𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 || seongsang

28⋆Promise

"And yeah... I met Yeosang when he started in my class. He seemed so terrified all the time, but back then I obviously didn't know why. But there was something about him, something that made me want to be his friend."

While Wooyoung goes into the part of the story when he and Yeosang's friendship began, Seonghwa is slowly starting to feel a little distant. He is sitting on the chair, frozen, with tears in his eyes and trembling lips. The pain he had had in his heart has turned into a different kind of pain, a pain for Yeosang.

"It took years before he told me what had happened," Wooyoung continues, "and our friendship has suffered from many rough times. Yeosang would often shut me out, get into fights with older boys. Whenever he achieved something good, he felt bad about it, like he didn't deserve it. So he would go out and provoke someone bigger than him, just to get beat up. That's what happened the other day, when Jongho saw him. He tried to stop Yeosang from acting foolish again, but it didn't work out... It's been years since the last time. We might be best friends, but we don't share the TMI stuff too often. But one night we went out drinking he did tell me some things which made me think he had changed getting beat up with one-night stands. He needs the comfort of another person close to him, but not too close. One-night stands were a perfect solution. Until he met you."

Seonghwa nods a couple of times, fighting to hold the tears locked in place. Everything is slowly coming together in his mind. How Yeosang has been so distant, and so scared of all kinds of feelings. And why he reacted so strongly to the foolish question Seonghwa had asked him. If only Seonghwa hadn't listened to Hyunjin.

And speaking of Hyunjin...

"Wooyoung," Seonghwa finally speaks up, "what can you tell me about Hwang Hyunjin?"

"Hyunjin?" Wooyoung's eyes widen up and his mouth briefly turns into a small circle, "w-why are you asking about him?"

"I met him a while back... Should I be afraid of him?"

The look on Wooyoung's face is hard to read. He runs his fingers through his blonde hair a few times, while biting his lower lip. Seonghwa watches him intensely, waiting for an answer.

"No," Wooyoung finally says, "Hyunjin is fucked up, but he is harmless to someone like you. If you just choose to ignore him."

Wooyoung proceeds to tell Seonghwa about Hyunjin, how he and Yeosang had met each other at the group therapy. Hyunjin had had his own issues, but Wooyoung doesn't know much about it. Somehow Hyunjin had felt a deeper connection with Yeosang and the two started hanging out, sharing their deepest, darkest thoughts with each other.

"I think, Hyunjin thinks he is in love with Yeosang. But it's not real love, it's an obsession. He feels no one has ever understood him like Yeosang did. But Hyunjin was bad influence, making Yeosang do all kinds of stupid things. Poor kid, Hyunjin, he is a troubled one but he only brought Yeosang even more down," Wooyoung says with a shadow hovering over his otherwise cheerful face. He nervously moves around, tugging the end of his shirt.

"Wooyoung, are you okay?" Seonghwa carefully asks, well aware that no one could ever be okay knowing that his best friend has lived through all of this.

"Yeah I... Anyway..." Wooyoung clears his throat and wipes a small tear away from his eye at the same time, "About three years ago, Yeosang was already doing so much better. He had quickly moved to the top of the class, he always used to tell me he wanted to succeed and make his father proud. But Hyunjin was stuck in the same old loop, hating how Yeosang was doing well."

And just as Seonghwa dared to think that the pain in his heart couldn't get any worse, it happened. Wooyoung's eyes tear up as well, when he shares the next part. Seonghwa has to close his eyes, hide his face with his hands as the words flow through his ears.