Woohyun stared at him for a long moment, processing his words. The silence drew on around them and the whispers of birds flooded their ears. Sunggyu gave an awkward sigh and shifted in his seat, probably uncomfortable with the whole situation. The look on his face showed obvious regret for his last statement.

"I...miss-" Woohyun began to say slowly. His trembling voice gave out mid sentence and he closed his mouth. Sunggyu blinked before he averted his gaze from the dark haired man.

"We need to clear things up so let's not drag this on for longer than we should." Sunggyu stated, nodding his head slightly like he was choosing his words carefully. Woohyun inhaled sharply and straightened up to face his boyfriend who may or may not consider himself his boyfriend anymore.

"Yeah..." Woohyun chocked out. "What do you want to ask me? I'll try my best to clear everything up." He said. He felt so confident as he went to confront them at their school, so why was he the complete opposite now? He felt like he had betrayed Sunggyu as if he had really committed everything Baekhyun had accused him of doing.

Sunggyu visibly tried to avoid Woohyun gaze and settled for staring at the dark haired man's chest. Suddenly, Sunggyu gasped lightly and eyed the sweater Woohyun was wearing with more focus. The dark haired man looked down, wondering why Sunggyu was so taken aback by his clothes. Didn't he just say not to drag this out longer than needed?

"You kept it." Sunggyu muttered under his breath. The statement made it to Woohyun's ears and he tilted his head. It was just a sweater, what was so special about it? It was half white, half dark blue with a lot of intricate patterns sewn in with red thread.

"Hey," Woohyun began and Sunggyu's eyes flickered up to meet his. "Let's talk, yeah?"

"Right." Sunggyu straightened up. "So Baekhyun said you knew each other in high school, to which you said you were living in America at the time. Am I correct?" He asked, eyes traveling down to Woohyun's lips. The dark haired man blinked as he noticed where the other was staring but payed no mind to it.

"Yes, you can ask Boohyun. We both lived abroad for a while so he could attend a famous culinary school in South Carolina." Woohyun said, trying to sound as convincing as he could. He wasn't lying at all, but something made him wary just in case. Sunggyu nodded in understanding before opening his mouth to ask another question.

"Baekhyun is rather good at English, too. He mentioned in a class introduction at the beginning of the year that he had been to the states before." Sunggyu brought up. Woohyun cringed at his words. Just how long has he been planning this out?

"Sunggyu..." Woohyun trailed off.

"I'm not saying that either of you are lying. I'm just trying to figure this out." The light haired man admitted. "So, after returning from America, what did you do?"

Woohyun thought for a moment. "Me and Boohyun opened Meok & Sam and we've been living here ever since. I finished up my senior year in Korea and now here I am in college." He said, looking up at the ceiling every once in a while to think. Sunggyu nodded and pulled out his phone. Woohyun watched as he tapped the screen with nimble fingers before Sunggyu turned the phone around for him to see.

"It's what Baekhyun told me." Sunggyu said as Woohyun took the phone into his own hands. A long and rather detailed message took over the entire screen. Woohyun read it uneasily, as some of the 'facts' were remarkably accurate. He paused at a certain sentence and looked up at Sunggyu, who was watching his every expression.

"How does he know about the bullying? Only those who were involved would know." Woohyun mumbled. Sunggyu took the phone back and read over the text until he found the line.

"I recognized him from elementary school, where kids used to bully him. We never spoke to each other until he tried for my best friend's heart in high school." Sunggyu read aloud. He looked up at Woohyun's perplexed face. The dark haired man was mortified as visions and memories flooded back into his mind of his childhood horrors.

"Are you all right? Woohyun." Sunggyu leaned forward to snap the other out of it. Woohyun blinked rapidly before meeting his eyes. He knew it was time to reveal his past and he swallowed hard. Sunggyu's gaze was kind and reassuring, yet still filled with doubt.

"Back in elementary, I found out that I liked boys. I didn't understand at the time that liking a boy was different and uncommonly accepted." Woohyun started. He paused for a moment to stare into Sunggyu's calm brown eyes. He felt his heart lurch at their proximity. They weren't exactly close to each other, but it was the closest they had been in months. The light haired man nodded slowly as if urging him to continue.

Woohyun took a breath. "There was this...kid who I developed a crush on. He was unearthly smart for a elementary student and he immediately attracted my attention. I guess I was easy to talk to at the time because we got along great." He explained.

"Do you remember a name?" Sunggyu asked out of curiosity. Woohyun sighed and pressed his legs up against his chest.

"Lee...no, Park Chanyeol." Woohyun said, but it came out mostly like a question. "He had a best friend at the time I started getting close with him and I think he left the other boy for me. I can't remember who it was. Byun...something."

Sunggyu raised an eyebrow. "You remember a lot. I can't even remember the name of my elementary school." He said almost in a joking manner. Woohyun gave a light smile and continued with his story.

"Anyway, word got out that I liked Chanyeol and that's when people started shaming me and calling me names. There was a bunch of kids all around school who would punch and hurt me during lunch breaks to the point I would end up in the infirmary." Woohyun said. Sunggyu's expression turned solemn and his forehead creased.

"Chanyeol was also getting attacked so his parents made him transfer schools mid school year. Boohyun couldn't afford for me to transfer so I had to wait three more long years before we narrowly escaped to America." Woohyun was surprised with how easy the words came flowing out. Before, when Boohyun made him visit therapists, he became so chocked up that he could hardly utter his name. Speaking to Sunggyu, who he knew he could trust, felt so natural.

"Narrowly like how?" Sunggyu asked.

"Boohyun studied really hard to get accepted into the culinary institute. Cooking wasn't his original dream, but he wanted to get me as far away from the bullies as he could. I guess you could say he gave up his dreams for me." Woohyun said, his gaze faltering. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. He took in steady breaths. Somehow, he felt tears well up in his closed eyes.

"I took his future away from him." Woohyun said, realizing all that his brother sacrificed for him to live better. "Instead of getting over it, I hid myself under a cold and ruthless mask." He continued, bringing his hands up to wipe away rogue tears. He felt a sudden weight on the bed and froze. Sunggyu placed a hand on his back and lifted his chin up to face him.

"I can tell you're telling the truth about all of this. Don't blame yourself for something you couldn't control." He said soothingly. Woohyun found comfort from Sunggyu's light caresses down him back and took the moment to run his sleeve over his damp eyes.

"You...believe me?" Woohyun let out, voice shaky as he held back a sob. Sunggyu offered a smile, one Woohyun hadn't seen in forever, and withdrew his arms, placing them neatly in his lap.

"I can see your voice this time. Now I know for sure that you are speaking the truth." He said. Woohyun had heard so much of this voice thing and he still couldn't understand a word Sunggyu meant by it. It was time he asked, now that they were having a heart to heart conversation.

"What do you mean when you always say you see voices? Voices are not visible." Woohyun asked, shifting his body to face the other on the bed. Sunggyu looked at him carefully and sighed.

"I guess it's my fault for always mentioning it."

~~~~~~~~

I got sick and had nothing better to do other than write and sleep. Well, here it is, Woohyun's past revealed. And did you guys catch it? The reference I made to the Christmas chapter in TCOS I mean. Ey? Eyyyy? No? Okay.