Roses | woosan

Twenty-Two

"Hey Seonghwa! Wait up!" Yeosang tries catching up to him as Seonghwa starts walking faster. "Seonghwa!" Yeosang takes his arm, stopping him.

"What?" He asks, annoyed. "I need to get home and clean my bruises. You should go do the same." He gets out of his grip.

"Okay then... let's go."

"What?"

"You said I should also go to your house to clean them up my bruises." Yeosang tells him in an obvious tone.

"I meant you should go to your house and I should go to mine."

"Come on, the bruises are dried enough. Why don't we just stop by a convenience store and clean them up?" Yeosang suggests.

"Okay, fine." Seonghwa gives in since his bruises hurt too much. He walks into the convenience store and Yeosang follows him. "You stay here." He tells him, pointing at one of the stools by the entrance. "I'll buy what we need." He walks away from him.

Yeosang sits on the stool and checks his reflection on his phone's camera. He sees he just has a small bruise on his bottom lip. It's nothing serious. On the other hand, Seonghwa has more bruises than him. One on his lip and some beside his eye.

Yeosang can't help but feel guilty. When he found out Seonghwa was bothering Wooyoung, he immediately assumed he had changed and that he had turned into a bully himself. But now he realizes he's the same Seonghwa that defended him a few months ago.

Still, he doesn't think it's right for him to bully Wooyoung. Regardless of why he does it, he thinks it's wrong.

After a while, Seonghwa comes back and puts the small bag on the table, before taking the things out. "Let me clean your bruises." Yeosang stands up. "You have more."

"Sit." Seonghwa tells him.

"B-but-"

"Sit down. Let me clean your bruises first." He says and Yeosang just nod, then sits down. Seonghwa looks around and ends up seeing a worker nearby. "Excuse me, where's your restroom?"

"It's over there in the right corner." She points and he thanks her before walking to the restroom to wash his hands.

Once he washes his hands, he walks back towards Yeosang and sees him waiting patiently. He starts cleaning his bruises and Yeosang looks away, not knowing where to look.

But he ends up looking at Seonghwa and blushes when he realizes Seonghwa's cupping his face with one hand and cleaning his bruise with the other. He clears his throat and looks away from him.

"I wanted to apologize." Yeosang starts. "And to thank you for standing up for me."

"Okay... but apologize? Why?"

"I thought you had changed. I thought you had turned into a bully." Yeosang tells him. "But still... I may not know why you bother Wooyoung, but don't you think you should stop?"

"Stop moving. I'm cleaning your bruise." Seonghwa tells him, ignoring his question.

"Sorry." Yeosang sits still.

"Okay, done." He finishes after a while.

"Thanks." Yeosang gives him a small smile but then frowns because of the pain. "I'll clean your bruises." He stands up.

"No, that's fine. I'll do it myself." Seonghwa looks at his reflection on his phone's camera and starts cleaning his bruises.

"As I was saying before..." Yeosang starts. "Regardless of what happened, I don't think you should bully Wooyoung. Do you not know how that feels? Being bullied is horrible, Seonghwa. And I can't imagine how terrible it must feel to get bullied by a family member."