“We’re dating…”

Sungyeol’s eyes widen, not really registering the words; mouth agape.

“Sungyeol…I hope we can still be friends,” Sungjong starts meekly.

He looks over to Myungsoo, expecting the latter to add on to his words, instead he finds himself staring at a frowning Myungsoo, brows creased.

Sungyeol recovers his speech and throws the innocent bag of chips he was happily eating minutes ago on the cement floor.

“How long have you two been dating?” he says slowly, ready to blow up.

“About two months or so but we were goin-”

“You never freaking told me? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because we thought you weren’t ready for this type of change.”

“I’m your friend, how can you not tell me about this sooner? Tha-that you were…gay”

Myungsoo stands up abruptly, grabs Sungyeol by the collar of his school shirt and slams him onto the rooftop railings, pink in the face he starts shouting at Sungyeol.

“ you, what are you trying to say? We never told you because we thought you were going to act like this, are you against gays? ‘Cause right now it seems like it!”

“Myungsoo, just stop… let him go,” Sungjong places his slim fingers on Myungsoo’s shoulder. Huffing, Myungsoo lets go of Sungyeol after he mutters something under his breath but just loud enough for Sungyeol to hear.

Sungyeol slides down the railings and clutches his shirt, Myungsoo’s last words running through his head.

I thought we were friends.

­­­­­­­­­­­_________________________________________________________________________

It’s been three months, three months since Sungyeol had last hung out with Myungsoo and Sungjong. He was pretty sure, no scratch that, he was definitely sure they were no longer friends. The other students had also made it hard for them to actually have a private conversation without butting in claiming they saw Sungyeol ‘bully’ Sungjong. Who did they think they were? Don’t they remember the time before this whole scandal started? When they would pick on Sungjong for his femininity, it was Sungyeol who defended him. It was also Sungyeol who helped girls confess to Myungsoo. Now they just used that against him, saying how he only helped because he knew it would separate Myungsoo and Sungjong.  

What a load of garbage, urgh, I really want to go home. I bet they probably have some stupid prank prepared today… He thought bitterly to himself as he lay on the concrete floor of the school rooftop, staring up at the white puffy clouds. Yes, the creepy followers of the “Myungjong” couple now showered him with pranks whenever they could but to be honest it was way better than when they called him names. First they had called him “Buck teeth” but since Sungyeol was in his last stage of braces a month later he had them taken off. So when he came back to school without any braces and with straight pearly white teeth instead, those creepy followers had to think of a different name for Sungyeol. Thus, the nickname “Fatty” started spreading around school.

Sungyeol had always been secretly conscious about his weight. He had never been called fat per se but he had been called chubby by his relatives and even then they had said that his chubby cheeks made him look cute. So the feeling when, what seemed like half the school started calling him “Fatty”, let’s just say he did not cope well with it. For the first few days he carried on like usual, eating his usual amount of snacks. But as it went on he started to eat less and less, the last straw had been when a few boys in his class forced him to eat a whole bag of chocolate that had been his favourites. He had known that the boys were going to make fun of him, so he did not accept the offer but the leader of the group then started tearing off the wrapper and started waving the chocolate in front of Sungyeol’s face. Needless to say Sungyeol had not been impressed and had batted the chocolate out of the guy’s hand, which in turn angered the guy. Sungyeol had been held down onto a table, the guy forcing chocolates one after another into Sungyeol’s mouth smothering them all over his face in the process.

After that Sungyeol did everything he could to make himself appear slimmer. He weighed himself everyday to see if he lost any weight, the scale showed that he did but the mirror showed he hadn’t. His fellow schoolmates stopped calling him fatty but he could not understand why, to himself he was as fat, as ever. Occasionally he would have cravings that were hard not to resist and he stuffed himself with anything he could find until he was sick. Right now as he stared blankly up at the vast sky, his stomach churned, needing food. He suppressed the craving and thought about all the calories each one of his favourite snacks contained which always helped put him off food.

Sitting up he stretched and gave a big yawn, he always felt tired these days, maybe he should just take another nap. After contemplating over the idea he decided he might as well just go to class to get the prank over and done with. He really didn’t understand why those stupid girls would waste their time to do this every single day. Most of the guys were over him once he stopped fighting back but these girls never stopped. Sungyeol really wanted to talk to Myungsoo and Sungjong, he just wanted his friends back. That’s why he decided he would apologize to them today after school no matter what happens.

Rubbing his eyes, he shook his head to get rid of the groggy feeling he felt as he walked towards class. Turning the doorknob to his class, he steps in and the sound of a bucket bumping against the door greets him above his head. Realising what the sound indicated Sungyeol tries to step back but too late, the icy water in the bucket spills over him; shirt clinging onto his cold skin he shudders. Teeth clattering behind his lips he hears laughs of amusement.

“Oh my gosh! Did you see that?”

“Duh, that was the funniest thing I ever saw!”

More laughter explodes across the room, the laughter wilder and louder. Mind foggy he hears yelps of surprise around him, trying to clear the foggy haze creeping into his head. Before Sungyeol could comprehend what was happening around him, he was suddenly sprawled across the wet floor; eyelids closed, delicate eyelashes brushing against his skin.
­­­­­­­­­­­­_______________________________________________________________________

He wakes up to the pristine white of the hospital walls and the smell of antibiotics, a doctor standing at the foot of his bed clutching a notepad. His mother sitting in a chair grasping his hand with long dried out tears staining her pale cheeks.

“Sungyeol! You’re awake!” cries his mother, abruptly standing up from her chair.

The doctor walks up to him with a serious expression on his face, he looked to his mother and she gave a small nod.

“I’m afraid, Sungyeol… you are diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, but it seems you’re only in the early stages so it’ll be easier for you to recover.”

What, that can’t be… I haven’t lost any weight since I started dieting.

“No, that can’t be... I haven’t been losing any weight,” Sungyeol says confused.

The doctor turns his gaze on Sungyeol’s mother and smiles a queer sad smile to her, she drops his gaze and doesn’t return the smile; she just stares at her palm, not quite believing the things her son had said before.

She lifts up her head and cries out with a sob, “J-j-just look at yourself, Sungyeol...look at yourself.”

She gets up from her seat grabbing the mirror that laid on the bedside stand, shoving it into her son’s frail hands.

“Mrs Lee, calm down,” the doctor says frowning and pushing her gently back into her seat.

Sungyeol holds the mirror up to his face and stares into the crystal clear reflection of the mirror. Protruding cheekbones, sunken cheeks and a pair of too big eyes stare back at him. Sungyeol realises this is what everyone have been seeing, not the “fat” boy he used to be but this too thin boy desperately starving himself to be what they now call the “perfect body”. Sungyeol sees now and maybe he might try and change himself back into the healthy boy he used to be. Laying the mirror down on his lap, he frowns.

He doesn't know what to do anymore.

___________________________________________________________________________


He spends the next few days in hospital, just so they could make sure that he’s willing to get better. It was hard, he couldn’t remember when eating had become so difficult. The first day when they had given him his dinner, he had tried to eat as much as possible wanting to prove to his mother and the nurse who was watching that he was fine and he did not have anorexia. What a stupid idea that was, as soon as he stuffed himself with the dishes on the tray, they all came out again. Good thing there was bucket or it would’ve been messy.

After that he had spent the rest of the evening with a tube stuck through his nose, his mother repeatedly apologizing to him. Saying how she should’ve asked for help sooner, and how she was sorry she wasn’t there for him when he needed it. Sungyeol really didn't think it would’ve made a difference if she did something because he wouldn’t have listened to her during that time anyway.

The rest of the week past by excruciatingly slow, he spent most of his days sleeping and only waking up to eat. They had decided it was best for him if he started with liquids, he was fine with that as long as it was healthy. He had asked his mother if he could have his phone to make a phone call to Myungsoo and Sungjong, but upon hearing their names his mother had sternly told him that she no longer wants him to associate with them.

The next day as he searched through his bag, he found his cellphone gone. Confronting his mother, she told him that it was for his own good, they would hurt him again if she didn’t confiscate his cellphone.

When he was finally discharged from the hospital, his parents told him that they were moving to another neighbourhood and he was going to be homeschooled from then on, that is until he felt comfortable enough to go back to a public school.

They said it was for the best.

That was the only thing they were trying to do and Sungyeol really needed to talk to Myungsoo again.

As Sungyeol waited for his father to carry the last of the luggages out the door and into the trunk of their car, he suddenly came up with a plan. Opening the door of the car he proceeded to get out when his younger brother turned to see what he was doing.

“Where’re you going? We’re leaving soon.” His brother Daeyeol asked putting down his comic.

“I’m going to be real quick, just gonna run down to the dairy to buy some snacks.” He lied hoping Daeyeol wouldn’t get suspicious.

“Buy me some chips then.” Daeyeol said before returning to his comic. Letting out a relieved sigh he quickly got out the car and ran down the street towards the dairy, he could hear his father shouting at him to come back but Daeyeol will handle his father for him.

Arriving at the dairy, he made his way towards the payphone in front of it. Grabbing the handset off and putting it against his ear, he inserted the coins and dialed the number he remembered off by heart.

As the phone beeped the more nervous Sungyeol got. Just as he was about to hang up, a familiar bored voice came through the other line.

“Hello?” Sungyeol stomach twisted in nervousness as he heard Myungsoo’s voice. He tried to find something to say but was suddenly tongue tied.

“Hello? Who is this? I’m going to hang up if you don’t start talking.”

Upon hearing what Myungsoo said, he quickly yelled “Wait!”

There was a moment of silence, Sungyeol held his breath, crossed his finger behind his back and hoped that Myungsoo wouldn’t hang up.

“S-Sungyeol?!” Was all Myungsoo managed to choke out. Seeing his time running out and that he had no more coins he decided to rush his apologies.

“Sungyeol I’ve been trying to get through to y-”

“Look Myungsoo, I just wanted to say I’m sorry and I support you and Sungjong. I guess I was just angry at the start because I thought I was going to lose my best friend. I didn’t mean to freak out with you being gay... it just got way out of hand. I’m sorry and bye.” He hung up before Myungsoo could even reply.

Tossing the bag of chips at his brother he slipped back into the car. Daeyeol eyed him suspiciously before opening the bag of chips.

“Where’s your snack?”

“There weren’t many healthy options.” Sungyeol replied curtly.

“Well, what did you expect?”

Sungyeol kept quiet, instead he put on his headphones and played a song on his ipod.

___________________________________________________________________________

A/N:

Hi! This is A here, thank you for reading this chapter and we would also like to thank all of the people who subscribed to our story! It means a lot to us so thank you!

Hopefully the story gets more interesting in the next chapter.

Thank you again! :)