60 seconds

Another Me

 

It only takes up to 60 seconds for a person to fall in love...

 

 

It was already twilight, when he finally took the courage to leave.

He had though about it already for a while, as he faced the same problem like in his previous place of stay -  each action of others draw back memories and regrets he wanted to forget as fast as possible, what he wanted to erase from his past and start without as another – whole different person. Without even knowing it, everyone around him drew more and more pain upon him along with regret that started to devour his soul even more than before.

He could not stay.

He packed the few things he had in the two bags he had with him and tried to leave without stopping and rethinking, yet failed and froze the very moment he laid his hand on the door handle.

He looked back at the cozy apartment of his friends and let out a sigh.

He wanted to stay, he couldn’t deny that. He was not ready to loose everything yet (as his friends were the only thing left for him – he had already lost everything else), but at the same time he knew he needed to. He knew he deserved loosing everything and more, for what he had done and how he had behaved.

He squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath, before pressing the handle down and leaving, this time without turning back.

 

Night flew over the city faster than he imagined it would, the chilly air making him shiver under then thin jacket he was wearing, as he wandered trough the half empty streets – neon-signs lighting up his way.

Where could he go now? Did he even have a place to go to?

His pockets very empty, so was his wallet, and the realization of possibly the first night on the street hit him hard, as never before he had ever thought about a moment like this occurring in his so well situated life.

But didn’t he bring this upon himself?

How could he be so blind and self-centered and not foresee this? How could he be so absorbed in the life he lived before, not seeing destruction hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles?

He had felt the distress, the utter need of hiding and securing for something great coming upon them in his father. He had seen his mother leaving the house and meeting other men for quite a while as if she was searching for a life-boat on a sinking ship. He had noticed family friends drawing further and further away from them, even few of his own friends slowly disappearing in to thin air, as they all felt that approaching.

Everyonr apart from him.

And then it came upon his head like a downpour of rain, but not like the one that cleans one’s soul and mind – it was like an acid rain taking from him everything and everyone, who meant something for him.

His father was now in prison, paying up for all wealth he had stolen, all wealth he made everyone think he worked for, all wealth he wanted to leave to his only son - WooHyun.

 

WooHyun stopped on the sidewalk and looked in to the dimmed shop-window, seeing his own tormented reflection looking back at him.

The dark circles around his eyes made him almost look like a panda, his skin wasn’t in that great of a condition either, and his eyes had lost their shine. He didn’t even try to imagine how miserable he probably looked when he tried to force out a smile or laugh.

He hadn’t slept decently for the whole month since he was brutally kicked out of the house he had lived in for his whole life, since his mother ‘jumped in to her life boat’ and ‘sailed’ away not even sparing a glance to WooHyun, who was then surrounded by police confiscating and carrying away anything valuable in the house.

Not that he had slept well before as well, as his conscience ached after the biggest wrong doing he had ever done in his selfish life.

With a deep sigh he sat on a porch of a closed shop and rested his elbows on his knees, hiding his face in his hands.

He well deserved being abandoned as that was what he did to someone to whom he meant the world, to someone he actually cherished more than he showed and who he knew he could find shelter at when ever he needed. He had abandoned SungYeol.

It had been quite a while since he made the phone call that took away his sleep and poured a bucket, no, a cartful of dirt on his soul. But he had his reasons to do that.

Back then he was so sure about inheriting his fathers wealth, about becoming the head of his family company, about being a great man that he just couldn’t let anything to stand in his way, even if it was SungYeol.

The later was just disowned by his father, as he had confessed on being gay, and the idea of being disowned frightened WooHyun more than anything.

‘What could I do with out a penny to my name?’ he had thought back then and he didn’t even care that SungYeol was without any money in a foreign country. All he cared about was his good name, his wealth, his future possibilities. So he broke it off with SungYeol and regretted it right after.

How could he be such a monster, such selfish inhuman, who cared about something that had no worth after all, something that was taken away in seconds leaving him as poor as a church mouse?

Beside, he not only lost SungYeol, but all other his friends – the ones who he really treasured as ones, as they backed away as well, leaving him with fakes, that disappeared when the first problems with his father appeared. But miraculously they didn’t throw someone like him out completely.

They were next to him when he was literally on the street, with only those two damn bags of things he managed to collect before police took away everything.

Even SungJong, who seemed to detest him the most, accepted him in to his house, not denying a friendly shoulder to lean on in a hard time like this. His family didn’t deny anything for WooHyun and were thoughtful about everything they did and said, most of the time acting like WooHyun was just a friend staying over, though it was noticeable, that they were ready to let him stay there as long as it was needed. And that hurt.

A strange family was more considerate than his; a friend he hurt with his idiotic actions was more accepting than the ones with smiles on their faces 24/7. He could not bear it.

He left them after just a week of staying and was kindly taken in by Hoya and DongWoo – two more friends, he was sure detested him for leaving SungYeol almost in the middle of nowhere with nothing at his hands. But they didn’t leave WooHyun on the street. They took him in, they shared small smiles and laughter with him, trying to cheer him up, but by meaning only good, they hurt him, as the memories with SungYeol flew back to his mind.

All those smiles the tall, bright male gave to him were now long gone and he didn’t even know where other was and what was he doing or was he even alive…

He endured it as long as he could – three whole weeks he did his best to grow fond to them, to seeing them happy and together until he absolutely gave up this evening. It was an unwilling capitulation, but he needed to start anew, to be someone else, someone who was not like the selfish WooHyun he was before.

 

A rustling and quite cursing caught his attention and he lifted his head form his hands and turned his head to the left.

A guy, probably older than WooHyun himself, but not by much, with hair dyed in bright red, was struggling with boxes, that looked quite heavy, as different vegetables peaked out from them here and there.

The guy had obviously miscalculated the weight of the boxes he decided to take in to the diner he was struggling next to, and right now he was dangerously swaying, trying to open the door that had fell shut.

Not even knowing why, after staring for not more than 60 seconds, WooHyun stood up and went toward the poor man, whose face color was slowly nearing the one of his hair.

He dropped his bags next to the window of the diner and opened the door of it, afterwards taking two of the top boxes from the guy.

“Thank you.” The red-hair said with a sigh of relief and carried the boxes in, yet stopped at the porch and turned back to WooHyun. “Would you mind carrying those in?” he asked, looking at the boxes that WooHyun was holding.

“Not at all.” WooHyun said and followed other.

The guy was a bit taller than WooHyun, broader as well, but in a completely good way. His face was a bit chubby, yet undeniably handsome; his eyes were probably the narrowest WooHyun had ever seen (though his own weren’t the biggest ones themselves), but they fit his over-all character well enough to make him look even attractive.

WooHyun’s heart as if skipped a beat and he stopped for a second, shook his head and then followed the red-hair.

“Put them here.” The red-hair said, and pointed to a small pile of boxes that were already stashed up in the small kitchen they had entered.

WooHyun nodded and placed the boxes down.

“Will you need help with the rest of them as well?” WooHyun asked, not being sure from where this feeling of helping came from, as he had never sensed it so strong before, but he just felt like he had to help, like he had to stay here a bit longer.

“Only, if you’re willing to.” The red-hair said with a small smile and headed out. WooHyun followed him and picked up a few of the remaining boxes, to carry them in and place where the others were put.

In less than 5 minutes all of the boxes of various sizes and contents were brought inside.

“Thank you.” Red-hair said. “Sometimes running a place like this is not easy at all.”

“You’re welcome.”  WooHyun said and wanted to smile, but remembered his wretched looks and stopped himself, letting his lips just slightly twitch, and went to pick up his bags, but something in the window caught his attention right when he leaned down to pick the bags up. “Is this still valid?” he asked, turning to the red-head, who was already closing the door.

“What exactly?” he asked and opened the door again, stepping out.

“This.” WooHyun nodded toward a sign in the window, which read ‘Help wanted. Will pay in living space and food.’

“Ouh!” The red-hair stood next to WooHyun and looked at the sign. “I put it there months ago, but no one ever applied for the position, so I had forgotten about it.” He said and scratched the back of his head. “I guess it is still valid.”

“And when could one wanting to work move in?” WooHyun asked.

The sign in the window could have been the answer not only to the place where to stay tonight and the nights after, but also a chance to start anew, a way to become another human being.

The guy did not know WooHyun and WooHyun did not know him. It cut out anything of the past to interfere and would let them start this acquaintanceship like it was a white page to draw on.

The red-hair looked at WooHyun’s face and then down to the bags he was holding.

“Well…” he said and looked up. “When ever one is ready to, I guess.”

WooHyun put his bags down, turned to the red-hair and made a 90degree bow.

“Nam WooHyun is ready to do his best.” He rose up and looked at the red-hair.

“Kim SungGyu, ready to evaluate what Nam WooHyun is able to do.” The one named SungGyu reached his hand out for a greeting, which WooHyun accepted and shook it.

“Follow me then, Nam WooHyun.” He said and led the way in to the diner, locking the front door behind WooHyun.

He led the way trough the kitchen where they had piled the boxes, to a small staircase leading to the second floor of the building.

It was somehow smaller than the first one and consisted of something like a living room, which had almost no furniture apart from a worn couch and a table (no TV as well) and big window facing the street, and few doors, that led to other rooms.

“As I had forgotten about the announcement, I have placed some stuff in the free room.” SungGyu said and opened one of the two doors that were right next to each other and pulled out a hanger on wheels full of clothes, leaving it in the corner of the ‘living room’. Few boxes followed and then the doors were opened wider, inviting WooHyun in.

“Well, I am obviously unprepared, but there are the sleeping utensils.” SungGyu said and pointed to a pile of blankets and pillows in the corner of the rather small room, which had only a small nightstand there and a window, apart from the pile of blankets. And honestly, nothing more would fit in there anyway, when the blankets were laid out. “The bathroom is right across, so you can’t get lost.” SungGyu continued and scratched the back of his head. “What else… My room is the one next to this one, in case you need something. As for working, I will show you everything tomorrow.” He said and headed to the door. “Ouh, and I open at nine, that means getting up at six or earlier, so have a good sleep, Nam WooHyun.” He said and closed the doors behind him, leaving WooHyun alone in the room.

He placed his bags down, next to the small window, which had a rather humble view outside, and laid out the blankets.

He sat on the floor in front of the window and looked out at the far sparkly scenery of ever awake city.

He once used to be a part of all that rush and a bit more than a month ago at this time he was partying the night away at some club, dazzling both girls and boys around him.

Now?

Now he was on the top floor of a simple diner, in a room as small as his closet back at home used to be and agreed to work for nothing apart from this small space and food. And as a bonus, he had this strange tingling feeling in his chest, left there by red hair named Kim SungGyu.

“I guess it is time to change everything, WooHyun.” He sighed and stood up, to turn out the light and laid down to sleep, as miraculously as it could be sleep took over him right away.

 

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Greetings!
As I promised in 'Can You Smile', when WooGyu appeared on the scene - here is their story.
I have no idea how long this will be and will this have some hard-core action like 'CYS', but I still hope you all will enjoy this.

If you have any questions, that you would like to ask, but you don't want to be 'public', drop them in my ASK.FM or add me on Twitter and ask there.

As for now, I have nothing more to say,
except - have a WooGyu

aint they the cutest ever???
I just love Japanese magazines with their OTP photoshoots.

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Comments

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Zd7394
#1
Thanks
(^v^)
tinydream
#2
Chapter 15: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa what a great story thank you so much.
tinydream
#3
Chapter 2: Arrgh the feeling i am ugly sobbing over here
tinydream
#4
Chapter 1: I am here , again..
KiwiPrincess #5
Chapter 15: This is so beautiful..*0*
Livewell
#6
Chapter 15: Why i just read this story now? Where have i been in my life??
Anyway, thank you so much for the beautiful story authornim..
Gyuback #7
Chapter 15: I've read this a fee times and i still like it. Thank you for writing this!
nwh-gem
#8
i never regret looking up for 'old' infinite and woogyu ff! this story is very beautiful!
jjaehwa_ #9
Chapter 15: Omg I must be dumb enough to just read this story now. Anyway, respects for such a great story and of course our precious Woogyu who blow my minds with their *cough* hopeless *cough* loves towards each other // dies