Kim Sunggyu used to think that time had always been a form of torture to him. That time when he had to wait for weeks to find out that he had been half-blind, that had been a torture. That time when he had been anxiously waiting for his gift to return, that was another torture. That time when he had to hear the whispers of his disability, had to receive the judgemental stares of his obvious scar, that was a different kind of torture. And Sunggyu wouldn’t admit, but that time when he had been waiting for a certain Nam Woohyun to come back to college, that was also another torture he would never ever admit to anyone.

So when Sunggyu had realised how fast the time had flown three weeks after their return from Jeonju, he hadn’t really understood why.

Just a week following the trip, their team had finally completed their assignment and presented their group work on the theme Memories to the class. Well, it had been a group work, but really, it was mostly Myungsoo’s photographs, Jinyoung’s writing and Mark’s IT skills that helped them through the assessment. Kim Sunggyu was merely tasked to present their topic since it had been his hometown while Lee Sungyeol and Nam Woohyun had contributed nothing at all.

Sungyeol had once protested, saying “Hey! I helped keeping you guys awake for three nights to complete the presentations!” while Woohyun had jeered that “Yeah, by snoring out loud.” But the latter had ought to know that he was actually no better than Lee Sungyeol when all he did was make gallons of coffees for their endless nights.

The week after that had been uneventful too— Myungsoo had been busy preparing for a theatre he was casted in while Sungyeol was just busy being a stalker of his and also the president of Kim Myungsoo’s fan club. Kim Sunggyu thought that maybe for once in a while, he could finally find some quiet and peace for himself, maybe tried to sort out the strange feelings he’d have for the past week, or maybe worked out some answers for his drowning accident—but that hadn’t been an option when Jinyoung and Mark had particularly made sure not to leave him alone while the rest had been away.

He was thankful, really, but the only reason he was finding time passing way too fast hadn’t been Jinyoung nor Mark’s presence. It had been and seemed to always be a Nam Woohyun.

Ever since their return from the trip, Nam Woohyun had never even once left Kim Sunggyu’s side much to the latter’s surprise. It had left him no time for himself, no time for him to sort out anything, and no time for him to even breath for a second when that pleasant churning sensation at the pit of his stomach had kept him pretty breathless most of the time.

If Sunggyu had been honest with himself, he never really expected to see Nam Woohyun the next day at college, nor did he expect him to show up everyday after that. He had been missing from school enough to make Sunggyu doubt that he would even come back that often.

But now that he did, Kim Sunggyu hadn’t known what to make of that change. Yet he knew he would never complained—he had a feeling that the moment he did, Woohyun would disappear on him again and he really wouldn’t know if he could feign ignorance when all he wanted to know was why.

So when Nam Woohyun had been late for school the next Thursday, Kim Sunggyu was almost disappointed— almost had the thought of ‘I knew it’ when the bell had rung, indicating that class was already starting. Just when he thought that Woohyun wouldn’t repeat his disappearance, and there he did it again. Sunggyu had been grouchy all morning—Jinyoung tried to make some lame jokes about Sunggyu looking like a damsel in distress, had wanted to make the eldest smile a little, only to receive quite a deadly glare from him when Jinyoung had touched the topic of “Woohyun hyung will run away if he sees your grumpy look”.

It was almost about a two-hour class later when Nam Woohyun had actually showed up at their usual table, his hair dishevelled and beads of sweats trailing down his forehead while his chest was pumping up and down from his heavy, ragged breathing.

“Woohyun.” Sunggyu voice was more a whisper then, his jaws had hung slightly open as he stared wide-eye at the crouching man in front of him, hadn’t exactly expected to see the mysterious man to be there.

“Hyung, sorry I was late.” He had managed to squeeze in between his harsh breathing, rubbing the sleeve of his shirt against his sweaty forehead as he pressed Sunggyu to scoot over before he had sat himself besides the elder, knees brushing against. Jinyoung and Mark could only sighed in relief when the source of their misery of that day had finally showed up, possibly hoping that Sunggyu’s mood would lighten a little upon his appearance.

“Where were you?” The elder had asked then, inquiring. I thought you’d disappear on me again, he had wanted to say but it hadn’t left his lips when a voice had interrupted Woohyun’s explanation.

“Sorry, Gyu, I was out helping out—“

“Woohyun!” A feminine voice had chimed in, tapping Woohyun’s shoulder as a fair hand had reached out to grab his attention. A frown quickly made its way onto Sunggyu’s face when his eyes finally caught the owner of the hand. She was pretty and petite to say the least.

“Somi.” Woohyun called out. The girl named Somi was also panting, Sunggyu noticed albeit more shallow than Woohyun had.

“Why’d you leave so quickly? I was just about to invite you for coffee as thanks.” She had said, lips slightly protruded in a small attempt of a cute pout.

Sunggyu had looked back to Woohyun, the frown hadn’t left his face as he too was waiting for the answer from the said man.

“Sorry, that’s fine. You don’t have to.” He had replied instead.

“No, I wanted to.”

“It’s okay. I just helped a little bit, no big deal.”

“It wasn’t just a small deal. You did a lot the whole night!”

“The whole night?” Mark repeated, eyes probably bulging out more than he had intended to.

“What—“ Woohyun had probably noticed the sudden change on Sunggyu’s look when he had quickly stuttered, both hands waving rigorously in denial.

“No! Gyu, uh, I was—I was just helping her assignment!” He clarified, voice slightly an octave higher as he looked back at Sunggyu. Somi’s eyebrows knotted a little at the frantic explanation but if she had understood the meaning, she probably hadn’t showed it in her attitude when all she did was nod her head with a small smile.

Sunggyu hadn’t said anything though, only blinking his eyes before he turned back to his book and began flipping through the pages he had opened in front of him. Mark however, hadn’t noticed the sudden change of air in between them and had only aggravated things when he had wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, nudging Woohyun by the waist with a grin so mischievous, Sungyeol could practically slam his head against the table at how thick-headed the guy was if only he was actually there to witness everything.

“I’m not lying! She had this huge assignment due this afternoon and asked me to double check before she could submit it today.” He added soon after, a hand immediately reaching down as he squeezed Sunggyu’s slightly exposed knee. Watching Woohyun’s determined effort to clarify the situation, Somi had only smiled widely before she patted Woohyun’s shoulder, a gesture Sunggyu hadn’t missed to notice.

“Yeah, I needed to ace this one and I had to make sure my grammars and all were good enough. Turned out there were lots of grammatical mistakes and he helped me fixed it! It’s always better to ask someone who had lived in the States all his life to help, you know.” She explained further, her hand finally leaving the expanse of Woohyun’s shoulder as she brushed her slipped hair back behind her ear.

The statement didn’t quite sink in until he had heard Mark clarifying in a voice that Sunggyu had deemed as pure elation judging from the high-pitched voice.

“Wait, hyung, you lived in the States before?” Now that had actually piqued on Sunggyu’s attention.

“Uh, yeah.” Woohyun hesitated, scratching the back of his head as he answered, hand lifted away from Sunggyu’s knee as a result. It didn’t take longer than a few seconds before the latter finally realised how cold the expanse of his skin had grown with the absence of Woohyun’s warmth.

“Which part? I’m from California!” Mark was almost waggling his invisible tail then, was more than happy to find out someone had almost the same background as his. Jinyoung smiled fondly as he stared at the said boy, knew the slightly elder boy had missed his country, had missed his family dearly for having been away for more than two years then.

“I used to live in Florida.” Woohyun answered sheepishly, probably hadn’t expected his background to be revealed that day.

“Woah, hyung! I never knew! This is so awesome!” Remarked the young male as his fist bumped Woohyun’s shoulder.

I never knew too, Sunggyu had thought as he watched Woohyun and Mark exchanging brief stories about their home country, the sparkle in both pairs of eyes were pretty obvious as they reminisced their good old times. It was when a voice had interrupted did Sunggyu realise that the female named Somi had been standing there awkwardly, feet shifting as she tapped softly onto Woohyun’s shoulder.

“Uh, Woohyun, so the coffee…?” She trailed off. Woohyun finally snapped back from their conversation and seemed a bit surprised to see her still standing there, probably had expected the girl to leave when the conversation had shifted course just a while back.

“Sorry, Somi.” He threw her a polite smile. “You really don’t have to but if you still insist, maybe next time? I have something to do after this.” He declined, looking up while looking a bit apologetic. Somi had only curled an understanding smile and nodded her head.

“Alright then. Sorry for the intrusion by the way. Let me know when you want the coffee, okay?” She spoke before she bowed at the table and left quietly, Sunggyu’s eyes following her back as he stared through her graceful walk before disappearing amongst the crowd.

“So… Are we going for breakfast? I’m hungry.” Woohyun suddenly broke the silence. It certainly brought the table’s attention to him.

“Hyung, it’s almost lunch already.” Mark had curtly pointed out. Woohyun had only shrugged his shoulders though, bottom lips jutting out into a pout.

“Uhh, brunch then? I haven’t had breakfast yet. I’m famished.” He responded anyway.

“But don’t you have something to do?” It was Sunggyu’s turn to ask and the others had only bobbed their heads simultaneously, agreeing. Yet when Woohyun had appeared slightly puzzled from the question, it caused the elder to frown even more—confused.

“Huh, what?” Woohyun had questioned back, hadn’t seemed to comprehend the unexpected issue.

“Hyung, you just told that Somi girl that you have something to do a while ago.” Jinyoung’s explanation seemed to finally click in Woohyun’s mind when his lips had hung an “O” before he had simply dismissed the subject.

“Oh. That.” His ears were reddening then. “Don’t worry about it. It was, uh, just an excuse. I just don’t feel like being a social butterfly with her.” Woohyun had explained, dust of rosy pink colouring the apple of his cheeks despite the tone of indifference that he had put much effort on. Sunggyu found it strange that his heart was unclenching the moment he had heard Woohyun’s thought because really, just why and when did it even clench in the first place? He didn’t really know the answer to that himself.

Jinyoung had gasped a bit too dramatic then, his hand immediately shooting up to cover his mouth while his eyes were bulging out comically. “But I thought you were a friendly guy who loves socialising!” He had countered. And if Kim Sunggyu were to describe Jinyoung’s pretense, he would’ve said that the latter was looking as betrayed as ever—betrayed because his opinion on Woohyun had turned out to be deceitful all these while. Woohyun snorted at the exclamation but delved himself in the unexpected pool of praises coming from the younger— beaming at them before answering.

“I’m friendly, yes, but socialising? Nah, I prefer hanging out with you guys more.” He’d told them before his orbs had grown wider and the blush on his cheeks had intensified, only then realising what had been said. Mark and Jinyoung cooed while jabbing unto Woohyun’s cheeks.

“Awwwh, hyung, you just chose bros over hoes!” Jinyoung had grinned so wide, while Woohyun had only pretended that he wasn’t faltering from the cooing and giggling.

“Maybe.” He had replied indignantly, his eyes briefly fleeting towards Sunggyu before they had shyly returned back to Mark and Jinyoung. A small, pleasant smile immediately curled on Sunggyu’s lips as he watched Woohyun’s embarrassed moment, missing the mischievous look Jinyoung and Mark had sported when they’d seen his hidden smile.

A moment and an awkward cough later, Woohyun finally couldn’t bear the strange silence that was hanging between them and he just had to deliberately change their topic to their mutual friend.

“Uh, by the way, where’s our drama king?” Asked the male then, eyes squinting everywhere but Sunggyu.

Jinyoung inadvertently snorted at his question like the answer was so painfully obvious, yet he had still answered— “He’s busy being a president.” Woohyun had to snort at that answer too because really, why had he asked an obvious question? And just soon after, Woohyun was already donning that weird grin, had looked like he was plotting something that was just pure evil.

And Kim Sunggyu could almost see the mischief in his lopsided grin when Woohyun had glanced at Jinyoung and Mark before he had wiggled his eyebrows cheekily. , Sunggyu definitely knew that look. He could only pray he was wrong though.

It turned out; Kim Sunggyu’s instinct was not to be played with. The male had to groan out loud when he eventually found all four of them seated in the huge theatre two rows from the front seats. He knew Nam Woohyun liked bothering Lee Sungyeol but what he didn’t know was the extent of his teasing. Sunggyu had immediately shoved two fingers deep into his ears, had tried his best to soften the loud shrieks and screams that came from the crowd just in front of them.

The male had even flinched hard when the screams all of a sudden took to another level the moment the red curtain had slid open, revealing a man with black locks, hooded eyes and a dimpled smile standing on the stage, looking intensely at a guy opposite of him as his hand was gripping tightly onto a makeshift sword by his waist.

Woohyun, Jinyoung and Mark had cackled out loud when their eyes caught Sungyeol suddenly springing up from his ‘president’ seat and had screamed even louder than any girl in there, catching Myungsoo by surprise when he’d heard the words that came out soon after.

“Kim Myungsoo! Kill that motherer with your hot swordplay! I swear I’d kiss you right there and then if you don’t!” Sungyeol had yelled, had pumped up his fist in the air before he made kissy face, disgustingly in Sunggyu’s humble opinion.

They had only guffawed even rowdier when they saw Myungsoo’s eyes widened at the very much real threat, his face flushing in embarrassment as soon as he had seen how startled his fellow partner had been at the sudden peril he was in.

Being Lee Sungyeol’s only best friend, Sunggyu could only shake his head as he hid his reddened face behind his hands, could already feel the second-hand embarrassment creeping up when he’d heard the unsubtle whispers from the director and staffs of the stage. He even had to wonder how on Earth could Sungyeol transform from a guy who would stutter and freeze whenever he had so much seen the Kim Myungsoo up close to being so shameless and wild in expressing his love for the other. It was a huge leap of change but Sunggyu wasn’t about to ask when all he wanted was to shut this giant up.

“Lee Sungyeol, shut the up and let the poor guy rehearse, would you?!” Sunggyu had to hiss before he swiftly leaned forward and pulled on Sungyeol’s bright red ear. The lanky male hissed a loud “ouch” before he quietly cursed at the elder for ruining his fun, yet had still complied with the pull and grumpily plopped down in his seat. And that was more than enough to make his fellow fan club members to match his move and finally sullenly settling down.

They were still shrieking though, flashing small LED banners using their smart phones but they had been restrained enough to finally let the poor stage actors to continue their rehearsal. Kim Myungsoo had desperately wanted to thank the sensible elder male for his help but he was on stage and he had better not ruin the chance that was given to him before the crowd would began their vicious cheering once again.

The scene then began after a brief silent moment, Myungsoo closing his eyes shut as he quietly exhaled a puff of air before he held the makeshift sword. The dialogues rolled on their tongues smoothly and the intensity within Myungsoo’s eyes as he glared at his opponent was sending shivers up their spine as they watched the scenario unfolded. The male then began to point his sword, steps inching closer and closer as he intimidated his opponent, the latter guy backing up as fear coursed through his body.

They hadn’t realised but their steps had been huge, had walked way past the supposed location where they’re supposed to halt, inching closer to a tower set that was situated just right behind the opponent. Nobody had noticed it, or if somebody had, they probably hadn’t thought of it as anything close to dangerous. So when Myungsoo had lurched forward all of a sudden, his sword pointing close to the other’s chest, the male was taken by surprise, had taken a huge leap backward before he was rammed into the set quite harshly.

The set shook from the impact and toppled over the male—several gasp and shrieks followed soon after before Myungsoo’s huge orbs had widened and all audience had stood up in reflex.

“Seungjun!” Myungsoo had freaked out, had leaped forward before he immediately pulled and removed the heavy remnants of the set from Seungjun’s body with the help of several others.

“Seungjun!” Myungsoo had called out again, had kneeled beside the unconscious man and tapped on his cheek, trying to pull the male back into consciousness. But there had been no response. He had been breathing, the pulse was still there but he just wasn’t responding and Myungsoo could already feel his heart beat accelerating as soon as he saw the crimson liquid trailing down his forehead.

“Someone, call the ambulance! He’s bleeding!” Myungsoo had cried out, anxiety and fear looming in him until he had heard someone volunteered a shrill of “already called!”

Sungyeol, Woohyun, Jinyoung and Mark had already left their seats then, Jinyoung being the one who had called the ambulance while the rest had gathered around trying to see what had happened. Sunggyu however, had only stood there, his body unmoving, lips sealed tight and his tongue frozen to stone. He blinked his eyes. He could already feel his heart pumping harshly against his ribcage, could already feel his breathing ramping up as panic began to invade his system.

No, he had thought. This can’t be happening. His heart had begged. Why now? He couldn’t help but let the unanswered question infected his mind. His head was chaotic then, couldn’t think of anything, couldn’t settle the horrible feeling that was brewing inside him. He hated that feeling, hated the fact that he was becoming scared—scared of his own fault, of his own uselessness.

It was almost half an hour later when Seungjun was finally sent to the hospital, the whole mess beginning to settle down although the heavy atmosphere hadn’t dissipated at all, not even an ounce. Sunggyu was still deeply rooted in his place. He couldn’t trust himself to walk over and witness the consequence for himself. He didn’t know if he had the strength to actually witness the blood that was running down Seungjun’s head and that had pooled under it.

It took about several minutes later when Woohyun finally noticed that Sunggyu hadn’t been by his side, had turned around to look for the latter, only to join his eyebrows in a form of frown when he had seen how pale the elder had looked, how still the male had been at his spot. He quietly walked over to the said male before he had gently tugged on Sunggyu’s arm.

“Hyung? What’s wrong?” Asked the younger male. The crease on his forehead only deepened when he saw that Sunggyu was still zoned out, his eyes hadn’t even blinked once while his pupils were oddly dilated. “Hyung!” Woohyun had called out again, even louder this time that it actually garnered the attention from the rest of students. Sunggyu’s eyelids fluttered open, had snapped his head to the younger standing by his side before he had opened his mouth, wanting to say something yet no matter how he moved his lips, it seemed like words had just refused to come out.

“Kim Sunggyu!” The elder would’ve thought that the raised voice was of Woohyun’s, if not because he was looking straight at the said guy and he hadn’t moved his lips to let out such a loud growl. Sunggyu had wanted to turn and look for the voice’s direction but just before he could even do that— just so suddenly, he had felt a strong force harshly seized unto the collar of his shirt, his body had jerked forward from the impact and his eyes were finally met with that of furious ones, the kind of pair that Sunggyu knew didn’t belong to Woohyun.

“Jihun.” Sunggyu had choked out, struggling to breath from the strong hold on his collar.

“Yah, Kim Jihun! Let him go!” Woohyun had growled, his own hand clutching unto Jihun’s wrist, warning the guy to release Sunggyu.

“Why didn’t you tell us that the set was unstable?! You have The Eyes! You could’ve seen this coming before it happened! We could’ve prevented this from happening!” It was all just so sudden yet Sunggyu barely needed a second to process what the words had meant. He had understood them too well, hadn’t had to digest the words at all to comprehend the meaning when it had already resonated in his head even before Jihun had laid them all out.

“Kim Jihun!” Woohyun had warned again, had tugged on the said male’s wrist as another warning before he would actually act on it. But it didn’t matter. At that moment, the sheer intensity of Woohyun’s growl couldn’t have deterred Jihun’s anger towards Kim Sunggyu. The latter knew it when he’d looked at Jihun’s furious feature.

“Because of you, Seungjun is—“ Jihun had choked out. “Seungjun could’ve died!” Jihun cried out, his tears threatening to breach from the corner of his eyes. Sunggyu had felt the desperation from his trembling hands that were clutching unto his shirt, had felt how the clutch was loosening as a drop of tear finally fell through. Kim Sunggyu could feel something twisting at the pit of his stomach.

Unable to look at the male straight in the eyes, Sunggyu had almost immediately shifted his sight to those around him— wasn’t ready at all to comprehend the looks that the students were already throwing him. The accusing eyes and the frowning looks he had received were just so much more than what he thought he could handle.

And it had Sunggyu trembling badly— not because he feared those accusing looks, but because Jihun’s words had gruesomely mirrored his own thoughts and those stares were only there to prove how right he was.

He could’ve foreseen it happening, he could’ve warned them beforehand, and he could’ve saved the guy’s life from such misery. But he hadn’t seen it coming, he hadn’t known what was happening to the set, and it frightened him how much his eyes had failed him, had hated how much he himself had failed those who had needed his gift the most.

And Woohyun had felt the tense in Sunggyu’s muscles, had felt the tremble from his body and the younger male knew he couldn’t let this continue. Sunggyu was at the point of breaking and he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to mend the broken shards if he’d let the blame seeped through. He had to stop the glass from shattering.

“Jihun, back off!” He had snapped even harsher after that, had gripped the wrist in his clutch stronger before he promptly twisted it away from Sunggyu’s shirt. Woohyun’s menacing growl snapped the rest of his friends back to reality before they had rushed over and hid Woohyun and the elder behind them. Woohyun swiftly pulled Sunggyu over into his arms when he noticed the man was about to keel over, his strength giving away when he was finally liberated from the clutch.

“Jihun, stop.” Sungyeol countered, situating himself in between Jihun and Woohyun. “You can’t blame Sunggyu. It’s not his fault that you guys failed to double check the safety of these sets. Now don’t go blaming other people for your own fault. That is not fair.” Sungyeol had almost snarled then, hadn’t liked how they had put the blame on his best friend when he had done nothing at all. But maybe it was because Sunggyu had done nothing that it had caused such ruckus, such misunderstanding. Sungyeol understood them that much, but still, it just didn’t sit very well with him when the guy had put the blame on his best friend, had even resorted to violence. No, Sunggyu was his best friend even if the said friend had just ruined his fun and pinched his ear. No bull would trump over his friend’s wellbeing, physical or not.

“! Then what the do you guys think we should do?!” The said boy suddenly barked, swiping through his hair both in frustration and worry at the thought of everything going so wrong.

“Seungjun is badly hurt! And he’s one of the essential characters in this play and we had less than a week before the actual performance! Where do you think we could find a replacement who can remember all that in such a short period?!” He had yelled, hadn’t known where to direct so much anger when a small part of him knew—understood that it was mostly their mistake for not being meticulous enough. Jihun’s hand swiped down his face, wiping any trace of tears as he crouched down and drew out a long sigh.

“And not to mention Seungjun had been looking forward to this stage so much. He just— this whole stage was actually his idea.” His voice had only sounded desperate then. Sunggyu could fairly hear the disappointment— could almost see the guilt and regret that was slowly but surely taking control of his mind.

“We understand that but still, that didn’t mean you could vent your anger and frustration to Sunggyu. He was just here by chance.” Sungyeol’s voice softened when he’d heard the defeated sound of the other’s.

“I know. I’ll apologise but just, just not now. I’m still messed up in the head. I can’t, can’t apologise now.” He mumbled and they had all but nodded their heads. They could at least understand him that much— Woohyun really would have but he wasn’t quite sure if it was for the best when he knew Sunggyu had partly already been affected by the whole ordeal.

It made the younger gingerly looked down to search for Sunggyu’s eyes, to see for himself if the elder had been okay with it, but he really didn’t have to when he finally noticed that the tremble from Sunggyu’s body was already dwindling away, his breathing gradually evening out despite frail fingers still clinging unto his shirt.

But Woohyun still wanted to look into those eyes, had wanted the affirmation and Sunggyu somehow knew what the younger was looking for—so he had made it a point to gaze back unto those concerned eyes before he let on a convincing smile and gazed back at Jihun.

When Kim Sunggyu saw the devastated look on the younger’s feature though, he had almost wanted to say “it’s okay, you don’t have to apologise. Everything will be okay” but the words just wouldn’t leave his mouth. Sunggyu could barely stand on his own without clinging unto Woohyun, only then feeling how his throat had just suddenly felt so dry and so parched to the point that he couldn’t even emit a single sound.

He had wanted to talk to Jihun and maybe save him from any guilt that was surely bound to sprout, but he couldn’t even say a word and it irked him so much to know how useless he could be at times when he shouldn’t be. But Woohyun hadn’t let him dwell very long in his self-loathing when he all of the sudden had perked up on his toes before he had snapped his fingers merrily, already seeing a genius idea shaping itself in his own head.

“Wait a minute.” He had said, pulling up a small grin before he had thrown lively looks back and forth between Myungsoo and Sungyeol, earning a quite obvious riled look from both said male.

“What?” Sungyeol had only frowned when Woohyun was still sending them that look and Sunggyu might not be able to say anything then, but he could already see where the younger was going when he had seen that hinted glance Woohyun were sending them.

“Yah, Lee Sungyeol, you’ve been here almost every practice right?” The male had startled them with his abrupt question.

“Uh, yeah…?” The said male raised an eyebrow.

“And you remembered all the scenes?” Woohyun had questioned further and all of them were just as clueless as to where the former was going with all these unrelated questions.

“Well, the ones with Myungsoo in it, yes…?” Still, he had been compliant as he answered the totally irrelevant question, Myungsoo flinching oddly when he had heard his name mentioned.

“And you’re a student in Musical and Acting, right?”

“Uh, yes. And why does that concern you..?” Sungyeol finally questioned back, his brain almost close to be fried to ashes as he forced himself to comprehend how him being a Musical and Acting student might be related to the whole nightmare. But he didn’t really have to think too hard when Woohyun had casually given him the answer he desperately needed.

“There! You guys have the replacement now!” Exclaimed Woohyun while looking at Jihun.

“Wait, what?!” Both Sungyeol and Myungsoo had yelled almost a bit too loud for everyone’s liking. They had all been anything but gaping as soon as the ridiculous suggestion finally sank in. It took another few seconds before Jinyoung whom had been quiet all along suddenly joined in—

“Well, Sungyeol does have the looks. And the height too.” He had contributed, Jihun and few others bobbing their heads, looking almost as if they were agreeing to such absurd plan B.

“Great, now it’s all settled then?” Woohyun commented, had clapped his hand as he looked at all of them expectantly.

“Wait, I never agreed to this!” Both of said victims had spoken all at the same time. And Sungyeol might have felt offended a little when he had heard Myungsoo said his exact same thought but he thought that maybe he could let that slide for now because apparently—he had a more pressing matter to care about. Seeing how opposed the lanky male was against his brilliant idea, Woohyun had quickly pulled himself away from Sunggyu before he made his way over towards Sungyeol.

“Yah, Lee Sungyeol.” He pulled the said guy over, their faces hung uncomfortably close for comfort before he whispered at the guy—sounding more like a hiss to be honest. “This could be your golden chance, you know. You could act by the Kim ing Myungsoo’s side on a ing theatre stage! I know you have the hots for him so why are you suddenly refusing now? You could’ve gotten closer to him this way.” He tried to persuade, although Woohyun had to admit that he just wasn’t good in doing so to someone who was just not a certain someone.

“Well, that does sound appealing but—” Sungyeol had meant to oppose some more despite his then wavering heart but Woohyun was just not having it, just didn’t feel like putting in more effort in persuasion when the guy he was talking to was not someone he had wanted him to be. He would rather be somewhere else, holding someone in particular rather than being there, whispering to an obviously whipped man.

“My plan is always appealing! Now shut the up and just agree to this. I know you want this.” Woohyun silenced the other before he straightened his back up and rolled his eyes when he had seen Sungyeol’s supressed grin.

“Okay, fine.” The latter had quietly said, had tried his best to appear indignant. “But just know that I’m only doing this for everyone, okay. Not doing this for myself. Yup, not at all.” He continued afterward, eyes looking at everyone except a certain dark-haired boy possibly named Myungsoo. Woohyun had to grin at that, couldn’t care less for the details.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever helps you to sleep at nights.”

He had dismissed as he strode over to that certain someone, pressing his body close to Sunggyu’s side before he had thread his fingers through the other’s. Woohyun’s smile however could only stretch so much further when he had felt Sunggyu holding his hand back just as firm as he did.

When the college guard had came over and shooed them away, saying that it was already closing time, all of them finally dispersed with Sunggyu and Woohyun going their separate way while Myungsoo and Sungyeol had to stay back for extra practice. There was somehow a comfortable silence cloaking them when they were on their way home.

Both Sunggyu and Woohyun’s hands were still clasped together as they strolled down the quiet street, had somehow decided wordlessly to change their scenery for once and avoided going through that intersection. Sunggyu appreciated the silent gesture, even if he hadn’t voiced it out. He really didn’t want to go through that area, especially not when he was still feeling a bit shaken and frightened from the event of the day. It was after a while when Woohyun suddenly busted the quiet.

“Hyung, you’re surprisingly quiet today.” He began, walking at a comfortable pace beside the elder. The latter could only nod his head then, didn’t really have the power to say anything else. And Sunggyu really didn’t know how Woohyun did it, but somehow, the younger male always knew which button to push, always knew what to say, and always seemed to know what the elder was thinking at times. It was strange, but Sunggyu was not about to complain either.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Woohyun had stated as a matter of fact, the words had almost sounded reasonable at one point but also almost had the elder scoffing in response. He was just scoffing at it because he just couldn’t seem to agree with it.

“I’ve been trying to tell myself that, thanks.” He responded anyway, his voice sounding like sarcasm although he hadn’t really meant for it to sound that way. But Woohyun was kind-hearted and if ever, he hadn’t really perceived his response in a bad way at all. He had only responded as honest as he had sounded.

“Did it work?” He had asked back, honest and sincere.

“I’m still not talking that much, am I?” Sunggyu had wanted to snort at his own answer.

“Maybe you need someone to tell you that?” Woohyun kindly offered. Sunggyu knew it wouldn’t work in the way Woohyun might have wanted it to, but he thought that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to accept the offer still.

“Try me.” He replied almost in a lost murmur.

“It’s not your fault, hyung.” Woohyun said after a brief quiet. Sunggyu had to snort at the genius way of expression.

“Wow,” He had joshed. A faint smile cropping up on his lips although it was just barely there. “Thanks but that really helped a lot.” Sunggyu let out a weak chuckle.

“Hyung, I’m serious.” Woohyun pouted, a little frustrated because it hadn’t seemed like the other was taking his words for real. The whiny tone of Woohyun’s voice had only made Sunggyu huffing out a defeated sigh before he briefly glanced at the other.

“But I could’ve helped, Woohyun.” Sunggyu’s voice was quiet when he had spoken them, almost of a whisper and it was a surprise how Woohyun had still caught the words clearly.

“But that wasn’t the point, Gyu.” He replied.

“Hyung—Sunggyu hyung. Don’t drop the hyung, brat.” Sunggyu had then said, hadn’t liked the tense atmosphere, had wanted to lift the heavy feeling off and maybe dropped the topic all over. Yet Woohyun just refused to do so when he had only breathed out and tightened the grasp on his hand. The small gesture itself was already spreading warmth from their point of contact to the bottom of Sunggyu’s stomach.

“If there’s one thing that you could’ve helped them with, Gyu—it’d be letting them happen as it would or should.” Woohyun continued, his voice had been so gentle and so careful yet it still had Sunggyu frowning confusedly, hadn’t exactly grasped the cryptic meaning behind those words.

Woohyun saw the puzzled look the other had put on, had acknowledged the confusion with a brief smile before he had tugged on Sunggyu and motioned him to head for a simple park just ahead of them. The younger took a few moments to sort out his thought in his head before he had begun talking again.

“I know your eyes had been the greatest gift from the Heaven.” He said. “Anyone would’ve wanted to have what you had. But Gyu,” Woohyun halted his steps and turned to stare into Sunggyu’s focused eyes.

“Have it ever occurred to you that your blessing might be an evil in disguise? A curse?” He asked, had hesitantly muttered the word curse, afraid that the elder might be offended with his choice of word. And offended Sunggyu was when anger had briefly flashed through the latter’s foxy feature.

“What? Why would I even think that? These eyes helped others and me a lot for them to be what? A mere, evil curse?” Sunggyu’s voice was dripping with animosity when he had answered but it hadn’t discouraged the look on Woohyun’s face. He wasn’t even phased by Sunggyu’s sheer irritated look when he had only his feet and faced the elder, never letting go of his hand.

“I’m not saying that it’s precisely a curse, Gyu. I don’t know how to convey this to you, but what I’m trying to say is that— the existence of this gift, I just think that it might’ve or could’ve been a double-sided coin, or just a double-edged sword.” Woohyun was clambering with his words. “I know they had helped and guided a lot more than it could be a curse, but just— have you ever thought about what it had brought along with its guidance?” He had asked instead. Sunggyu couldn’t help the frown that was forming on his face, had only shaken his head hesitantly because no—he had never even once thought of any bad things that it might have brought with it. Heck, he had never thought it could’ve brought anything negative at all.

“It had chipped away your happiness, Gyu.” Woohyun had given him the answer. “It squeezed your heart empty.”

Sunggyu never really thought that the answer could’ve hurt him in any way, but when he had heard those words rolling from his tongue, Sunggyu swore he could already feel his chest being stabbed and twisted horribly. And yet, that wasn’t even the end of Woohyun’s elaborate answer.

“And there’s more too, Gyu. Your eyes—the eyes, they also blind the people of how the world should’ve been. Those people, they relied on your gift so much, too much, that they’d taken you for granted. They thought they could skip or avoid one thing as long as they knew that it was coming. They didn’t remember that Kim Sunggyu is only a single human being. That in another part of the world, there is no Kim Sunggyu to foresee everything. They hadn’t realised that if you weren’t there, everything would’ve still happened. Even if you still had the eyes, Seungjun would’ve still gotten hurt if you hadn’t been there in the first place. Do you get what I’m trying to tell you?”

And Sunggyu couldn’t say a single word then, he was just so speechless because that had never ever crossed his thought at all, not even once.

“That’s why, stop thinking that you are responsible for the accident, hyung. You’re not, wasn’t even your fault in the first place. If you still think that it was your fault despite what I’ve told you, then just blame me, hyung. It’d hurt less.” The last words that escaped Woohyun’s lips however, had left the elder perplexed, had Sunggyu frowning again when the younger had offered such absurdity.

“Woohyun.” Sunggyu had called out after a brief moment; Woohyun had only hummed out a response then, a smile was already gracing his lips. It had totally taken the younger by surprise though—and maybe some awful pain too— when he had felt a finger flicking quite strongly against his bony forehead.

“Ouch!” He had hissed painfully, his free hand immediately flung up to rub on the sore spot.

“Yah, hyung! What was that for?!” He whined, bottom lips definitely pouting then. Kim Sunggyu however, had only beamed a smile at the younger after that, the kind of smile that had Woohyun’s pout disappearing just within seconds, a smile that had seemed so stunning and just so sincere in Woohyun’s eyes.

“You know you’re just so stupid sometimes.” Sunggyu’s unexpected response had the other pouting his lips once again.

“What? I just gave you a very inspiring speech, hyung. If more than anything, I’d say I’m intelligent.” Woohyun had joked, but the grin he was already donning then had quickly morphed to a look of surprise when Sunggyu had unexpectedly reached out for the hand that was still rubbing on his forehead, had held onto it just as taut as their other hands were, squeezing.

“The speech was okay.” Sunggyu continued. “Sappy, but okay.”

“What, just okay?” Woohyun mumbled, decided that it wouldn’t hurt to play a grouchy man for now, because Sunggyu was holding his hand, was still blindingly smiling, and was for once not angry with him. And there Sunggyu was, softly chuckling and eyes smiling that Woohyun could barely see those beautiful orbs, the jagged scar almost hidden in between the creases of his eyelids.

“But you’re stupid if you think that it’d hurt less by blaming you.” He added soon after.

“Maybe it’d hurt less now but it wasn’t because I’m blaming you, Woohyun.”

“What?”

“It’s because you gave me a reason not to believe in myself.” Sunggyu had almost whispered those words, had Woohyun straining his ears just to hear them. He had still heard them, but he hadn’t understood.

“Wha—?” Woohyun found himself creasing his forehead but he couldn’t even voice his confusion when Sunggyu had suddenly tugged on their hands, had leaned on his toes before he briefly planted his lips on the other’s cheek. Sunggyu could already feel his cheeks heating, could already see the comical look Woohyun was putting on, but he had put the embarrassment aside when he had tenderly whispered a soft “thank you” before he had swiftly let go of the hands and darted ahead, leaving the perplexed other behind.

Kim Sunggyu had left without Woohun—albeit with a shy and grateful smile as he walked away.

I don’t trust myself yet, I know a part of me still believe that it had been my fault—but you gave me a reason not to and that was enough. Enough for me to try and believe you instead.

Surprise~ I'm back from the dead! I passed my exam although not with flying colors. And so here I am, back with a new chapter! Hope you guys liked it!

Oh, also, just to ramble, this story originally meant to have only four chapters ya know. But I at short-chaptered stories and the heck- it went over to eight chapters now. Hope it won't go over 15 chapters though! I dont want this story to drag too long!

Leave some comments! Appreciated all the love and theories you guys are giving me! They drove me to write up to this point! >///////<