Popular Song [Jigyu]

Color 13

Empty compliments filled his ears as he returns backstage. His makeup removed and finally dressed in more comfortable and casual clothing, he sighs as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair. The action causing his own blonde strands to entangle into his thin yet long fingers, and he stared at the reflection of himself. The distant chatters becoming muffled and he turned around, seeing the many staff walking by but instantly meeting the eyes of resentment towards his own well-being. A gaze willing to burn him alive, however Jihoon only stood. 

Staffs had already cleared and he could see his step-mother warily staring at her husband, trying to reach out and stop him from his storming steps that sounded far too clear in Jihoon's ears. "Don't make a scene!" she said quietly, the words barely above a whisper but Jihoon hears it enough to easily read her lips. The tall man that stood before him and taken the title of being his own 'father' stood with a glare, and Jihoon glanced up to meet his father's eyes without much forethought. 

"What the fuck was that?" his father had asked in a harsh tone, his voice gruff and Jihoon could hear the straining anger within his voice. Not like Jihoon ever minded. His step-mother stood behind her husband with downcast eyes, the rich jewelry twinkling by the lights above in the corner of Jihoon's eye. Momentarily, he forgotten who the hell was this man who stood before him and what he meant to Jihoon. "Are you talking about the song or the outfit?" Jihoon asks, the irony of his own words causing his own father's glare to intensify and lift up a hand. 

The silver ring glowing under the lights above, dazzling back at Jihoon in pure mockery. A severe strike had caused his own mouth to sting and he had thought his own dry lips had broken to bleed, but he licked to only be proved wrong. "Do not act fucking smart with me, Jihoon. You don't know, how fucking pissed I am at you. I fucking waste my time to hear that bullshit of a song?" a complain fell from his father's lips, and Jihoon felt his own chest twist painfully, ready to bite back with his own harsh words. 

"What do you want to hear, then?" he asks, meeting his father's gaze with the stinging pain reminding how his father can hurt him any moment. Despite, his step-mother's  protests and begs, his father will not listen to anyone especially from a woman. 

His father scoffed as though Jihoon had asked such an obscure question, "Fucking talent, Jihoon! Not that shitty music." 

Clenching his fists, his own words spilling from his lips in a much angrier tone. The things he does for his own father's satisfactory, it seems like every effort he makes is somehow meaningless to his shitty father. "What the fuck do you know about music?" Jihoon hisses back, however his face turned painfully to the side, and he knew the silver had finally caused his own chapped lips to break by the impact. Blood seeped at the corner of his own mouth and he held back the urge to scream at his father, knowing the man is crazy enough to slap him until he says no more. 

"Jihoon! Why the fuck did you do that?!" Mingyu's voice had suddenly chimed by the entrance of the backstage and Jihoon rose his chin to see the familiar pair, however Soonyoung held onto Mingyu to not interfere and covered his mouth. The two nearly wrestling each other, but Soonyoung tightly press a hand onto the yapping dog's mouth. Getting grabbed by the chin by roughly skinned fingers, almost similar to a reptile shedding, Jihoon met the eyes of his own father's angry gaze. "Don't you fucking dare waste my fucking time, when you have no good music to be played for me." his father had warned, and Jihoon's anger chipped away. 

He felt unfair. 

'It's always about you, isn't it?'

However, he only nodded and he was let go by the reptile's grasp. Instantly walking off with thundering footsteps, and he felt the loneliness overcome his well-being despite the presence of his own friends at the entrance. Quietly, Mingyu glared at Jihoon's father, but his father did not bother to spare a glance towards the inferior as he remains superior. His step-mother didn't scurry off with his father but only took out her handkerchief and instantly reaching out to wipe the blood at the corner of his lips, and Jihoon moved away from her gentle touch.