Metanoia | Sunki

7

After a few minutes of stressed and uncomfortable silence, Heeseung noticed his other friend, Jungwon walk towards them along with Sunghoon who looked like he had a devious plan running in his head. The oldest shook it off of his head and then forced a smile on his face as he welcomed the two boys to join their circle beside the lockers. Jungwon smiled warmly at the new faces and then introduced himself, nudging Sunghoon so that he would do the same. Sunoo gulped as he realized that the person he had lost because of a fucked up mistake was right in front of him. He worried about what Sunghoon thought about him but at that point, it didn't matter, the damage was long done.

Sunoo noticed how Jake blushed when Sunghoon winked at him and cleared his throat, speaking as soon as Jay was done introducing himself. "I'm Kim Sunoo. Do you guys happen to know each other?" Ni-ki snickered and Jay bit his lip, afraid to see Sunoo's reaction when he'd find out what Jake had kept from him because, after the marking ceremony, when Sunoo told Jay and Jake about what happened, Jake decided to leave something out until it was the right time. "I-Sunghoon is-" But before Jake could finish, Sunghoon interrupted, "Weren't you supposed to be my soulmate?" Sunoo nodded slowly as he looked down, his eyes filling up with a rim of tears and something inside Ni-ki broke.

"Why?" Sunghoon's voice was a mere whisper, he said it slowly, pain dripping from just one word. Sunoo said nothing, he let Jay rub his back softly and even let Ni-ki hold his hand. Ni-ki couldn't hold back, he just had the urge to. For the first time, Ni-ki had held Sunoo's hand, his fingers softly brushed against Sunoo's knuckles and his thumb against his palm comfortingly and that's when Sunoo broke down. The boy didn't once think about how much his mistake would affect his real soulmate, he was so focused on getting rid of Ni-ki that he forgot to find the person he broke and apologize. Without realizing it, he leaned against Ni-ki's chest and sobbed harder. "I'm so sorry, Sunghoon. I really am."

Watching the scene unfolding in front of them, the boys decided to give the two of them time but Ni-ki refused to leave Sunoo's side. He had played a part in the mix-up and had to clarify things with Sunghoon too before any misunderstanding arose. While the others left, Sunoo seemed to calm down and Sunghoon took that chance to step closer to Sunoo. He gently placed his cold palm on Sunoo's wet cheek and wiped a tear that rolled down his eye. Ni-ki, even though disliking what was happening, loosened his grip around Sunoo's waist and let him wrap himself around Sunghoon, who equally felt broken seeing Sunoo like that. And once again, Sunoo broke down crying hurting both Sunghoon and Ni-ki.