Wonwoo, without much thrashing and battling, got dragged – quite literally – back to his parents' house. If his mum had seen him about to end his life, there was no way he could escape her clutches; at least until she cooled down. From what, Wonwoo had no clue of. He wasn't even sure whether seeing him that way had struck something in her or not.
People stared as he got pulled by Hyeri on the streets, and it made him want to disappear. People really didn't have better things to do. Instead of going about their day and chores, they looked more interested in a lanky adult faltering with his steps behind his mum.
Hyeri didn't utter a single word for the whole time she took Wonwoo with her. She strictly looked in front of herself, and her fingers gripped tighter on his sleeve whenever he shifted the slightest bit. She was being paranoid for no reason, he thought, he wouldn't dare to try and tear himself away from her; not while she was awake and her brain was probably fixated on him.
Her face wore no emotion as she turned for a brief second when they reached the house, to grab the keys. It was the first time Wonwoo had seen her blank – it was much harder to tell what might be coming. Either he'd be left alone, or be left to the mercy of yet another beating. Probably the worst one he'd ever get.
He could only pray it wasn't the latter. He wanted to be left alone.
Much to his relief, Wonwoo was simply dropped off at his room – now bare and lifeless. Not that it had anything worth remembering about. It just held memories with Somi.
Hyeri had disappeared somewhere inside the house after leaving Wonwoo in his room. He hadn't heard anything from her. He wasn't even sure whether his dad was back or not; he should have been, considering it was already quite late in the night.
Just when the thought crossed his mind, Wonwoo heard the front door being opened, followed by low mutters and whispers. He was sure it was his mum relaying whatever she had seen to his dad.
His attention suddenly shifted to his stomach growling, making him recall that the last he'd eaten was a little sandwich for lunch. His system had no water inside it since then, either. But the thought of food made Wonwoo want to barf his lunch. Water would have to suffice for now, no matter how hungry he was.
So, as silently as he could manage, Wonwoo padded down the stairs, making sure to pull on a pair of old, crusty socks he found under his desk to prevent his feet from being noisy. As he tried to slip into the kitchen, and past his parents still standing in the doorway, his dad's eyes found him. The man sent him a look he couldn't place quite well. Nonetheless, not paying much mind to his dad – like he always had – Wonwoo proceeded to get himself a glass of water.
Putting the glass down after gulping its contents in one go, Wonwoo saw his dad walking past the kitchen while staring at him. Before he could wonder what it meant, his dad spoke. "You're not leaving the house again,"
That was it; Wonwoo's last straw. Nothing more was said after the sure statement from his dad. And Wonwoo found it quite odd: his voice had been emotionless, devoid of the usual venom it held, nor did he physically try to press the fact onto Wonwoo.
Wonwoo wondered what lay beneath those plain words.
--
That night, Wonwoo tossed and turned in his bed, an unsettling feeling crawling up to him, and making him shiver. He was about to fall asleep, until something didn't let him. It felt creepy, almost as if he were being watched.
The silence and lack of motion in his room assured him there was nothing of that sort. But it still didn't let him sleep.
Turning on his side for the millionth time since he'd laid on the bed, Wonwoo closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep. This time, surprisingly, sleep came to him much easier.
That was, until he saw something that drove the absolute daylights out of him.
Somi. it was Somi who'd come up to him, wearing one of her signature smiles that Wonwoo dearly missed. She came closer to him, hand outstretched as if she was looking forward to patting him on like old times.
Except she didn't, and instead her hand clasped around Wonwoo's throat. The image didn't seem right: Somi, smiling, but with her hand slowly tightening and making Wonwoo choke and sputter.
Wonwoo couldn't even get himself to open his eyes; they remained glued shut. It terrified him, especially when Somi's smile turned into a sneer as she seemed to be scrutinising Wonwoo in every way possible. Her expression looked painfully familiar; she was, after all, the Jeons' daughter.
She didn't utter a single word, but her face said, and hurt, a lot more than words could have managed to. She pulled at Wonwoo's hair, letting oxygen flow through his airways once again.
"Please make this end, please," Wonwoo begged, to no one in particular, shaking and trembling as he hugged his arms for any support they might provide.
And suddenly, he was able to open his eyes, and Somi had disappeared. Wonwoo woke up, frantically looking around, only to see everything as it was. He was still alone, in the same position he'd laid down.
He scanned the room once again, just to be sure, and his eyes landed on his phone – almost out of battery – sitting on the pillow next to his. When he tapped its screen twice to check the time, he saw his notifications flooded with texts and missed calls – all from Mingyu.
Although he knew what the texts said, he couldn't help but open his messages and see for himself. Repeated texts implying 'Wonwoo where are you?' and 'You're scaring me, please answer my calls' appeared beneath each other in the chat, making Wonwoo feel guilty.
Then again, he never knew his mum would find him.
And so, without letting his mind muddle any more thoughts, Wonwoo leaped out of his window, landed in a heap on the messy grass patches around his house, and took off in a sprint. He didn't care what time it was, nor did he care about whether he had been careful or not.
He was really never returning back to the damned house ever again, against his will or not.
