friend #hyungwonho

#9

It had been two days since Hoseok had left from the movies. Hyungwon had tried calling Hoseok twice, once in both days because he didn't want to come off as annoying. His calls weren't received.

After that he didn't even try anymore.

He went to school, was at school and went back home. Then he sat on the edge of his bed until he started sleeping. He missed Hoseok.

For a month he had a friend in his life.

He had almost forgotten what it felt like to be alone.

He felt like he had been abandoned.

The person who he trusted, the one who promised to be his friend, had left him.

It had only been a week without Hoseok but Hyungwon already felt like he just couldn't live without a friend anymore. Once he got to know what having a real friend felt like, he needed that.

So he went back to his old friends.

He knocked on Minhyuk's door with his hands shaking.

"What is this joke doing here?" Hyunwoo, who opened the door, said out loud. Hyungwon almost ran away at that point already. Minhyuk and Kihyun appeared next to him. It looked like everyone was at Minhyuk's house. What a great timing.

"I want to be your friend again", Hyungwon let out. He didn't even bare looking at the guys and just kept staring at his shoes like he usually did.

"What", Hyunwoo laughed. "Well that hot guy didn't play with you long."

"Sorry, we don't take trash", Minhyuk said and Hyunwoo started to close the door.

"I have money", Hyungwon said and suddenly the closing door stopped.

"How much?" Hyunwoo asked.

"Pretty much."

"Come in."

Hyungwon walked inside the house. Kihyun guided him to sit on the couch and sat next to him.

"You know, Hyungwon, not everything in life is about money", Hyunwoo started, and walked to them. He was holding Minhyuk's hand. They sat on the opposite couch.

"I'll do whatever you want if I can be your friend", Hyungwon quickly said before he could continue.

"That's our boy", Hyunwoo smiled, in fact, they all did.

Just like that, Hyungwon was not alone anymore. It might not have been the same kind of friendship it had been with Hoseok but he didn't notice anything different, he was just happy to have one.

--

Hoseok forgot about Hyungwon. Not completely but anyways.

He worked days - and sometimes nights as well - in different part time jobs. Then he went home where there was no food and slept his hunger away. He was always exhausted.

He didn't have time to think about the guy whose friend he promised to be. It had been his duty to be Hyungwon's friend but he had failed.

If he ever were to realize what he had done, he would probably hate himself to death.

It had been two weeks since he had been used by his client, fired and lost almost everything he had - that wasn't much.

It had been rough but he got money to pay his rent and some of the other bills. Partly false rumor had spread around about why he had been fired so he couldn't sell himself anymore because no one trusted him.

It was Saturday and Hoseok was working at a small pub. He mostly just cleaned and did whatever he was told to.

He carried two giants bags of trash from the back door to the dark alley that was behind the bar. He put them next to other trash bags and stood there to catch his breath for a second because he was tired.

Just then he saw some two guys walk past the other end of the alley. He didn't recognize them because they were so far. It was Hyungwon and his ex-friend Kihyun.

"I thought that would be a nerd movie but it was pretty good", Kihyun said with so much fake in his voice.

Hyungwon's smile told that he didn't feel it. "It was almost even better than the first two parts. Hey, did you know that one of the actors died just recently?" Hyungwon babbled. He had his usual anxiety in his voice but he was talking a lot more than usually with Hoseok.

Hoseok suddenly remembered that he was working and went back inside to the bar, only to be scolded by his supervisor because he took so long taking out the trash.

"Stop talking so much, it's annoying", Kihyun said and Hyungwon's face suddenly dropped.

"Okay", he just said quietly and tried to act all happy.

"I need a hundred", Kihyun said after that and stopped.

Hyungwon took out his wallet and gave Kihyun hundred thousand won, just like he had asked. Kihyun didn't say anything, just took the money and they continued walking side-to-side.

"Yo, Kihyun. Your friend stole from us", a loud, drunken voice interrupted them suddenly. Kihyun and Hyungwon turned to see a group of guys coming closer.

"Jooheon is not our friend anymore", Kihyun stuttered. Hyungwon noticed all the color escape from the guy's face. He had never seen Kihyun being actually terrified.

"Oh really", guy leading the gang walking closer to them tilted his head. He didn't believe what Kihyun said. "He and Changkyun stole a lot of drugs from us. You need to pay for them."

Kihyun turned back around and stumbled in his steps as he started running away as fast as he could.

Hyungwon looked after him. He was too scared to do the same and just stood there. The guys walked closer and he thought that if he would stay still, they would just go past him.

Hyungwon wasn't exactly a small guy, he was taller than most of the people in his school, but when the leader of that gang stopped in front of him, he felt so small.

"I d-don't have a-any mo... money", he stuttered, eyes sifting rapidly between his and the other guy's shoes.

"He says he doesn't have any money", guy laughed at him, looking at his people behind him.

Just then Hyungwon felt his shoulders being grabbed by two guys. They pulled him behind one dark corned.

Hyungwon didn't have any reflex to defense himself. His whole body just turned limp as he was thrown on the cold ground.

"We will show you what we do to those who don't have money", one of the guys said.

And then he was punched, kicked, his head smashed against the concrete wall and his hair was pulled. He just laid there. That's what he always did when he was being threatened. Not react at all.

He kept saying in his mind that Kihyun only went to get help. He would be back soon to let Hyungwon out of this hell.

But that never happened.

He eventually lost a track of time and didn't even feel anything anymore.

The guys left. His neck was tilted in unnatural position and his head was getting blood in the wall behind him. He felt like he would die before Kihyun would come back.

In the verge of passing out, his mind wandered to a memory of him and Hoseok in the movie theater. It was the last memory he had with Hoseok and he didn't know why that popped in his mind because Hoseok had left him.

He didn't feel pain anymore and he didn't hear someone screaming his name.