Winter Falls || Lee Know ✓

🎓:Don't leave me on read

~🎬~

Later that evening, as the night settled in and the stars peeked through the dark sky, Suhyun found herself curled up on her bed, her fingers fidgeting with her phone. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about Minho all day. Despite the fun at school and the laughter at lunch, his absence felt heavier than ever. It gnawed at her, a constant reminder that something wasn't right.

Without overthinking it, she tapped his name and opened the chat, typing out a message that was a mix of worry and her usual playfulness. She wasn't exactly sure what to say, but she knew she had to reach out. After all, he had been missing for days, and no one in the group had given her a proper answer about where he was. Not Hyunjin, not Jisung, not even Felix, who usually knew everything about everyone.

Min😼

Me
Hey Minho

She sent the first message, staring at the screen for a reply. The little 'delivered' mark appeared, but there was no typing bubble. She tried to shake off the small disappointment, telling herself he was probably busy.

Me
No one is telling me anything about you :(

Minutes passed, and her anticipation turned into an anxious kind of waiting. Suhyun opened their chat again and typed out another message, this time trying to make it lighter, adding her usual teasing tone. She hoped it would coax something out of him. She wanted to know if he was okay. No, needed to know.

But again, no reply.

Suhyun groaned and threw herself back against her pillows, staring at the ceiling. Her mind ran through a million scenarios of why Minho wasn't responding. Was he ignoring her on purpose? Was he hurt? Did something happen? And if so, why wouldn't anyone tell her? Hyunjin had acted suspicious at school, and Jisung's carefree attitude seemed a little too forced whenever she mentioned Minho's name.

Maybe they were hiding something. But why would they keep her in the dark?

After what felt like hours but was only a few minutes, Suhyun couldn't take the silence anymore. She tossed her phone on the bed next to her and rubbed her temples, trying to shake off the nagging worry. This wasn't like Minho, and that made her feel uneasy. Sure, he was the cold bad boy at school, always distant and aloof, but ever since they had started hanging out more often with the group, he had been slowly opening up. Even if it was just a little, there was progress, and now it felt like he had taken ten steps back.

Me
Are you seriously ignoring me?

She grabbed her phone again, glancing at the clock. It was getting late, but that only made her worry more. She sent another message, hoping he would break the silence. But nothing. Just the quiet hum of her phone, mocking her hopes.

Meanwhile, Minho lay on his bed, his own phone screen illuminating his face. Suhyun's messages sat unopened in their chat, and despite every urge in his body telling him to respond, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Not because he didn't want to, but because he knew he couldn't.

The past few days had been torture for him. He had been replaying that day over and over in his head—the moment he found Suhyun in the storeroom with Jiho, terrified and cornered. He had felt such a surge of rage, a fire so intense that it took everything in him not to pummel Jiho into the ground right there. But even more than the anger, there was the guilt. The gnawing, soul-crushing guilt that had kept him away from school.

Minho blamed himself for everything that happened. If he hadn't gotten close to Suhyun, Jiho wouldn't have targeted her. It was because of him that Suhyun had gone through such a terrible experience, and he couldn't let that happen again. He didn't deserve to be close to her, not when being near him put her in danger.

As much as he wanted to see her, talk to her, be next to her, Minho knew he had to keep his distance. Jiho was only suspended for a month, and once he came back, things could get even worse. Minho wasn't afraid of Jiho—he was afraid of what Jiho might do to hurt Suhyun again.

But seeing her messages light up his screen made it harder to stick to his plan. Her concern, her teasing—it all reminded him of how much he had come to care about her, even if he would never admit it out loud. He stared at the screen for what felt like an eternity, his thumb hovering over the keyboard, itching to reply.

Yet, he didn't.

Instead, he let the phone fall to his side and stared blankly at the ceiling. He knew ignoring her was the right thing to do, even if it hurt. He couldn't risk her getting hurt again, not because of him. But that didn't stop the ache in his chest, the feeling that he was pushing away the one person who made him feel something besides anger and guilt.

Suhyun, on the other hand, was starting to feel more restless. She checked her phone one last time, only to see the same silence from Minho. With a frustrated sigh, she muttered under her breath, "Why won't you just text me back? I just want to know you're okay."

She sat up, hugging her knees to her chest, feeling a mix of worry and frustration. She didn't want to care this much—after all, this was Minho, the same guy who had been her rival for so long. But now, things were different. And no matter how much she tried to deny it, she couldn't stop herself from caring.

After a few more minutes of staring at her phone, Suhyun finally gave up. She placed it on the nightstand beside her bed and let out a long sigh. "Fine, be that way, Minho," she whispered to herself, her voice filled with a mix of frustration and concern. "But I'm not giving up on you."

With that, she snuggled into her blanket, hoping that tomorrow would bring some answers, still unaware that Minho was lying in his own bed, wrestling with the same thoughts and feelings. Both of them, stuck in a complicated dance of emotions, neither willing to let go but both too afraid to take the next step.

~🎬~