CHANGSUN

In all his seventeen years of living, Changsun never thought of himself as a cruel person who would intentionally hurt others. He didn’t want to be thought of as cold hearted, but when he saw the way Cheolyong sat stoic in front of him evidently scared for some unfathomable reason, he knew that he was doing something wrong, perhaps even mean, to make the other boy like this every time.

“Hey, I’m sorry, okay? You don’t gotta be like this around me; it’s not like I’m going to hurt you. There shouldn’t be any reason for you to act like you’re afraid of me, especially when you don’t even know me, Cheolyong,” Changsun said, crossing his arms. He watched as a fire filled Cheolyong’s glossy eyes and the boy glared at him, clenching the blankets that were bunched in his lap.

“No, you don’t know me! You’re just like everyone else, mean to me for no reason at all! I’m sorry that I didn’t show you around on your first day, but I thought it would be better because you wouldn’t have had to deal with everyone getting on your case just for associating with me! But you turned out to be mean too!” Cheolyong cried out furiously.

Changsun’s eyes widened at the accusation and shook his head in denial.

“Really? How the hell was I mean to you?” He demanded defensively.

“You were!” Cheolyong insisted, hot tears forming in his eyes. “You made fun of me that one day and then you always glare at me and then today in the office you were being mean to me for no reason!”

“You know what? Whatever. You obviously have some issues or something that you need to deal with, Cheolyong,” Changsun replied, storming out of his room.

His heart was racing as feelings of anger coursed through his veins, blood rushing and adrenaline rising. Leaning against the wall outside his door, Changsun closed his eyes and massaged his temple, mentally telling himself to calm down. However, when footsteps were heard nearing toward him, he glanced over to see Hyojin looking at him worriedly, but with a disappointed look on her face. She gave him a pat on the shoulder and moved past him to his room, closing the door behind him.

Sighing softly, Changsun slid to the floor and waited.

Hyojin stepped into the room and the first thing she saw was Cheolyong fervently wiping away tears from his face. Smiling sympathetically, she walked over to the bed and sat down next to him, taking his hand into her own.

“You’ll have to ignore Changsun, it hasn’t been easy for him coming here,” Hyojin said softly, patting his hand in a motherly sort of way. Cheolyong looked at her curiously, sniffing slightly and wiping away the last of his tears.

“How come?” He asked curiously, unconsciously relaxing against the two large, fluffy feather pillows propped behind him.

Hyojin sighed quietly and forced a smile, a distant look filling her eyes.

“Well,” She began, Cheolyong’s hand soothingly. “Changsun doesn’t deal with change very well. He left his hopes and dreams behind when we moved here.”

Cheolyong nodded slowly and looked down at the navy blue comforter, blinking tiredly as his eyes stung from drowsiness.

“I could try harder to be his friend…but I don’t think Changsun likes me. He’s kind of mean,” He mumbled softly. Smiling brightly, Hyojin leaned over and pat his cheek affectionately.

“I think Changsun would appreciate that very much; he’s not good at making friends. And trust me, sweetheart, Changsun isn’t mean,