「 simple ; lee jihoon 」

[ one : the painter ]

05/08/10 : jihoon's safe haven

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Is my existence on earth really such a big mistake?

Jihoon's back ebbed with pain. Cold, red blood spilt throughout his uniform like an epidemic as he propped one shaky hand on the floor, struggling to rise to his feet. With eyes narrowed defiantly at the three towering figures in front of him, Jihoon saw everything.

He laughed.

As if he were a sculpture, Seungcheol's fingers had carved into his skin sharp, double edged battle scars. A smirk had curved onto the older's face at the very sight of those things revealing themselves on the younger's soft, pale skin. They were Seungcheol's faithful, unwavering palettes, and they only existed to serve a single colour-the colour of pain.

Yet, this colour was the very source of Seungcheol's bright, heartthrobbing smile.

To girls, at least. Jihoon found it absolutely revolting.

Seungcheol, being the school's 'bad boy', had always resented art class with a fiery venegance. He had gotten grades no higher than an F, which was probably the result of his bad behaviour. However, Jihoon seemed to be an exception. His personal little puppet which he manipulated and toyed with, almost if he was having fun.

And so, Jihoon laughed. In his trembling, sickly monotone he laughed for all he was worth, whilst clambering to class with a hunched back. The laughs grew to increase in volume at the sight of Seungcheol's reaction, whose jaw had dropped in shock at the loud, triumphant sounds of joy ringing in his ears.

Before Seungcheol decided to make a run for it, a small, powerful fist grabbed hold of his collar. The older would normally escape from this quickly, but the element of surprise wasn't going to fail Jihoon just yet. Panic rose to Seungcheol's strapping, well built chest, and inwardly, his blood was boiling. He stared up at the younger with the anger of defeat, which only lifted the corners of Jihoon's lips to its max. Slowly, his eyes shut at the pain that choked his neck like a leash-under a circumstance where he was deprived of oxygen, even the strongest of people would crumble under its wrath.

He never thought he'd see the day where Jihoon would escape from his clutches.

He never thought he'd see the day where he was wrapped around Jihoon's little finger.

Like literally, Jihoon's hands were incredibly small, and the fact that he was pinning down a 55kg, muscle-made boy was just humiliating.

"Yah, Seungcheol-hyung! I've won." Seungcheol's boiling, brown eyes forced itself open to face a giggly Jihoon. A malicious smirk playing on his lips, Jihoon added, "It took you 15 whole minutes to paint me red, but it took me less than a minute to make your face go white."

A release of Jihoon's small, balled up fists sent Seungcheol's large, strapping figure crumpling to the floor.

His milky, lost eyes seemed to be in a daze after using up all his strength-the older's weight had took quite a toll on his fingers.

How annoying.

With great might Seungcheol forced his entire being back up again. His eyebrows were arched, and his face was tinted with the darkest shade of cherry. No one had aroused him this much before. His beagle eyes stared down Jihoon with the pure look of disgust, but the smaller boy stood there, unfazed.

"Hit me all you want, Seungcheol. I shouldn't have to cry and breakdown  just because that's what you want. You aren't my father, right?" Jihoon spat smugly.

Seungcheol quickly took chase after his junior, in which Jihoon reacted quickly. However, he was done. Done with being the victim, done with losing the battle with every passing day. He fought back the tears spinning in his eyes as he tried to find some way to escape from this dire situation.

I never deserved to be treated like this. No one does. Jihoon had started to weep as he sprinted, but from the deeper, neglected ends of his heart.

He would never cry in front of Seungcheol again. He had promised himself.

And Jihoon had never broke a promise.

From his blurry, peripheral vision, his gaze stumbled onto a school staff repainting the wall on the other corner.

Pleasure bubbled in his chest, for the pain that had once resided there was finally free to go. His smirk angled up further, and before Seungcheol could do anything else, his face-oh wait, no, his entire being - had thrown on a rather cheery shade of dark green.

Bitter, just like your soul, Jihoon snickered to himself as his eyes fell into small, condescending moons. His adrenaline soared with joy at the sight of Seungcheol getting beaten to a pulp, and Jihoon laughed harder. Seungcheol's accomplices? Nowhere to be found.

"Lee Jihoon! What are you doing to your schoolmate-" the staff cried in her croaky, granny voice, eyes scanning the scene with a look of indignance and slight horror. But of course, Jihoon cut her off.

He took two, precarious steps towards the exit of the school, and with all his might, squeezed out his most beeseechingly innocent smile, "Seungcheol-ya, using the colour red is rather unoriginal, don't you think? Dark green looks a lot better on you."

With that, the boy fled from the school with quick, hurried footsteps, raising an arm to shield his tears from the prying eyes of the public.

Jihoon had left the poor school staff with two things: a large, unpleasing blob to clean up, and possibly, another name marked down for detention.

But with Seungcheol?

Only one thing remained-an unforgettable, bitterly learnt lesson.

Jihoon ran for what seemed like eternity, until he arrived at his usual spot-a large, lushy grass patch with a beautiful view of the sky-and sobbed.

He had won the battle with Seungcheol-but had undeniably, lost the war with himself.

Look at the sky, look at the sky... The vast expanse of the limitless, blue body had always offered a sense of peace to Jihoon's worn out mental state. It seemed to shrink his problems away-making them look so small, so insignificant compared to the galaxy out there.

But today, his sky was clouded with tears. It always was.

Jihoon's black locks sprawled out in between the grass as his head lulled backwards. His eyes fixated on the cool, big blue, and almost instantly, it cleanly occupied every corner of his eyes. The light tint of the sky seemed to embrace his figure, the trees, the houses lining the street-everythimg around him in one big hug.

His chest, which rose and fell in waves slowly stopped to a halt. The light, gentle wind stroked his skin and caressed his scars. It played around with the edges of his red splattered uniform-lifting its corners and revealing his small, soft tummy.

For the first time today, Jihoon let out a genuine, light-hearted laugh as he pulled down his shirt shyly, afraid that someone would see him in such a state. No school, no bullying...he wished to the ends of the earth, that he could just lie here forever, and...

The sky was his best friend, and he was certain it would remain that way.

Enveloped in a blanket of wide blue, soothing serenity, Jihoon was quietly sang to sleep, by the sound of the wind whistling gently in his ears.

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HELLO GUYS AAAH im so sorry i said that i would update soon but ive been on holiday ;; however, ive gotten heaps of inspiration during my time away so do ANTICIPATE !!! its gon be LIT ,,,LIKE THESE CANDLES

i had to, im sorry :")

anyway, this is kind of crap but i did do my best. im satisfied with the structure of the story plot, which will unfold more later on, so dont go just because you dont understand anything. you will later on !!!

i love all of you, thank you for being so patient. jihoon is my ultimate bias and i hope to raise awareness about how much he does for seventeen through this book. thank you so much <33 please love seventeen a lot !!