As Dongju walked home that night, he found that he couldn't seem to think of anything except Geonhak's smile and the way his eyes sparkled in the starlight. He was also thinking about how he suggested that they meet the next night. He wasn't really thinking at that moment and he just blurted it out randomly so honestly, he was surprised Geonhak had agreed. Nonetheless it made him happy that Geonhak seemed to like him. When he reached his house, before he even opened the door he heard his parents loudly arguing.
Not again. Please not again.
He begged silently. He stood there quietly for a few moments until he finally decided to open the door. He walked inside and the arguing of his parents grew louder now that there was nothing between the yelling and Dongju. He silently took his shoes off and tiptoed up the stairs so as not to draw attention to himself. He made it to his room and closed the door behind him. He didn't even bother to change into pajamas before he dropped onto his bed and broke down into tears. He tried to choke back his sobs so he wouldn't make any noise but still he lay there on his bed tears running freely down his face as he cried into the night. He was so tired of his parents arguing all the time. It seemed to be all they did since the death of his twin brother Dongmyeong. Everyday he left the house before they woke up so he didn't have to hear them scream at each other. Every night he came back as late as he could and sometimes, he didn't come home at all. His parents didn't even notice so why should he bother coming home on time. He cried into his pillow not knowing what else to do. Despite his efforts his sobbing was loud and uncontrollable as his tears fell like waterfalls of silver down his soft cheeks. He was so lonely. He had no one and nothing. He was slowly breaking on the inside but did his parents care? No. Of course they didn't. He had never been the favorite. Never been the perfect son they wanted. Whenever he had been scolded by his parents for something he had always gone straight to Dongmyeong. He would walk into his room without knocking and his twin would look up, take one look at his brother's tear stained face and hold his arms out for Dongju to crawl into and be held. He would have Dongju stay with him for the rest of the night and he would fall asleep in his twins arms. He's even helped Dongju with the panic attacks that he had whenever his anxiety was bad. His parents don't know about his anxiety because Dongju hid it from them, not wanting it to be one more imperfect thing for his parents to yell at him about. But now that Dongmyeong was gone, his parents argued constantly and Dongju had no one to comfort him. No one cared. After two more hours the yelling stopped and he fell into a restless sleep ready to wake up before the sun rose so he could escape his house unnoticed.
