," She mutters silently and Jungwon nods.

"H-how long will I stay here?" Jungwon suddenly asks as he feels a lump clog his throat and a burning sensation building up in his glossy eyes. His mother sighs and bites her lip, painting a weak smile on her face as they pull up to the large building that towers over the two.

"A month," She states bluntly as she fixes her rear-view mirror almost as if to remove him from her prefrail vison, "but if you behave you can leave within 3 weeks or so but if you don't change then I'm afraid we'll have to continue this when you come back home but I trust you, Won."

"You just have to trust me now," She clears her throat and squeezes the steering wheel tighter, "I know its hard right now, but you have to listen to me, promise me Jungwon?"

"I promise," the words feel bitter and sour on his tongue. There's a lot more things in this world that matter than his mums trust like his friends and the world. If he gives up then why wouldn't the others?

When his mother parks her car, looks around almost embarrassed when she opens the door for Jungwon. He grabs his suitcase out of the boot and his mother locks her car as they approach the wide grey building. The white and silver accents make it look like his school which doesn't make him feel any better about the situation.

His mother pushes open the door and looks around, smiling at the receptionist who lies about two feet away from the entrance. The enter lobby looks clean and prestigious, the navy-blue carpet and warm lighting reminds Jungwon of a bank rather than a school, but he still has a weird feeling in his stomach that makes him unable to settle into the cosy environment his parents had built together – the thought makes him want to puke.

"Oh, um, good morning Mrs Yang," The receptionist with a purposefully messy black bun, dark red lips, and long navy-blue nails with what seemed like diamonds embedded into them, quickly adjusts her uniform, and forces a sweet smile on her lips. "I didn't expect you to be here."

"Neither did I, but unfortunately our softer methods seemed to have failed," She states with a disappointed tone which causes the receptionist to gasp as well.

"Is that why you're here?" She asks, suddenly typing awa at her keyboard, "we can organise a meeting and discuss our methods and plans—"

"I've already scheduled one, but thank you Miss Jung," She smiles quaintly at the young woman who furrows her brow.

"Oh – I didn't know it was for today—"

"No, Mia, I'm not here for the meeting," Mrs Yang clears her throat and Mia nods slowly, eyebrows still furrowed, "the softer methods I was talking about, well they seemed to have indirectly hurt my son, Jungwon."