CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Lean On Me

“Are you alright there, Woo?” The voice owned by his fellow director enters his consciousness while his eyes never take off of it. It is a strange rush of emotion when he continuously stares at the typed messages occupying the screen. Being concern of the sudden disappearance of keyboards clicking behind him, Seungcheol turns his head to see over his shoulder.

“I’m fine.” Short but that will suffice given the fact Wonwoo does not talk much while working. Yet the disturbing vibe radiating from the young one worries the older fellow. “Doesn’t look like fine to me. What happened?” He asked immediately as he dislikes dilly delaying his own discomfort. Before directors, he is a friend and that is the mode he is putting on right now.

“I’m heading out. Don’t wait for me.” Wonwoo said instead of answering Seungcheol, who helplessly following his figure with his worry gaze. Once he is completely out of the office room in RSQ Studio for the night, he props his head on the table and uses his hand to hold it from swaying.

It takes him a good few minutes to notice the empty studios on the third floor of the building. He guesses the practice session has ended for the night seeing that there is no one in both rooms. Ignoring the fact, he continues his pace, climbing higher and higher to a destination in mind and on text. Supposedly the meeting happens right that instant. He goes faster with a racing heart.

Nervous? He does not expect that.

Confused? He feels beyond that.

Wonwoo begins to take a second guess once he pushes the door to the rooftop area open. The only thing greets him is the wind. As if it is attempting to calm him from any possible panic but his eyes tell otherwise. Perhaps he read it wrongly?

No. He is right.

“You’re quicker that I expected you to be.” He spins on his heels only to see the person who sends the sudden text. Seeing that she assumes that he never saved her number, she thought he would not be standing in front of her, puzzlement painting his face. Well, she assumes wrong. He does saved her number and he never deleted them since the day he got them from years back.

Way before they reunited in Seoul Institute of Arts University.

“You could’ve been more detailed about this meeting.” Wonwoo spoke, slicing the silence of chilly end of season night. The girl smiles but it is unlike the ones he sees when she is talking to her friends and other RSQ crew. It looks…sad laced with a hint of guilt.

“Sorry it takes a long time.” Shinyoung finally distancing herself from the rooftop entrance to plot her figure nearer to the other. It took her a statement made by a Chinese boy to gather the courage to face the Korean one in front of her. “I’m sorry. For everything.”

“I don’t get it.” He said simply and truly he did not. Maybe she is apologising for her own act. Maybe she is saying sorry for getting on his nerves. Nonetheless, she does not have to verbally say them aloud as he had long forgiven them, taking them as a joke and their strange way of communicating.

“I’m sorry for…”

One significant day of high school…

“Jun?” Wonwoo called for his friend when he walked in the classroom only to see an empty table. “Yeah?” The boy looked up from his last minutes attempt to finish his homework.

“Shinyoung’s not here yet?” He questioned out of genuine curiosity and it did not surprise Junhui anymore. His two friends never hit it off well when placed in one location but unlike the girl, the boy always asked for her whenever she was not around. Speaking of one location, he was not supposed to be in Junhui’s classroom either.

“What are you doing here anyway?”

Junhui’s brows furrowed when he noticed his friend was covered with bruises and scars. There were white patches on his arm but aside from that, he was visually alright. “What happened to you?

Wonwoo meekly hid his hands behind his back upon remembering the reason him being there. To clear things out, he was usually in school earlier than most students since his house was quite a distance from the school. He was a bit surprised to see his friend already in the room which is why he threw the not-so-very uncommon question so early in the morning.

“It’s nothing. I’m just swinging by…” He said while his hands fidgeted, playing with hidden box of milk coffee. Even with the constant effort of trying to win her over, he was still scared to face her in order to do such simple thing. So he made it a habit to place them on her desk on random times of the week.

And it happened that the drink shall be a parting gift before he moved to another state.

“Anyway, I thought you should know though the only thing you guys ever do is fighting.” Junhui finally stopped after finishing the work in hand to focus on him. “Shinyoung is not coming today. Her father passed away from an accident last night.” Wonwoo swore his heart almost dropped when he heard the news. His eyes swept over to her vacant seat and it fixed itself there.

It was raining, pouring even. He clearly recalled the time he was at the passenger’s seat on his father’s right side as they good-naturedly converse over important things like how was the process regarding the switch was going and settled. The boy had known his old one’s energy level and insisted him to take a break after a long day of his last week of work in Seoul.

Present time…

Lights.

It pains him how he is able to summon every bit of seconds going on that night. And he cannot believe it will be her who brings it back after it remains locked in the back of his mind. He winces at a scene popping out. A scene he wants to erase the most.

There were a lot of lights involved.

The first one was bright, a mix of yellow and orange heading straight to him. The next ones are difficult to pin because his head was immobile against the seat’s headrest. Blinking red and blue he supposedly it be before darkness consumed him.

When the agonising memory subsides, Wonwoo opens his eyes. He does not recall closing them for a long dreadful moment until he sees Shinyoung’s shivering figure. Only then he realises, she is holding back her tears. She is probably in the same state of mind as his. Closing the distance between them, he takes her into his arms.

“I believe it is not you that are suppose to apologise.” He gently runs his hand on her back while she hides her face on his chest, knowing how ugly she looks when she is bawling upon opening an unwanted wound. It took courage and willingness to even tell him to meet up and being in such situation is least expected.

It is true. To him anyway. It is not her fault her father passed on in a tragic accident, leaving her alone in the city. It hit her a lot to accept the episode in her life to a point it was only natural of her to forget she was not exactly alone in the world.

Her parents divorced when she was in middle school and her father took her to the city, leaving her mother and younger sister back at the underdeveloped village. Rising most of her teen years under an overwhelming pressure, she was pressed to impress his father who worked in a major entertainment agency.

One might say she does not want to be in the performing arts initially. Her passion came to her later in high school and with the man signed her up to classes out of the school. She stumbled upon Rose Quartz and Serenity Production while walking home from an extra class. Back then, the production was putting on their first show. Out of curiosity, she checked them out from a far.

Soon down the line, she dragged her friend along to join (which Junhui was not entirely sure if it was the best idea but he managed to land a couple of acting gig there) and there the Chinese boy learnt they were not the only ones in the production from the school. He introduced Shinyoung to Wonwoo and surely enough, they did not hit it off well for Junhui to leave them on their own.

“I’m sorry…” She still repeated the same three words in between her sobs and he figures it is time to look at her. It is definitely does not look like the girl who constantly giving him cold shoulders, silent treatments, and arguing with. This Kwon Shinyoung he is witnessing is the soft and kind one. Vulnerable even. He sure can never forget the face he falls for years before.

“I have long forgiven you, Shinyoung.” Wonwoo said in the same mellow manner. Sweeping the fringe off her forehead, he holds onto her cheek and rubs the remaining tears streamed. At least, she is showing sign of stopping. If it proceeds, he does not know how to comfort her any further than giving his shoulder to lean on.

“I can’t seem to forget him whenever I see you, Wonwoo. He was supposed to fetch me from my writing class that night. I got so mad at him for leaving me there all alone. And when I knew you were there in the accident too, instead of blaming your father, I blamed you.”

“I understand your view.” He really does. It sounds a bit logical to put the blame on him because there was a line he once said to her that caused a major fight.

“You must be happy that you now have all the money in the world to waste your time with this theatre work.”

It rings – loud and clear. The exchange happened when she returned back to school. Instead of consoling her, he picked his bad side to face her. He wished to see her for one last time before going away, out of her way. When he did, she was busy reading a script and jotting down notes to help her remember the cues and such. Once the words were out, she naturally threw a fit…and the script in hand right on his face.

He deserved that, he concludes. She was screaming and shouting and a lot more screaming while clutching on his shirt. Hitting and pushing were included and before it got nastier, Junhui came along to disperse the fight. It was a one-sided fight based on anyone that was watching but it embedded in her mind as a two-sided.

Neither of them talked nor greeted once they realised they registered in the same university. Studying Artistic Writing in high school somewhat brought out another side of her and with Yoongi’s way of persuasion, she signed for Scenography as a major. She could go in her comfort zone and applied Creative Writing for her minor but the classes were apparently full and Cinematography was more than opened for more students.

Shinyoung rolled her eyes when she caught Junhui was with Wonwoo throughout the orientation week so she opted to seek for new friend to replace. Sure, he spent some of his time with her initially but for whatever unknown reason, Junhui gradually stuck with Wonwoo more when Soonyoung moved in to fill in the empty spaces of her spacious apartment.

Half an hour flies by their time and Wonwoo makes sure Shinyoung is still in the right mind before telling her to sit on the large square platform which he knew she often used to eat with her fellow crew members in the past. “I wasn’t expecting this day to come so soon.” He frankly said and lays his body down, tired of sitting.

“You can thank Myungho for making me realise that I should do this sooner.” The name makes even the most tired Wonwoo springs up to eye on her. “Myungho? That guy? Why?”

“I owe him a story about whatever mess happened to us. Only then I realised that I should at least clear it off before telling anyone. As kind as Myungho to listen, I think he should hear the good side of the story more than the worse ones.”

“How about Soonyoung?”

“What about him?”

“He lives with you. He should know that we’re…” Wonwoo paused to glance up to view the dark sky. Little by little, the wind blows the clouds that had been hindering the stars to show its spark. “What are we, Shinyoung?” She shrugs.

“Friends?”

Friends? He sighs at the choice of word but what else should he get from the girl he has been fighting with through and through? Besides, she never knew who placed those milk coffees during high school. Did she even search for the person behind those mysterious actions?

“Hey, Wonwoo.” She called for his attention and he turns them to see her smiling. “Let’s not fight again. The past is the past, right?”

“Yeah,” He bobs his head, a copy of her smile plasters on his. “I supposed that is what should’ve been done way back.”

“Right. Well, that’s that. I’m heading home. Soonyoung’s probably looking for me since my battery is dead.” She chuckles, shaking her head when she brings out her phone only to see it is what she had said. Dead and cold.

“I’ll walk you home then.” She rejects the idea of having him walk her home but he is persistent and true with his words. It is late, almost midnight too. Even though the walk will only take her awhile, it is still dangerous to let her go all by herself. After all, she needs all companion she can get to reach her home safely.

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