“I need answers.”

           Woozi didn’t look at you as the van rumbled and spluttered in ignition, his lips pursed. “You need to ask Joshua-“
            “Well Joshua lost one of his teeth tonight so I don’t think he is in the position.” You said sternly. The dark night felt soothing, you could comfortably hide behind it now. Neither of you could see each other except for the soft glow that highlighted your faces from the highlights on the van. His eyes were fixed on the road, you were glad that he wasn’t looking at you anymore, his soft expression felt like an hot iron rod “Like you said, I got involved in the crossfire, so I have the right to know why.”

            Woozi ran a hand through his platinum hair, he closed his eyes as he said. “Joshua got involved with a gang.”

            “I figured out that much, ponytail.” You said, rolling your eyes. “I’m not completely stupid.”

            Woozi set his hands on the steering wheel, and pulled out of the parking lot. The car rumbling as it trudged onto the highway.. “Joshua borrowed money from them so he could become a full time student.”

            “Okay?” You drawled out the words. “But why are they going after him. Gangs just don’t-“

            “He can’t make the payments. He was naïve enough to sign up for a ridiculous deal. From what I gathered, he has something along the lines of a forty percent interest rate.”

            Your lips parted, jaw dropping. “Forty percent? That’s insane.”

            “They convinced him it was reasonable. Or so Josh says.”

            “How much does he owe?”

            “Around a hundred thousand dollars.” you felt your hands go numb. “Plus interest.”

            “A hundred thousand dollars?” Your fingertips rubbed the base of your forehead, it was a comical amount of money.  “So, w-what?”  You stuttered. “What is going to happen? Are they just going to keep beating the out of him if he can’t make the payments?”

            “If Joshua keeps up with not being able to pay, he’ll be forced to work it off.”
            “You mean he would have to join the gang?”

            A street light passed by, it highlighted Woozi’s tense expression, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. “If you put it so bluntly.”
            “And I’m assuming going to the police about this is out of the question.” You droned, your chin jutted out, the top of your head pressing on the headrest.

            “Joshua would get locked up.” Woozi said shortly.

            “He would hardly be in jail for long. Which is worse, being in jail for a short period of time, or joining a gang for a short period of time?”

            “I didn’t think you were that stupid to try to go to the police.”

            “It is a reliable option.” You snorted. “Not the mention the legal one.”

            Woozi grunted pulling at his hair, a few ripped strands shining as they fell onto his worn jeans. “But they are smart. They know what game they are playing.” Woozi winced, his stone façade cracking. “They have more games up their sleeve if we try to go to the police.”

            “Which is?” You urged.

            “The police is out of the question, okay?” He said loudly.

            “You just the hate the police.” You growled.

            “No, that’s not it.” His hands on the steering wheel tightened.

            “Then what is it, then?”

“If they go to jail, they have ways of making me and Coups get locked up too.”

            You narrowed your eyes. “You weren’t-,” you set your head in your hands. “-you were in that gang?”

            “A long time ago.” Woozi gritted through a set jaw. “We both left that life a while ago but they still have dirt on us that could still-“ He stopped. “But you knew this already.”

            “I knew that your record had ‘gang affiliation’ but I thought it was some stupid street gang. Not a full blown hard core-,” you stopped. “That is why you had to change your name?”

            “Are you judging me?”

            “It would be hard if I said I wasn’t.” You said. “Oh, it make sense now, why you got so upset when you found out.”

            “They are the worst gang out there, more dangerous because they aren’t stupid, they remember everything.” Woozi grunted. “They chose people wisely, Joshua was an easy target, because they had dirt on the people connected to him. All of our hands are tied, and they are using that to prevent Joshua from running.” Woozi said. “He has to stay and see the deal through to the end.”

            “Is that why he met with you today?”

            Woozi’s hands on the steering wheel tightened. “Yes, he felt he needed to remind me of what he had over me.”

            “What did you do?” You asked. “Surely it couldn’t be that bad.“

            “Coups and I would be in jail for a very long time.” Woozi stated. “My dreams of being a producer would be barred. And the system would probably no longer deem any of us as suitable guardians for Dino.” Woozi’s face contorted. “Dino would be taken, Coups and I would never get a real job again, and if it gets out that he is involved with a gang, Joshua could never even hope of becoming a psychologist.”

            “It’s that bad?”

            “It was in the past.” Woozi scoffed. “I thought all this was over until that ing idiot had to get himself into all this, and here we are.”

            “Joshua didn’t mean to-“

            “You don’t know these people. They are insane. The words ‘stop’ and ‘please’ aren’t even on their radar.”

            “I am aware.” You snapped, pulling down your collar to reveal your red skin underneath. Woozi side glanced you, eyes sticking back to the road, swallowing hard.

            Woozi parked the car and the two of you walked up the stairs into the apartment. “Wait,” Woozi stopped you before you opened the door. He shrugged off his jacket and handed it to you. “You might want to cover up. I would rather Hoshi and DK not know the severity of the situation.

            You shrugged on his jacket and zipped it up, pulling the zipper all the way to your neck, hiding your bloody collarbone.

           When you opened the door, DK was in mid-step, pacing around the living room, Hoshi sitting on the couch, legs bouncing restlessly.

           “Where have you guys been.” DK demanded, almost running to the door. “I’ve been calling you straight for the last hour.”
            “There was situation.”

           “We guessed that.” Hoshi growled, his expression pulled tight against his face; worry lines creasing his cheeks and forehead; the most serious you had seen the otherwise goofy character. “You can’t just disappear after Joshua-“ Hoshi stopped mid-sentence, his eyes darting to you.

           “She knows now. It’s okay.” Woozi said.

           “Did Joshua get jumped again?” DK asked, wide eyed

           “Yes.” Woozi stated. “Its not severe, though.”

           DK groaned and sat down in the chair, putting his head in his hands. He rolled his skull around in his palms, his fingers shifting through his hair.

           Hoshi stood up, eyebrows lowered, fists tightened at his sides, and a forceful look of determination on his face. “ I think we could take them.” His expression hard. “If all thirteen of us got together we could beat them. Even Dino can be a good fighter sometimes.”

           “We are not bringing Dino into this. Hoshi, think logically.” DK said quickly, giving Hoshi a stern glance. “And besides two of our best fighters are in China. We-,” DK gestured in the space between himself and Hoshi. “-have never been in a fight before. Neither have most of the other guys.”

           “Well we can’t just let this happen.” Hoshi said, his jaw yet. “How bad was it this time? Next time it will be worse.” A few stray strands of blonde hair pushed back by a headband fell in wisps over his reddened forehead,

           “They tore out his piercing, knocked out a few teeth and his face looks like a Picasso painting.” You said in a forced monotone. “If you were wondering how bad it was this time.”

           Woozi glared at you, wide eyed and mouthed ‘Not helping.’

           Hoshi threw his hands up in the air, “See?”

           “There is nothing we can do.” Woozi stated, his hands shoved in his pocket. “Joshua needs to figure this out on his own.”

           “What type of ed up friend are you, man?” Hoshi spat, taking a step towards Woozi. “Do you remember any of what happened when you and Coups were in that situation? We, especially Joshua, did everything and anything to get you out of it.”

           “This situation is different. Money didn’t tie us to it, it was voluntarily. We had the choice to get out, Joshua doesn’t have that.”

           “You are just afraid because your neck is on the line.” Hoshi’s face was growing in pigments, he took a step forward, his feet spread shoulder width apart, his chest puffed out. “Coward.” He broke Woozi’s personal space, but Woozi didn’t react. Woozi stood still, staring blankly at him, not even blinking.

           DK stood up, putting a hand on Hoshi’s shoulder and tugging him back. “Hoshi.” He said slowly. “Revaluate what you are saying.”

            Hoshi’s gaze wavered over Woozi for a second, his chest rising. He exhaled the air he was holding in and his shoulders hunched. He sat back in the chair, putting his head in his hands, breathing heavily. When his face emerged, his body language had changed, he looked down at his shoes. “I’m sorry man, I didn’t-“  He said quietly.

           “Save it.” Woozi grunted. “Nothing you said wasn’t without foundation.”

           “Are we really going to do nothing?” DK whispered, his eyes wide.

           “The moment someone comes up with a plan is the moment we take action. But it will be hard.” Woozi looked at Hoshi. “If we get involved it can involve other people we know. If you want to get in on this, you could risk getting your parents or Dino in the mix.”

           Hoshi’s forehead crinkled and he mumbled. “I really didn’t mean it when I said I wanted Dino involved.”

           “I know. Let us just go to bed, we can talk about it tomorrow when our heads are clear.”

           Hoshi clasped Woozi’s shoulder firmly, and nodded; DK was looking at you, his eyes lingering on your jacket. The fabric was sticking to your chest, splotches of the blue fabric turning brown with a sticky substance

           DK opened his mouth but you stepped on his foot, just hard enough to make him wince. “Tomorrow we’ll talk about this more.” You said slowly to him.

           DK closed his mouth and nodded to you, not being able to hide the worry in his eyebrows. The group parted, leaving the tense atmosphere behind. Even so, you had never seen Hoshi angry, or DK look so gloomy.

           “I didn’t mean that.” Woozi said quickly, once safe behind the confines of the room.

           “You didn’t?”
            “Of course not.” Woozi scoffed. “But if we tell Hoshi and DK we are going to do something, they’ll want to help…” He gave you a bored look.                                                       “And no offense to them but they can’t handle this situation.”
            “So you have a plan, then?
            Woozi’s bit his lip, looking up with glazed eyes. “I have an…idea.” He snapped to you. “But it’s not fully formed yet, so don’t ask.”
            “Well, we don’t exactly have an abundance of time. Do you know when Joshua’s payments are due?”

           “Every three weeks.” Woozi said. “So we have before then till Joshua gets the beat out of him again.” Woozi looked at you. “Sorry.”

           “You don’t need to sugarcoat it. I was there.”

           Woozi’s eyes darted down to hit feet for a second. “We should go to sleep. We can visit Joshua early tomorrow, and see how he is.”

           Twenty minutes dragged by and you  clicked off the lights. This felt strange, you had never actually seen him in the process of going to bed before; he always worked on his music late into the night, way past any conscious opportunity you would have to see him.

           When you set your head on your pillow,  your body screamed for rest but your mind was fighting it. No matter how much your exhausted limbs burned, your thoughts were awake You tossed around, your body alternating between being hot cold; constantly slipping your blankets off and on.

           Every time you closed your eyes, you saw Joshua’s face.

            The darkness felt like your punishment, this cold cage of a room. The darkness of the car was a cold glass of water, this darkness was wet knife The silence emphasized Joshua’s screams, his face, bruised and looking like corpse the more you looked at it, lingered here. His pleas echoing off your headboard, so unlike the soft words he spoke. You sat up, clearing your throat. Maybe if you banged your head against the wall, it would slow everything down. You just wanted silence, but the quiet never felt so loud before.

            “Can’t sleep either?” His voice echoed off the ceiling, it had been an hour since the two of you had turned off the lights.

            “No.” You said. “Its kind of hard to quiet the voices.” You chuckled slowly, rubbing a hand to your forehead. “I sound crazy.”

            “I understand.” Woozi said. “Must’ve been traumatic.”

            “Must’ve been.”

            “You were crying.” Woozi said. “The two of you were crying when I went in.”

            “It was a pity fest when he woke up.” You muttered. “He was so pathetic I cried.”

            “I’m going to call you out on your again.” Woozi droned. “That is not why you cried. Can’t you just admit that you are worried for him?”

            “I could admit that was the reason, but that isn’t the reason I cried.”

            “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a stray dog and felt compelled of shed a tear because of how ‘pathetic’ it looked.”

            “You are difficult.”

            “You are stubborn. Just admit it.” Woozi said. “Caring for someone isn’t a weakness.”

            “I j-just-“ You groaned. “Why do I have to admit this to you. Why do I have to admit to anything?”

            “Because I’m quitting smoking for this. Consider this pre-therapy.” His voice was smug.

            “Fine. Whatever. Yes, I cried because I felt sad that Joshua was hurt, okay?”

            “Any thing else?”

            “No.”

            “If you don’t let this out, the thoughts are just going to stay in your head. You’re not going to be able to get rid of them if you keep them inside.”

            “Stop trying to help me, It doesn’t suit you.”

            “Fine. Go to bed then.”

            Silence filled the air, and it wasn’t two seconds until your mind started attacking you again. You pressed your palms to your forehead. “Fine.”

            “That didn’t take long.” Woozi laughed.

            “J-Joshua-“ You stopped. “How the hell am I supposed to do this?”

            “Just open up.”

            “It’s one of things that sounds so simple. Its like watching those stupid YouTube tutorials, yea they make it look soo easy. And you try whatever the they are trying to teach you and four hours and five hot glue gun scars later, you’re still at .” You huffed. “Sorry, off topic.”

            “You have five hot glue gun scars?”

            “It was for a final project. But what I am saying is that it is hard for me,  Something I have never done before, in case you forget my heart of stone.”

            “Your heart isn’t made of stone.” Woozi said. “Just tell me what went through your head when you started crying.”

            “I thought-“ You voice cracked. No you wouldn’t do this, even the mere thought of it constricted your throat. “I thought about nothing. I don’t know.”

            “You are the worst.” Woozi groaned. “I feel like I am talking to a rock. Come on, you seriously don’t expect me to believe that.”

            “No.” You sighed. “Can’t you just at least pretend you believed that? For my sake.”

            “I’m trying to help you get things off your chest for your sake.” Woozi said. “You are going to explode if you keep all that in there. Just tell me what you thought.”

            “I thought-“ You swallowed against the hard lump in your throat, “I thought that I didn’t know I cared this much.”

            “As expected. You don’t think much, anyway.”

            “And I also thought…” You coughed, having to force the words out as they clung to your teeth, not going down without a fight. “I don’t think I can live without him.”

            Woozi said nothing.

            “It’s not like that.” You said quickly to the darkness. “Its just that…he was the first. Joshua was the first one to properly give a about me. And we have this bond that I haven’t ever had with anyone else. He knows me, and I know him. Its comfortable.” Your voice slowly dissolved into a whisper, the words were clumsy un your amateur lips.

            “Is it something more?” Woozi said softly.

            You stared at the ceiling, you were sure Woozi was doing the same. You were glad he couldn’t see your face. “If it is, I don’t want to think about it.” You said. “I don’t think it is. But I don’t know my own emotions anyways. All I know is that if Joshua somehow dropped off the face of the earth…” You sighed. “I would have no choice but to find a way to follow him.”

            “You really can’t live without him?”

            “It sounds cheesy as but he’s my first real friend, okay?”

            “So when you saw him get beat up-“

            “I don’t want to think about it.”

            “It must’ve been hard.”

            “But that is not why I can’t sleep.” You said. “You pried at the wrong information.”

            “Are you going to tell?”

            “The boss knows I live here. But I doubt he knows where Joshua lives.”

            “That could be a problem.” You heard Woozi sit up. “They could show up here as incentive for Joshua.”

            “Exactly. The boss man told me he would stop by.”

            “He wouldn’t dare.” Woozi said. “I’m here.”

            “I don’t think he cares,” you muttered, your lip curling up. “He carved his number into my chest.”

            Woozi sighed. “He always did have a thing for the girlfriends of the people we beat up. He saw it as a power thing or something.”

            “You speak from experience.”

            “I was in his gang.” Woozi grunted. “Of course I speak from experience.”

            “So, how was… it?”

            “The worst  decision of my life.” Woozi said lowly. “I joined it when I younger, naïve; too hot blooded to think things through.”

            “And Coups joined too?”

            “Did Hoshi ever tell you the story of how Coups and I met?”

            “When you guys got in that huge fight? Yeah, he did.”

            “Well Hoshi always ends the story by saying that no one was there, so no one knows who won. But they saw us later, all scuffed up and eating together at a diner.”

            “Is that not what happened?”

            “Half true.” He grunted. “Coups and I were absolutely beating the out of each other and the guy who is currently the boss intervened. He stopped us and told us that we were the best fighters he had seen besides himself, and he told us that he knew a way to get out anger out.”

            “He recruited you?”
            “He brought who was the boss at the time, and then they  us to dinner to up to us. They really wanted us, like he said, we were the best fighters. It didn’t take much to convince us, they sold us with values of the gang being like a family, and by the end of the meal Coups and I had joined a gang.”

            “How old were you?”

            “Too young to be in a gang, I’ll tell you that.” Woozi said. “The person who now the boss of the gang was ‘trainees’ with us. That’s what they call gang members in training, He was the same age as us.”

            “So you knew him?”

            “We lived with the gang, you have to do that when you are just starting out because they don’t trust you enough to be on your own. Coups, I and that guy had to share a room.”

            “So you stayed for a while?”

            “They deceived us from the get-go, so we didn’t realize how serious it would be when we joined. We thought It would be like a brotherhood like on TV. The first few weeks were fine, nothing serious happened, and we thought it would be great. All of the other members were a lot older than us, so they acted like our older brothers. And after we got settled, they dropped the façade and regularly beat the snot out of us to establish that they were in charge. When ever we questioned it, they would just do it again, insisting at there are two parts of fighting: one was that you had to give a good punch, the other that you had to know how to take a punch. So they beat us.” Woozi paused.

“We weren’t allowed to hang out with our friends. They sat with us at lunch, and straight after school, the gang would take us to the house. They isolated us from everyone else, telling us that we didn’t need anyone else. The gang was the only thing that mattered, it was our first priority  in out lives. With the gang there was no need to have outside friends or family, because the gang served as both. And would make us do random things to prove our ‘loyalty’ to the gang.”

            “Like?”

            “Like my wrap sheet says, random felonies. We would just be walking around and they would order me to break into that shop, or beat that kid up. If you refused, you would get beaten as punishment. But for the first year-“ Woozi emitted a  noise that sounded like he was choking. “-we didn’t question it. We just assumed that that is what real friends are like, because that is what they told us. They told us this was normal and we believed them, and they crafted us into the worse possible people. We were cold-hearted and just true bastards. They would order us to do something and we wouldn’t even second guess it, we would agree without thought. The worst thing is that we fitted the lifestyle. The boss at the time even appointed me his heir.”

            “But why did you guys stay?”
            “Are you even listening?” Woozi spat. “It was a hell. Sure, they brainwashed us to think it was great at first, but after a year or so we caught on. They would restrict what we ate, where and when we went out, and who we talked to. The other members were bitter that the boss showed favoritism to me and Coups, because he offered me to be his heir over the other members who had been there much longer. The so-called brotherhood became a hell whenever the boss wasn’t around. The other members hated us to much. Little things they would exaggerate the punishments for; Coups was beaten for three hours after he went against orders and talked to Wonwoo.” He paused.

            “I fitted the life much better than Coups. I was better at taking orders, not asking questions, separating my values from my actions. I was the perfect combination of independence and a mindless solider. Smart enough to make suggestions when needed, not stupid enough to go against orders. Coups became defiant quickly, months before I did. A couple of times even I tried to convince him that this was just ‘it’: that this was our life and there was nothing to do that we could change it. That he would do well to accept it, and stop fighting it…Man, was I brainwashed. I mean it was three years.”

            “You were in the gang for three years?”

            “Three years: three broken arms, two broken ribs, five broken noses. Those are only the ones I went to the doc for. Most times they would refuse to let you go, incase there was a police report out. “

            He paused for a minute before continuing. “Near the second year, they started to restrict when we went to school. That’s when our friends started to get concerned. You see, Coups and I had been trying to hide the fact that it was a serious thing. Our friends all disapproved, but they didn’t exactly stop us because you know, ‘we weren’t going out and committing crimes or anything’.” Woozi laughed bitterly. “Yea, we kept in the dark about everything."

            “But when we started missing school, and a few times they would see us in fights. And they got concerned. At this point, Joshua was only a friend of a friends. I knew Hoshi, Hoshi knew Joshua, that was it, we had only met a handful of times.

            “But Joshua found our dorm and would stop by trying to talk to us. The other members of the gang of course wouldn’t have any of it and they would threaten him, and try to hide me insisting I wasn’t there. He was stopping by at least twice a week, sometimes bringing Hoshi or DK with him. Once he tried to bring the two Chinese members to intimidate the gang members into letting him see us, both of them are trained in martial arts. But obviously, it didn’t work.

            “But I can’t pretend I am some saint who just got dragged into the wrong thing, because like I said, I fit the life. I told Joshua to off, that I was fine and that he didn’t understand and that the gang and I were family and that he had no right to tell me who to hang out with. But Joshua didn’t care, he continued to come to the house. A few times, the idiot even tried to pretend to be interested in joining the gang just to break us out.” Woozi laughed sadly. “But at the time he was a twig, a whopping ninety pounds, and they didn’t want him. Also the gang wasn’t completely stupid.”

            “How did you leave?” You knew what it took to get out of a gang. Initiation for gangs is  the members jump the newbies, getting out is the same. The hesitance of getting out of a gang is surrounded by the fact that when you get jumped to get out of a gang, the possibility of death is all too real. The betrayal of leaving is enough to drive the members to rage.

            “I’m getting there. One day at school, Coups lured me away from all the other gang members, where he and all of our other friends tried to convince me to get out. Coups had been talking with them secretly for months. They refused to let me leave until I heard all of what they would said. But I was unconvinced and I left anyway. That night, when the gang boss found out what had happened, they broke Coups’ arm as my punishment. And I wasn’t allowed to take him to the hospital for a week.”

            You couldn’t see Woozi’s face in the darkness but you could hear every crack in his voice, every fluctuation. He spat the words every time he referenced the gang, his voice soften with pride with Joshua’s name.

            “It took us a few months of us saying that we wanted to leave before they finally did it. They jumped us expectantly after school, it lasted three hours. It would’ve been for longer but Joshua found out and called the cops to break it up. I was in the hospital for a week, Coups, longer.”

            “And then everything was fine?”

            Woozi’s sheets made noise, his bed creaking and when he spoke, his voice was closer to you. “What do you think?” He spat. “You think after three years of mental and physical abuse that everything would be fine? Of course, it wasn’t! There were things I did that could never be erased. They changed me, turned me into a emotionless drone who would beat up nine year olds on the street just because they said so.

            “When he we were out; Joshua was there even then. The first night back, Joshua spent the entire night screaming at me for all the trouble I caused him, and what and idiot I was. I’ve never seen him so angry, hell, I didn’t even know he had that emotion. But the next day, everything was fine, and Joshua was alright. He told me that he forgiven me and even apologized the next day for getting angry. And at the time I was so confused, before everything had happened, Joshua was just a friend of a friend, nothing more. I never gave him the time of day, and when he came by the dorm for the first time, I was so surprised. I didn’t know why he was putting time in us, he were just friends.

            “But know I now, that that is just how Joshua is. He cares for even strangers. And when I got out, he knew I was…different. After all that happened, and everything I had done…I was cold, and like you, didn’t give a for anything or anyone, everything that happened had buried my faith in humanity.”

            “Joshua didn’t give up. He would always stop by my place. There were times when I literally slammed doors in Joshua’s face and told him to leave my apartment. But he would still come the next day. He didn’t care. He would offer to tutor me after school so I could graduate on time, and I refused, saying that I ‘didn’t need his help anyway so off.’ But Joshua didn’t listen, thank God he didn’t listen.

“His parents had raised him good, telling him that if he ever saw a person in need he would have to be the person who helped them, or else no one would.”

            “And he helped you?”

            “That idiot softened my heart. Like you said, he’s pathetic. And after all the ed up things I did, I think he softened mine as well. He was the faith in humanity that I needed.”

            “I saw your wrap sheet.” You reassured. “Its nothing that bad.”

            “Remember the gang still has dirt on me.” Woozi said quietly. “They covered up most things Coups and I did. If they were revealed… Coups and I would never see daylight again from our jail cells.”

            “Do the others know?”

            “They know its severe. If we told them, they would never look at us the same again. I would never tell them.” Woozi coughed. “I’m saying, I get what you mean about Joshua… he was the first person to give a about me too. But that is just how Josh is, his heart is so soft is might as well be Jell-O.”

            “He’ll be okay.” You said.
            “I don’t want him to go through the same thing I did. If he joins them, they will make him into a fighter, and they will him up so bad… he won’t be the same person anymore.”

            “It won’t happen. We won’t let that happen.”

            “You really can’t live without him?”

            “Could you?”

            Woozi sighed, and his bed creaked as he got out of bed. With a click, the lights and burned your eyes. “I’m sorry, just for a second.”

            Woozi grabbed his guitar and turned the lights back off.

            “What are you doing?” You asked as he sat down at the your desk.

            “Neither of us can sleep.” He said. “Playing music relaxes me, maybe hearing my music will relax you.”

            “You really love music, don’t you?”

            “That’s another thing, when I was all ed up. Joshua bought me this guitar, he even named it for me ‘Martin.’” He patted the tan guitar, as he rested it on his knee.

            You smiled. “I thought it was strange for you to have a named guitar.”

            “He bought this for me, telling me that ‘music can help me express things that I am not ready to say’.” Woozi laughed, “I swear that kid was born to be a psychologist.”

You laughed, you could imagine Joshua saying that with the cheesiest smile on his face, only to be met with Woozi’s hard expression. “And music did that for you?”

            “Just listen.” Woozi grunted, sounding annoyed.

            “Did you write this?”

            “Oh course I did, now shut up.” He snapped. “Lie down, you need to sleep.”

            Woozi’s fingers drifted across the cords once, as he adjusted the nobs at the top, tuning the instrument. The stiff notes slowly melted into a rhythm.

           The notes were soft but they expanded the empty room. Woozi’s strummed to an simple cord that held a depth to it The gentle music was loud enough to silence your thoughts in your head. Your heavy head rested on your pillow, your eyelids fluttering shut.

            “Woozi-“

            The music stopped. “I’m playing you a piece, shut it. God, you have no respect for the arts.”

            The notes continue and they moved you. Quietly lulling you, pulling you deeper into your bed. Then Woozi began singing. You had heard him sing twice, but this was only proper time.

            His voice came together with the guitar the two matching perfectly and soothing your on-edge senses. It chipped away at your worry, and calmed your mind. Soon the notes became distant, melting in with the darkness. Your mind slowed and you sunk deeper into the bed, exhaling a heavy sigh

            You didn’t remember when the song in the darkness ended, and when the one in your dream began.

The short thing i promised you will be coming up soon! I figured you would want the chapter first before that. Some of things you guys asked for I can't do, I can't spoil the story when we are to close... shame on you. ;)

How do you guys think this story will end? Comment down below your predictions, I would love to see what you guys think, or want to happen. I always read every comment :)

The song that Woozi was singing was "June Haverly" by Troye Sivan. I thought it fitted the situation perfectly