The Real Us

. chapter 23 .

While the boy was pondering the thousands of questions he had for Taeryoung, he saw a familiar third year out of the corner of his eye. Kim Kyojun.

"Kim Kyojun!" he called as he ran over to his senior. "Oh it's you, Park Sunghoon!" Kyojun smiled happily seeing the boy that made his best friend and first love, Kim Taeryoung, happy. "How are you?"

"I'm okay, but" the male took a deep breath. "I need your help."

The third year raised an eyebrow, confused.

"It's Taeryoung," the male sighed. "We usually meet after school, but I haven't seen her and her phone is off."

"I haven't heard from her since this morning." Kyojun replied while scratching the back of his head. "Have you done anything recently that would have pissed her off?"

"Well," Sunghoon rubbed the nape of his neck as he thought back to his second kiss. "Maybe, but it was a while ago."

The third year shrugged. "Maybe it's that? I would just give her some space. Taeryoung can be hard to read at times." The boy remembered the times she had been angry with him as kids. He never seemed to be able to tell. Those memories made him smile.

Suddenly, the boys felt droplets of water falling on them. "I have to get going," he said to his friend's boyfriend. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure she's fine."

-

Taeryoung felt her legs give way as she curled up in a ball. The girl's hand was red and bruising from pounding on the cold metal door. She was cold and wet from the rain and her tears caused her vision to become blurry. She ran a hand through her wet hair as she tried to calm herself down. Somebody would come looking for her soon, right?

Her mind went to the note she had received that had told her to meet whoever "s" was on the rooftop. What kind of sick person would do this to her? Her head was pounding and the rain still hadn't stopped. It was getting colder and colder by the minute and her soaked uniform blazer wasn't helping very much.

She felt herself beginning to lose hope as the sun started to set. The girl couldn't even tell how much time had passed but it felt like it had already been a lifetime trapped up there.

She thought about her family. Her parents were probably at another business meeting and her sister had returned to her college dorm just the day before. Her grandmother was back at her own house since her parents had come back from the states so she probably hadn't even noticed the girl's absence.

She felt her tears start again as she rested with her back to the doors, hugging her legs tight. How had a normal day ended up this way?

Suddenly she heard thumping. At first, she though it was the sound of her heart pounding in her chest. But the sound got louder and louder before she finally realized, they were foot steps. Her heart pounded as she heard the sound getting closer and closer before finally the door flew open.

Park Sunghoon burst through the door onto the rooftop, his breath heavy and his expression panicked. He spotted the girl sitting, crying on the floor beside him and he felt his heart shatter seeing her cry.

He crouched and lifted up her chin to see her face. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice still shaky from having run up all the flights of stairs. The girl suddenly wrapped her arms around the male, trapping him in her embrace. He felt her soft sniffles as she hugged him tight.

"I'm so glad you're here," she whispered, still holding the boy close to her. She never wanted to let go, but the male held her shoulders and sat her upright.