Distant Luminosity | Hanjoo

Chapter Sixteen

Not much happened that day, Hansol and I basically spent the day cuddling and watching movies on Netflix. I begged him to eat breakfast and then also lunch with me, which he did at both times. He did it at his own amount but it was enough to satisfy me. I did see Eomma glance at the marks on his arms occasionally, Hansol catching her once and accusingly kicking me in the shin beneath the table when she turned away.

It was in the afternoon that my phone notified us of a text message. I paused the movie we were watching and let Hansol rest his head on my shoulder to watch the screen I unlocked.

[2:04 PM] Hyosang: BYUNGJOO

"What's his problem?" I groaned and Hansol shrugged harmlessly beside me. I simply typed a question mark before pressing enter and tossing my phone to the side. We resumed the movie and went by almost ten minutes without a single ding. I looked at Hansol with a slightly agitated look. "You think he's writing a novel or just ignoring me?"

"Well, look at the message," Hansol snickered under his mask, "he could be using your name quite loudly in his novels." I didn't get that comment until I paused the movie to really think about what he just said. Maybe I'm just the one with his mind in the gutter but, nevertheless, I don't think ...

"Hey, that's dirty!" I pounced on the laughing Hansol in a careful and teasing manner.

- - - - - -

We were having such a great time at my house, it was like Sunday night came too fast for us. I didn't want him to go back home, but we knew it was probably for the best so I drove him safely to his house that wasn't too far from mine. When I parked in his empty driveway, he leaned over and hugged me tightly. I heard him whine when I tried to pull away and I sighed. "Hansol, you have to go."

"I don't want to." I sighed once more, running my fingers through his silky hair.

"I know," my positive thinking was quite useful for once, "but if you go to sleep now, the morning will come faster." Hansol hummed and let go of me to lean back in the seat, closing his eyes as if he was asleep. I moderately smacked his shoulder. "You know what I meant."

He laughed, exchanging another hug with me and a soft 'stay safe' before heading out of the car to his house. I waited for him to successfully disappear from my sight before even thinking to drive away.

It seemed longer than it actually was to get there, only because of how much deep thought I was dragged into. I started thinking about so many things that it gave me a minor headache; Mr. Taeyang's project that Hansol and I totally forgot about, rumours being spread around the school that I'm having sex with a "gay whore" — which pissed me off because of obvious reasons — Jiho's stolen money that I've yet to make an effort to find, Hyosang's random text from the previous day with nothing but my name in all caps, and then there was Hansol.

There wasn't anything bad that came to mind when thinking of Hansol, I smile every time I even hear his name. Of course, he had problems that needed to be helped with, but don't we all? Besides, I was willing to do everything I could to keep him alive and well, no matter the risks.

I know what people say about him at school, but how they're idiots for believing such lies and missing the chance to be friends with such a kind and innocent soul. Furthermore, I am aware that most would look at this from an outer perspective and call him a "bad influence" due to the amount of things wrong with him.

But that's just it. Most would throw someone away because of their mental problems and call them all these different names and labels, depending on their illnesses, and does that help? Not in the slightest.

Though, to be honest, the only thing that really bothered me with Hansol was that I didn't know what we were. Are we friends or ... something else? We never established anything, it was just a "hey i like you," "i like you too" kind of thing and that was that. I was allowed to hug and kiss him all I wanted, but that doesn't always mean something.

–

I purposely skipped being with Sehyuk and the other guys in the cafeteria so I could wait for Hansol by the entrance. It was an awful long while before he finally showed up. The grin on my face was probably visible as soon as I wrapped my arm around his shoulders. "What took you so long?" I asked as we began walking down the crowded hallway.

"I overslept." He whispered close to my ear, like he was trying to keep our conversation from being heard. Just as I was going to be witty about it, a pair of hands harshly grabbed onto my sides and yanked me away from the older.

"Please standby." Said a recognizable male's voice over to Hansol before he cursed at me and threw me into the janitor's closet. "You little shit!" It was Hyosang, slamming and pinning me against the wall in all one quick movement.

"Hyosang, what the fuck?!" I shouted and squirmed in his strong hold.

That only made it worse for me, sadly. "Why didn't you tell me you were gay?"

"I'm not." It's technically not a lie. I think.

"Lie," Hyosang insisted, "I saw you with Hansol there Friday."

Pause. Is this what that text was all about? Are you kidding me? Hyosang, I swear to — wait. "How would that automatically make me gay? And how do you know about that?"

"Answer my question first." I squirmed more, trying my every best to break free. I'm actually surprised the janitor wasn't in here already.

"Dude, I'm not gay." I spatted out and attempted to push him away from me. "You're acting jealous, like seriously."

Hyosang's face went blank for a few minutes not long after he let go of my shoulders ever so slowly.

"Why are you on my case about it? What does my personal taste have anything to do with you?" I continued to yell, even though I knew I was probably being melodramatic about it all. "You act like it's the end of the world. I already got too much shit on my plate right now, I don't need someone antagonizing me about something that doesn't fucking matter!" I shoved him back, such an idiot I was, and ran out before he could do anything else. I grabbed Hansol's hand and hurried down the hall to get to the intersection. I pretended to not hear Hyosang when he shouted for me on the other end and only answered Hansol's unspoken question.

"Hyosang saw us at the meeting the other day." Hansol's eyes widened and an eyebrow raised. "Yeah, I'm confused as much as you are. I didn't even know he was around, what?" With lesser kids being in the halls, I remembered that we had to get going or we'd both be late for our classes. "See you at lunch, okay?"

"Okay." He reached his arms out for what I thought was going to be an embrace, but he quickly pulled them away and turned around to start his route down the hall. Damn it, I should have hugged him.

–

this probably makes no sense but i feel sorry for the amount of stress byungjoo is put under atm like oh my god same

but since it's six in the morning as i'm typing this and the sun is coming out, i'll hit the hay

stay awesome and good (morning?) night, everyone!