Suzy chewed nervously on her lip as she stood before the cafe she had agreed to meet Sunggyu at. She had arrived earlier than the agreed time, and from the looks of things, he hadn't arrived yet. Taking a deep breath, she slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The cafe was small and cozy with a welcoming vibe, but Suzy couldn't help but feel as if she was being stared at as she walked past the entryway. A group of girls were seated at a table by the door, and Suzy immediately felt turn dry at the sight of them. They weren't looking in her direction, but Suzy suddenly felt as if every whisper and giggle from the table was directed at her.

Suzy's head felt like it was spinning and she took a step backwards, ready to bolt for the door, when she collided with something solid from behind. Turning around, she blinked when she found herself face to face with Sunggyu.

"Hi." He greeted her, smiling as he motioned towards a table to their right. Sunggyu wasn't exactly Suzy's favorite person in the world, but she breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of him.

"Are you alright?" He asked once they had sat down, "You seem kind of pale."

"I'm fine."

"Howon told me you weren't very good with girls." Sunggyu replied casually.

Suzy found herself frowning at that. "What else did he tell you?"

"That you were extremely loyal to your friends and that if I said anything to upset you again he would personally come to destroy me in my sleep." Sunggyu chuckled. After a momentary pause he continued speaking, "I'm sorry about before. I shouldn't have said that."

"I'll listen to what you have to say." Suzy replied briskly, "But that doesn't necessarily mean I'll believe everything. There are two sides to every story."

Sunggyu chuckled once again before smiling at the girl before him. "I can see why Howon thinks so highly of you."

Myungsoo sat inside his room, strumming his fingers absentmindedly against the wooden panels of the floor. A strange feeling had overcome him since he had woken up, and he stared blankly at the wall before him as he tried to determine what it was.

It took him a while, but when Myungsoo finally realized what it was, he found himself blinking in surprise. He felt bored.

In the two years that he had locked himself away, Myungsoo had never felt bored before. He felt safe within the confines of his walls, away from the harsh eyes of the outside world, and he had found comfort in the thought that he was punishing himself for the things he had done.

The fact that he actually felt bored was weird, it was wrong. He shouldn't be yearning to go outside, he wasn't allowed to. Myungsoo didn't deserve anything more than his room. He didn't even deserve to be alive for what he had done.

Shaking his head, Myungsoo reached for the closest object to him in an attempt to clear his mind. It turned out be Suzy's sketchbook, and Myungsoo paused as he stared at the cover.

This all started because of Suzy. She was the cause of his discomfort, of these newfound emotions within him. Myungsoo had a system, he had a way of life before Suzy. He was punishing himself. He deserved this solitude, and he shouldn't have been allowed to be in the presence of others.

But Suzy appeared one day, and she changed that. She stepped on all of his carefully thought out rules,  and climbed over all his walls and aversions. She came out of nowhere and completely flipped Myungsoo's world around, leaving him the way he was now: bored, and with a desire to go outside.

For the first time the walls of his room felt suffocating. They felt cold and uninviting, and Myungsoo found himself longing for the presence of another person, craving for the feeling of sunlight on his skin.

But that was wrong. He shouldn't be feeling that way. He didn't deserve it.

Shaking his head once more, Myungsoo forced the thoughts out of his head and flipped the sketchbook open. He turned to a page towards the back and found that Suzy had scribbled something down in her familiar handwriting.

Suzy's Favorite Things

Spinning on a chair, echoes in the bathroom, making eye contact with cats, the sound an umbrella makes when it opens, the smell of the road after it rains, melon soda, opening the blinds of a window, the sounds of a rusty swing, red hair bows, yellow crayons, the smell of new books, acoustic guitar songs, bells on a bike, soap commercials, sprinkling salt into coffee, getting pat on the head

Myungsoo found himself smiling in spite of himself as he read through the list. The words looked messier than the usual neatness Myungsoo had come to expect with Suzy's writing, as if she had quickly scribbled them down in a hurry. Myungsoo was absentmindedly running his fingers over the words yellow crayons when his phone suddenly rang and he looked up to answer it.

"Hey, Myungsoo!" Suzy chirped from over the line. Myungsoo immediately felt the corners of his lips turning down at the sound of her voice. Suzy sounded as bright and chipper as she always did, and a normal person might not have noticed the small detail that her voice was a slight octave higher than usual, but Myungsoo did. Myungsoo always noticed when it came to Suzy.

"Is something wrong?" He asked quietly.

"Nothing." Suzy replied immediately. Myungsoo could feel his eyes narrowing at her lie. "I was at the store right now and I just wanted to know if you wanted me to get you anything. They have those watermelon popsicles that you used to like. You still like them, right? Remember when we used to race to see who could eat them the fastest? I was always bad at it and you always won. I could bring you some if you want. Or maybe I should get─"

"Suzy." Myungsoo said quietly, cutting her off. She was rambling. "Is something wrong?"

"No." Suzy answered after a pause. "I just wanted to hear your voice."

"Okay."

The two were silent then, and Myungsoo listened to Suzy's breath over the line. After a while he began to wonder if she had hung up, but he could still hear voices in the background. Myungsoo wondered what had happened.

"Hurry home." He said finally, before hanging up the phone.

Suzy played with her fingers nervously under the table as she waited for Sunggyu to speak.

"Shall I start from the beginning?" He asked her, continuing to speak after Suzy nodded. "Myungsoo was popular, as I'm sure you knew. He was cool with all the guys, and the girls would fight to give him their chocolates on Valentine's Day. The teachers loved him."

 Suzy nodded, smiling in spite of herself. "That sounds like Myungsoo."

"There was this boy in our grade, named Sungyeol" Sunggyu continued. "He was.. strange."

"Strange?"

"Just different." Sunggyu shrugged. "He was weird. People messed with him a lot, and Myungsoo didn't like that. He stood up for him."

Suzy nodded again. That definitely sounded like Myungsoo.

"The two of them became friends. It was strange for someone like Myungsoo to be friends with someone like Sungyeol." Suzy found herself frowning but didn't interrupt Sunggyu as he continued speaking. "People didn't like it. They were confused. Soon, people stopped talking to Myungsoo. He didn't mind, though. They were close. Really close. There were even rumors that they were in that kind of relationship."

Sunggyu paused for a moment, taking in Suzy's reaction before he continued.

"But one day, they stopped talking." Sunggyu said quietly, "Things went back to normal. Myungsoo went back to his old friends and Sungyeol became the school outcast again."

Suzy realized that she had been chewing on her lips when she tasted the metallic tang of blood on her tongue, and she forced herself to stop as Sunggyu continued.

"They never spoke again. Not even when people began bothering Sungyeol again. Myungsoo never spoke to him, and then one day─"

"He killed himself." Suzy interrupted, her voice soft.

Sunggyu blinked, surprise at the bluntness in Suzy's words, before he nodded slowly.

"Yes." He said quietly. "He killed himself."

Silence settled over the two as Sunggyu stared at Suzy who had her eyes glued to the hands folded in her lap. The clink of silverware and the sounds of murmured conversations from the cafe sounded deafening in her ears. Finally, she spoke.

"I think you're all being hypocrites." She said coldly.

"Suzy─"

"You said that people began to bother Sungyeol again. You mean that they bullied him, right? Why sugarcoat your words?" Suzy's eyes narrowed as she spoke, and the fists in her lap tightened as she grit her teeth. "How was any of that Myungsoo's fault?"

"He didn't try to help him─"

"Why should that have been Myungsoo's job?" Suzy asked defensively. "Why couldn't anyone else have helped Sungyeol? Why couldn't you have helped Sungyeol? You're all just trying to blame Myungsoo because you can't handle the guilt."

"The fact remains that Myungsoo was the cause." Sunggyu said quietly. "He started it all."

"That's a lie." Suzy scoffed. "It wasn't Myungsoo's fault. None of it was Myungsoo's fault. How dare you call him a murderer!"

Sunggyu said nothing and Suzy continued, her anger flaring.

"Myungsoo may have been wrong, but the fact that you did nothing makes you just as bad. If Myungsoo is a murderer, then what does that make you?"

Without waiting for a reply, Suzy stood up and spun on her heel. She huffed angrily as she exited the cafe, and released an angry hiss the moment she found herself outside.

Suzy was furious. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Were people really accusing Myungsoo of being a murderer for a reason like that? She couldn't believe that they would dare.

Suzy clenched her fists in frustration, but she soon found her anger deflating. With a sigh, she pulled her phone out and sent a quick message to Sunggyu.

To: Kim Sunggyu

From: Bae Suzy

i'm sorry for my outburst.

It wasn't long before her phone lit up with a reply.

To: Bae Suzy

From: Kim Sunggyu

it's alright i understand

Sighing, Suzy slipped her phone back into her pocket. She quickly lost herself in her thoughts as she wandered down the street, and before long she found herself before a convenience store. Absentmindedly, she walked inside and before long her phone was in her hands once more.

She didn't even realize that she had called Myungsoo until she heard the soft click of the phone being answered.

"Hey, Myungsoo!" She said in what she hoped was a bright tone.

"Is something wrong?" He asked after a pause, causing the smile on Suzy's face to twitch. Myungsoo always seemed to be able to tell what she was feeling.

"Nothing. I was at the store right now and I just wanted to know if you wanted me to get you anything." Suzy answered quickly, glancing around herself to find a way to change the subject. Her eyes landed on a display of ice cream, and she began rambling without much thought. "They have those watermelon popsicles that you used to like. You still like them, right? Remember when we used to race to see who could eat them the fastest? I was always bad at it and you always won. I could bring you some if you want. Or maybe I should get─"

"Suzy." Myungsoo caught her off, and she froze in midsentence, the smile finally sliding off of her face. "Is something wrong?"

Suzy could feel her bottom lip begin quivering at the sound of Myungsoo's voice. She wondered how much pain Myungsoo must have gone through. The death of his friend, the guilt. She was sure that he must have suffered. The pain must have been unbearable, to the point where he would rather lock himself away than have to deal with it. And yet here he was, asking if she was alright.

That' s just the way Myungsoo was. He always put others before himself.

"No." Suzy whispered quietly, her voice shaking in spite of herself. "I just wanted to hear your voice."

"Okay." Myungsoo murmured softly. He was quiet then, and Suzy closed her eyes as she listened to the sound of him breathe. She felt comforted by it, and she could feel her distress flowing away.

"Hurry home." Myungsoo said finally before hanging up, causing Suzy's eyes to fly open. She had forgotten where she was.

Suzy found herself smiling in spite of herself as she looked down at her phone. In a much brighter mood, she bought the popsicles and left the store. She hummed to herself as she made her way home, opening one of the popsicles and putting it into . The sweet touch felt cool on her tongue.

Suzy was nearing her home when the sight of two familiar figures standing before her door caused her to pause, eyes widening in surprise as she froze mid-step.

"Sungjong?" She asked in surprise as one turned to look at her.

"Suzy!" Her friend said as he ran towards her and threw his arms around her.

"About time." Howon said, following slowly behind the younger. "We were about the climb in through the window."

"What are you guys doing here?" Suzy asked in surprise as the older male stopped before them.

"We missed you, silly." Sungjong smiled, releasing the girl and taking a step back. "You've been gone forever."

"Are you not happy to see us?" Howon asked, the mock-hurt evident in his voice.

"I guess she doesn't like us anymore." Sungjong added, playing along. "Let's go home, Howon. Suzy doesn't want us here."

"Of course I want you guys here." Suzy sighed, rolling her eyes. "But you should have said something!"

"If we did then you would have told us not to come." Sungjong said mischievously as he took Suzy's hand into his own. "Now where is this Myungsoo? I want to meet him."