Chapter Text
Decline.
Silence. Minutes tick by.
Ringing.
Ringing.
Decline.
The last thing Chay wanted to do right now was talk. Especially to Kim.
He set his phone down, screen pressed against his mattress as he turned his head to stare out of the skyscraper window once more.
Days went by and it wasn’t getting any easier. The ache in Chay’s chest was only getting stronger as he felt reality slipping further from him. He rarely left his room, only to find food and appease Porsche.
‘Please, Chay, I can tell something is wrong. Talk to me, I’m your hia, Chay.’
Porsche pleaded with the younger anytime he saw him. But Chay just couldn’t hear him.
‘Nothing’s wrong, Hia. I’m fine, please stop worrying. I’m okay.’ Chay would respond with a tight smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
Living in the main family compound was somehow a lonelier life than when he lived at his parents’ house actually alone.
Chay wandered the halls as the days passed, looking for something to distract himself from sitting in his room and wondering why wasn’t I good enough.
Kinn had told him that he was at liberty to use whatever he liked at the compound, after all, it was his home now, so Chay grabbed his towel and deftly wandered down to the pool, deciding a swim might help distract him. He left his stuff beside the pool edge and slowly slipped into the water. It was colder than he was expecting; he imagined that was to help train the bodyguards. But actually Chay found it refreshing. He began to push from the wall and swim up and down, up and down, until his lungs started to burn and he physically had to stop.
Pushing his hair from his eyes, Chay leant on his arms at the pool’s edge and closed his eyes. There was nothing but the sound of the water pumping around the pool in a soft hum.
Wouldn’t it be easy if he just..
Chay sank beneath the water, stilling to sit at the pool’s bottom.
Silence.
But not, silent.
Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat.
He was alive. And yet, since Kim had walked away from him, he felt he’d been dying everyday since.
Suddenly, Chay pushed himself from the bottom of the pool as he felt the air clawing its way from his lungs.
He needed to reach the surface. It wasn’t that far down, was it?
Panic.
Chay was panicking.
After what felt like too long, his head breached the water surface and he threw his upper body onto the side, coughing and spluttering until all off the moisture had left his lungs and he could draw a breath again.
Tears instantly flooded Chay’s eyes. He was scared. How quickly he could’ve drowned just then had he not snapped out of it.
Slowly, Chay pulled the rest of his body out of the water and, without looking back at the pool, he grabbed his clothes and left.
Maybe it was time he tried to get some sleep. The incident in the pool had drained him, both physically and mentally, and he was already running on low battery as it was.
Slipping through the door to his rooms, Chay quietly sunk down onto his bed, atop the duvet, and closed his eyes.
Another day, he thought to himself, another day has passed and I’m still alone. What’s the point?
As he finally slipped into a restless sleep, the only thought on Chay’s mind was maybe I’m the problem?