Woohyun pulled up his blanket, unable to see anything because of the darkness. The light went out just a few minutes ago, but he was too scared to go check whether it was only his house or if the other houses around them also had their electricity turned off. It was raining heavily outside and he kept hearing the loud sound of thunders blazing, scaring him even more. He knew that the lightning wouldn’t strike him inside, but he still felt so scared.

He was all alone in the house, no one was there other than him. His parents were still working, probably wouldn’t even come back tomorrow, working hard to get the money they needed to continue living. His brother…Woohyun didn’t even know where he was. He had gone astray since a few days ago, running away from home for reasons unknown to Woohyun. It wasn’t the first time that happened.

He was used to staying alone in the house, having to cook and feed himself, having to make sure that everything was okay. But still, in moments like this, he wished that he had someone with him because he was scared of darkness, scared of the thunders. He wished that someone would pat him and told him that there was nothing he needed to be scared of. He couldn’t rely on himself forever.

***

The lightning strikes and the thunder roars and Woohyun holds on to Myungsoo’s arm tighter. Myungsoo doesn’t say anything about it, he lets Woohyun holds him like a scared kid. They are sitting on Myungsoo’s bed, both covered by Myungsoo’s blanket since Woohyun pulled it up. At first, Myungsoo is puzzled as to why Woohyun suddenly leaped towards his bed when the first thunder was heard, and then started clinging to him—so different from how he usually is. But now Myungsoo understands, Woohyun is scared of the thunders.

“I’m sorry,” Woohyun muttered, obviously embarrassed from doing this.

“It’s okay, don’t be sorry,” Myungsoo said, holding Woohyun’s hand that is holding onto his arm for several seconds, before pulling away and instead pats Woohyun’s knee, “It’s okay, it will be over soon.”

Myungsoo can understand fear, no matter how trivial it is. There is no sure way to make a fear disappear, but he knows that the best way to face someone who is currently scared is to just be there for them and assure them that it will be okay, that he will protect them.

Suddenly, he got an idea. He shifted, trying to get down from the bed, making Woohyun asks, “Where are you going?”

He points to his desk and says, “I am just going to get my laptop.”

That makes Woohyun finally lets go of his arm. It doesn’t even take ten seconds for Myungsoo to walk towards his desk, takes his laptop, and then goes back to the back again. He opens it and then starts browsing through his files since it wasn’t turned off. Woohyun watches him curiously and Myungsoo finally tells him, “Let’s watch an anime together.”

He is trying out one tactic to make Woohyun feels less scared: distraction.

***

“Please let me out!” Myungsoo begged, pounding on the storage room door, on the verge of crying. He wasn’t even sure if there were people outside, he had been yelling continuously until his throat felt dry, but it seemed like no one heard his cries.

He slumped down on the floor, back leaning on the door. He pulled up his legs and then hug himself, wondering how long he had to spend time here. He didn’t know why other people liked tormenting him so much, he never did anything wrong. It was so unfair how those people like to see him suffer when he never got them into trouble or made their lives a misery.

Did he have to wait for them to finally decided that he had been locked in long enough for their satisfaction? Should he keep yelling until someone heard him and rescued him? It was almost night, he had to go home. His mother would be panicked if he didn’t go home on time. So even if he couldn’t get out of here now, he was sure people would start searching for him if they didn’t let him out, he wouldn’t be stuck in here forever…

…but still, despite all of these logical thoughts, he is still scared. And then he started to feel angry that no one heard his cries, started to feel angry at people for tormenting him and for letting other people torment him. And then he started to feel even more scared, when he realized that he started to feel hatred towards people.

That didn’t feel right.

***

“I thought you were supposed to look manly after the military, but you don’t seem that different from before.”

“What? Did you expect me to have a body builder’s body now?”

Myungsoo munches on his wrapped galbi, looking back and forth between Sunggyu and Woohyun, weirdly feeling stuck between them. They are out celebrating the start of the semester together, having a dakgalbi party, but it feels more like a bickering party.

“Of course not, I am just expecting you to look better.”

“Military is hell, you know.”

It’s not helping that he is literally sitting in between them on the round table. He doesn’t know why Sunggyu and Woohyun bicker so much. Is this normal? They don’t hate each other, right? Because if they do, it will put Myungsoo on an even weirder position. Though this is almost always like this with Sunggyu, even when Myungsoo and Sunggyu hang out with Sungyeol, Sunggyu and Sungyeol bicker a lot, too…

…and now, speaking about Sungyeol…

“Hyung, have you talked to Sungyeol?” Myungsoo randomly asks, because it suddenly comes upon his mind. They haven’t had a chance to talk about Sungyeol and the last time Myungsoo talks to Sungyeol, it seems that Sunggyu hasn't talked to him ever since he got discharged.

“No, I haven’t,” Sunggyu answers quietly, losing the confidence he has when talking to Sungyeol.

“You have been avoiding him for two years, though…”

Myungsoo doesn’t know what’s wrong between Sunggyu and Sungyeol. It seems like several months before Sunggyu entered the military, they got into a fight and refused to talk to each other no matter how much Myungsoo tried to make them talk to each other. Until today, none of them tells him what had happened between the two of them, and Myungsoo was still curious. He thought that after two years, things wouldn’t go back to how they were. But he was wrong. He misses hanging out with Sunggyu and Sungyeol, and now maybe if only Sunggyu and Sungyeol get along again, they can hang out with Woohyun, too.

“Who is Sungyeol?” Woohyun asks, being the only one who doesn’t understand what they are talking about.

“Our friend,” Sunggyu answers, “Myungsoo’s best friend.”

“Ah, I see.” “Why are you avoiding him?”

“It’s not your business.”

Suddenly, Myungsoo has an idea. Maybe he should call Sungyeol and asks him to come here so he can force Sunggyu and Sungyeol to make up. He wonders if Sungyeol is currently free or if he is busy.

“Ah, I need to go to the toilet…” Myungsoo says as an excuse so he will be able to call Sungyeol with Sunggyu knowing it.

He stands up from his seat, smiling deviously as he starts to think of a plan. He walks towards the toilet in the restaurant but then after a few steps, when he looks up and looks straight at a table, he suddenly freezes and stops walking. His eyes widen and his body starts to shake, his smile disappears again.

It has been a few years, but he still can remember the faces of the bullies who torment him during middle school. And now he sees one of these faces again, sitting down at a table and smiling brightly, looking happy and relaxed.

He staggers back to his chair, sitting down again instead of going to the toilet as he has planned. He gulps down, hoping that that person won’t notice that he is there—hoping that he wouldn’t be recognized.

“Myungsoo, what’s wrong?”

Myungsoo shakes his head, “Nothing, I just don’t wanna go anymore.”

Myungsoo grabs his drink and then downs it, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by memories and emotions rushing into him. Sunggyu and Woohyun looks at him in confusion, while Myungsoo forces himself to smile at them.

“Let’s finish eating soon,” he says, wanting to go out of that restaurant as soon as possible, but needs a reason, so he just says, “I need to watch the new episode of Durarara.”

That eases Sunggyu and Woohyun’s confusion so now they start to of being too immersed in his animes.

To Be Continued