san cringed as he watched wooyoung laughing and kicking down signs and such, with their friend group doing the same things. they were wrecking public property because their friends had convinced them that doing it would be fun.
san was still worried about getting in trouble, while wooyoung wasn't thinking of the consequences.
the older was a bit unsure about whether or not he liked being a part of this friend group. he did like having friends, because it made him look less "lame," (yes, san was sixteen and still worried about being cool).
but, he knew these friends were toxic.
especially for wooyoung.
wooyoung was easily manipulated, and since he trusted these friends a lot, he trusted their opinions and their ideas.
and so, within a year, wooyoung changed.
they convinced him to eat a lot less, to put on much more makeup, to slack off in school, and they even told him "not to be gay."
san gated to see all of this happening to his brother, and he'd tried to tell wooyoung that this was bad for him, but the younger denied it and shrugged it off. the older was planning on trying to talk to wooyoung again that night.
"w-woo?" "yeah?"
"can.. can i talk to you?" "..why? are you okay?"
"yeah.. i'm okay.. its just.. i'm worried about you." san said, sitting down on the floor.
wooyoung immediately realized what he meant.
"san, i know what you're going to say. i'm not giving up our friends. this is the first time i've had a solid friend group, and we always have such a fun time together, why can't you just enjoy it instead of worrying all the time?"
"wooyoung, they're manipulating you—" "no they are not! stop accusing them of this stuff, it's been almost a whole year that we've been friends, and you're just now worried?"
"because i'm seeing the changes!" "what changes? i'm perfectly fine!"
"you're fine? you haven't changed? let me ask you.. does dad know that you lost almost twenty pounds? does mom know you're failing some of your classes? does yunho know you steal from stores for fun? does anyone in the family know that you've tried vaping and want to keep doing it? huh?" san said, getting frustrated at wooyoung's stubbornness.
"they don't need to know, it's none of your—"
wooyoung suddenly froze.
san turned, seeing yeosang standing in the doorway, with worry and shock on his face.
"s-sorry.. i-i didn't mean to i-i-inte—" "how much did you hear?" wooyoung muttered.
"..e-e-everything san just s-said.."
"get out." "i-i was—"
"i said get out!" wooyoung yelled, running up and slamming the door in the older's face.
yeosang stumbled backwards, and turned to look at mingi, who was standing next to him, eager to hear about what had just happened.
"what do we do?" mingi asked.
"w-we have to t-t-tell mom and-d dad.. i'm w-worried about woo." yeosang said.
"well, when should we tell them? they're gonna be out on their date for a while." "p-probably when they g-get h-h-home.. i-in the morning at the-e latest.."
yunho opened his eyes, trying to take a breath in through his nose, only to be met with snot.
he sat yo, reaching over to grab a tissue as he became dizzy. the room started spinning, and he felt so disoriented and weird.
"yunho, get up! you're late for school!"
hongjoong suddenly ran in, stopping himself at the sight of how tired and messy the oldest looked.
"sorry.. i'll get ready now.."
"no, wait." the parent quickly ran up to the bed and put his hand on yunho's forehead. "your temperature is hot. you definitely have a fever." "oh.. that explains why i feel so gross.."
"alright, then don't worry about school. i'll call you out sick, and i'll get some medicine and stuff, just lay down."
"and so, to get to the answer, you'd just multiply by seven. alright, that's all, you're dismissed." the teacher said. the class erupted into sounds of books closing and papers being moved.
wooyoung slowly got up, feeling weak and dizzy.
since yunho wasn't there, he didn't really have anyone tell that he felt sick, so he tried to brush it off and ignore it.
as he walked into the crowded hallway, he realized something didn't feel right.
his vision became blurry, and people's voices and words became incomprehensible. he could vaguely seeing mingi in the distance, and wanted to ask him for help, but he didn't have enough strength to walk all the way down the hallway.
his legs suddenly gave out, and the boy blacked out as he fell to the floor.
he could hear some people gasp, and heard mingi shout "wooyoung!" before everything went completely silent.
the kids once crowding everywhere and ignoring wooyoung quickly made space for him, as mingi and two other bits ran up to help him. the older brother was already on the verge of tears.
wooyoung eventually gained a little bit of consciousness, enough for him to hear and partially see what was going on.
the three helping him worked together to walk him—well, more like carry—to the nurse's office.
"he passed out in the hallway. he could've just gotten overcrowded, but... it's most likely from lack of nutrition. he hasn't been eating enough." the nurse explained.
"alright.. i'll talk to him. thank you." seonghwa said and sighed.
he then walked further into the nurse's office, approaching wooyoung, who was sitting on one of the beds with a look of shame on his face.
"come on. we're gonna talk about this in the car."
"woo, we've been through so much as a family, i promise we can help you, i just need you to open up a little more. i just want you to be honest with me, because it definitely isn't nothing. i've been told 'it's nothing' enough times to know that these situations aren't nothing. but i'm telling you, we are happy to help. we love you and we are all here for you. please just tell me what is going on." seonghwa tried to keep himself calm.
"it's hard to explain. i just don't want to eat. i feel like i gain ten pounds with every bite. it just grosses me out, and i feel so.. big. i don't know." wooyoung explained briefly.
seonghwa sighed. knowing wooyoung's personality, he knew he shouldn't expect an emotional spill of his feelings.
"well—alright.. let's talk more at home."
ONCE AGAIN IM REALLY SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING I JUST HAVENT HAD TIME :((((
ANYWAYS OMG THANK YOU FOR ALMOST 120K THATS CRAZY I CANT BELIEVE ITS GROWING SO FAST!!!!!! I LOVE YALL TY!!!!! <33333333
