try-hard •sunki au•

thirty

“Those kind of behaviors should not be tolerated—”

“Your behavior should not be tolerated,” Jay speaks, cutting off the speaking counselor in front of them.

The whole faculty remained silent, watching as Jay—the son of the biggest shareholder of the university speaks. Jake was staying silent beside him although Riki is being judged wrong.

Apparently, Jake also received a call from his parents to meet with the faculty and have a meeting about the counselor's behavior. Both him and Jay are clueless about the sudden enraged of their parents, until they entered the meeting room and found all of the people they needed to see inside.

“You were a counselor for a purpose of attending to students with behavioral problems. You were supposed to tell them what's wrong and what's right—”

“And Riki's current behavior is wrong,” the counselor cuts off Jay's statement.

Jay couldn't help but laugh sarcastically at that.

“Which of his acts are wrong? Not because you've seen the students posts stupid contents on the internet, you will believe it. Shame on you for earning a college degree and a professional license despite being that narrow minded,” Jay continued.

Jay points at the screenshot of photos on the big screen. It was Riki and Sunoo in the dark, standing close to each other.

“The person in the picture is indeed Riki, but what they're doing in that moment is still not clear. Not because they're in the dark you will assume things. Not because people say they're dating, you will believe it,” Jay said.

Jay knew he was being very impolite. As if he never learned manners and etiquette. But this sudden issue with Riki is making him mad. Real mad.

“And if they're dating, why does it matter to you?” Jake asked, staring directly at the counselor.

Everyone turned their eyes at him. This behavior of Jake is new to them. He was always the good example, full of manners and kind son.

“Don't cross over the line just because you are permitted to discipline Riki in your own ways. He has the right to be with whoever he wants, whether it's a man or a woman and you can't tell him otherwise,” Jake said.

“That is why his behavior isn't improving, you are considering his actions,” the counselor still argues.

“This meeting is done,” Jake said, standing up on his seat. “Mr. Park and my Dad, Mr. Sim, wants her out of this university. They'll visit this afternoon, make sure they won't see her here or it'll be another chaos.”

Jay stood up as well. He kept a straight face as he picks up his laptop bag on the seat.

“I know the university have IT specialists, I want those photos of Riki get taken down on the internet,” Jay speaks. “And if they can track who posted the first copy, let me know.”

Jay glanced at the counselor, “You should've think twice before telling my Mom that Riki is gay. Not because you're homophobic, everyone else around you is the same. My mom was right, you can't tell Riki, or anyone else, about their preferences.”

“And to remind you, Riki is my youngest brother and you should keep his identity top secret. Unless you want to face a lawsuit from our father,” Jay said.

Jay heaved a sigh before he fake a smile, professionally facing all the school board members and bowing in front of them before leaving the room.

Jake followed behind him. Jay could feel the tension in Jake's action. He knew he was only trying to act calm and composed in front of everyone.

“Are you okay?” Jay asked as soon as they're outside.

Jake nodded, “I'm only surprise my Dad stood on Riki's side. All this time I feared he will hate gays...like me.”

Jay shook his head, “Don't say it like being gay is a bad thing. Liking a person with the same gender won't make us less of a human.”

Jake smiled faintly.

“We should check on Riki,” Jake said.

“He should be fine, I need to check on someone else,” Jay said, walking as fast as if he's almost running.

“Who?” Jake asked back, confuse, running before Jay.

“Jungwon...”

+++

The stares are making Sunoo feel nervous. He started walking fast to his classroom, trying to avoid the weird stares coming from the students around him.

Why is he suddenly receiving this familiar treatment?

He feels his heart beating fast in his chest, it feels heavy.

“Sunoo!”

Someone held his hand to stop him from walking away. He looked back to see Riki standing there, smiling at him. The freshman is wearing the same shirt as him.

Sunoo takes his hand off Riki's grip.

“Let's see each other at lunch,” Riki said.

Sunoo cannot respond back as Riki turns around and ran off, he's probably almost late to his class. Sunoo can only shook his head, looking around to see everyone watching them interact.

“Are you and Riki dating?”

Someone asked, and Sunoo was too stunned to answer. Why are they suddenly asking him that?

“Oh my gosh, I knew you're gay from the first day!”

“I'm n-not—”

“Don't deny it, everyone else probably knew by now you and Riki are dating.”

+++

“Hey.”

Jungwon looked at the girl sitting beside him.

“Aren't you Kim Sunoo's bestfriend?”

Jungwon stared confusely at the girl.

“Is it true that Sunoo and Riki is dating?”

“What?” Jungwon asked back.

The girl opened his cellphone and showed a picture to Jungwon.

“Look at this, everyone in the university thinks they are dating.”

No.

Jungwon quickly stood up, leaving his notes on the desk as he ran off the classroom.

He needed to see Sunoo.

However, Jungwon was already too late. He couldn't find Sunoo in his first class.

tengyu_