Chapter 24

In the darkness of the room, there was a boy. He has to be called a boy, because he most definitely wasn’t the man he used to be. And the room has to be called dark, because the boy had made sure no light could enter it. Even so, he had sat himself down by the window. He could peek outside if he wanted to, pull open the blinds a bit, but there was no curiosity for the outside world. What cruelty would it have to offer him if even the inside didn’t welcome him anymore? He no longer felt at home.

There was a sudden kick on the door followed by a bitten “”. Normally, Jiyong would’ve jumped up and frantically started screaming at the culprit. But this wasn’t as normal, and Jiyong wasn’t really Jiyong anymore. There used to be a flame burning inside his chest. Now there was nothing. Whatever it had been, it had faded away. So he did not even flinch at the kick. He didn’t even want to. Jiyong had become nothing but a listless body, an empty shell.
Occasionally, the empty shell had an inhabitant. Guilt came and went as it pleased, since there was no fear of losing its home anyway. 

Jiyong pulled his legs up closer against his chest and dug his nails into his shins in the process. He slowly drew his arms across his legs, not minding the fact that he was tearing his skin along the way. It was completely intentional. If it was only possible to scrape out the guilt.

He had screamed for a million times. Yelled for it to leave. Begged even.

He deserved how everyone was treating him right now.

Seungri’s aphasia had surprised him. But since it wasn’t only towards him, Jiyong didn’t take it as personally. Yet his eyes… For a boy that had always been looking at him with a certain sense of admiration, to lose that, and only being able to avert his eyes or have a disappointed gloss in it… That simply hurt.

Seunghyun was pissed, and he had every right to be. He hadn’t only been an towards him before the incident, but he was the reason behind the incident as well. He should’ve taken Daesung back with him.
Scratch that, he shouldn’t have gone there with Daesung to begin with. He should’ve had the conversation somewhere near, so