flutedrum | woosan ✓

38

The room was thick with tension as Wooyoung and San stood facing each other, emotions teetering on the edge. They hadn't exchanged more than a few words since the confrontation in the park, but now it was time to talk. Really talk.

Wooyoung's arms were crossed, his expression unreadable but his eyes betraying the whirlwind of emotions swirling inside him—hurt, betrayal, confusion. San, on the other hand, was jittery, pacing back and forth as if trying to figure out how to begin the conversation he'd been dreading.

Finally, Wooyoung broke the silence. His voice was low, almost a whisper, but the weight behind it was unmistakable.

"Why, San?" He shook his head, staring at the floor. "Why didn't you tell me?"

San stopped pacing, his breath hitching slightly. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to gather his thoughts. "I... I wanted to tell you, Wooyoung. I did, but—"

"But what? You didn't trust me?" Wooyoung's voice grew sharper, cutting through the air like a knife. "You and the others were plotting behind our backs, San! You destroyed everything, and you didn't even think to tell me."

San winced at the words. He'd imagined this confrontation in his head a hundred times, but nothing could've prepared him for the way it actually felt. "It wasn't like that," he pleaded, stepping closer to Wooyoung, though he immediately regretted it when Wooyoung took a step back. "I wanted to protect you—"

"Protect me?" Wooyoung's voice was rising now, his anger bubbling to the surface. "You think this is protection? You call ripping apart everything we worked for protection?"

San's frustration mirrored Wooyoung's, but his was tinged with desperation. "You don't understand, Wooyoung! That company was toxic—"

"I KNOW THAT!" Wooyoung shouted, his voice cracking. His emotions were raw, vulnerable. "You think I didn't know? You think I didn't feel suffocated in that place? But we built something there, San. We built our name, our music, our lives. And you—" His voice broke, and he had to swallow hard to keep the tears at bay. "You just took that away without even asking me."

San clenched his fists, his heart aching at the sight of Wooyoung in so much pain. He'd never wanted this, never wanted to hurt him like this. "I thought I was doing what was best for us," he whispered, his voice barely audible.

Wooyoung scoffed bitterly. "Best for us? Or best for you? Because right now, it just feels like you were thinking about what you wanted."

"That's not fair," San shot back, his own emotions starting to get the better of him. "I was trying to make sure we could be together. I couldn't stand being apart from you, and I thought...I thought if we could take the company down, we could finally be free. Free to be with each other without all the bullshit."

Wooyoung's expression softened for a split second, but it quickly hardened again. "And look where that got us," he said bitterly. "I'm out of a job, San. We're all out of a job. What do we have now? Nothing."

San felt like he was suffocating under the weight of Wooyoung's words, but he wasn't about to back down. "You're wrong," he said firmly. "We still have each other. We have us, Wooyoung, and that's all that matters. The company was a prison, and now we're free. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Wooyoung's hands trembled slightly, but he clenched them into fists to steady himself. "I wanted to leave the company, yes. But not like this, San. Not by blowing everything up and risking everything we've ever worked for."

San shook his head, his frustration growing. "There was no other way. We were never going to get out of there cleanly. They were suffocating us, controlling us—"

"Then we could've done it together!" Wooyoung interrupted, his voice filled with anguish. "We could've figured something out. But you, you went behind my back. You made decisions for both of us without even talking to me."

San's eyes welled up with tears as the reality of what he had done finally crashed down on him. He had been so focused on what he thought was the right thing to do, he hadn't considered how it would affect Wooyoung. How much pain it would cause him.

"I'm sorry," San whispered, his voice cracking. "I didn't mean for it to end up like this. I thought...I thought I was saving us."

Wooyoung's chest heaved as he struggled to keep his emotions in check, but the tears were already spilling over. "You didn't save us," he said through gritted teeth. "You destroyed us."

San's heart shattered at those words, and for a moment, he couldn't speak. The silence between them was suffocating, and all San could hear was the sound of Wooyoung's quiet sobs.

"I don't know how to fix this," San admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. "I don't know what to do."

Wooyoung wiped at his eyes angrily, the tears blurring his vision. "I don't either."

The room fell into a heavy silence once again, the weight of their argument hanging in the air like a storm cloud ready to burst. Neither of them knew how to move forward, how to mend what had been broken. All they knew was that they were both hurting—deeply, profoundly—and neither had the answers to make it better.

But as San stood there, watching the person he loved more than anything in the world fall apart, he knew one thing for sure: he wasn't giving up. Not on Wooyoung, not on their future, and not on the life they had dreamed of building together. Even if it seemed impossible now, he had to believe there was a way.

He had to believe that somehow, they would find their way back to each other.