The dusk is almost over when Hakyeon exit the café and walk on his way to the bus stand after spending some time with Hyuk. Once he reached the stand, he made no effort to flop down on the bench with literally blank face while Hyuk words keep replaying on his mind. The road was much havoc with people getting off from work, pedestrian dash by him and the loud honks that continuously filled up the whole city that does not manage to make Hakyeon snap out from Hyuk words.

FLASHBACK

 “As expected from Taekwoon hyung… another white lies he made up.”

Hakyeon tilt his head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“As expected from Taekwoon hyung that have it hard on him while he was away from you for 8 years long. He just have been going through a lot during that time. From his reserved personality to the fact that he was a foreigner, people make him an outcast, bully him and make him a toy for a joke, and for that to happen in their adolescence, it snatched his smile away. He has this one friend when he was first entered his high school, but after the other students making fun of him, that one friend that he was about to trust and depend on start to put a distance between them and the worst part was that bastard also joined with the other ganging up adding up his hardship, laughed together at his misery and eventually he build a wall and drew a clear line between him and the outside world.”

Hakyeon just shake his head in denial. He thought that he know everything about his precious friend. “I-I don’t know anything about this…he never tell me about this”

Hyuk chuckle at that. “That is just Taekwoon hyung style, he never want people to look at him in pity”

“But, he should at least tell me, isn’t that what friend should do? How in the world he managed to go through this alone?” Hurt that Taekwoon assume that their friendship only seem that little to him.

“He is just a kid with many scar at that time, and unfortunately he made a belief that people will change at last, and maybe that’s why he act different when he first met you back, scare haunting him that his one and only true friend might also change from what he remember. He believes in no one at that time. It took a long time for him to open up with me. I can understand why he act like that, when the world being cruel to you, you have no choice but to change. He did changed. To a cold person and pretend  that he has no heart to spare.”

FLASHBACK END

Hakyeon sigh and run his head in the hair remembering all Taekwoon antics back when they first met. He sure feel regret that he have no idea on what happen to Taekwoon yet he call him his lifelong friend but he can’t help feel hurt that Taekwoon think that little about him. Is he really that low of a person? Does their long friendship that meaningless till Taekwoon can lose all the trust that they build after an agony of Hakyeon trying to build the trust between them? But still, he is not the one that in Taekwoon shoes, he don’t know how much pain and hurt have Taekwoon swallowed over this year that can make a person make such drastic change like that.

“Arghhh! Jung Taekwoon that little !” He broke after a pang of regret, hurt and sorry make their turn one after one in his mind. He don’t know which one he should feel and now he had to apologize to the people around him after a burst of emotion at the bus stand in the middle of city filled with people and ahjumma that glare at him for the use of such disgraceful word thanks to that little .

Hakyeon somehow managed to ride the bus and drop at the right station in the midst of his confusion mind and blank expression decorating his face. He thoroughly enjoy the night breeze while he walk down his way home with his hand in the pocket, keeping the warm of his hands and with every breath that he take, he can feel the heavy feeling in his chest start to lighten. Craving for some banana milk, he goes straight to the convenience store and that’s when he see the subject of his concern bending down in front of the fridge searching for some coffee he guess. Hakyeon standing just around the corner and apparently he slightly feel intimidated by Taekwoon for the first time ever in his life after knowing that Taekwoon refused to tell him such a big thing when they had such a precious friendship they shared. It’s not that he feel angry or what, but he feel upset that Taekwoon refused to trust on him.

Taekwoon was about to close the fridge door when he see a tall figure right on the corner watching his every moves. “Oh! Hakyeon-ah, what are you doing there?” Hakyeon shrug his shoulder feel like he don’t want to answer Taekwoon right now, and that’s turn to be useless when he know that they don’t need words to communicate. “Banana milk?” Taekwoon take a pack of banana milk from the fridge and shake it in front of Hakyeon to know whether his guess and Hakyeon nod at that.

After they settle out from the convenience store, they walk back home together like they used to before. Hakyeon feels that it has been too long since he spent some time with Taekwoon and how he miss to walk together with his friend, arms making contact with each other unconsciously and the awkward but thrilling looks they give to each other as the consequences. They don’t talk much with mostly Hakyeon is the one that do all the talking, shared how his day goes and Taekwoon was on the receiving side giving full attention on him and nodded at times or just hummed at him and the rest of the walk filled with comfortable silence. Hakyeon doesn’t mind not speaking with each other, contrast with what people think of him as the neighborhood social butterfly because after all they don’t need to talk to reach each other. But now, he needs the silence more because he feel that he don’t want to talk with him.

“You’re unusually quiet today, huh. Is the practice too hard?” Taekwoon is the first to break the silence between them which is the rare case.

“Oh…it’s not that…just something bothering my mind.”

Taekwoon stop on his track and turn around to face Hakyeon. “Is that so…mind share it with me? You used to talk everything to me…why you don’t do it today?”

“Because it’s you…” Hakyeon murmured quietly and look at him with a hurt look glazing on his eyes.

Taekwoon point at himself. “Oh…me?”

Then, Hakyeon made up his mind to confront his friend since it’s already out and thus clearing up his mind. “It’s you idiot… you are the one that bugging on my mind right now. Why you never tell me such thing?” Taekwoon look at him with his eyebrow arch upward and his eyes widen in blank.

“What thing? I don’t have anything to te- -“ Taekwoon was about to finish his word when suddenly Hakyeon interrupt him.

“All of it! All of the things that happened to you in the past abroad…from right you became an outcast at the stranger country to the point that you change yourself.”

“Wh-where did you heard that? No… you are not supposed to know this…it can’t be….” Taekwoon start to stutter on his words.

“Why I should not know this? We are friends, right? A promised lifelong friend on top that.”

“Because you should not know about this! Even when the whole world know about this, you are not supposed to know it.”

“What do you mean? Isn’t that friend supposed to comfort each other, be by your side when the world opposing you? You know that I will do that, even with just a mail or phone call or letter, I will comfort you…but you? You don’t even contact me for all those years long and I don’t know anything about your contact details…I don’t understand you, Taekwoon-ah… ”

“Until when? Right from the start you are the one that will stand for me every time the kids make fun of me, and now, that I was out from your sight, do I still need to bother you with my measly complexity?”

“Why are you saying that? For God sake that is what friend do!” Hakyeon stomped on his foot, frustrated with Taekwoon.

“BECAUSE IT’S EMBRASSING! It humiliate me just how much I depend on you!” Taekwoon snapped at him, leaving Hakyeon shocked because Jung Taekwoon never ever raise his voice toward him and with that Taekwoon leaving him behind and start to walk faster. A few steps and Taekwoon run disappearing himself in the darkness of night.

A/N: Fuhh, I managed to put an update! Anyway, it's the chapter mainly focus on why Taekwoon act so indifferent in the first place. In case you guys don't notice it, I have remained the place of which country Taekwoon moved anonymous because of this chapter. I think that it will be insensitive to write a nasty thing about other country and that's why I just state it as 'abroad'. I'm not quite satisfy with this, it's not coming out perfectly just like I pictured in my mind.

Whatever~ And thanks a lot for all my subscribers and those who vote for this story. Thank you so much! *bow 90 degree*

Have a good day everyone. N-nyeong^^