bang chan was feeling way more alarmed than before. 

"who's back?" he asked woojin, who was now spacing out, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead. 

"woojin? let's go inside and calm down, alright?" he said softly, running circles with his thumb on the small of his back. 

"o-okay," he replied as he rummaged around in his pocket for awhile and eventually fishing them out with shaky hands. he tried to stick the key into the keyhole, but was too nervous and afraid to properly put it in. 

"c'mon, i'll do it for you," bang chan whispered as he gently held his shaking hands and did the necessary. 

after they entered the house, woojin went straight to his room and jumped on his bed while bang chan made sure the door was locked and the blinds in the living room was all down before entering woojin's room. 

"woojin, are you okay? i'm always ready to listen whenever you're ready," he sat on his study table which was in front of the bed, looking at woojin's curled-up figure with tender eyes.

"i-i got bullied in elementary school," 

"haha! woodiot! come catch me woodiot! haha!" my classmates took off with my pencilcase and workbook, again. we were just in math class and the teacher left for the staff room to retrieve our marked test papers. they took this chance to bother me.

"haha here it goes! in the trash!" they shouted, following a loud 'thump', signalling that they threw it in with great force. my mom bought me that super expensive pencilcase yesterday... she even saved up for me...

"woodiot, are you gonna cry? aww, woodiot's gonna cry!" 

-

"hey, are you okay?" there's a new transferee getting bullied again. why do they always target new students? i don't want him to go through what i went through. that . depression . i want to make friends with him, so he won't be lonely. 

"thank you. you're the best friend ever!" he said, a year into our friendship. we decided to meet one winter night, giving each other freshly grilled sweet potatos from our houses. i like this friendship. i want to keep going with him forever.

"w-woojin, i'm sorry. i can't be friends with you anymore,"

"w-what? why's that? you're joking, right?" 

this was two months after high school started. why did he suddenly want to stop being friends?

"let's not meet tomorrow. i'm going now," i let him leave like that, without a reason or excuse.

the next day after school, i saw three familiar faces, with him. they were laughing together. 

"let's go to the karaoke?" 

"sure!" 

and they all set off to the bus stop. he turned back and caught me staring at them. he looked at me, shocked, but quickly turned away. i want to quickly forget that face of his. he sickens me. 

-

"ah, i'm so sorry, woojin," bang chan stood up and went over to the bed and hugged woojin, who was tearing up.

in his embrace, he let all his emotions go. he trusted bang chan a lot. he didn't even know why he was able to adapt and trust him so quickly. they literally just met. 

"it's okay, everything's okay. i'm here now, you don't need to spare them any thought," bang chan comforted, rubbing his back his his large palm. 

"thank you, bang chan. i don't know what i'll do without you,"