note; mentions of abuse, death and thoughts of suicide in this chapter.

Rays of sunlight delved into the confined space through the blinds that were kept open and sprayed across a pale, sickly face. The man's eyes fluttered open at the entourage of light that managed to grace it with it's presence and his lips settled into a frown as he placed an arm above his eyes to block the sun.

"Another beautiful day." He drawled out, sarcasm laced in every single word. "Another f*king beautiful day."

The man sat up, ruffling his brown hair slightly but soon enough, winced at the jerky motion as arrays of pain engulfed his body. His mind drifted to the night before and he, involuntarily, shuddered at the memory. He'd need to keep in mind to get some pain killers before leaving; he didn't need to invite more hell than he already had. 

"Jaehwan!" A voice screamed, womanly in nature but a sense of loathing echoing from it as it bounced across every wall in the house. "Get your filthy down right this minute otherwise, go to school without any breakfast. You useless thing!"

Jaehwan's lips curled into a scowl he wished could penetrate the walls just so he could grace it upon the so-called woman he referred to as 'mother'. He wondered if he could get away with not eating, maybe he could finally kill himself from starvation and be rid of this hell-hole for once and for all. But no, alas, his dear parents would never allow that. Even if they had to forcefully shove the food in his mouth and knowing from experience, they ought to do that.

With a sigh, he got up, wincing yet again, as the pain reeled him in under. Last night, he had come back home with a 'B' in his maths test much to his parents displeasure. And he eerily remembers his father's words that said, "You weren't useful for anything, anyway, and now you can't even study properly. It would be better for us if you just died already, you worthless piece of trash!" before slapping his belt harshly against Jaehwan's back. He learned a long time ago to not make any form of pleading noises while getting beaten; it just drove his parents more to torture him. And, so he kept quite and endured it. That's all he could do, anyways. The imminent threats of the fate that would seize him if he ever decided to tell upon their antics to anyone rung in his head every single day; the fear being the only thing holding him back from going to the police. As much as he despised admitting it, they gave birth to him, fed and sheltered him; he couldn't do that to them even if every being of him wanted so desperately to. Maybe before, he might have but not anymore; not after his parents had thoroughly extinguished  any single drop of hope he had ever clung to. After all, according to them, they had a reputation in society to maintain and if he ruined it, only God knows what they  would do. And now, he was like a mindless robot with the mere tasks of eat, sleep, work and get beaten up for his parents sick, twisted entertainment. 

Shaking his head, he fled the thoughts away from his head and quickly washed up and changed into a new pair of black jeans, a white t-shirt with a black jacket on top and made his way downstairs, ignoring the ache of last night's beating that had him wincing. Arriving downstairs, he saw his father at the dining table, reading the daily newspaper and his mother, inside, cooking breakfast. The usual. He sat himself down on one of the seats, head hung low, and fingers intertwining with each other not wanting to ruin his parents morning as, according to them, apparently, looking at Jaehwan's face this early made their moods sour. And he did not want that, not unless he wanted to limp all the way to school.

His mother walked out with two plates in hand, freshly cooked food in one which she put in front of his father and practically, threw the other plate at Jaehwan which consisted of last night's leftovers. "Hurry up, shove it in your mouth and get out of this house." She snarled at him as he meekly nodded. Gulping down his food as fast as he could, he stood up, nodding once to his father who just gave him a heated glance and then, scurried back, upstairs into his room.

Fishing underneath the pile of clothes in his cupboards, he pulled out a leaf of painkillers, thanking the heavens above for buying one while on his way home once. His parents would never have the decency of getting him some so Jaehwan had brought it upon himself to survive in whatever way he could.

After swallowing it down and picking up his bag as well, as his zero-vision glasses, he made himself scarce from the house and made his way to the second part of his dreadful day. School.

~*~

Murmurs filled the ivory coated hallways as Jaehwan made his way across, head hung low, hidden by the hoodie of his jacket. A group of boys made their way towards him and purposely, bumped into him, muttering "freak" aloud enough for him to hear. He rolled his eyes with a sigh and continued on his way, only stopping at his locker. A nagging thought at the back of mind pondered yet again, why they continued to do this; why make him go through more than he already did. At one point, a frantic part of him wondered if they knew about his parents but soon enough, it turned out that they did it for their own entertainment. Call him names, purposely bump into him, slam him against the lockers and even, beat him up a few times.

Jaehwan eerily wondered when he became the world's punching bag and wanted to know how long would it before this punching bag would finally break. That would be nice, a part of him thought, to just fade away into nothing-ness, to just leave this horrid life behind. People always say have hope; everything bad eventually leads to something good; at the end of the road, happiness is awaiting your arrival after you've pushed past your obstacles.

'Bulls*t.' He thought; there was no such thing as that. No such glee awaiting his arrival. If it was, he would have gotten it already; he endured more than what others did; if they could get attain fortune and happiness then, why couldn't he? What was wrong with him? Then, one day, Jaehwan reached a conclusion. There was nothing grand waiting for him; no happiness, no salvation, no love. He was created for the sole purpose of being entrapped within this unfortunate wheel of misery.

If others thought he was a lost cause, so be it. He was a lost cause. 'Life is miserable and hellish; there's nothing gracious waiting at the end of the road. Nothing at all.'

~*~

Hazel orbs glanced upwards at the clock, distinctly watching the hands of the clock move slightly every second. The hollow look upon Jaehwan's eyes was one that was begging, begging for time to go slower or, better yet, to stop. Stop so he wouldn't have to worry about anything, halt so he could finally breathe freely. But, it was a fleeting wish; one which he knew would never be true. However, one which he wanted more than anything else in the world.

The slam of the door banging that resonated across the premise was what snapped Jaehwan out of his little turmoil and he cast his glance upwards to take in the figure of the new appearance and wasn't even slightly surprised when it was a face he grew to recognize. A dark-haired boy, slightly hunched, whose face held a passive emptiness upon it. Kim Wonshik. Or at least, that's what Jaehwan thought his name was.

Wonshik subtly murmured an apology for arriving late with the teacher duly nodding with a slightly pitying look on her face as he made his way across the class and upon his seat. As Jaehwan gazed at him, he noticed the arrays of remorse and melancholy that pooled within Wonshik's eyes. Then again, he supposed the dark-haired boy would be a grieving mess. If what Jaehwan knew was right which he was probably sure was, then apparently, Wonshik had lost a member of his family; more precisely, his younger sister whom he adored, in a car accident a few months prior. After the accident, he moved to Seoul from who knows where to start anew. 

Everyone pitied Wonshik. Apparently, a few students had tried approaching him but he brushed them off, preferring to be better off alone. Jaehwan lazily wondered when his own parents might get in a car crash and he chuckled lightly at that despite, how twisted the thought might be. What was to be expected after all? He was their child. 

Jaehwan glanced at Wonshik yet again, who seemed to be absorbed within a world of his own and wondered what he could be so deeply immersed in. Maybe his emptiness is akin to Jaehwan's. Who knows. All Jaehwan knew however, was that he didn't like Wonshik. He didn't like anyone, truth be told but he specifically didn't like Wonshik. It was unfair how his sister got in a car crash but his parents couldn't; it was unfair how everyone treated Wonshik like a lost puppy and didn't give him for preferring to be alone but, called Jaehwan a freak-case and other nonsensical things; it was unfair how Wonshik had a taste of what love and happiness was like before being thrown into misfortune while, Jaehwan never even caught a glimpse of it. He knew it was stupid but he couldn't help it. He hated Wonshik. 

Duly aware that he was zoning out while fixating his eyes at Wonshik, Jaehwan snapped out of it, wanting to resume his activity of staring at the hands of the clock but abruptly, stopped and slightly windened his eyes as he caught Wonshik staring back at him. The two remained in this light gazing state, peering within each other's eyes and unravelling the mysteries behind the emptiness. Or at least, that's what Jaehwan was doing before, he quickly caught himself and turned away, refusing to look back at Wonshik. 

Something within Jaehwan blazed and he tightly clutched his pencil as his mind reeled back to the look that Wonshik was giving him. A look that everyone within a five mile vicinity normally gave Wonshik. A look of pity and sadness as if he knew what Jaehwan had concealed so well. As if he knew what Jaehwan was going through.

Jaehwan broke into a slight sweat and took some deep breaths to calm himself down. Wonshik didn't know, he couldn't. They had never talked before, never even had any eye-contact so he couldn't possibly know. Yet, a part of him knew that Wonshik was aware; aware of something. Only what it was, Jaehwan didn't know. 

hello amazing, wonderful pooples! so here is the first chapter of my new fanfic "i'm broken, and so are you". there wasn't much of wonshik in this but do not worry, he'll be there in the next chapter. i'm thinking of keeping it as jaehwan, wonshik, jaehwan, wonshik for the order of the chapters so yeah c: if you liked this chapter, please comment, subscribe and upvote! 

also, this is my first fanfiction ever so i'm hoping you like it, any feedback would be appreciated ^^ the second chapter should be up soon enough, as well.

until then, adios! and thank you for reading♡