tough love | svt

episode 03: chan's resolution

'i find it hard to believe that you have braincells'

'it was a simple test? if anything i'm not surprised by your dumbass marks' 

'you take that back, i'm not afraid of fighting you'

'oh really let's see if you have the guts to come at me loser!'

'what are you guys doing?' asked samuel as he witnessed chan and his friend, seungkwan try to fight each other when in reality they were just pitching each others cheeks really hard. chan immediately released his death grip on seungkwan's face and turned to the most important person in the room (again it was chan's humble opinion)

'seungkwan flunked his test' he said to samuel while seungkwan was rubbing his red cheeks. 'he's salty that i got everything right' continue chan while seungkwan started to shake him by the shoulders. 'it's not fair! he totally cheated alright! i just know it' said seungkwan being the dramatic queen he always is. samuel decided to step in and get seungkwan to stop shaking poor dino who would probably throw up, again. 

'dang right he got everything correct, i helped him study for it' said samuel with a huff of pride. 'since when did you guys start studying together? without me?' questioned seungkwan with raised eyebrows. 'we did last week? you're the one who ditched last minute' answered samuel. 'huh? i wasn't told—' seungkwan was promptly shut up by chan stepping on his foot, really hard.(you can tell who he takes after) 'why don't you get your bag we need to leave soon!' said chan and he pushed samuel toward his seat to get this things, reluctantly samuel didn't press on the issue and moved on. 

chan pulled seungkwan further away from samuel. 'what the hell was that for?!' whined seungkwan, he was sure chan had rocks for feet. 'well i kinda wanted to be alone with him sorry' he said with a cheeky grin to which seungkwan rolled his eyes, chan had confined in seungkwan about his hopeless crush on their friend awhile ago, no not confided more like forced to cause seungkwan was scary at finding things out. 'fine whatever just tell me next time alright? and let me study with him too i want to pass in midterms!' he said as he explained with his excessive hand movement, quite the dramatic person had chan gotten as a best friend.

'already i'll buy you melon buns as compensation' that seemed to peak his friend's interest and regained his smile 'oh my! how kind of you lee chan! maybe you should do this more'. 'do what more?' asked samuel who just joined the conversation. seungkwan and chan looked at each other, silently panicking and trying to communicate through their eyes. 'we should beat each other up more! i feel so much better after that' said seungkwan giving his most convincing act.     'it wasn't even a fight but okay' samuel shrugged as they went out of their classroom.

it's been a week since chan discovered he was living in a BL harem game, it's been oddly normal despite seeing some characters from the game and getting the jump scare of his life it's been alright. his friends, seungkwan and samuel, werent apart of the game so he assumes they are the nameless background characters who had no relations with the main character. it was a relief for him as he could  still be comfortable with him. his friends haven't caught on to the fact they were in a game but that's for the best as they say ignorance is bliss.

'lee chan? there you are' the trio stopped their conversation on what food they were going to buy to see chan's elder brother, jihoon. okay maybe chan still found it too real when he saw jihoon so he has been kinda avoiding him in a sense (he was totally avoiding him). 'i'll be taking him today' said jihoon as he held chan by the hem of his blazer in case he chose to ran away. 'oh please it's my pleasure, take this burden away, come on samuel! before the rush starts!' said seungkwan before he fled the scene while dragging samuel who just waved goodbye to his friend. wow what lovely friends did chan have.

'i've been busy these days so be lucky i'm walking home with you today' said jihoon as they walked out of school and into the direction of their home, still having a firm grip on chan's blazer. 'busy? doing what?' he asked innocently like he totally wasn't peeping through the window the other day to see that his brother was in charge of the most dangerous delinquents of their school. 

'i'm doing detention for kicking someone's balls' he said nonchalantly as he looked ahead the bustling street, filled with people returning home. 'why am i not surprised hyung' said chan as he sighed, his brother has always been headstrong when he gets angry which lead him into many many  fights. 

'was it at least necessary this time?' asked chan. 'yeah he called me short' answered jihoon like that was the most reasonable response he could give. seeing the look on chan's face he let out a little laugh 'plus he was trying to intimidate me, but you know that never works on me' jihoon continued as he ruffled chan's hair much to chan's displeasure as he tried to swat his brother hands away.

'just be careful hyung alright, you never know what would happen' said chan like a broken record, if got a penny for the amount of times he's told this he would be able to a book a plane ticket to jeju and snitch to seungkwan's relatives on all the things he does in seoul. ' just saying i don't want see you in the hospital with a hundred fractures before you even graduate' continued chan. suddenly his brother made a abrupt stop making chan bump into him and send him a look of 'what-is-your-problem'.

'hey chan, thanks for worrying about me, it means alot' he said smiling fondly at his brother. chan felt his breath hitch. 'there's a teokbokki stall nearby wait right here, i'll get something from there' said jihoon as he made his way through the crowd towards the stall with red banners and a welcoming aroma leaving chan.

that's when it hit chan, the reason why he spent so many hours on a single game. it was for that smile, that smile which reached up till his eyes, it spoke a thousand unsaid words all at once. 

when he played the game, he connected with jihoon on a personal, he knew how it felt to be out of the crowd, to be so different people found it hard to associate with you and when the game was basically him trying to find love, chan thought maybe he would finally find his smile.

yet through all the routes, the dialogues and options chan chose, all of them never gave a happy ending jihoon deserved, instead made his life so different he had to just go along with the flow, never finding his true happiness. and now he had to watch it all unfold again, to see jihoon go down the same path.

but... what if he doesn't have to? raised a voice in chan's head.

what if... there was a way to change the future events? would jihoon be able to be happy and live a peaceful, long life? but then again who could be possibly of doing that? that would mean!

as chan watched jihoon come back with the piping hot food, the child like joy in his eyes which he hoped it would never burn out. chan made his decision.

he was going to save his brother for his horrible fate, no matter what.

'what's with that serious look you got on your face?' asked jihoon as he handed chan's cup filled with teokbokki to him. 'oh i just made a very life altering decision' 

'no wonder mom calls you the crazy child'

'hey!!'


NOTES!

almost forgot to publish today hahaha (yes im sticking to my schedule ik im surprised too)

anyways i really broke my emotions into this chapter cause i wanted to get it right