Chapter Text
He hated going home.
Home started with a ‘H’ and so did Hell. Home had four letters and so did Hell.
And most dreadfully, Home lived his mother who was possessed by a monster that came from Hell.
Yeo Sang was dead sure that whoever that was living under the same roof as him was no longer the same person that had sang him lullabies to sleep, taught him how to read, cooked him breakfast, gave birth to him—
He was sure that she was not the same person as before. Not a sane person anymore.
People called it insanity, obsession, disorder, paranoia… But Yeo Sang knew it had to be a demon sent from the fiery depths of hell that had taken control of what used to be a sweet and dainty woman whom he would call ‘Mom’.
Nowadays, he hardly called her anything.
“Sang-ah! I’ll be leaving first!”
Just like that, all his negative thoughts disappeared.
“This early?”
“Yep, the new neighbour is moving in later. I don’t want to miss saying hi to them,” Woo Young replied with a smile.
That was Woo Young for you. Energetic and kind, Woo Young was someone who made you feel as though you were meeting an old friend that you had long forgotten but happy to meet again. He made people feel comfortable, sometimes even nostalgic, and there was never once that he was caught without his signature bright grin.
For a person like Yeo Sang, Woo Young was his sunshine to his dark storm. Yeo Sang would always be grateful for the countless amounts of rainbows that Woo Young had brought into his life since he met him eight years ago when he first moved into this foreign small town, far away from Seoul. He could still remember the first time he had met him as neighbours, and how warmly he had greeted him while offering his help with the move-in.
Because he knew Woo Young would regret not being the first person to welcome the new neighbour that would be moving into the other side of his apartment, Yeo Sang reluctantly held back his request for him to stay with him until sunset.
“Alright then, I’ll see you later,” Yeo Sang said instead while gripping onto his pen. He had his math book opened in front of him, and this would be his only companion for the next few hours before the security guards chased him out of the campus.
“Bye bye!” Woo Young said as he gave a big wave and left the classroom with big, joyful steps. The other classmates also started to leave the class one by one, leaving Yeo Sang alone at his seat, completing the math questions that somehow stopped his mind from wandering to other thoughts.
He liked math. He liked it not because he was interested in the subject, but rather the fact that there would always be an answer at the end of each problem. He liked that there was a right answer that existed, a right answer that he could figure out if he tried hard enough. He liked it because it was the complete opposite from his life.
He had prayed tens of hundreds of times for an answer for the way his life was now, had prayed hundreds of thousands of times to ask when would his mother—
“Yeo Sang.”
He looked up. It was the class president.
“Here. I was supposed to have it during break but forgot about it. You can have it,” Hong Joong continued as he took out a packet of bread from his bag, then placed it on Yeo Sang’s table, “I’ll be leaving now.”
As the class president walked out of the class, Yeo Sang stared at the packet of bread. He had barely spoken to the class president since meeting him, and the number of times they had exchanged conversations were probably small enough to count with one hand. He guessed it must be his sense of responsibility as the class president that made him feel obligated to take care of him. Ignoring the gift of sympathy, Yeo Sang picked up his pen again and carried on with his math sums.
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4PM.
5PM.
6PM.
At 7:30PM sharp, a guard walked into the class and shined a torch in.
“Why is it always you? Get out!” the guard grumbled as he hurried Yeo Sang out of the class. Yeo Sang packed his items in a quick and practised manner, and was out before the guard could shout again for him to hurry up.
“Kids these days… They have a home to return to but choose to loiter in the school…” the guard muttered as he locked the classroom doors, jamming the keys loudly while Yeo Sang stood and watch.
“What do you want?” the guard snapped.
“Ahjussi, here. You can have it.”
With one arm stretching out towards the guard and another holding onto his bag, Yeo Sang held the bread that the class president offered.
The guard raised an eyebrow, but took the bread from his hand.
“Look at this brat, offering things to an elder with a single hand…”
“I’ll be off then.”
“Yes, please go. And stop loitering around after your classes end.”
“Yes, sir. See you.”
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Yeo Sang stood as still as a stone. To others, it was just a door. To him, it was the gate to hell.
He had noticed the empty boxes scattered outside the doors of the now occupied apartment on the right of Woo Young’s house—the new neighbours had already moved in, and an echo of Woo Young’s voice could be heard coming from behind the closed door.
An unfamiliar laughter followed by a sentence of undistinguishable words slipped through the cracks of the apartment door. Yeo Sang figured that the new neighbour had to be a young male. It seemed like Woo Young had made yet another friend.
He would be lying he said that he felt nothing standing there eavesdropping on a conversation that he could barely make out. He was a tad bit disappointed, if not jealous. Not because Woo Young had not invited him over to befriend this new neighbour of theirs, but simply the fact that he was doing something without him, spending time and laughing along with another person while Yeo Sang was left alone in the classroom, solving a bunch of useless math problems that he honestly could not care less about.
He knew that that itself was a stupid and selfish thought. Woo Young did not belong to him. He could meet anyone he liked and spend his time however he liked. Besides, Yeo Sang was absolutely sure that he wanted no part in this whole ‘befriending’ affair, and Woo Young knew this as well. He probably thought he was doing him a favour not inviting him, and he was not wrong.
But that did not stop Yeo Sang from feeling these feelings. Not bothering to shake off these bitter thoughts, Yeo Sang finally keyed in the passcode to his apartment door and pushed the door open.
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Heyy, are you there?
Yeah, why?
You’re not going to believe this.
What?
The new neighbour’s the same age as us!!
Ahh is that so?
Oh and he’s enrolling into our school tomorrow.
Won’t it be cool if he was in the same class as us?
Yeo Sang threw his phone down on his bed and flopped down beside it. He was right about the new neighbour’s age then. He just did not expect him to be another 18 year-old and did not expect him to be enrolling into the same school.
At best, he would be seeing this new face for the next two weeks, knowing how Woo Young would see it as his responsibility to orientate the new neighbour into the new school, despite the fact that the school prefects would have taken care of it.
At worst, New Face would end up in the same class as them and Woo Young would be the first to befriend him. No doubt their friendship would then have an addition, and Yeo Sang would be forced to befriend the new neighbour as well.
Ah, right. He was Woo Young’s new neighbour. This meant he would probably have to see him before and after school as well.
With a huge sigh, Yeo Sang closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing. He was glad that today was one of the rare times when the other person living in the house had chosen to lock herself in her room when he entered the apartment. With the appearance of this new neighbour, he could not imagine how much more his head would hurt if she had decided to act up today.
Selfishly, Yeo Sang prayed that New Face would end up in another class. The thought of having almost no time being alone with Woo Young drove him mad and he almost cursed the new neighbour for his existence. He knew he was being unreasonable, but Woo Young was really his last ray of light, and he hated even the thought of sharing that with someone else.
The memory of their laughter coming from behind the apartment door kept playing in Yeo Sang’s mind like a broken record and his heart raced.
No. That wouldn’t do. New Face had to be in another class.
Because if he wasn’t, Yeo Sang was dead sure that he would eventually lose his status as Woo Young‘s one and only close friend.
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