Us | SunRic ✅

3

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I waited outside the classroom and was happy to see Eric coming down the hall. "Hey!" We entered the room together then checked the school website. "Oh, isn't this Youngguk and Hyunsan? Looks like they broke up." "Think she found out?" "Did you tell her?"

He frantically shook his head. "I'm a man of my word." "Bet Youngguk and Wonmin are going to sneak around even more." We erupted into laughter as we cracked jokes about them. "Hey, Sun. Can I call you that?" "Yeah." "Have you ever dated before?"

"Dated huh..." "Seriously dated. Not that puppy middle school crap." "Yeah...This one girl in freshman year. We only last 3 months. She left me for someone else. At least that's what I initially thought. She told me my aunt forced her to break up with me."

I clamped my hand over my mouth then groaned. "Forget I said that." "Okay..." I noticed the sky was turning a pretty shade of light blue. "Gimme your phone." "Okay?" "Turn it to camera." I quickly took his phone then snapped a picture of the sky. "Pretty isn't it?"

"I told you to forget..." "Sorry..." He smiled slightly then looked at me. "Thank you, though..." We sat in silence then he asked another question. "What would you do if you fell for a male and the feeling wasn't mutual?" "Feel heartbroken I guess."

"I don't know how I'd feel. I'd question my sanity. Like, I've always know myself to be straight." "I understand completely. Sometimes, things happen. And for a reason." "You have a point, Sun..." His expression was somber as he scrolled down the page.

"Hey, are you crushing on a guy?" "What? No. Just thinking." "About?" "What it's like to love and be loved." He had put his phone down and rested his head on his arms. "I mean, I thought I knew what it was like to receive love..."

"But?" "I was wrong. It wasn't the right love." I peered into his face and was concerned. His eyes were watery and his lip trembled slightly. "I don't know why I'm telling you this..." "I guess you trust me enough?" He laughed slightly then let a tear roll down his cheek.

"I hate my life, Sun. Writing is my only means of escape..." "You write? May I see?" He suddenly became defensive towards me. "Or not..." "It's not that you can't...It's, embarrassing..." "You don't have to, don't worry." He took out papers then slid them to me.

I read them over and found myself wanting to read more. "This is really good. You should become a novelist." "Nah...I'd never make it. I'm already on thin ice with the school and I'm so far behind in classes..." "Then I'll help you." He lifted his head in surprise.

"You? Aren't you just as bad as me?" "Yeah, but I keep up with my grades. I promise I won't let anyone know, if that's something else you're worried about." "Then let's seal that with something." We looked at the teacher who was fast asleep. "Then let's get out of here."

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"Something that isn't painful, but not easily forgotten..." He looked like he had an idea, but didn't want to voice it. "What is it?" "Nothing..." "Tell me." "I thought maybe...a kiss?" I covered my mouth then shook my head. "See, told you."

I frowned as we mulled over things. "Fine, let's do it." "Oh, worm?" "Just a quick peck." "So, who's doing the pecking?" I sighed heavily then volunteered. "We don't have to do this." "Shut up..." I rolled my eyes before leaning in and giving him a quick peck.

I furiously wiped my lips then wallowed in humiliation. "Wasn't that bad...right?" "Yeah, totally..." It wasn't as bad as I had initially thought, but it still felt weird. I vowed to never kiss a man ever again. Never.

We walked down the hall and avoided being spotted by other teachers. "You don't have to wait for your aunt?" "Nah. Hey, why don't I come over a-" "No!" He looked at me weirdly as I cleared my throat. "Let's go to your place..." "Okay..." I didn't want him to meet my dad. Not yet.

He opened the apartment door and I couldn't help but admire it's cleanliness. One would believe my home was a junkyard. My father never cleaned and I wasn't allowed to do anything unless he said so. I can't stand living in that pigsty.

"Want water? A snack?" "I could go for a meal." "I'll get something between the two. Take out your books." I emptied my bag then noticed a crumpled up ball roll onto the floor. I picked up and uncrumpled it. I quickly crumpled it again and stuck it back in my bag.

Sunwoo came back with food and I happily dug in. "You act like you haven't eaten in days." I started to chew slowly then stopped. "I haven't eaten since two days ago..." "Oh, I-" "It's fine, you didn't know..." We sat in silence until Sunwoo picked up one of my books.

"So, let's start with math..." I slowly ate as he started to explain the basics to me. "This is hard..." "Do you remember things better with a pattern or something like that?" "Yeah, kinda." "Or think of it in story terms." "I like that."

Things started to become clearer as he tried relating things to what I knew best. "And this is?" "Two with an exponent of eleven." He gave me a high five then let me do the rest on my own. He quietly watched over me as I worked. "May I ask something?"

"Sure." "Is everything okay at home...?" I froze. "Everything's fine." "If you need food, I can give you some leftovers-" "We're fine okay!" I packed up my things then headed for the front door. "Wait, Eric-" I slammed the door shut. I made a quick doodle on his door then left.

I found myself alone on the roof the next morning. Nothing was going on down below. I felt like sliding off the edge. I still couldn't get over the fact he thought we were struggling financially. I was wrong to think he'd understand me. He was just going through a phase.

I leaned forward a bit then back. I wondered if other students had fallen from here. My body hurt whenever I moved too much. I was forced to sleep outside because I didn't bring him back any food. He was being unreasonable as he never gave me money to begin with.

My father loved making up ridiculous things to make me suffer. He always blames me for my mother's disappearance, when we both know the truth. She couldn't stand my father as he was always job hopping and hardly did anything to keep us afloat. She did all the work.

She was grateful to have me around as I usually helped with small things when I was little. As I grew, I started taking on bigger things. Why she didn't take me with her, I'll never know. My hand slipped and almost caused me to fall.