Rivals

Fading. That's what he had been doing for a while now.

No one ever notices when the problem child is suffering. No one cares. People like him aren't worth sympathy.

Even as the color drained from Ha-joon's face, and the anger that once burned in his eyes hollowed into nothing, his thoughts still drifted to one person-the one who always lit a fire in him, the one who made him feel alive, the one he hated more than anyone.

Seung-ho.

That annoying smirk. The way he'd grin while teasing him, like he wasn't scared of the boy everyone else avoided. Even when Ha-joon was seconds away from throwing a punch, Seung-ho never backed down. He pushed, provoked, got under his skin in a way no one else ever could.

Seung-ho was perfect. A striker for the Korea Youth soccer team. Six-foot-one. Straight A's. A family that actually cared. And looks that made everything come easier. He had everything Ha-joon didn't.

Maybe that's why he hated him so much.

Or maybe... it was something else.

As Ha-joon's breathing grew shallow, a bitter thought crossed his mind. He wished-just once-that he could say goodbye. Say you won. Say you were right.

He really did become nothing.