Hakyeon didn’t know why he was there, hell, he would have turned around if it wasn’t for the fact that he had already rang the doorbell and had no time to escape before the door opened.

“Hakyeon-” Taekwoon began, surprised. “Why are you here?”

Hakyeon sighed. Taekwoon’s lips were in a line, and his eyes were like daggers staring into his soul. It’d been awhile since he’d been scared of someone, but now he was considering making a run for it.

“Alright listen, I know Jaehwan lives right by you so I was going to talk to him first but I figured you were the easier target. This is about yesterday. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t going to say anything about it. I mean, it’s unlikely you will since you’re you but you happened to humiliate me yesterday.  I know I didn’t have to listen to you but you were right so of course I sat down-”

Taekwoon sighed, wondering when he was going to shut up. “How did you find out where I live?”

Hakyeon smirked, all the anxiety disappearing and returning back to his normal self.

“I pretended we were partners in a project and asked the ladies at the desk for your address. Cool, right?”

Taekwoon rolled his eyes.

“I won’t say anything. Go, now.”

“Wait-”

But, before he could say anything else, Taekwoon closed the door on his face. He didn’t have time for selfish bastards.

Hakyeon remained on the boy’s porch in silence, the corners of his mouth raised in irony. He wasn’t expecting Taekwoon, of all people, to hate him as well as everyone else. Taekwoon was different. He saw good in people, usually.

There’s no good in you.

Sighing at his own thought, he walked off the porch and began to head towards Jaehwan’s house, preparing for possibly the biggest challenge in his life.

Saturday. That meant Taekwoon could do as he pleased. And usually, that meant being alone in his room, listening to music softly. His parents allowed him to do so, even though Taekwoon noticed the disappointed sighs and looks on their faces as Taekwoon told them he had no plans.

It’s just how it always was.

When he was a kid, Taekwoon spent most of his days in his backyard playing soccer. His dad wanted him to join the team at his elementary school, but Taekwoon always refused. He didn’t like talking to people. It was too much of an effort to him.

His parents knew he was different automatically, when Jaehwan, his neighbor, was throwing a birthday party and Taekwoon was invited. They forced him to go, but all Taekwoon did was sit on the couch, hiding away from the other kids, not saying one word.

“Taekwoon, don’t you want to play, too?”

The only response they would get was the shake of his head.

As Taekwoon got older, he never had any friends. Not really. Everyone liked him at school, they always and talked to him, not minding that Taekwoon never talked back. And Taekwoon, normally, didn’t mind their presence either. He just didn’t feel the need to hang out with them. They were people he saw at school, and that was that.

Jaehwan was always there, though, always around his arm, always trying to get Taekwoon to participate more, speak more. In the end, it only made Taekwoon slowly dislike the boy, even though he knew that he was just being a good friend.

Taekwoon developed his first crush in his second year of high school. He never payed attention to girls whatsoever, considering he enjoyed silence and being alone, but there was one girl that changed it all.

She was different. Taekwoon liked different. She was mute. Selective.  She never talked. And because of that, Taekwoon felt drawn to her. He wasn’t mute, but he might of well should have been. They began to talk through written notes, and eventually, she spoke.

But then she never shut up. She was like every other girl in the school. And Taekwoon learned she wasn’t so different after all, and moved on rather quickly.

And so, with no one to talk to in his life, Taekwoon fell in love with music. Sure, he loved soccer, but music was his thing.

His parents were glad he found something in his life that made him smile, really smile for once in his life.

Except, this Saturday was different. Having just dealt with Cha Hakyeon, Taekwoon was already in a bad mood. And it didn’t help that Jaehwan wasn’t exactly being so quiet next door, either. Part of him wanted to shut his window and just ignore it, but considering it was Cha Hakyeon Jaehwan was yelling at, Taekwoon looked out his bedroom window and down at the two boys chatting on the grass.

Jaehwan ran his fingers through his hair. “You’re not going to report it?”

“He’s the richest man in the city, idiot, he’ll just pay himself out of it.”

“Hakyeon, how long has this been going on? How can you expect me to stay silent-”

Taekwoon’s eyebrows raised. In all of his life, he’d never seen Jaehwan so look serious.

Hakyeon rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Can you stop pretending you care about me?”

At this, Jaehwan scoffed. “We’ve known each other for years, of course I care. I mean, I may not like you or anything, but as a human ing being I care. Plus, we were friends once.”

“We were friends for only a month before you spit in my face and called me a . God, just don’t ing tell, okay? I don’t need to be dealing with all this right now. I got a lot on my hands already. Give me a break.”

Jaehwan sighed, his tongue poking the inside of his cheek.

“Fine,” He said softly. “I won’t tell. But Hakyeon, before you go I just want to say-”

“No. You don’t get to apologize.”

And like that, Hakyeon walked towards his bike and rode away.

Taekwoon, now closing his window, sat on his bed going over everything he had just, undeniably, eavesdropped on. He never knew there was a time, even for a short period, that Hakyeon and Jaehwan were friends. He also didn’t understand what the whole slur thing was about, but he figured Hakyeon had done something to deserve Jaehwan calling him that.

As he lied back and embraced the now completely silent room, he closed his eyes, hoping to fall into a deep sleep.

But all that appeared was Hakyeon’s face. He’d completely disregarded the bruises on his wrist, the cut on his lip, the black eye that looked swollen due to his anger running inside of him while they were talking. Of course, as a human being, he felt bad. But he hated the guy. He, really, really did. Just thinking about him made him angry.

But.

Part of him wondered if he was okay.

-

this is short, but i have another chapter coming soon!! i have a good idea where i want this story to go. i hope you all begin to enjoy it. love you all, thanks for reading. - author