Dry Flower

마른 꽃

Sunoo and Heeseung once loved each other.

    It all started in one spring when Sunoo was chosen as one of the participants for the National Competition.

    Heeseung from excellence class, is someone who always represented the school with his skills and achievements. He never thought that someone like Sunoo —who came from the regular class, would be his partner for the upcoming competition. Heeseung had imagined someone from his class like Jungwon or Sunghoon (or Jay)  would go with him. So when the teacher brought  Sunoo to their first practice session, Heeseung could only stare at him unimpressively.

    The two had to spend three months studying together to prepare everything. Not every day went smoothly without the two bickering, sometimes Heeseung had to roll his eyes hard knowing Sunoo skipping their practice session, just to go to karaoke with his friends from the regular class.

    “What did I miss from the previous lesson?” Sunoo asked when he finally attended one of their practice sessions.

    An annoyed Heeseung didn't answer the question. He thought that it didn't matter if Sunoo was left out so their teacher would eventually replace him with a more responsible student.

    Unfortunately, despite skipping classes, Sunoo still did well. He even got compliments. This made Heeseung's blood boil and he ended up getting even angrier.

    When he ignored Sunoo intentionally for a few more days, the smaller boy punched him in the face. Calling him a jerk, and they ended up punching each other after the study session was over. The news of Heeseung from the excellence class beating up Sunoo from the regular class soon spread. The two were punished by having to clean the bathroom every day in two weeks.

    Because of the punishment, the two spent more time together. Heeseung got to know Sunoo better than he used to. He learned how Sunoo preferred to study effectively rather than spending too much time on the same problem. Sunoo was not someone who would miss out on his fun time just because he was busy studying. Sometimes, he would invite Heeseung to play after their practice session ended.

    Sunoo on the other hand, began to realize that Heeseung wasn't as much of a jerk as he thought he was. He was just a bit selfish and stubborn, wanting everything to go his way. He was also quite a perfectionist living a boring life. That's why Sunoo introduced him to the things other than studying. He influenced Heeseung to read a fantasy novel, dragged him to amusement park, forced him to watch horror movies and wouldn't stop forcing him if the man refused.

    Three months later, the two of them managed to win the first place in the National Competition they participated in. Becoming the first pair of excellence class and the regular class to make the school proud.

    Since then, their relationship developed to the point that Heeseung introduced Jungwon, Sunghoon, and Jay to Sunoo. One time Sunoo brought  Jake and Ni-ki to hang out with Heeseung and his friends, the seven of them already became very close.

    On one summer, they went on vacation to a villa owned by Jay's family.

    Deciding the roomates with a game, Heeseung and Sunoo end up together.

    One night, Sunoo couldn't sleep because the light was still on, made the boy whined, asking Heeseung to hurrily turn it off  since Heeseung was closer to the light switch. Heeseung never liked when people use others for their own needs. However, for some reason when Sunoo did it, Heeseung found it hard to refuse. How he saw Sunoo's face light up when he said thank you was enough to make him tolerate the other.