LEFT TO DIE | AOUAD

CHAPTER 23

Soon after, the sun was gone and the moon came out. The fire was now their only source of light and heat.

Y/n was sitting between su-hyeok and wu-jin.

"Dae-su. How was your audition?" Su-hyeok asked. "They told me to lose weight,"

Dae-su replied.

"Well, fuck them," y/n exclaimed.

"You're a brilliant singer."

"I haven't sung in a while... "

"Sing for us. I want to hear,"

Su-hyeok said to Dae-su. "Forget it. I don't want to sing," Dae-su shook his head.

"I really like the song," Joon-yeong said.

"You do?" Dae-su asked.

"Yes," Joon-yeong nodded.

"It's really nice," Su-hyeok agreed. "You sing well," y/n smiled. "It'll cheer us up as well."

Dae-su cleared his throat and
slowly began to sing. For the first
few moments, it was just Dae-su
singing.

However, slowly but surely, everyone else started to join in. First y/n and Ji-min, then Hyo-ryung and Joon-yeong, and then Cheong-san, Su-hyeok and Wu-jin.

Nam-ra was silent, as she'd never heard the song before, but she smiled a little as she saw everyone else singing.

Y/n slowly rested her head on Su-hyeok's shoulder, who gently placed his arm over her shoulder. She smiled.

"When did you start smoking?" On-jo asked Nam-ra. "Since the eighth grade," Nam-ra
answered.

"We used to go behind the school during break or if we'd had a stressful lesson," y/n said, making everyone turn to her. "And after we'd had our lunches."

"You smoked?" Wu-jin asked.

Y/n nodded.

"Did you ever need a friend?" On-jo asked Nam-ra. "I'm not sure," Nam-ra admitted. "I had y/n, which I sometimes saw as enough."

"You always put up a wall," On-jo replied. "You always wore earphones and never said a word, unless y/n was talking to you. Was it because you didn't like the rest of us?"

Nam-ra was silent for a moment.
Everyone looked at her, waiting for an answer.

"I never disliked you guys," Nam-ra answered. "I just... I only had y/n. We've been friends since she came into school."

"To be honest, I didn't like you," Hyo-ryung admitted. "Because I thought you didn't talk to us because we were beneath you."

"There were times when I wished you weren't around," Joon-yeong nodded. "I always came second, no matter how hard I tried. But I suppose I was able to come second thanks to Nam-ra."

"Hey, second place is good too," Dae-su sighed. On-jo silently nodded in agreement. "I can't even come 20th in our class."

"Hey, don't compare yourself to
Joon-yeong," Hyo-ryung said.

"I was just saying," Dae-su replied. "Why do you always jump down my throat when I say something? Do you like me?"

Hyo-ryung slapped Dae-su on his shoulder, "Screw you."

Y/n and a few others chuckled.

"I'll put it out there so you don't get hurt," Dae-su said to Hyo-ryung. "I like someone else. So don't like me."

Hyo-ryung slapped Dae-su's shoulder again, "I don't like you. I'm not interested in you at all."

"Dae-su, who do you like?" Joon-yeong asked.