Woohyun awoken in his bed earlier than most days.

The sun was barely rising yet. He groaned as he sat up and removed his covers.

He felt like he had a hangover but there was no way because he remembered studying...

He quickly moved his view to his desk. It was clean and organized.

Did he do that?

He finally decided that he was so tired last night that he didn't recall moving to his bed.

He went down to the kitchen and was met by his mother. She was cooking eggs with her back facing him and didn't seem to notice him enter the room. He snuck up behind her. 
 

"MOM!" 
 

"Aaaahh!" She squealed as she jumped a little from surprise. She turned around and put a hand to her heart. "Woohyun-ah, you scared the life out of me. I'm old enough already. I don't need any help getting a heart attack." She finished as she turned back around and continued cooking. Woohyun back-hugged her and rested his chin on her left shoulder. 
 

"You're not old, mom. You just think you are because there are so many young people that come to the salon. You're only-"
 

"Don't say it. I'm not proud of my age."
 

"But-"
 

"I was too young back then to bare a child. I was foolish like Juliet."
 

"But that's because dad was Romeo." His mom chuckled. 
 

"That's right."
 

"Then how can I become a Romeo like dad?" His mom stopped chuckling and turned the fire off.
 

"Woohyun, listen. You're dad was my Romeo. He was the one I fell crazy for. And he was the only one."
 

"I don't get it."
 

"You must be yourself. There are many types of women out there who have dreams of their own Romeos."
 

"But what about Shakespeare's Romeo and Ju-"
 

"There is no such thing as a specific one. That's just the original." She shook it off and moved the eggs onto two white separate plates. Woohyun let her go and moved to sit at the dinning table. 
 

"I guess that makes sense. And it's Friday, right? So I'm going to the salon today to help out. Besides, someone needs to help you load all the boxes in the front-"
 

"Woohyun-ah. I don't know how to tell you this but..." Woohyun blinked, dumbfounded. 
 

"Tell me what?" He questioned. "Is it a surprise?" He asked when he saw that his mother's mood was starting to dim. 
 

"It's not Friday." Woohyun raised a brow. 
 

"It's not? Then...Is this a dream or something-?"
 

"No. It's not Friday. You slept through the whole day...yesterday." She put Woohyun's breakfast before him and her's before herself as she took the seat directly across from him. 
 

"What? I slept through...Are you playing with me? Cause that one time-"
 

"No, Woohyun. I'm serious."
 

"But. How-Why-Why was I asleep the whole day Friday-?!" He cut himself off then his eyes sparked and his Adam's apple bobbed.

Woohyun's mother knew he knew.

Woohyun put his head down and pushed his chair back. 
 

"Please excuse me."
 

"No. Sit back down, Woohyu-Woohyun!" Woohyun dashed out the kitchen and out the front door.

He couldn't believe he had to take those pills again. He thought he'd never have to anymore. After he graduated High School, he was fine.

But now...He walked down the sidewalk with his palm on his forehead. He tried his hardest to remember what his dream was but it didn't work so he kept trying until it hurt.

He smacked himself on the head as he came to a wait at the stop sign. He'd always try to remember his dreams because it helped him clear some things, like how it happened, who did it, and why. He remembers Suzy vaguely because of all the drugs he had taken to subside the depression of bullying and guilt.

He almost wants to dream about her more often because good memories come but also bad.

The bad one happened a couple years ago on a summer night. It was getting dark so he and Suzy decided to go wait at a restaurant for Sunggyu to pick them up. 
 

He and Suzy were very close friends in first year high school and when she went overseas, he moved to a different school because his father had passed away from a heart attack and his mother found a new place for the salon. Suzy returned a year or two later and they had run into each other when they were in the beginning of their last year of high school. 
 

They hung out till dark and that was when the food poisoning started. She had been poisoned by something. It wasn't food poisoning like he had lied to everyone. The doctors told him someone had poisoned it with concentrated battery mercury. Woohyun had run around the rest of his high school year and a year into college but it all seemed the fade after that. The drugs had finally done it and he drowned in his studies.

He remembers her words. 
 

"Helping others is helping souls. Thank you, Hyun-ah. If I don't make it, be good. And tell Grandada I love him." She had finished through coughs of translucent blood. So Woohyun had told Myungsoo but then news came back that she had actually made it. It shocked the doctors as much as the two teenage boys.

Myungsoo seemed like he hated Woohyun for lying to him but Suzy said not to hate people so he stopped. He usually listened to Suzy one way or another. After Suzy really passed away, Woohyun had to take medicine and therapy.

It was a story he decided to keep secret because he knew no one would believe him and call him a murderer although those days were forgotten by most of the people that knew, along with him.

Woohyun continued walking. He had no idea where he was going but he was getting away from whatever involved Suzy and he death.

He had just entered a scary neighborhood though. It was filled with depressed housing and dead, yellow grass. He was passing by a small faded green colored house when he heard a loud bang.

His eyes trailed right and up until they met something red.

The man on the porch's back was propped up against the front door with blood painting the door's faded, green paint. He stood hunched over, hiding his face, but Woohyun thought his clothing and body structure looked familiar.

Woohyun threw away his personal thoughts and decided to help a person in need instead. He ran up the porch in a hurry, asking if the man was okay. Woohyun lifted his bloody arm and slipped in under his armpit, bumping into his blood gushing side. 
 

"Take me inside." The man said, almost inaudibly as he hung his head. Woohyun nodded and felt for the doorknob behind him.

He felt the cold, untouched knob and grabbed it then turned.

They hobbled inside.

It was dark and there was barely anything in the room except a sofa so Woohyun decided to move them there. He urged the man to keep moving and sat him down on the sofa. Woohyun bounced back to his feet. 
 

"What can I do next? Your wounds are..." The man looked up weakly. Woohyun froze with his mouth hanging. "D-Dongwoo?! What the-" He observed the other's face again and sure enough, it was that rude guy he ran into a couple days ago Dongwoo.

Dongwoo scoffed, barely opening his eyes. 
 

"Thought you'd be surprised."
 

"Of course! What were you doing?! How did you get so beat up?!" Woohyun asked. 
 

"You care now that you know it's me?" He scoffed again but ended with a wince. "Nevermind that. Just go get me a warm towel. They're in-" Before Dongwoo could finish, Woohyun was already running around and about the tiny house.

Dongwoo just decided to lie back and wait, trying to rid of his thoughts, One more week. He waited for five agonizingly long minutes before Woohyun ran through the bathroom door with a wet towel. 
 

"You don't have warm water so-"
 

"Heat it up." Woohyun paused. 
 

"H-Heat? It? Up?" Woohyun asked hesitantly. Dongwoo opened his eyes to look up at him like he was stupid. He took a deep breath. 
 

"You get a pot. Fill it with water. Turn the fire on. Put the pot on the stove-"
 

"Okay-Okay. I'll be back then." Woohyun turned out the door once again, Dongwoo groaning. "Just hang in there! I don't want you to die! I don't even know you yet!" Woohyun yelled from the other room.

Dongwoo sneered, that's what everyone says before trying to kill him-"And I really want to! So make sure you don't die, okay?!" There was a silence as Dongwoo rethought Woohyun's words. "Are you still there, Dongwoo?" Dongwoo took a breath. 
 

"Yes." He let out breathily right when Woohyun rushed in with the warm towel. Woohyun looked up and down the injured man before sighing in relief and stepping in front of him.

He held Dongwoo's pointy chin with his left hand and wiped the blood off the corners of his mouth and random sections of his face. It seemed like the blood was splattered onto his face and body but he was also beat up too. Someone must have beat him up, later dying by his victim. 
 

"Don't." Woohyun came back from his zoning out and noticed Dongwoo staring back at him. His eyes were piercing. "Don't think of any possibilities. It's none of your business, understood?" Woohyun hesitated but nodded. 
 

"Yeah-wait..." He used the other side of the towel. "So that means no questions either, right?" Dongwoo glared at him then winced in pain and put his head back. "Okay-okay. Sorry for asking that." Woohyun apologized as he tried keeping Dongwoo's face parallel to his own. "As long as you don't die I'll be fine." He muttered.

Dongwoo held Woohyun's wrist. 
 

"Why do you care so much if I die? You don't even know me-"
 

"That's the very reason. I want to know you more." Woohyun said as he tugged his wrist out of the latter's grasp and continued wiping. 
 

"That's a stupid reason-" Woohyun rubbed harder. 
 

"Shut up. You're a stupid reason to live." Woohyun growled, obviously getting ticked off. "How could you think I wouldn't care if you lived or not? Don't you have someone you really care about or someone who cares about you?"
 

"No." Dongwoo answered bluntly, catching Woohyun off-guard. 
 

"W-What?"
 

"I don't have anyone like that in my life. I grew up in survival mode. Not like you and your fantasy world. No one's ever cared for me. I'm not even sure on how that feels because every time I come close to it, it always slips through my fingers." Dongwoo jerked his head away from Woohyun and looked at the floor. "I've made bad choices back then and I have a tendency to so I didn't chase it...I couldn't." Dongwoo swallowed and closed his eyes.

He held his side. They went silent for a long minute before Dongwoo spoke. 

"Go get me some bandage from the bottom cabinet in the bathroom." Woohyun let Dongwoo finish giving instructions this time before going to his destination.

Dongwoo sighed and shut his eyes tightly.

He couldn't tell Woohyun that he was trying to love again.

He couldn't tell him his secret.

Woohyun was back like lightning compared to the first time and he walked up beside Dongwoo. He saw a fairly large jacket lying in the spot beside his patient and grabbed it. 
 

"Yah! Don't-!" Woohyun tossed it aside and as he did so, something fell out of the pocket.

Woohyun reached for it. It was a piece of paper crumpled up into a ball. He picked it up.

"Give it to me." Dongwoo demanded but was ignored. Woohyun moved so he was out of Dongwoo's grabbing reach, the other barely able to move. Woohyun threw him the bandage wrap. 
 

"Here. You can start first." Dongwoo threw it back at his face, Woohyun dodging it just in time. 
 

"I said give it back, Woohyun." He said sternly. Woohyun pursed his lips and furrowed his brows for a second. 
 

"Fine. But only if you read it to me." 
 

"What?! No! I want it back so you won't read it! It's fragile anyway so give it back." 
 

"Okay." Woohyun said. "After I read it." Then he started peeling it open. 
 

"Aish~! I thought you were a nice guy! Why are you doing this to me, an injured and defenseless guy!?" Woohyun shrugged.
 

"I want to know you more and since you won't get close to me; I'll have to take it by force. And yeah, I am a nice guy." Woohyun said, before finally finishing unfolding the paper. His eyes scanned the faded words.

Secrets equal secrets,
 

Friends equal secrets, 
 

Secrets equal vulnerability,
 

Vulnerability equals weakness

Weakness equals flaws,
 

And flaws equal 
 

DEATH.
 

For a moment the world was still for Woohyun. He couldn't hear Dongwoo's pleases anymore and he felt like shuttering.

Maybe this was Dongwoo's problem. His eyes flickered up at Dongwoo and then away as Woohyun made his way into the kitchen. 
 

"Where are you going?!" Dongwoo questioned, but it didn't take Woohyun long to get back. When he returned, he wasn't carrying anything. 
 

"Yah, where did you put my paper?" Woohyun shrugged as he made his way to the bandage roll and picked it up. Dongwoo groaned and put one of his hands to his head. 
 

"You can leave now. You're giving me a headache." Woohyun did opposite and went to sit beside Dongwoo. 
 

"Lift your shirt up." Woohyun demanded as he unrolled a small section of the bandage roll.

Dongwoo scoffed unable to believe the situation he was in.

Stuck with a guy who won't listen and does as he pleases but all for the better.

He obeyed after a long stared down and lifted his shirt until it revealed the wound. It was a decent scar already. Woohyun grimaced before sitting back. 
 

"I'll go get more water so we can wash your wound out before we wrap-"
 

"No. Just wrap it. This is how I always wrap it and it works faster." Woohyun frowned. 
 

"But that won't be sanitary."
 

"I don't care. Just do it." Dongwoo ordered. Woohyun didn't want to mess with him anymore so he obliged and did as he was told. He started reaching his arms around the bloody torso and soon the red was covered in tan. He completed the wrap by sticking the bandage into itself and leaning back. 
 

"Done." He said as if it wasn't obvious.

Dongwoo sat forward and pulled his shirt over his head. He tossed it on the floor and winced again.

Woohyun leaned forward to aid him. He held Dongwoo at the waist.

Dongwoo wasn't sure how to react because no one did these things to him. He just nodded at Woohyun to assure him he was alright. Woohyun nodded back and let go. 
 

"Why are you still here?" Dongwoo asked after a while of silence. Woohyun took a big breath and leaned back then let it go. He closed his eyes. 
 

"I...I want to stay with you." He said truthfully. His stressful thoughts had returned. 
 

Sunggyu,
 

Suzy,
 

Chunji,
 

studies,
 

Sungjong. He'd been wondering why Sungjong was out chasing Dongwoo in such torn up clothes.
 

"Hey. You know Lee Sungjong, right?" Woohyun asked. Dongwoo turned his head and hid a smirk before nodding his head.

Woohyun, on the other hand, thought he was sad. 
 

"I'm sorry but, I was wondering why he was chasing you around town the other day when you ran into me the second time. Can you tell me why?" Woohyun asked.

Dongwoo intertwined his fingers and rested his elbows on his thighs. 
 

"Lee Sungjong." Dongwoo repeated so it wouldn't be so foreign to him. "We met the week before when he tripped me accidentally. Then I think it was the day I first heard him sing that I actually got hooked-"
 

"Wait. Are you that interested in him? There's a limit, right? I mean..."
 

"Of course. Have you forgotten that I don't know...how to love?" Dongwoo said, hesitating. Woohyun shook his head. 
 

"Sorry. Continue." He said lamely before shutting his mouth. Dongwoo continued. 
 

"Then after that, came the day he chased me. It was still quite early that day, wasn't it. He chased me because he wanted to give me my money back but I didn't want it. He seemed so poor and I had a lot of extra-"
 

"Poor?" Woohyun questioned. Dongwoo nodded as if it were obvious. "But Sungjong has a CEO as a father. And he was an architecture and everything so there's no way he's poor." Dongwoo turned to finally look Woohyun in the eye. He gave an expressionless look but there was a sympathetic look somewhere in his eyes. 
 

"Woohyun. He's lying to you. He doesn't even have a house to go to. He probably doesn't have family. And the reason why I heard him sing was because he needs money to live. He sings for people out on street curbs. How many times have you been in the city?" Dongwoo asked.

Woohyun couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was no way Sungjong could have lied for that long. He'd been his number one customer for the longest time. 
 

"Never. I'm always studying. Unless I'm at work or with Sunggyu."

Sunggyu popped back in his head. Great.

Dongwoo's head slightly bobbed up and down. 
 

"That's why you never knew." Woohyun put his hands over his face. How could this be? He questioned himself. Dongwoo ran a hand through his own brown hair. 
 

"Oh yeah. Ummm. When does school start again?" Woohyun removed his hands and made eye contact with the latter. 
 

"In a week. Why?" Woohyun asked. Dongwoo shrugged. 
 

"No reason. Oh yeah and you have to give me that haircut before school starts."
 

"Oh? Are you going to college? How old are you?"
 

"I'm 24." Dongwoo answered the second question. 
 

"Then I must address you as Hyung. I'm one year younger." Dongwoo nodded. 
 

"Are you going now?" He asked a couple seconds later.

Woohyun thought of where he'd go. His mother did tell him to have someone with him when he was out and he does. Sunggyu said he'd call him eventually, he had to get away from Suzy, he was too stressed to study, and...he could go see Sungjong but he couldn't just leave Dongwoo behind to care for himself.

Woohyun shook his head. 
 

"No. I'll stay and help you. I don't want to go anywhere else and if I do, I might stress too much." He looked around the room then back at Dongwoo. "I'm hungry. Skipped out on breakfast today. You have food in the fridge, right? Or are you more a fast food kind of person, delivery on time kind of person, or-"
 

RING! RING! 
 

Woohyun was interrupted by Dongwoo's phone. Dongwoo reached in his back pant pocket and pulled out his annoying electronic device. He slid the answer bar. 
 

"I failed." Dongwoo said once he started talking, immediate yelling was heard from the other line.

Dongwoo apologized for every one until he stopped and his face darkened. He hung up and looked at the ground. 
 

"I have to go." He said with a hint of disgust. He tried getting up but Woohyun wouldn't let him. Woohyun pulled him back down on his . 

"You're not going anywhere until you're fully healed. And I'm going to make food so you'd better stay here, okay?" Dongwoo glared at Woohyun but stayed back anyway. He was in no shape to leave the house and he was well aware of that. Dongwoo rested his eyes and put his head back. 
 

"There's no food in the fridge." Woohyun frowned and looked around the room. 
 

"You just move here, huh?" Dongwoo didn't respond so he continued. "I can help you settle in since you're in so much pain." Dongwoo didn't respond once again.

"Really. What happened?"
 

"I said it wasn't your business." Dongwoo grumbled. Woohyun stood up and started for a random door. He grabbed the knob then turned back to look at Dongwoo's questioning face as he slowly opened his eyes. 
 

"What are you doing?" He asked in a slow pace. Woohyun shrugged. 
 

"I'll just room here until you tell me." He opened the door to the empty room and stepped one foot in then halted.

He spun his head around to Dongwoo, who was staring at him.

"Chicken or bean noodles?" He asked, receiving a groan before laughing and closing the door behind him. Dongwoo scoffed. 
 

This Woohyun guy didn't deserve it.