Chapter 52

"Hey, Bin!" Wonsik called for his brother all the way from the top of the staircase. The latter sighed and lifted his head up to meet his gaze, his expression spelling something along the lines of, 'What is it now?' but he did not say anything. "You're going to see N-hyung off, right? I'll go with you!" Wonsik added, grinning from ear to ear.

Hongbin hugged his books closer to his chest and peeled his eyes off of his brother. "Just make sure that you don't forget to collect your workbooks from the faculty room later!" He told him before he was ready to continue his journey to the student council meeting.

"I will! And would he be coming with us? Or are we meeting him there? Hyuk, I mean!" Wonsik continued to ask that it made Hongbin freeze on the spot. Of all the things to worry about, it was Sanghyuk that he least wanted to be thinking of right at that moment. He wished that he could tell his brother off from being too insensitive, but since Wonsik was unaware of what recently happened between the two of them, he could not really blame him. And as much as Hongbin wanted to answer something witty or snarky back at his brother, his throat felt dry and he also did not feel like talking at all – especially if it was a subject that he had been trying to avoid. So he simply kept his mouth shut and carried on walking ahead regardless of Wonsik's never-ending cries of his name.

"What's with him?" Wonsik grumbled to himself, taking a couple of steps down the stairs. He watched Hongbin as he disappeared with the other student council members to one of the classrooms – and speaking of classes – Wonsik checked the books that were in his arms for what subject he has next. "Ah, English... Should head back to the classroom~" He chirped, transferring all of his books to one arm just so he could send a message to his text mate, 'Are you going to see him off today, then?'

As he was nearing his classroom, Wonsik felt his phone vibrating inside his pocket. He stopped by the corridor window to lean on the wall and put his books and notebooks down on the windowsill. His text mate replied to him, one after another,

'I'm not sure...'

'But I'm glad that I already went to see him yesterday'

'We talked and he told me a lot of things'

Wonsik knitted his eyebrows as he continued to scroll through his messages,

'He's moving out of our house'

'But promised to keep visiting whenever he has the time...'

He did not finish reading the rest and typed in his response, 'What do you mean? He can't do that! Did he say why he was moving out or did you just let him decide this on his own?' But as Wonsik focused on what he should answer his text mate with, more and more messages kept arriving that he got to read the other text that he initially chose to skip,

'He's already drawn the line and I don't want to destroy what it is that we have left'

'I love him. I really do, but...'

'He's just too far away, you know? Even if I was with him throughout the night, it felt as if there was still a gap or a wall between the two of us. And it frustrates me so much... I want to break those walls down and tell him that it's okay... That he can lean on me, that I will be there for him... But I'm not the one that he wants or needs... He even said hyung's name last night...' Wonsik balled his free hand into a fist as he proceeded to read further, 'He keeps on insisting that he wants to start over without me or hyung to hold him back. It seems that he only stayed this long with us because he felt indebted to us and I don't want him to keep feeling that way. I'm sure that my parents share the same sentiments and were really happy to hear that he wants to go off on his own after he spent all those years just sticking next to them to help them out and take care of them...'

'I know what you would say and I understand your concerns, but I think that it's really time to let him go... I want him to be happy more than anything else and starting over seems to be the best way to go...'

Wonsik tapped the backspace repeatedly until the message that he wrote a while ago was completely erased. But just as he was about to type again, the school bell rang and some of his classmates that were just coming in to the classroom were inviting him inside. It only caused him to become even more edgy – "Wonsik, go inside the classroom before I mark you in late or absent," his English teacher warned him while she opened the door to the classroom. "And put your phone away. I don't want to have to confiscate it during class."

Wonsik furrowed his eyebrows and chewed on his lip. He picked up his books from the sill while he quickly composed a reply to his text mate with his other hand, 'You're the only one that he has left! Yes, he needs time off but he also needs your support!' Wonsik wished to write more, but the second bell started to ring and his English teacher was nagging at him to head to class before she takes the phone from him. Groaning, he pocketed his phone after turning it off as his teacher instructed and walked past her to go inside the classroom.

As soon as their classes ended, the first things that Wonsik did were take out his phone and switch it on. He expected loads of messages from his text mate since he did not even have the chance to steal a quick look at this screen – His English teacher had kept her eyes on him for the entire lesson and would always pick on him whenever she would notice him making a little move under his desk. Similarly, his teachers for the following subjects had paid a lot of attention to him; their excuses were practically the same: 'You haven't been attending your classes' or 'I want you to do well like your classmates and graduate this year.' Of course Wonsik wanted to do well in school like his brother does, but he just needed to convince his text mate for that day. He could not even begin to imagine the outcome if he fails to play the role of a matchmaker –

What Wonsik found after the welcome screen was one sole message, 'Sorry, I'll talk to you later! >< My schedule for today is really busy...' His text mate did not even consider his last text message and just ran off. He felt disappointed, but other than that, there was a slight feeling of relief that he could not quite explain and he felt irritated at himself for even thinking it. After that, all Wonsik saw was red as he clenched his shaking fist. "Why? Why can't he just go after him?" He hissed through his teeth, a string of curses following his complaints.

Fortunately for him, he ha