The Second Chance of A Suicidal Idol

Auditions (3)

He quickly entered the bathroom, dashing into one of the stalls and shutting in with shaking hands. Tears then began to pool from his eyes, as if leaving on their own. Joon-woo frantically wiped at his tears, trying to squeeze his eyes as if to stop them.

He hated the burning in his eyes, the way his eyes began to show red and the way his cheeks grew wet. Then, his hands grew numb, but they didn't stop shaking. He squatted into himself as his vision furrowed and dipped under the weight of emotions rushing through.

Under his panic, he heard the quiet squeak of the bathroom door open, and his breath stopped, but as if his brain had become separate from himself, he couldn't stop the tears from falling or his vision from twisting. Why was he even doing this? When he killed himself as Ha-rin he never wanted to see earth or Korea, or even hear music anymore, he wanted to live without pain. So why was he back?

"Hey, hey!" A voice called, and Joon-woo wasn't sure if it was even directed towards him because he hadn't even checked if anyone was in this bathroom previously. "Park Joon-woo?" The voice asked again, and Joon-woo recognized it and he silently cursed.

Reggie Lee knocked at the stall door, "Hey, hey man! Are you okay?" He asked, "I saw you running..."

Joon-woo saw Reggie's shoes from the little space under the stall door and pursed his lips. Joon-woo desperately wiped at his tears, begging them to stop pouring.

He tilted his head up to stop the tears from falling down his cheeks, tapping at his knee as he felt his eyes run out of tears to cry and his vision found some stability.

"I'm fine, I'm okay–" Joon-woo quietly replied to Reggie, who still, persistently stood on the other side of the door. Joon-woo's eyes stung with how hard he rubbed at them, and with more strength than he would usually do, he stood from his squat. "I'm fine."

Joon-woo opened the door and slipped past Reggie who stood in front. Reggie had long removed his cap and he looked at Joon-woo with pity.

"It sounded like—" Reggie began to reply.

"I know what it sounded like. I'm fine, please drop it." Joon-woo insisted.

Reggie's face twisted in unsurity, as he examined Joon-woo's red eyes and anger-like expression. Joon-woo looked at Reggie with judgmental eyes, what did he want from him?

Joon-woo resolutely turned towards the bathroom door and away from Reggie. But as he placed his hand in the door knob, Reggie's voice stopped him.

"Park Joon-woo! Please be my friend!" Reggie yelled, bowing in Joon-woo's direction with a slip of paper.

Joon-woo tilted his head, panic being replaced with confusion. Reggie's hair ruffled as he bowed, "Eh?" Joon-woo replied.

"You're the only person that's actually been nice to be here and I really appreciate what you said earlier when we first met and so when I saw you run away to the bathroom I was really concerned because you were so nice to me and I made you really uncomfortable!" Reggie rambled.

Joon-woo tilted his head, still processing the choppy korean, "Oh." He replied

"And I totally understand if you don't want to talk to me because I know this is really really sudden but—" Reggie went on to continue but Joon-woo cut him off.

"Um no— It's fine, we can be... friends." Joon-woo replied, trying to word it so they didn't seem like children on the playground.

Reggie looked up, eyes opening wide and lighting up. He pursed his lips, "Thank you..." He quietly murmured.

Joon-woo awkwardly nodded, removing the slip of paper from Reggie's hands cautiously. On it was a phone number.

He held the paper to Reggie's line of vision, "I'll be in contact." Joon-woo said, quietly shuffling out of the bathroom with his cheeks rising red.

The first step he took out of the bathroom he looked and saw Kite perched on the nearest chair. Had that really just happened? Had he really just been approached by someone with the want to be a friend? He shook his head.

"Kite." Joon-woo called, the bird looking up and flying over to Joon-woo's figure.

Kite, with ruffled feathers, tilted his head at Joon-woo. "Are you okay?" It asked.

Joon-woo sighed, even as Ha-rin he hated that question, because he knew the answer would be 'no'. He hated when people would impose their worry on him because he didn't need it, he could take care of himself fine. He looked to Kite and frowned, "I'm fine, Kite." He insisted, because he was.

"You don't look fine." Kite insisted.

"I'll be better if you drop it." Joon-woo claimed, shunning the concerned Kite with a deadpan.

Kite just eyed Joon-woo suspiciously, "So you aren't fine." It confirmed.

Joon-woo scoffed, "Well you better get used to it if you're gonna follow me the whole time." He joked, Kite frowned. "By the way, does Park Joon-woo have a phone?" He asked, both trying to drive away Kite's worry and fill his curiosity.

Kite shook its head disapprovingly, opening its beak to reply.