Birds of a Feather | '00 Liners

Chapter Twelve

Donghyuck could distinctly, vividly remember the experience of falling out of love with Mark.It wasn't gradual, not in the least. It happened at the exact moment as Mark's announcement of going abroad for college. That realization, that instant clarity of his own self-importance in Mark's life hitting him like a bullet.

Question: Was Donghyuck selfish enough to fall out of love with Mark just because he wasn't more important than Mark's strive for education?

Answer: Absolutely.

Death consumed his back, cracked his shoulder blades apart. Broke his skin apart, bled it dry, caked it in his own filth. His entire body was on fire. He thought it cruel that the process didn't numb the pain outside of his back and, instead, spread it to the very tips of his toes, the roots of his hair. Blistering pain ripping, tearing bone and muscle apart until there lay nothing but the heart of the problem: the sprouts, becoming cavities in his back and throbbing and aching if he so much as breathed. The feathers overextended their stay, sticking to Donghyuck's blood-drenched skin and sheets with a vile resolve. 

He knew what he needed to do to stop the pain. But wallowing in his own self-pity was so much less traumatizing than ripping out his own bones.

Renjun was godsent.

That was what Donghyuck finally realized hours after kicking, screaming Renjun out of his house. Because while Jeno and Jaemin had ceased their needless, awkward comfort and prodding, Renjun had forced his way into Donghyuck's recovery. He sped it along at a natural pace, not once allowing it to become a stalemate of emotion.

Donghyuck hadn't learned his lesson in heartbreak, apparently. Because the morning after Renjun's visit found Donghyuck with a new pair of budding sprouts on his back. He smiled at his reflection, wry and cruel.
"Fuck you."