It wasn’t long after Soonyoung left the club room that he got a phone call. The ringing and vibration in his pocket startled him, but as phone calls were seldom accompanied with good news, he pulled out the phone in distaste. Looking at the caller ID gave him another shock, and his bitterness was replaced with interest and concern, since the caller was Jihoon. Jihoon never calls. Soonyoung picked up the call immediately after seeing his name.

“Hello? Jihoon? Is something wrong?”

“Hey, Soonyoung. Are you still in school?”

“Yeah, I just got out of club. Did you need something?”

“...”

“Jihoon?”

“Are you free to hang out? Right now?”

Something was wrong. Hanging out with Jihoon was a rare instance in itself, but what was impossibly rarer was the fact that he wanted to see him so spontaneously. He wondered if something had gone wrong with his tutoring session.

“Sure. Should I meet you at the library?”

“Yeah.”

Feeling panic arise in his chest, Soonyoung turned around and briskly walked in the direction of the library. When he got to his destination, he slid the door open with so much force that it created a loud ‘bang’. All of the occupants in the room instantly turned their heads toward the entrance, and Soonyoung, who felt uncomfortable with so much attention on him, hid behind the wall for a few moments. After relaxing a bit, he decided to stop hiding to search for his friend, but luckily, he didn’t have to search, as Jihoon showed up in front of him as he was hiding.

“Nice job. I wonder if you made a dent in the wall.”

“Shut up.”

Jihoon closed the door gently and then lead the way to the entrance of the school. Soonyoung walked to the side of him.

“Where are we going?”

“That depends. Where can we go that’s private?”

Soonyoung bit his lip. Something definitely happened to Jihoon, seeing that he wanted to talk to him in a private place.

“How private is private?”

“As private as we can find.”

The most private place he could think of at that moment was his own home. It was a place that gave him unpleasant feelings, but it was empty. The situation might have been an emergency, considering how Jihoon was acting, so Soonyoung brushed aside his displeasure. Jihoon’s well-being was more important than Soonyoung’s lack of appreciation for his own home.

“We can go to my house.”

Jihoon stopped in his tracks as his eyes widened at the statement. Soonyoung stopped, but didn’t face him. Jihoon watched him cautiously. He might not have known exactly why Soonyoung felt so bitter about his home, but he wasn’t a stranger about what Soonyoung felt about it.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah… No one’s home anyways.”

“We can go to a karaoke room or something. We don’t have to…”

“Let’s go. It’s fine.”

“Soonyoung.”

Soonyoung started walking away, not looking back to see if Jihoon was following him.

“I’m leaving without you. Are you coming, or what?”

Jihoon reluctantly dropped his argument. He caught up to Soonyoung, and the both of them walked in silence. It wasn’t an awkward silence, nor was it completely a comfortable one due to the slight tension earlier. The two remained silent until Soonyoung stopped to face a large house, fenced off by a decorative black gate. The house was white, reflecting the sun’s beams softly. The yard was obviously regularly maintained, as it was filled with a variety of plants and trees trimmed nicely. The grass was a lively green, a result of being watered frequently. There was a stone-paved path neatly leading from the gate to the front door. It was a beautiful house, and the first words any stranger would use to describe its inhabitants is ‘well-off’.

“Why are we stopping here?”

Soonyoung wordlessly opened the gate and entered the territory, leaving behind a shocked Jihoon.

“You live here? In this huge house? Are you sure we didn’t make a wrong turn somewhere? You’re not trespassing someone’s yard right now, are you?”

“Calm down, Lee Jihoon. I live here. I’ll explain later.”

Jihoon slowly entered through the gate and walked to the front door, where Soonyoung was waiting. Soonyoung opened the door without hesitation.

“Wait, I didn’t see you unlock the door… Are you sure this is your house and not just some abandoned building? If we’re doing anything illegal…”

“Yes, this is my house. What will it take for you to believe me? Just come.”

Jihoon didn’t say a word.

As the two entered the house, they were enveloped by darkness. None of the lights were on in the house until Soonyoung flicked up the switch for the hallway lights. Soonyoung closed the door and started going up the stairs.

“You’re not going to lock it?” asked Jihoon, not having moved much from the entrance.

No need for me to feel more trapped than I already am.

“Just leave it.”

“Are you sure?”

Soonyoung stopped in the middle of the staircase to look back at Jihoon.

“Yes, Jihoon, I’m sure.”

He couldn’t help but give Jihoon a cold stare. He felt bad about it, but his body reacted automatically. He turned back around to continue upstairs to his room, and he could hear steps on the stairs that indicated that Jihoon was following him. Soonyoung more lights as he walked to his destination. When he finally reached his room, he tossed his bag by his desk and flopped onto his bed, waiting for Jihoon to enter. When he did, he sat on the bed beside him.

Soonyoung didn’t say anything and waited for Jihoon to speak when he was ready. There was a heavy silence, and they both knew that Soonyoung would wait, and that Jihoon had something serious to say. Neither tried to lighten the mood with small talk, since there was no use for it.

Jihoon grabbed a stray pillow that was on the unmade bed and hugged it tightly.

“Did I ever tell you I was raised by a single dad?”

Soonyoung’s head had been drooping ever so slightly, but it perked up when Jihoon started speaking. The blond already knew that he and Jihoon shared similar personalities, but hearing that they shared something else in common made Soonyoung intrigued.

“No… and I guess I never told you that I was raised by a single dad either.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened slightly at the new information. “Oh.”

“But that’s not really important right now. So you were raised by a single dad.”

“Yeah.” Jihoon tightened his grip on the pillow. “So I was raised by a single dad… and he’s had some troubles financially…”

There was a pause, and Soonyoung waited for Jihoon to continue.

“He’s never had a high paying job, but he always tried to make ends meet with his part-time jobs. This was when I was younger, by the way.”

Soonyoung nodded to show he was paying attention, but Jihoon wasn’t looking at him. He was looking at the corner of the pillow he was holding as he played with it, stalling a bit. Soonyoung didn’t mind the wait, though. Jihoon was telling him something important. It was a given for him to be patient.

Jihoon was silent for another moment, but then he stopped all movement to look Soonyoung directly in the eyes.

“My dad’s a con artist, and he’s been for most of my life. He took that route when he wasn’t able to make ends meet. He threw away the lifestyle he had at the time and decided to go the unethical route, but... he really messed up this time. He actually got caught.”

The confession startled the blond, causing him to perk up slightly, eyebrows raised, mouth open but without a response to voice.

Jihoon spoke again. “I don’t approve of what he does, at all. I think it’s wrong of him to do what he does, which is why I’m trying to get into college on a scholarship. I don’t want to depend on him more than I have to. I can’t do anything about it now because I need him, but once I’m in college, I want to cut ties with him. I’ve been wanting that for a while. My dad is also the reason I’m aiming for law school. So I can prosecute criminals like him. I know he became a criminal for me, and I do feel a bit of appreciation for it, but that’s not an excuse for taking others’ hard-earned money.”

“You’re aiming for law school?.”

Jihoon’s tense shoulders suddenly relaxed as he let out a small chuckle.

“Of all the things you could have asked about…”

Soonyoung smiled when he noticed that Jihoon seemed a little more at ease with him.

“Hey, what can I say? It’s something I didn’t know about until now.”

“You have a point.”

“So, anyways… you said your dad got caught? So is he being held at the police station?”

“Yeah. And I don’t know what I should do about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want to cut ties with him eventually, but if he’s locked up, that means I can cut ties now and forget about it… But I don’t know. It’s just really sudden. Now that the opportunity is right there in front of me, I think I’m having second thoughts. I mean, even if he committed crimes, it was for my sake, even if I don’t agree with what he’s done. Even if I tell myself that it’s better to ignore him, I just can’t”

“Why can’t you? Do you not hate him?”

“I don’t know. I thought I did, but now that he needs me, I can’t just blindly turn my cheek. He’s done so much to get me here, and I know he cares for me. I don’t hate him, I just hate the things he does. I don’t think I can truly hate him if I tried. He’s family.”

For a moment, Soonyoung thought about what to say. Should he give Jihoon advice? Was that what he was looking for in Soonyoung? Or was it that he just wanted someone to hear about his troubles?

“Okay, you don’t know what you want to do. What can you do?”

“I don’t know. I could try to bail him out, or I can leave him there. Those are really the only two options I have… What do you think I should do?”

“What would happen to your life if you left him there?”

“He would go to jail, and I would probably move out. I wouldn’t want to depend on him at all, so I guess I would have to find a place for myself. Even if I stayed in our apartment, it’s not like he would be able to pay rent. I would basically be on my own. I would have to find a job other than tutoring. If I get another job, I wouldn’t have as much time to study though. But if I decide to bail him out, I still have to get the money from somewhere to do that.”

Jihoon ruffled his hair. “Why couldn’t he wait until after I was done with high school to get caught? He avoided the police so well for so long. Why now?”

Soonyoung concluded that he wouldn’t be able to help his friend make a decision, so he decided to help him in the only way he could think of. He turned to the dresser by his bed and opened the top drawer, before pulling out an envelope and tossing it to Jihoon.

“What is this?” Jihoon inspected the thick envelope. “Why are you giving me your mail?”

“I don’t need it. You can decide what you want to use it on, whether it’s bailing out your dad or starting a life without him.”

When Jihoon confirmed the contents of the envelope, he quickly tossed it back to Soonyoung.

“What the hell is this, your life’s savings? I can’t accept this. It’s too much.”

Soonyoung tossed it back.

“You need it. And I don’t. Take it.”

“You might need it later. Do you realize how much is in here?”

Soonyoung shrugged.

“Roughly.”

Jihoon stared at the envelope in his hands. Soonyoung could see both hesitation and desperation in his eyes.

“It almost seems like I’m trying to con you out of this money. I wonder if my dad went through this struggle when he started out, trying to pick between his needs and his morals…”

“Jihoon…”

Jihoon closed his eyes, tapping a finger on the envelope, the sound of it being the only noise to fill the room for a minute.

“I never knew how hard of a choice it would be, deciding which of the two is more important.”

“Jihoon, you’re not taking anything from me. I’m willingly giving it to you. I told you I don’t need it.”

Soonyoung pulled out several more envelopes from his drawer. “Look, I have plenty. Me giving you that money won’t change my lifestyle or anything.”

After staring at the contents of the drawer, Jihoon seemed to feel less burdened. He scoffed in disbelief.

“Soonyoung… are you secretly the son of a CEO or something?”

“Not exactly… but you get it now, right? Don’t feel guilty about taking it.”

Jihoon sighed, reluctance still obvious on his face.

“Yeah, alright. I’ll put it to good use… Thanks. I owe you… A lot. I promise I’ll pay you back when I can.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“But, can I ask? Why…” he gestured to the drawer.

“Oh, uh, it’s my allowance.”

“A-allowance? Allowance? No offense, but who needs so much of an allowance?”

“Beats me. Besides, I don’t like spending this… dirty money more than I have to. Who knows what kinds of corrupt things my dad’s done to earn that money.”

“Corrupt? As in illegal?”

“Not illegal, just… wrong. Well, I already told one person, might as well tell you too. My dad’s the ambassador of Japan.”

Jihoon’s eyes turned wide. “Whoa.”

“Yeah, and just like every other politician, he’s a greedy old man who doesn’t have empathy for anyone but himself.”

“But wait, if he’s the ambassador of Japan, doesn’t that mean he lives there? In Japan?”

“He does. We live separately because it’s better for him if I don’t exist. I mean, he has an image to keep up. Why would he, someone in charge of relationships between countries, willingly announce that he has a child when he doesn’t have a wife? I’m just proof that his own relationship went wrong.”

“I guess that makes sense for him, but it sounds kind of… wrong.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s nice for the both of us that way anyways. He does his business without me hindering his precious image, and I can live a life without seeing him more than a few times in a year. He gives me money so that he doesn’t have to take care of me in any other way. I’m fine with it, as long as he doesn’t show his face.”

“Sorry, sounds pretty rough.”

“So does your situation.”

“Are we pathetic or what?”

“Probably.”

“Hold on, you said you already told one person. Who do you have to tell other than me? Don’t tell me…”

Jihoon never failed to impress Soonyoung with his deductive skills. It sometimes seemed like Jihoon knew everything.

“Seokmin, yeah.”

“So you decided you’re close enough to him to tell him things you haven’t told me, huh?” Jihoon teased with a seemingly all-knowing smirk.

Soonyoung leaned back defensively.

“I didn’t mean to, it just kind of happened.”

“So, what’s up with you and him, then?”

Soonyoung thought about it. He held a decently long conversation with Seokmin, but their topics seemed to only scratch the surface of who they were. Soonyoung still didn’t think he knew nearly enough about him, but he didn’t know how to dig deeper. He’s known Jihoon for so long, and yet they seemed to only uncover important details today. How would he be able to get to know Seokmin as much as he wanted?

“We’re… friends. I guess..”

“And? Is that all?”

“What more is there?”

“Hmm…” Jihoon’s all-knowing smirk appeared once again. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry this was dialogue-heavy. And that it lacked Seokmin D: