chapter seven. [unedited]

  jeongguk stood outside of the principal's office. he noticed potted plants that decorated the slim doorway, the door was closed, the dark brown wood staring at him using it's mockery to make him feel discouraged. he stared through the small window that was carved at the top of the wooden door. he knew that something was happening in that room, and he was painfully excluded.

  he felt awkward in the complete silence, and so he decided to think back to what had confused him, what taehyung had said earlier. something vaguely about how he too had revived a scar. then a memory came crashing down to him.

  "come on son, we will be late if you keep standing around." his dad ordered from the living room. at this point, yugyeom and his mother were still gone, and his father liked to take him on rides at night. usually when it was raining, so a huge downpour was occurring outside at the moment. he slipped on his shoes and stood from his bed, making sure to close his bedroom door before following his father to the car, running due to the rain that soaked him.

  "now, you be quiet or else i'll hurt that previous neck of yours again, yeah?"  jeongguk gulped at that, the last time his dad choked him, he could barely talk for weeks while it healed. with no other remarks, he drove the two to that same run down neighborhood as the last time, and that only sent shivers down his spine.

"come on, he's waiting." his father ordered, and jeongguk swung his car door open and was lead down the sidewalk of the house, the weeds seemed to be growing over the concrete now, which he kind of expected of this residence.

  when he stepped inside the house, his father once again was pulled away by another man to do some "business". so, that left jeongguk to wander the house by himself. he did not see the joyful kid sprawled on the carpet this time, so he decided to make his way to the broken stairs in the corner of the room. each wooden stair freaked as he placed his foot on it, but he made his way up with no fearful tendencies.

  he heard something.

sniffling, then something like a sob. his heart lurched as he stepped through dirty carpet and to a bedroom door, that had a "t" painted onto it. it was a pretty blue color, despite the dirt that lingered it's corners, and the deep chips in it's beautiful wood, seeming like someone had kicked the door, maybe punched it a few times. he rested his hand on the knob, twisting it. suddenly the crying stopped.

  jeongguk pulled open the door, and he saw the boy on the floor, playing with his toys, nothing seemed wrong. he shyly waved to the boy, closing the door behind him. "hey, again."

  "i heard you crying, are you okay?" jeongguk asks, his voice wavering from it's weakness. the boy looked up at him with his big, watery eyes as his lips quivered. jeongguk looked a little confused, not knowing what to do as the small boy broke down in front of him. he looked around, before kneeling to the ground and wrapping his small arms around the boy's torso. the boy immediately stuffed his nose into the dip in jeongguk's shoulder. "what's wrong?"

  the boy pulled away from the hug, making eye contact with jeongguk as he lifted his shirt away from his body. jeongguk's eyes immediately widened, since there stood a huge slash on his bare chest. blood seeped down from it, seen as it was an older injury but it seemed to have been reactivated somehow. he gently pressed a finger to it, and the boy cried out even more.

  he wished he could remember more of what happened, but he really did remember getting choked by his father a lot. so, as he stood outside of the principal's office, he recalled the boy's face. and suddenly, things started to match up. that boy looked a lot like-

  "oh, jeongguk? you waited for me?" taehyung spoke as he swung the door of the principal's office swung open. jeongguk weakly nodded. taehyung walked a few feet from the door, watching it close as he neared jeongguk. "the boys are going to be suspended, and i have to go to detention during school for the next three days. i guess you have to pay a price to help someone, yeah?"

"totally unfair." taehyung said lowly before giving jeongguk a small wave, "see you later i guess, try not to get beat up." jeongguk wanted to yell at him, he wanted to pin him down and look underneath his shirt. he wanted to see if a long scar remained across his skin. was taehyung the boy who he saw almost every day for at least two months? he furrowed his eyebrows, seeing that taehyung not gotten very far down the hall, so he ran.

  he ran to catch up, ran for his life, and suddenly he was shoulder to shoulder with taehyung. taehyung quickly turned his head. "back so soon- woah!" he helped as jeongguk dragged him down the long hall and into a classroom, one that was currently occupied with a teacher, who was packing up her stuff for the day.

  "why are you here?" she'd ask, and taehyung shrugged. yet when jeongguk picked up a red marker from the marker tray, and pulled the cap off, taehyung knew what was going to happen. he'd scribble across the board, for the teacher, taehyung assumed.

  i need to talk with him, may we use your board.

  the teacher looked confused, but taehyung informed her quite quickly, "he cannot speak, and i don't know sign language- so.."

  "i am going to a meeting, it will last about fifteen minutes, i want both of you out of my classroom by the time i get back or i'll write you two up, okay?" she's give them a small smile, before leaving, a binder in her hands.

  jeongguk turned back to the board, writing across the board.

  take your shirt off.

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