The Bully and The Bystander 💜 SOPE

2

After the two boys had successfully done their bidding, Cadillac drives the other home.

"That was fun." Standby comments sarcastically, shifting in his seat. The driver looks to him and chuckles, "You are one lonely bastard." He replies, moving his hands further down the wheel. 

Standby looks at him accusingly, "Wow... offensive." Cadillac shakes his head. "Don't believe me?" He says, "When's the last time you've fancied someone?"

"Hmm, about two years ago."

"And how did that go?"

"Not...so... well." Standby sighs as he reaches at the back of his head, removing his mask. He looks down, pressing his lips together in an awkward attempt to smile. 

There was a moment of silence, both stiff and comfortable. The car jolts forward as Cadillac presses on the breaks. "This is where you get off." He says with a soft smile underneath his mask.

The other looks up, "Thank you." He replies as he opens the car's door. "Hey," Cadillac calls up as Standby stands on the sidewalk, "no pressure, alright?" 

"Hah... yeah, no problem." Standby replies.

He stands on the front porch, gripping his backpack's strap as he uses his free hand to knock on the worn-out wooden door. He could just go in, but the doorknob was defective and could only be opened from the inside, hence why his grandmother was always at home.

The door squeaks as it opened, "Hoseok! Oh dear, I just finished making some of your favourite kimchi-- Come in, come in!" 

Hoseok smiles, "Thank you, halmeoni." He walks inside the familiar cozy house, settling his bag down on the slightly dusty floral couch. His grandmother walks into the kitchen to prepare for dinner, "I'll help you," He says as he jogs to the kitchen-dining room.

As he was setting down the plates and utensils, he began to think about the things Cadillac has been saying to him. 

'I only reason I'm even in the U. G. is because of him...' Hoseok thought. He and Cadillac had been friends long before he joined the group. 'But if I weren't there... I would dead meat.' 

He looks over to his right, it was a window. Hoseok notices that the vacant house infront of his grandmother's had been sold. "Weird..." He muttered. No one has ever been interested in that lot; it was ragged, and old. The roof was basically caving in itself, and there were wood-eating termites everywhere.

"Whoever thought of finally buying that ancient thing is a blessing," Hoseok's grandmother pipes in, walking towards the dining table to set down their food. "At least it could get a restoration somehow... Although it would be costly!" She added with a charming chuckle. Hoseok smiles.

She takes a seat, "So how was school, Hoseok?" 

"It was... eventful, in the long run." He replied with resent lingering in his tone. "You know, when I was your age, I had my first boyfriend... Speaking of, do you like anyone at school?"

Hoseok was caught off-guard by this, "Well, here's the thing I--"

Before he could finish, his phone went off. It was an Unknown caller.  "Who is it dear?"

"Um, may I take this?"

"Of course."

He quickly went up to his room, phone still vibrating in his hand. 'Who can this be?' he thought, his finger hovering above the green phone symbol.

"Hello...?" Hoseok's voice was shaky from nervousness. Heavy breathing was heard from the other end. "Hello? Who-- Who is this?"

A few seconds of breathing later, the call ended. Confusion flooded every crevice of Hoseok's brain. 

After dinner, his grandmother went to go rest while he volunteered to wash the dishes. His hands shaking, still hyper-alert and bothered by the call a while ago. To try and come up with some sort of conclusion to whoever that heavy-breathing creep could be, he decided to call up one of his wittiest friends who had connections to almost everyone in Seoul.

"'Ello?" The voice from the other end echoed in the hollow walls of their home, with the prominent crackling of the bad speaker of Hoseok's phone. 

"Namjoon, do you... Do you um--" Hoseok stammered.

"Woah, slow down Seokie."

He took a breath, "I got a call a while ago,"

"And? Who was it?"

"I-- I don't know... There was just heavy breathing and-- I'm just... scared."

A scoff was heard, "Scared? You're part of an A-list gang! Why're you scared?"

"What?! Shh!" Hoseok exclaimed, quickly drying off his hands, and putting the phone up to his ear, "Not so loud! Halmeoni can hear!" He whisper-shouted. "How did you even know?"

"Ah, Taehyungie told me." Namjoon replied nonchalantly.

Hoseok rolled his eyes, "Anyway, just because I'm in a--" He peeks at the hallway that goes straight to his grandmother's room. The lights are off.

"--Gang. Doesn't mean that I'm immediately fearless, or whatever."

"Yeah-yeah... Anyway, what was the number?"

"It was blocked."

Namjoon sighed from the other side, "Okay, I'll do what I can to trace the call somehow."

Relieved, Hoseok smiled, "Thank you so much. I owe you one."

And the call was ended. He put the washed dishes in the drying rack and proceeded to go to bed cautiously, observing his surroundings at a rate where it would become unhealthy.

Sleeping was never a hassle until now.