Comment Replies 

@pigrabbitlove (I replied in the comments but I’m not sure if you read it) wow you're fast hahah. Glad you like it. xD

@Jlurver Don’t worry, I won’t stop writing. Make sure you stick around! 8)

@lovesmileys *bows* Thank you ~~(*.*)~~

@honeybee There are no Myungyeon interactions at all in real life hahahhaha true that. But what are fanfics for? Hehehhe. Keep reading!!

@sungran Aww, I’m glad you found him sweet. Because honestly, I had a hard time writing sweet stuffs because I’m just plain cheesy and not sweet at all hahahahha. Keep reading! And ofcourse, I’ll keep updating. *.*

@Eririn Myungsoo will always come for Jiyeon!! Hahahahha ^^

@wind_devil Don’t lie, I bet the chapter is full of flaws because I am too lazy to edit properly bahahahha. But glad you like it!! C:

@kamanaa OMG YOU CHANGED YOUR NAME. Lol I’m sorry for being so slow. What does ‘kamanaa’ mean? And I hope you didn’t have to wait that long for this chappie :)

@kurdoodle YES SOMETHING IS GONNA GO WRONG AND I’M NOT TELLING YOU. Hahahahah I am so evil. So make sure you keep reading nyehehehehe.

@bookworm_13 Heyy I’m glad you found my story back even after the AFF crisis. Thanks for reading and subscribing, it means a lot to me~~ ^^

@treess Aww, you’re so kind~~ thank you for the comment subscriber-nim(?) hahahhah. ^^

@Park-Ara Updated again! Jiyeon’s birthday is coming in the next chapter hehehhe.

@layla_cupcake ASDFSDFHJKL I UPDATED AGAIIN HEHEHHE THANKS FOR READING!!! Haahahhaha.

@WHOmyungyeon Thank you~~ you’re awesome ^^

@celeste Glad you love it! Sorry for not getting to update it any sooner. Hehehe but keep reading!

@puccha85 Updated! Have fun reading it! Hehehe xD

18

His dull eyes watched as the raindrops lashed the window panes. Grey clouds clung onto the sky, suppressing the ground with its heaviness. The past days had been dreary, as if the world itself was mourning for a lost soul.

“Sunggyu?”

A palm was waved in front of his eyes. Sunggyu’s eyes darted up to look at the speaker.

“Hey.” He replied listlessly and returned his gaze to the window.

“What’s wrong?” Woohyun dragged the chair out and took a seat beside his friend.

Silence met his question. Sunggyu remained placid on his seat, his chin propped on his fist and eyes glued onto the horizon. Woohyun’s presence beside him felt like nothing but numbness, as if his very existence had failed to register in his mind. This must be how it felt like to be Myungsoo.

“Sunggyu?”

“Sunggyu?”

“Suuuuuuunggyuuuuuuuuuuuuu.”

Man, this guy is persistent.

“What?” Sunggyu snapped.

“Where’s Myungsoo? I don’t see him these past days.”

“Don’t know.”

The distant horizon reeled his thoughts and Sunggyu was immersed in his own world once more. Woohyun was saying something to him, but he could not listen. His words were like wind: slipping by his ears before he could even decipher its whispers.

“Sunggyu, I’m talking to you man!” Sunggyu was jerked back to reality. When he turned slightly, he realized that Woohyun’s mouth was right beside his ear and his face showed that of bitter annoyance of being ignored.  But Sunggyu was in no mood to entertain his friend.

“Shut up.” He shoved his friend’s face away --his voice weary.

“What is wrong with you?” The edge in Woohyun’s voice sparked the anger deep in him. A tense atmosphere hung dangerously over them but no one made the move to lighten it. Instead, they held each other gaze and both refused to back down.

“What do you want?” Sunggyu said finally and looked away, a little taken aback by the coldness in his own voice. And for a moment, heavy silence filled the gap. Sighing, Woohyun finally said, “I was just asking why you’re not hanging out with Myungsoo anymore. Why are you getting all worked up?”

Sunggyu slammed his head on the table, his anger ebbing away and exhaustion seeped through his pores instead. His eyes traced the contours of the clouds. “What do you want to know?”

Woohyun heard surrender in his friend’s voice. Immersed in their own thoughts, none of them spoke. The silence lingered and Woohyun let the boisterous chatter of the class fills his ear. This time they were glad for it, they both needed to think; calm themselves down.

“Myungsoo’s mad at me,” Sunggyu said in the end as his gaze swept over the expanse of his vision though it had refused to meet the other man’s questioning look.

But the question still came. “For?”

Grunting in frustration, Sunggyu looked at his friend accusingly as if he should have known the answer. “What else? For starting the whole Jiyeon-is-mute thing.”

“Dude, it’s not as if you did it on purpose.”

“He won’t hear any of it.”

Woohyun leaned back on his chair, staring at Sunggyu as he scribbled away on his paper. His handwriting arched and dipped, and before long, the whole paper was filled with his scrawls. When Sunggyu turned over the paper to vandalize on the next page, Woohyun sighed.

“Stop it.” He said and snatched both the paper and pen away from his friend.

“Stop what?” Sunggyu said, exasperated.

“Your stupid habit of scribbling whatever you hear or say. It’s pointless.”

“It helps me think.” Sunggyu clutched the paper and jerked it away from Woohyun’s grip.

Woohyun examined the hurricane that had taken place on the white sheet of paper. Random fragments of their conversation earlier were scattered across the white sheet of paper. Kim Myungsoo. Is mad. Jiyeon is mute. Thing. Cause I started it. Not. On purpose.  Sighing again, Woohyun placed back the paper carefully.

“How did you start the ‘whole Jiyeon-is-mute’ thing anyways?” Woohyun asked, quoting what his friend had said earlier.

Sunggyu’s shoulder stiffened and his hands stopped writing. Then, after a few seconds, he said, more curtly than intended, “I was scribbling.”

“Like this one, right?” Sunggyu nodded. “And you scribbled about Jiyeon being mute. And then it fell into the wrong hands, right?”

Sunggyu just stared at the paper.

“So why didn’t you try to stop your habit?”

Sunggyu was silent. After a while, his hands started moving again, his wrists bending gracefully as he put the ink on the paper. Woohyun knew that his efforts were in vain. He would never stop. In the past, Sunggyu had been labeled as ‘nerd’ for scribbling pointless math equations; known as ‘gay’ for scribbling Myungsoo’s name. But he never stopped. Woohyun thought that this incident with Jiyeon would change him and make him realize that this habit of his would harm him more than it would help. But he never stopped.

When Woohyun looked at the paper again, the fonts were not pointless scribbles. They formed geometrical patterns, squares and rectangles overlapping each other in swirls. It was art; a new masterpiece of Sunggyu. He was a natural: a born artist. Separate him from his pen or paper and he would go crazy.

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Jiyeon felt a hand on her shoulder. It pushed her with sheer force and the next thing she knew that she was falling, tumbling down the flight of stairs. A sense of panic rushed through her and she d for something to hold on to. But her fingers could not find anything solid. She was slicing through air, her body smacking on the edges of the stairs. After what felt like an eternity, she slammed onto the ground.

Pain bolted from her joints and she curled, wincing in agony.

“Look, just off already.” A girl’s voice pounced into her ears.

Jiyeon recoiled further from the girl involuntarily, afraid of what she might do next. There were definite threat of what was about to come if she did not heed her words. Jiyeon wanted to get up. She wanted to stare at the girl until she shrinks away but she could not. She hated that she did not have enough courage to do so. A crowd was forming, Jiyeon knew. Their gazes were like needles prickling on her skin. She had never felt more exposed in her life.

“You’re a . Think you seduced Myungsoo?”

Tears pricked her eyes as anger bubbled inside her. Jiyeon bit her lips as her hand hung limply on her sides refusing her heart’s urge to hit the crazy girl square in her face. She wished Myungsoo was here. They would never dare to do all this in his presence. Just as the thought of Myungsoo flashed in her mind, she shook it away. No, she was not going to be one helpless girl who would just wait for someone to rescue her. She would stand up for herself.

“Myungsoo’s only doing charity work.”

Slowly her anger dissipated. Hurt. That was what she felt. Why had it not crossed her mind that that might be the reason why Myungsoo had befriended her? How could he play with her feelings like that? Jiyeon let out a bitter smile. Was she expecting more out of their friendship? He was kind enough to befriend her and now she was making it seemed like he was the bad guy. The words affected her more than she wanted it to. Slowly, she rose. She tried to ignore the throbbing pain on her shoulder and the red liquid that was already trickling down her calf.

Jiyeon did not want to have anything to do with this bunch of people. She wanted to get away and hide herself in the comfort of her covers. But as she gained her posture, blood rushed to her head and darkness seeped into her vision. Her head spun.

No, this was not going as planned. She had imagined herself poised, not stumbling around like a drunkard. Her head felt heavy and she had the sensation of falling backwards.

A hand grasped her shoulder firmly to steady her. Warmth seeped through her skin and for a moment there, she thought it was Myungsoo.

“Myungsoo would never do that,” a voice came right beside her ear. Rimmed with coldness, it bounced across the hallway and everything settled into a pin drop silence. Sunggyu. Despite herself, she could not help but feel a little disappointed.

“And you,” coated with sarcasm and coldness, the guy continued, “You out of all people should know that.”

A heavy silence settled over.

Sunggyu half carried Jiyeon away and the crowd broke to let them pass. It had always awed her: how Sunggyu could hush a whole room just with the intensity of his gaze.  It was another one of his many traits that he shared with Myungsoo. Jiyeon shook her head to stop her thoughts from wandering towards Myungsoo, again. She let out a tired sigh.

“You okay?” Jiyeon looked up to face Sunggyu and confusion marked her face for a very brief moment. Recovering, she gave a weak nod, and smiled to assure him. Sunggyu knew there was more to it. Instead, he shrugged it off and continued to guide her along the silent hallway.

When they opened the door to the infirmary, a stout woman greeted them with a warm smile.

“What do we have here?” She asked, her voice b with sincerity.

“Just an abrasion.” Sunggyu said, “I think…” he trailed off, suddenly not quite sure of himself anymore.

“It’s okay. Come here dear and let me look at it.” She said kindly after shooting Sunggyu a warm smile.

Sunggyu supported Jiyeon as she positioned herself on the nearest seat. The woman took a single glance at Jiyeon’s knee and frowned.

“Quite a deep one.”

But her face lit up, her expression as if telling them not to worry, “But nothing an antibiotic can’t help.”

She ordered Sunggyu to help wash the wound while she took the antibiotic. As cold water trickled on her skin, the liquid stung the wound and Jiyeon flinched. But Sunggyu remained there: an unwavering support that he had always been.

When Jiyeon sat back down, the woman was ready with a piece of cotton and the antiseptic.

“Come, come. Let me apply this for you.” She said as she waddled over to Jiyeon.

Just then, a faint rasp sounded on the door. Her head snapped up. She handed the materials to Sunggyu and stalked away. “Do this for me, will you?”

When she swung the door open, a girl came into sight. Frail was her body; her lips lost all their color and she looked ready to collapse on the ground. The woman put an arm around the girl.

“You’re burning.” She said as she brought the girl to the bed. The woman hustled around the girl; taking her temperature; preparing a bowl of water and a sponge. Jiyeon watched in fascination as she buzzed around like a bee doing her work. 

Sunggyu started applying the antibiotic on the wound. She flinched. He looked up and gave her an assuring smile. “Just find something to distract you while I do this? I promise it will be quick.” Sunggyu said gently and she found herself nodding.

A leather-bound notebook sprawled just right beside her and she picked it up gingerly. She caressed the cover and felt the faint crooks and bumps under her skin. Sunggyu gave her a weak smile.

“Yeah, that’s mine. You can look at it if you want to.”

Jiyeon flipped it open and a few sheet of papers slipped away. A slow laugh escaped Sunggyu’s lips as he peeled the papers from the ground. “I’m not a very organized person, you see.”

That was very unlike Myungsoo. Despite his nonchalance, Myungsoo did care about his personal things. He was not a neat freak though: just organized and Jiyeon liked that very much. There she went again. Her thoughts kept swiveling back to Myungsoo even though she tried her best to keep them away.

Sunggyu gave her the papers and concentrated on Jiyeon’s knee once more. Jiyeon flipped through the bunch of papers that were just slotted in the book. Most of them were intricate swirls that made up a shape: a tree; a bird; a flower. Some were explosions of colors: a war between brightness and the murky shadows. And some were sketches of different people, with the exact light of life playing in their eyes.

But all of them expressed freedom. Emotions were splashed on each picture: grief; excitement; anxiety. Each on a single piece of paper represented something. And it was apparent that they were accomplished by skilled hands from a gifted person.

An artist. Jiyeon thought. Sunggyu was an artist.

Jiyeon flipped through the next pages and stumbled upon a picture. It was a considerably old picture, its texture already grainy. It was taken at a vast field of never-ending grass on a bright day. Two boys—not more than five or six years old—were standing in the middle of the picture, one wearing a merry yellow while the other was clad in dark blue.

The one in yellow had his arm slung across the other’s shoulder and was smiling sheepishly. The other boy was squinting against the brightness, his small palm clutching blades of grass. They must be brothers, Jiyeon concluded. Sunggyu and his brother. Or even his twin.

Jiyeon showed Sunggyu the picture and he flashed a nostalgic smile.

“That’s me,” he pointed to the one in yellow. Then, he rose to rummage the cupboards.

“And that,” he pointed to the one next to him, “is Myungsoo.”

Jiyeon had managed to keep the shock out of her face. She looked at the picture again. Their similarities were uncanny. It would have made more sense if the two boys were twins. One would be the outgoing, happy-go-lucky one and the other would be the serious type. But Myungsoo and Sunggyu did look like twins. Jiyeon looked at Sunggyu, who was already kneeling in front of her, putting on the bandage for her. As if knowing what she was thinking, “We’re cousins,” he said without looking up. “Raised like brothers.”

Sunggyu smoothened out the bandage. “There,” he said with pride.

Jiyeon mouthed thank you as Sunggyu sat beside her. Her mind was absorbing what Sunggyu had said. Now, it kind of made sense. There was always this kind of connection that was hard to explain between them. He clutched the edge of his seat, more childishly than intended, as his mind travelled to his past. A distant expression crossed his face.

“My mom died when I was around four and honestly, I don’t have that much memories with her,” Sunggyu’s gaze fell on his lap, “And I don’t even remember having a dad.

“So Myungsoo’s parents took me in. We were like brothers: he and I. We were always mistaken as twins.” Jiyeon found a smile in his voice as he said this.

Jiyeon believed him. They were close, she knew. Myungsoo had Sunggyu to back him up and she knew Sunggyu trusted Myungsoo with his life.

“But when I was fifteen, I told them I wanted to live by myself. And they let me. But Myungsoo and I were still close then.”

A bitter smile slithered onto his lips. “He wouldn’t even talk to me now.”

Jiyeon looked at Sunggyu. Regret and bitterness were clearly written on his face. Sunggyu returned the gaze, his spite disappearing and a new feeling overtook him. Guilt hit him, cold and raw, “He shouldn’t be talking to me anyway.”

Jiyeon was left confused. Why would he say something like that? Then, after a few seconds, “I’m the one who started the news that you were mute. I’m sorry.”

His confession made Jiyeon speechless and shocked but she quickly pulled herself together. Sunggyu waited for Jiyeon to leave; hit him or give him one of those accusing looks. It never came and he tentatively turned his head to see Jiyeon’s reaction. She was deep in thought. It was as if the news just washed over her and settled: like she had totally embraced it.

Now, it clicked. Those looks that Sunggyu shot her: it was not pity, it was guilt. She knew his guilt was gnawing him and eating him silently all this while. A smile crept onto her lips and Sunggyu was rendered more baffled.

It’s okay. Jiyeon signed slowly, unsure which part of it Sunggyu would understand. I forgive you.

“You,” Sunggyu repeated the sign, “forgive me?”

The girl nodded. The man sat there, unmoving. For a while Jiyeon thought that he was not going to answer. A ghost of a smile crept to his lips. “Thank you,” he whispered. And finally when he absorbed what she said, Sunggyu pulled her into a hug excitedly. Jiyeon’s knee and bruises were throbbing but she did not want to burst Sunggyu’s happy bubble and hugged him instead.

“How do you say ‘thank you’?” Sunggyu asked when he let go.

Jiyeon brought her hand to her lips and showed him. Sunggyu repeated it, slightly awkwardly, but nonetheless, sincere.

Jiyeon started laughing silently and soon Sunggyu’s mirthful voice filled her ears. Sunggyu felt as if the weight of the whole world was lifted off his chest and a smile crept to his lips. They were both quiet for a while, watching the stout woman waddling around the sick patient. Her skilled hands wringed the wet towel and laid it on the girl’s forehead. Her expression was more mild and gentle than a mother’s.

“You know, I want to become an artist.” Sunggyu did not know why but he felt like he had to tell this to Jiyeon. Jiyeon just nodded, encouraging him to continue.

“I told Myungsoo’s parents that I want to enroll in an arts school overseas, of course. To get a breath of a different air and you know, knock some responsibility into myself.”

Sunggyu fumbled with the loose thread on his shirt hem. “They said that they will arrange everything. They had always been so supportive. I don’t understand why Myungsoo hates them so much.”

“But they said,” Sunggyu looked away, “I would probably be leaving this year.”

Jiyeon’s head drooped in disappointment. Sunggyu would be leaving soon. And there was no doubt that Myungsoo, too, would be going abroad to complete his studies. She would be the only one that would remain here. And what remained of the three of them would be undesired memories and an unfinished story. 

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A/N: Hey guys waddup!! So how was it? Fiiine, this chapter was quite plain and I might have sent you guys to ultimate boredom BUT NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE MORE EXCITING I PROMISE. And as you can see, I am starting to reply comments more seriously so MAKE SURE YOU COMMENT. Hahahahhahah. Thanks for sticking with me guys looooooove youuuu~~

-Faith