hoHO HO HELLO FRIENDS LONG TIME NO SEE I HOPE Y'ALL ARE DOING FINE AND HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN ABOUT ME :>>>

heads UP TRIGGER WARNING, SOME VIOLENCE. 

If a tree falls in a forest, but there’s no one around, does it still make a sound?

Morning had come; albeit excruciatingly slowly, and the waves splashed gently against the shore. The sun had risen like any other day, despite Wonwoo’s desperate pleas for an exception.

“Jeon Wonwoo.”

Wonwoo grumbled, a high pitched whine in protest to the cruel act of snatching his cover away. He clicked his tongue, glaring at the woman in her mid forties, and buried his face in the pillow rebelliously.

“Jeon Wonwoo, this is the fourth day that all you’ve done is sleep and re-read your encyclopedias.”

Wonwoo got up, stretching himself. “I’m doing my homework, don’t worry.”

His mother shook her head. “Jeon Wonwoo, it’s the summer holidays. Don’t you have people to meet? Things to do?”

Wonwoo opened his mouth to rebuke that he was doing things, but his mom beat him to it with a lour. “Things that you do outside, in the sun and with people. Your friends.”
 

Wonwoo laughed. “Mom, if you can’t already see, I don’t have friends.”

It was day four, officially, and the beginning phase of emotional instability, one of a persistent bitterness and cynicism. He lamented to himself, an ongoing one-sided conversation with his trustworthy encyclopedias, the murmuring about how he had been left alone. It was so funny, he thought, but it would get funnier when school began again.

His mom’s scoffs snapped him out his thoughts. “Right, and so who are the people waiting at the door?”

Wonwoo’s ears perked up. His previous responses had been slow, weary, but suddenly he jerked to life. “Whoever it is, I don’t want to see them.”

His mom smiled a tight-lipped smile. “Too late.”

Jihoon and Jisoo guiltily strode in, both who seemed to grow guiltier as they took in the environment.

Wonwoo groaned, leaning against the wall with his covers returned to him and bundled up as protection.

“Wonwoo, it’s… it’s three in the afternoon.”

He groggily wiped his eyes. “I know, for pete’s sake. I was up reading.”

Jihoon didn’t dare sit. He didn’t even know if he was welcome, or if Wonwoo would respond if he said hi. He peered around - the books sprawled on the floor, fresher reads stacked atop of older books Wonwoo didn’t bother putting back on the shelf, the cups of coffee or tea that crowded the table with messily done homework.

Unconsciously, Jihoon began to talk. “You know, it will probably all pass by the time summer holidays ended. After all, we all know how these rumors work.”

Wonwoo smiled at the absurdity of Jihoon’s words. “Right, and that’s how Kim Sohee moved to freakin’ Jeju for the accusation that she was jerking the math teacher off.”

Jisoo’s jaw dropped a little, only enough for himself to notice, and suddenly he saw they should’ve come on day 1, rather than give Wonwoo some ‘space’. “Well, we can go out, buy something at the conbini stores, just get some fresh air.”

Another idea shot down in the air. “With the both of you? How, as I stand within a five meter radius?”

The visitors looked at each other uneasily, as if they were dealing with a nuclear chain. Jisoo wasn’t sure how to break the news they had been guarded with to Wonwoo, but they couldn’t leave without telling him. Jihoon, being the braver of the two, started to say, “I don’t think you know this, but rumors have been spread to the entire school.”

Wonwoo snapped that he already knew, long ago.

“Including the faculty.”

Ah. Of course.

“And?”

Jihoon fidgeted in his spot. “Well, they may not be true, but people are saying that they want you down for counselling.”

Jihoon looked at Jisoo, urging him to say his piece that they both agreed on earlier for fair and partial distribution. “Anddd Mingyu got a girlfriend. Not new, but yeah.”

Wonwoo scoffed. This was never listed in his list of negative outcomes, even the worst he’d come up with. He thought he could be beaten up over it, or at least taken the brunt of Mingyu’s hate and self-pride through punches and kicks, not counselling or isolation.

He cleared his throat in front of his friends. He could not cry in front of them.

“Well, thank you for informing me.”

The next day, it was sickeningly confirmed that he was down for counselling sessions with the school counsellor twice a week until they deemed him sane. Wonwoo and his mother cursed over it, his mother in particular giving middle fingers to the sky as if it would somehow reach the school and the town’s people and Mingyu. She patted his back, rubbing circles over it as an effort to comfort him. Or also, an apologetic message that she couldn’t do much about all of it.

It was a Wednesday that he went. One of the three days that the school was open during the holidays, mainly for -ups who needed to go back to serve detention or counselling. He slung an empty bag over his shoulder and shrunk himself as far as possible to remain invisible. Thankfully, it was hotter than usual and he saw no one on his way.

“Come in.”

The school counsellor was a lady, probably in late forties, even though the impeccable makeup and attire made her seem ten years younger. She wasn’t exactly how Wonwoo pictured her, but she seemed a lot softer and warmer.

“So, do you know why you’re here?”

Wonwoo rolled his eyes. Heck, he definitely didn’t.

“Because I like someone?”

She smiled. “Yes, because you wrongfully imposed your own ill intentions on someone else.”

Wonwoo looked up at her, finally seeing the posters embellishing the wall behind her and the sincerity in her smile. “No, I just-”

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