•How long till you start falling apart?•
Min Sehyuk, a new transfer student from the U.S. joins Hanhwa university and entangles himself with the resident bully after defending a student. He becomes the new target, taking each punch with a smile, ask...
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"If you won't, then I will."
Kihyun bends to pick the knife up, puts his wrist forward, and with a swing of his other hand, he cuts into the flesh, a thread of blood springing into the air. He has no time to ponder as a hard punch thrusts at his jaw, sending him crashing to the floor. The place of impact throbs, worsening with the pain he already has from his previous injuries. He looks at his wrist but there's no blood.
"If you want to die, do it somewhere else, not in my house." Sehyuk's throaty voice is crisp with ferocity when he speaks. "And you're already injured, don't make me send you back to the hospital."
Kihyun stares at the boy in stupefaction, a hand cupping his jaw. There's a hardness to him that he's never seen before. Sehyuk tongues the inside of his cheek as he walks to him and pulls the older boy by his collar, forcing him onto his knees.
Then Kihyun sees it, blood dripping from the blond's palm, a deep cut in the middle of it. The liquid stains his shirt, soaking up red blots on the material.
His irrational behavior in the heat of the moment could've really killed him. Kihyun has mixed feelings about it. Or not, really.
"You don't want to die, you want an excuse to live!" Sehyuk roars, eyes defiant and challenging. "If you have toxic parents, leave them. Loving something or someone doesn't mean you stay bonded in it even if it drains the life out of you. Kang Kihyun, damn it! Fight back! Don't die a painless death, die fighting for your life! Only then can you put meaning to all the shit you went through all these years!" He shakes the boy, uncaring for the blood loss he's incurring. "If you have a crappy life, turn it around and stop looking at others to make it better! Do it yourself! You're the main character of your life story, fill up the damn pages and turn them yourself. Your family, friends, and strangers are just side characters, use them so you can rise to the top!"
"Sh-shut up..." Kihyun seals his eyes close, tears running down his face. "You know nothing..."
"I know enough. You're of legal age, there's so much you can do! Stop depending on your family's money, earn, and work to bring food to your table and a roof over your head. Living a middle-class life is better than killing yourself from the inside even after being rich. I don't care! Disappear to a place your father cannot get to. If you don't change now, you're going to die pathetically and I'm sure that's the last thing you want!" Sehyuk pushes Kihyun back to the floor and clicks his tongue.
"And you, Ms. Kang." He turns to the woman silently sobbing in the corner. "I think you've done enough damage to your son for today. Come back later, or don't at all."
With one last sorrowful look, Kang Hyesuk runs out of the apartment.
Sehyuk rubs his temple and sits on the couch to compose himself, fingers pressing on the open wound. "...what a shit show. Put ice on the swelling and I'll tend to my hand in the meantime." He gets up and walks to his bedroom, closing the door behind him.
