Chapter 4

Hyunseung stomped angrily as he walked away from the school. He was sick of school. He was sick of being bullied. He was sick of Junhyung. And now, he was sick of Gikwang. He hated being pitied even more than being bullied.

It wasn’t long before Hyunseung made it to his run-down apartment. He stomped up the stairs and down the hallway to his door. Once it was open, he walked in, slamming it shut behind him. He walked past his kitchen once more and locked himself inside his room.

Hyunseung paced angrily around his room in the dark. He had the urge to reach out and through the few objects around him across the room. It took everything in him to hold himself back.

‘Who the hell does he think he is? Acting as if he has never bullied me before. Acting like nothing has ever happened. What the hell was he trying to do? Why was he being nice to me? He’s just trying to mess with my head. Well, he can just off. I don’t need him, or anyone else for that matter. I just need to get through these last couple months until graduation when I can get the out of here.’  With that, Hyunseung took off his uniform and climbed into bed.

0000000000000000000000000000

Gikwang sighed as he walked home. All he wanted to do was to help the boy. He had always felt bad for the boy that everyone picked one. He also didn’t like the way the Junhyung hunted him down every day. Which is why Gikwang never laid a hit on him and never said a word to him. Today was the first time that he had ever had the chance to speak to him alone, except there first meeting of course. Though, he was sure that Hyunseung didn’t remember it.

Flashback

Gikwang looked around nervously. It was his first day at a new school so he didn’t know anybody. His family had just moved here from the countryside which made city life very difficult and confusing for him. It was the beginning of spring of his sophomore year. He noticed that some kids were staring at him as he wondered the halls looking for his classes, but no one would stop to help him. They all just walked right past him; some giving him dirty looks as they went.

Gikwang pushed up his classes as he lowered his head slightly and continued his way down the halls. It was when he was going around a turn when his body was suddenly forced backwards, causing him to fall on his . He groaned slightly as he looked up at what caused him to fall over. The sight that met his eyes caused his breath to hitch and his heart to skip a beat. In front of him was one of the most beautiful boys he had ever seen.

Now, Gikwang had never considered himself gay. Even if he had, living in a small town in the countryside made it impossible. He would have been kicked out by his father and everyone in the area would know about it. But also, there was never a boy this pretty back home either. His dark hair fell perfectly down his forehead where it came to rest gently on top of his thick rimmed glasses. He had deep brown eyes that he felt he could stare into forever.

Then, Gikwang’s eyes fell on his lips. They were a rosy color and slightly plump looking. He watched as the lips stretched into a smile, showing pearly white teeth. It was the most beautiful smile that he had ever seen. He watched as they moved around a little bit before they lowered into a slight frown. That was when Gikwang realized that the boy in front of him was talking to him.

“What?” was all that Gikwang could say as he looked up dumbly at the other boy. The boy laughed a little bit as he covered his mouth with his hand. It was the prettiest laugh he had ever heard.

“I said, are you okay?” The boy continued to laugh slightly as he offered a hand to the fallen boy.

“Ye-yeah, I think so.” Gikwang answered as he slowly took the offered hand and was lifted off the floor. A shiver ran down his spine when their hands made contact. ‘His hands area so soft…’ Gikwang shook his head at the thought and paid attention to what the boy was saying.

“Sorry about that, I wasn’t watching where I was going. My name is Hyunseung, Jang Hyunseung. What’s yours?” said boy ran his hand through his hair sheepishly.

“Lee Gikwang.” He answered timidly.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Hyunseung smiled brightly. Gikwang found himself getting lost in that smile. He barely registered that he was talking again. “…you new?” was all that he caught.

“Yeah, I’m trying to find the science room. Do you think you could help me?” He asked quietly, afraid of making the first person that has talked to him since he got to the city walk away from him.

“Sure, no problem.” Hyunseung smiled as he walked down the hallway a little bit in the direction that Gikwang had just come from. He stopped in front of a room that was just three rooms back.

“This is the room you’re looking for.” Gikwang looked up at the room number and back at his paper.

“Ugh, I walked right past it.” He hit himself in the forehead lightly. Hyunseung laughed lightly.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. It happens to the best of us. Good luck in class. See you around.” Hyunseung smiled brightly and waved as he turned and walked away.

“Thank you…” Gikwang said, though Hyunseung was already too far away to hear.

End Flashback

After that, Gikwang found himself watching Hyunseung from a distance. He would watch for him as he walked to school and when he walked home. But Gikwang’s favorite time to watch him was when he would dance. Every day, for an hour after school, Hyunseung would go into a private dance rehearsal room and just lose himself in his music; and Gikwang would lose himself when he watched the other boy’s body move. That was when he realized that there was a very good chance that he was gay. Though, he hid it from everyone.

It didn’t take long for Gikwang to make other friends in the school. He got rid of his glasses and got contacts and improved his style which made a big difference with the people around him. Girls were starting to follow him around, even though he wanted nothing to do with them. Because of his new found popularity, the group of kinkgas, who called themselves “BEAST”, invited him to join their group. Not wanting to become an outcast, he accepted.

It was only a short few weeks later that every thing began to change. Junhyung, one of the members of  BEAST decided to make Hyunseung his personal target. He was so cruel to him. Gikwang wanted to step in and make him stop, but again, the fear of becoming an outcast kept him from doing anything. So, he just sat back and watched as the first person that was ever nice to him in the city was mercilessly bullied day after day. And because of Junhyung’s popularity, everyone else in the school started bullying Hyunseung as well.

Gikwang watched as day after day, Hyunseung would no longer show that beautiful smile he saw that first day. Not seeing that smile and no longer watching him dance was one of the most difficult things that Gikwang ever had to do. But he knew that if he stepped in to protect the boy, the bullying would only turn to him as well. So, in order to protect himself, he just stood by and watched.