try-hard •sunki au•

fifty-one

"Come back home, Sunoo..."

"How many times do I have to say no for you to stop pursuing me?" Sunoo asked.

His sister didn't speak. She looked restless and Sunoo was sincerely worried about her. But talking about going back home is another subject.

"Unless you gave me enough reason to go back, I might consider it. That isn't a home to me anymore," Sunoo honestly said, trying to ignore the flash of hurt in the eyes of his sister.

The door of the shop opened and Sunoo looked over there as a habit. Riki entered the shop and met Sunoo's gaze before the younger looked away and went straight to the counter.

"Sunoo."

Sunoo looked back at his sister.

"I can't give you any reason because I promised Dad...but if you ever change your mind, the house is always open for you."

"I'm not changing my mind," Sunoo assures. "I probably should go."

The lady flatly smiled as Sunoo began standing.

"I still hope you will change your mind," his sister said before Sunoo can start walking away.

Sunoo nodded. "Thanks for the visit, cash and the food," he says before finally walking away.

+++

Riki followed Sunoo outside the shop, he wasn't even able to wait for his drink to be served.

"Sunoo," Riki called.

The sophomore stopped walking but it took a little while before Sunoo turned around to see Riki. The older boy flashed a smile but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Riki," Sunoo greeted. "What are you doing here?"

Riki looked back inside the shop. "I'm meeting with a friend."

"Ah," Sunoo nodded. "I'll go back to the dorms."

Riki stared at Sunoo as if he had something to say but he couldn't voice it out. After a littler longer than a minute of just staring, Riki closed the remaining gap between them and engulfed Sunoo in a tight hug.

"Riki," Sunoo whined, trying to push the younger boy away. "What are you doing? We are in public!"

"Aren't we in this stage already?" Riki innocently asked, letting go of Sunoo. "We even did this in a music festival while being surrounded by a lot of people."

"That's...different," Sunoo said, shyly looking away.

Riki let a smile out, "How so?"

The eye roll that Sunoo just did made Riki's smile wider.

"That sassy reaction is better than a fake smile," Riki said, pinching the older's cheeks softly. "I'll walk you until the third trashcan."

Riki then intertwined their fingers together before he dragged Sunoo towards the way back to the dorms. Although Riki could feel the hesitation in Sunoo, the latter didn't try to fight.

It didn't take longer before they had to part ways. Sunoo continued walking back to the university while Riki jogged back to the food shop.

Riki takes his ordered drink from the counter and goes straight to the table where Sunoo was originally sitting in front of a young woman.

The woman smiled at Riki, the freshman smiling back.

"What did I just witness?" The woman asked.

"What do you think?" Riki asked back, raising an eyebrow.

The woman laughs.

"So, was it a success, then?"

"We're getting there," Riki responded. "I knew you snapped a picture, let me see."

The woman, Sunoo's sister, handed Riki a camera. Riki goes through a couple of pictures of him and Sunoo walking side by side with their hands intertwined between them.

"Was this enough evidence?" Riki asked, giving the camera back to the young woman.

"The problem is that Sunoo still refuses to go home. I'm afraid Dad will-"

"I'll try to convince him," Riki said, cutting off the woman's words.

I'm sorry, Sunoo, if I'll go against you.

tengyu_