Jiyong woke up pained, and dizzy. The jeans, still blood coated on the inside, had scratched against his leg painfully in the awkward motions of when he sleeps. The black plug-in clock flashed bright red numbers that red a little past three a.m into a colorless face. The teenager groaned pitifully,tossing the covers as he shuffled towards his bathroom. Just the few minutes it took made Jiyong feel weak. His wobbly legs gave out when he reached the cold tiling,making him have to hold himself up with the dirtied-yet-clean sink. Waking up had always been a challenge for him, and when he was this dead to everything it was so much worse. Every thing got worse.

 

The boy looked in the mirror,grumbling at the horrendous sight that was staring back at him. Had he always been that skinny? No. It was only because he hadn't been eating much lately, and he knew that because when he did start eating again, it felt weird like the substances just didn't belong in his body. Though he didn't really have a good excuse like that one for why he was so ugly otherwise like his deflated cheeks, the pimple that was appearing on his temple and black rims around his eyes. All the things that would usually ruin a teenagers day just made Jiyong sigh, remebering how pitiful he was. Maybe he should change it. Maybe he could try. Maybe he should just turn his brain off. 

 

"How messed up am I when my only consolation is a ing nightmare staring back in a mirror?"

 

Jiyong sat on the toilet,picking up his pant leg to look at the multitude of scratches that made pain reverberate through his nervous system. Six of the twenty or so scratches had changes in color and were leaking some kind of puss that made Jiyong shiver. Did they really have to get infected now of all times? Could anything else go wrong for him,like really? It could be bad if he let it go, and it would be painful either way,so he cleaned the ugly injuries and took some pills before crashing his way back to his room because he is just too tired to give a damn, and if his parents woke up, well to bad for them then. 

 

Sunlight streams through the curtains of his window,waking him up at somewhere between nine and ten, to remind Jiyong that he was still living as if he didn't know that already. The teenager to his side,yawning lightly as he decided whether he had the strength to face the world, or wanted to take that short and easy tunnel to dark slumber. His choice was made for him a few moments shortly afterwards when his phone was going off. To answer, or ignore, that is the question. Jiyong was too nice. He ended up answering the phone, looking at the message the lit up the small, flashing screen of the device.

 

U gonna watch Ur bf get smashed today, Jiyongie Jagiya?

 

Jiyong actually almost threw up, and even though he did it a lot, this time he had to swallow it back down with the bile taste intruding his mouth. As he fought back to not throw whatever substances were in his stomach, he did throw his phone into his dresser that was opposite him in fury. So Siwon found out about the nickname too, but more importantly, did Jiyong want to watch this fight? Did he want to face Seunghyun, and watch them quarrel? The damaged phone rang in the corner again. Glaring eyes turned to the device as he grabbed it and read the next message. 

 

Ur bf chose U as the prize. If I win Ur mine 4 a while

 

Jiyong immediately punched a reply to this message because now he had the horrible  to knock Seunghyun out too. Who was he that he thought he could turn Jiyong into a fight prize? But wait, if Seunghyun loses.. Damnit! I told him to turn down the fight! What's he trying to prove? There was no way Seunghyun was going to win this with the way Siwon plays! Jiyong growled as he responded to Siwon, his teeth gritted so hard that he was surprised he wasn't spitting blood from every space in his mouth.

 

It wasn't until after the message sent that he realized he never corrected the boyfriend idea, but he figured he could do that later. Right now, he had a much different matter to deal with which was: not only was Jiyong was unstable by himself,but it was so obvious that he was surprised his parents hadn't called suicide watch on him yet. So he grabbed clothes and went to the shower because there was no way he was going to admit that he needed Seunghyun in his life,nor for Siwon to go easy on him. After all, they were only together, not even officially, for what, a day? And the only reason he was like this was because of Siwon anyway,and maybe he liked Seunghyun a little so he was hurt that they had to go separate ways, but he wasn't going to collapse over that if he didn't collapse over Siwon's brutality. So he was going to face Siwon and Seunghyun head on. If only he could admit  the real reason he wanted to go.

 

When Jiyong emerged from his shower, towl around his waist and washcloth around his shoulders, he checked his phone. As his fingers brushed around the numerous digits, he used his other hand to try and dry his now-mostly-brown hair. The clock flashed almost noon,making the lazy boy sigh. The fight was in a few hours. A few hours to kill. A few hours to mentally prepare himself for this. 

 

Jiyong reapplied medicine to the infectious skin of his calph, grumbling and hissing profanities at the pain and ugliness of it. Another scar for the collection. He popped a few more aspirins to try and amend the leg's aching at least a little bit more before he laid back on his bed with hopes of sleeping. Luckily he did, unluckily his parents returned home and the noise they made was proof of that. The boy exited his room unhappily, walking down to the kitchen to see his father's face first.

 

"Annyeong appa," he said, crossing over towards the counter. Somehow he managed to smoothly put his elbows onto the stone table top without getting a look of uneasiness from the latter.

 

Tae Hyuk was on the other side of the room by the fridge,turning around to see his son. The lines of his face were deeper,showing the reprocussions of current stress. It was a good thing for Jiyong because at times like this, his father was much more oblivious to him. "Annyeong. You just wake up?"

 

Jiyong opened his mouth, pretending like he was going to say something, but his sister was coming in with bags so he pretended that he didn't get that far. Tae Hyuk began telling Dami where to put things, giving Jiyong time to sneak out of the room because he really wasn't paying attention to the sixteen year old. Of course, then his mother caught him, immediately sticking both her hands to his cheeks in a medical examination.

 

"Are you feeling better,honey?" 

 

Jiyong took his mothers hands away from his face,leaving them at her side. Soo Yun brought them to her chest to cross them as she eyed the boy. The look was of judgment, and he laughed as he brought her hands back down,trying to reassure her, he was okay. No, he wasn't. "I'm fine now. I think it was just a few hour bug, or maybe something that I fought off quickly." Maybe it was just the loneliness that was killing him.

 

"Are you sure? You looked really bad the other day."

 

The woman was very good at playing detective with her son, and even if she was so easy to trick, she tried to make it seem like she was interested, but really, she didn't care more than his father did most of the time. She was just better at pretending,like now, where she was trying to make it seem like it was going to be very hard to get past medical mom on duty. Even so, there was no way that he was missing what was going to happen soon because even if he didn't want to go, Siwon would have someone hunt him down and drag him out of the house by his hair if he didn't go. As the prize U have 2 be there Jiyongie jagiya. The letters flashed into his mind like a drug in his veins, taking over every feeling, motion, thought that he had. It made him smile, and lie to his mother better than he always did. Why? Because the lies had taken over his life just like drugs would.

 

"Yeah. I felt really bad too, but I have to go and bring something over to Daesung's house because he really needs it. I'll be okay. I promise, eomma." 

 

The woman looked very doubtful, watching every reaction that Jiyong made. She watched him like a mother tiger, studying a human near her cubs. If there was so much as one tiny flaw, the whole thing would go down in shambles because she would attack, and he would die. Well, it should be that way.  It was a very predatorial meeting because mothers took more care with their children than anything else in the world,period, but that didn't mean she payed attention exactly. 

 

"Please? I promise I'm okay. I'll call you later if you really want." The pleading was what always got his mom to simmer down, and was actually one of her biggest mistakes in him. Jiyong hated how much his mom believed in him because it hurt when he lied, but he needed to so he could protect her happiness and peace of mind.

 

Finally, after a long, long moment, she nodded breifly, raising her hand to show him that she meant business. For a five foot six woman, she packed a punch and could put the fear of God into any man. "Hell hath no fury to a woman's scorn."

 

"Call me in a few hours and tell me how your feeling or I'll come looking for your skinny ." She warned, laughing as he kissed her puffy cheek right then too, and giving his a light smack as he headed to the front door. The petite woman waved to her son, watching him exit the house, truly thankful for such a good son.

 

Jiyong closed the door and began his long walk to the central park. It would be a half an hour walk, with who knows how many people staring at him, and he had to try and not get jumped on the way there. This was going to be a fun walk, and that was only because he knew that he would make it to the park. Siwon would have seen to it that the "prize" got there safetly. Oh, Seunghyun was going to pay.