Timeout

Part 16

TIMEOUT - Part Sixteen

When Kyun walks into the house with his parents, he feels even more deeply how much he fucked up. They haven't spoken to him the whole way home. Sheepishly, he walks after them into the kitchen, watches his father hugging his mother while she covers her face.

Is she crying?

Kyun had no idea he could feel any more pain, but this?

"You're grounded!" his father says over his shoulder while his mother supports herself with her hands on the counter, her back turned to him. "No video games, no parties, no phone, no social media!"

"Yes, Sir!" Kyun mumbles.

"And if it weren't redundant I'd also forbid you to play football. You're lucky your mom prevented you from getting suspended! So you'll go to school and come home right after that, do you understand?"

Again Kyun nods. "Yes, Sir!"

For a moment the three of them stand there in silence. Kyun hates that he disappointed his parents so much.

"Mom.." he whispers. "Don't you wanna say something?"

"I don't know what to say!" Immediately she turns around to him and he sees her teary eyes. "I know I made mistakes as a mother but this isn't how I raised you! I never... never raised you to be a man who is so competitive that he starts fights!"

There's this urge to tell his mother why he beat up Emery. But that wouldn't change a thing. Cause it's true. His mum raised him as a pacifist... he always avoided fights as much as possible. Until now...

"Kyun, do you even realize what you did? You beat him unconscious! You know I'm always on your side... but I can't defend you this time..."

These words hit him just as hard as your break-up.

Since she was sixteen, she sacrificed her own life, her fun, her youth to give him a life in which he never had to worry about anything. And this is how he thanks her...

"Go to your room!" his father adds and Kyun turns around and walks upstairs.

When he arrives in the bathroom and his eyes fall on the mirror he flinches, shocked.

Gosh, he totally forgot that he caught a hit or two from Emery. His left eye is blue, almost black, and there are traces of dried blood under his nose...

Great. He looks exactly how he feels.

Groaning, he takes off his dirty shirt and tosses it into the hamper before carefully washing his hands. Hissing, he grimaces as the hot water runs over his open knuckles and he looks back into the mirror.

How could he have sunk this low?

One day later, Kyun lays in his bed and stares at the ceiling while drowning in self-pity. The happiness he felt until last week almost seems like a very vivid dream.

He had it all.

A dream.

A girl he loved.

And now? It's all gone.

Gulping, he tries to stop his eyes from watering when he suddenly hears a knock on his door. Groaning, he sits up and dries his face.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, darling!"

Kyun feels this weight in his chest lightening as he sees his mother's compassionate gaze after she opened the door.. She'd never given him the silent treatment before. This was horrible.