Ijin had tried to talk to him after school, and truly, he appreciated the way Ijin had tried. It just showed how much Ijin cared, and Seokju would never forget the way his chest ached when he avoided Ijin. It was not to say that the others weren't trying as well, but Ijin was certainly the most stubborn about it. If it wasn't for Yeona physically holding Ijin back to talk to him at the end of school, Ijin would have physically grabbed him to make sure that they were going to have that conversation.
But it was just shit timing.
By the time Ijin caught up to him, Seokju was already at the school gates, and the driver that his father had promised to take him right home after school had been right there as well.
Seokju wanted to talk to Ijin, he really did. He wanted to let him and the others know that it wasn't his idea to cut off ties with them. He was so, so desperate to tell them that he wasn't doing it willingly, that he tried so hard to convince his parents to let them continue being friends. He wanted to tell them himself that he didn't want to do it. Seokju wanted to portray the emotion that Yeona couldn't.
But he just couldn't. He couldn't risk it. He didn't want to risk it. He had already pushed his father with the way he cut him off during that phone call, to the point where Seokju wouldn't have been surprised if his father had given him an additional punishment. If the driver told his father about the way he talked to Ijin, then his father really would find a way to cut off all contact with them.
As much as it hurt, as much as he wanted Ijin to catch up and keep him from running away.
He couldn't.
He just couldn't.
Seokju forced himself to get into the car and for a while, all he could do was stare down at his phone.
That had been one of the first things his grandfather made him do.
He made him block everyone's phone numbers, delete all of their messages, and delete his social media accounts. Every video, every single photo from the last year, all of it. Gone.
It left him completely isolated from the others.
He only had Yeona.
Just Yeona.
The wave of grief that he had been holding back washed over him in one painful motion. It completely swallowed him up, leaving him desperate as he tried to kick his way to the surface. He could barely breathe on the way home. His chest was tight, and his heart thudded faster than it had a right to against his ribcage. Even sitting down, he could feel his heart beating obnoxiously hard in his ears, even in the base of his throat. The harder he tried to get a hold of himself, the more he failed. A trend he had been following unwillingly as of late.
Just trying to take a deep breath had been painful, his chest so tight he couldn't expand his lungs fully. He tried to ground himself with an iron grip on his backpack; Seokju knew that everything he was experiencing was psychosomatic. It was his emotions that were making him feel that way, and it was shameful that he let them control him like that.
His fists shook with how hard he was clenching them. His nails dug into his palm and he wished the pain he was inflicting on himself was enough to overpower the emotional pain he was feeling.
Instead, all he could feel was the overwhelming sense of anxiety washing over him, suffocating him. He was on the verge of tears and it made him eager to get home, eager to get some privacy after a long day at school.
He really wanted to cry. Seokju really, really wanted to cry and he hated it.
Crying was an act that would have his grandfather and father scrunching up their nose in disgust, snapping at him to straighten up, to get himself under control, and to stop acting like a child. Seokju could see it vividly. He could imagine the way they would reprimand him until he dried up his tears himself, the way his mother would just watch from the side as they set him straight.
Despite the fact that they were right, because he really was far too old to be crying like that, he wanted to cry.
Seokju bit down on his cheek, blinking rapidly to dispel the burning feeling in his eyes. He couldn't cry. He had already brought shame for getting detained by the police like he did, he couldn't add crying on top of that.
Crying was a show of weakness. His parents raised him better than to cry just because things got a little bit tough. He was already nineteen years old. He was far too old to be crying over menial things like he was a child.
His parents only wanted the best for him and there he was, acting like a spoiled brat just because his feelings got a little bit hurt.
His grades and performance would improve if he didn't hang out with the others. It made sense, the time that was devoted to his friends could be devoted to work or homework. It would help him improve, and it was vital for his future, bodyguard or not, that he maintained good grades for personal satisfaction.
But that didn't mean the very thought of losing them didn't tear his heart out.
Seokju had come to love hanging out with them. They were all idiots, but they were fun idiots that he knew would have his back. They were idiots who made him laugh and made him question his life choices. They were idiots that gave him irreplaceable memories.
They were idiots that he was going to miss.
They were idiots that made him happy.
God, they made him happy.
But it was for the best. His parents were doing it for his own good, and it was his responsibility as a good son to listen to them. He could see why they were doing it, and even though he wasn't happy about it, he had to listen.
It was all his fault anyway.
He should have behaved. He shouldn't have fooled around with Ijin during training. He shouldn't have snuck out to hang out with the others. He should have thought everything through instead of getting caught up in the situation. He should have never let his focus on his studies and work stray.
His parents were doing it because he lost focus and that was his fault, and his alone. The only person he could be mad at was himself.
The frustration he was feeling only accompanied the persistent anxiety that had been plaguing him all day. He couldn't tell if his chest felt tight because of his anxiety, or if it was because of the anger and frustration he was feeling toward himself.
Swallowing thickly, he took a few deep breaths in an attempt to control his emotions and ground himself. But it seemed pointless. The more he tried to get his emotions under control, the more his eyes burned.
It felt like someone was sitting on his chest, pressing all of their body weight onto him so it would be difficult to breathe.
God, he needed to go.
Just being in the car was suffocating.
Seokju didn't even wait for the car to stop. He didn't know if he stumbled because of the head rush, or if it was the inertia that carried over from getting out of a moving car.
Nam-gil had seen him do that, and if it wasn't for the buzzing in his ears, Seokju would have heard the scathing disapproval Nam-gil was dishing out. He shoved his way past Nam-gil, stumbling in the process.
It was pure luck that he had been able to regain his balance, but Seokju was still moving forward, desperate for some sort of privacy in the safety of his room, where he could express himself without judgment.
If anyone had told him something, he didn't hear them. If it wasn't for the footsteps he could feel behind him, then he never would have known to slam the door shut right in Nam-gil's face before locking it.
He was suffocating.
Seokju clawed at his own throat, scrambling to pull off his tie and undo the buttons on his collar. He ended up popping off the button, but god.
He could breathe again.
Seokju stumbled over to his bed and almost missed the edge of the bed when he tried to sit on it. He ended up sliding down the side of his bed onto the floor, but he relished in the way he could feel the cold floor through his slacks. It helped ground him, better than the pain of his fingernails digging into his palm.
It was okay.
Somehow swallowing around the knot in his throat, he took a shaky breath and forced himself to exhale smoothly. He did it once, and then twice.
He was okay.
The buzzing in his ears slowly went away, and the pressure in his chest lessened. It didn't go away, but it felt like he could breathe properly again.
He pressed the base of his palms against his eyes and smeared the warm tears over his skin. He hadn't even realized that he had been crying already.
What was wrong with him?
As pitiful as it was, the realization that he had been crying made him start sobbing. It was a stupid reason to start crying, he knew that it was a stupid reason to start crying, but he just couldn't stop after starting.
God, he was so dumb.
He was crying for such a dumb reason. He was too old to be crying like a child. His parents taught him better, they taught him how to handle his emotions, and crying like that was going against everything they had taught him.
For a few minutes, or perhaps it was longer, all he could do was sit against his bed and try to suppress his sobs as he wiped away the tears.
After getting the chance to breathe, he only felt worse. His behavior only made him feel even more shame. He saw the way Hyeokjin would physically reach out for him each time he passed, the concerned looks and glances from Yeongchan and Jaehyung. Yeona had told him of the way Ijin went looking for him each chance he got, and just the fact that Ijin had tried so hard to talk to him truly warmed his heart.
And it made him feel horrible for avoiding Ijin, for avoiding all of them.
It only showed how much of a coward he was. How he was too weak to both control his emotions and to confront his friends after cutting them off like that. His parents would be ashamed of him if they found out that he was avoiding his problems like that.
They would be ashamed if they found out that he was struggling with their orders.
He needed to get it together.
His phone vibrated, and for a second, just for a second, he foolishly thought that it was a text from one of the group chats. Instead, he saw that it was a message from Yeona, using the disappearing chat feature that the messaging app had.
He opened it before it could delete itself, Yeona had set the message to delete within a minute, and Seokju sent a single thumbs up before he deleted the chat. Yeona had passed the word to him that Ijin would stay behind to talk to him.
Ijin was going to wait for him after training, that sounded like a plan. Though Seokju wished he could have been able to see everyone, it was better than nothing and he couldn't help but be touched by Ijin's persistence to talk to him.
Maybe everything would work out...
His phone vibrated again, and the spark of hope that it was Yeona following up her message was extinguished as soon as he saw that it was from his father.
It suddenly got hard to breathe again.
------------------------------------------
Dad: Start on your homework.
Dad: Don't slam the doors, it isn't your house.
Dad: Apologize for slamming the door.
------------------------------------------
That only made him cry more. Every single attempt he had to compose himself up to that point came crumbling down once more.
He had never felt so alone in his own house. Did Nam-gil really have to tell his father about that? So soon?
But his father was right. It was wrong of him to slam the door.
God, what a spoiled fucking brat he was.
It was one thing to wallow in his emotions, but taking them out on the staff? Just who did he think he was? What was wrong with him, thinking that he had that right?
His father was right; it wasn't his house, the staff weren't his employees, and even if they were, it was wrong of him to take it out on them.
But it wasn't like he could just stop crying. Every time he thought he had the lid back on it, it would come spilling over once again. Just as he managed to calm down again, the mere thought of the isolation his parents enforced made him break down all over again.
Get it together.
Seokju furiously wiped away the tears, the damp sleeves of his dress shirt doing nothing but smearing the tears on his face and irritating his skin.
Get it together.
There was no use in crying about it; that wouldn't change the situation.
Nothing was going to. Him acting like a weak-minded person was going to do nothing.
At last, he got his sobs under control. Scrubbing at his eyes and fixing his hair, Seokju steadied himself and opened the door to find Nam-gil right there.
Had he been standing there this whole time? Did that mean he heard everything?
Luckily, he could hide his shame during his apology, head bowed deep. And then, oh so gingerly, he stepped into his room and closed the door.
He let out a shaky breath.
Onto his homework.
------------------------------------------
The next day wasn't any easier.
It was a long day of avoiding the others, trying to ignore their concerned looks, trying to ignore the way they would try and corner him so they could talk, only for him to slip away. He damn near crumbled and lost his composure when Yeona asked him if he was okay; it took everything he had to keep his unstable emotions contained.
He thought it would get better with time, or perhaps it hadn't been long enough, but he had been eaten up by guilt for most of the day. The guilt felt suffocating because there was no denying that all of this happened because of his lack of foresight. There was no one else to blame but himself. In his eagerness to repair the bond he had with Ijin; he completely ignored the fact that it was a terrible idea to go out with the others so late at night. He should have known better and he shouldn't have agreed from the very beginning.
Everything was happening because he was too stupid to remember that his actions had consequences.
Seokju was eager to get back home, eager to get back to the privacy of his room. It had been such a long day. Between trying to distance himself from his friends, avoiding them (specifically Ijin because good god was he stubborn), and ignoring their worried glances, he was ready to destress for a few hours. All he wanted was to lay on his bed while listening to his music until it was time to go to the training center so he could meet up with Ijin.
Slowly, he made his way up the stairs, he was already pulling his tie loose from his neck, sighing when he felt the cool air from his skin. The tension left his shoulders as he made it to the second floor.
Just a few more feet and then he could have some privacy. Stifling a yawn, he turned towards his bedroom.
He came to a stop.
His chest tightened, and he dug his fingernails into his palms to try and control himself. To try and control the anxiety that was clawing up his throat. For not the first time, it felt like he was trying to breathe with a band around his chest.
His bedroom door was gone.
Gone.
Seokju got that he deserved it after slamming the door like that. Not only was it rude, but it was also not his house for him to be slamming doors like that. He understood that.
But his privacy had been the only thing he had left and just like that, it was gone. He couldn't even have his own room, the one place where he felt safe to express his emotions without outside judgment.
Swallowing thickly, he took a tentative step into his room. The room. His father made it clear that nothing in the house was truly his.
Never before had he felt so exposed when he got changed, a feeling he hadn't expected considering his comfort in SW's changing rooms. But there he couldn't help but glance at the doorway the whole time, rushing through getting out of his school uniform.
He could see that there was no one at the doorway, he knew that no one was there. Yet, he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. It was irrational, stupid even, but the anxiety was coming back, and it threatened to swallow him whole.
He felt like he was going to vibrate out of his skin.
He had to get out of there or he was going to be sick.
He damn near ran down the stairs, desperate to be away from everything for at least a few minutes. "I'm going for a run," he said, forcing his voice steady. It was going to be a poor replacement for some privacy, but at least he would have some room to think again.
Seokju wasn't even close to the door when he heard, "I'm afraid that's not allowed." Nam-gil said smoothly, not a single inclination of regret or pity in his voice.
Seokju barely managed to contain a scream.
Nothing.
He could do nothing without someone's eyes on him.
What else should he have expected after the trouble he got into? The way he treated the staff as soon as his parents were out of the house.
Yet despite that, despite the fact that he deserved to get his door taken away, his emotions were threatening to drown him. At that point, he didn't even know what he was feeling. All he knew was that those emotions left him standing on shaky ground. As if he was standing on the edge of a cliff that turned into dust each time, he tried to take a step away.
Swallowing thickly, he took a steadying breath to ask, "Then can I go to the SW gym?" He couldn't exactly run off there. At least not easily. He needed to get there to meet up with Ijin either way.
Please say yes.
Just say yes.
Give him that one thing.
Nam-gil hesitated. Seokju dared to feel a sliver of hope at that, and added, "I just want to get a little more training in." It was the only thing he was allowed to do outside of doing homework.
And how could Nam-gil deprive him of one of the two things his parents allowed him to do?
He couldn't. That might get him in trouble with his employers. As much trouble as Seokju had been in after coming home with his grandfather, if not more.
"Alright," Nam-gil finally acquiesced, "But we will maintain curfew."
Seokju sighed, relief flooded his veins upon hearing that he would at least be able to exercise his stress out.
"Thank you."
At least he still had that one thing.
He went back to his room, snatching the duffel bag that he had prepared the previous night. The S.W. training center was closer to the school than his home, so that meant that Ijin should have been training by then. With the after-school traffic and rush hour, that meant that by the time Seokju got to the training center, training should be over, and the men should be on their way out.
He would be cutting it close, but Seokju doubted that Nam-gil knew that he and Ijin trained together. Unless his grandfather decided to visit the training center out of the blue, which he couldn't because he and the CEO were on an overseas trip, there was no way for anyone to connect the dots.
The best part was that his parents trusted him to work out like he said he would, so after getting dropped off, there would be no one watching over him until he got picked up.
Seokju tried to pretend as if he wasn't expecting anything as he was dropped off. It was difficult, because there was almost a pep in his step as he walked into the training center, but he managed. It'd only been a few days since he had to cut off contact, but he was eager to talk to Ijin, anyone other than Yeona really.
A few of the men greeted him on the way out as he walked in and he returned it before beelining to the locker room. Ijin should be in there, he said that he was going to be in there, and Yeona said that he was going to be in there.
Sliding the door open, he blinked in surprise when he was met with the sight of a dark locker room.
That was odd.
The lights in the locker room had motion sensors, so they would turn off after a few minutes of inactivity. If Ijin was supposed to be waiting for him in the locker room, then the lights shouldn't have been off.
Stepping in, the lights turned on.
Ijin was sitting on the bench a few feet away.
His heart leaped into his throat, and he jumped about a foot into the air, "-Jesus! Ijin!" What the fuck was he doing sitting in the dark!? "You scared the shit out of me!"
And as calm as a cucumber, Ijin looked over at him, taking off one of his headphones in the process. "Oh. You scared me." Considering that Ijin didn't look like his heart was about to pump out of his chest, Seokju doubted that.
God, sometimes he forgot how weird Ijin could be. Only Ijin could find sitting in the dark completely normal, that absolute freaking weirdo. How is it that it had only been a few days and he already forgot how weird Ijin could be?
Awkwardly, Seokju stepped completely into the locker room, and when Ijin motioned him over, he sat down on the bench next to him.
Despite the way Seokju had been looking forward to seeing his friend, it had become incredibly awkward. "um...how are the others...?" Seokju asked awkwardly. Not entirely sure about what to talk about now that he had the chance.
After everything, he just felt like an idiot.
He had been so desperate to talk to any of his friends, to just hear from them. But right then and there, when he was sitting next to Ijin, he had no idea what else he wanted to say.
Ijin didn't seem to feel the same way. "They're worried. They wanted to come along."
Ah.
That just made him feel even worse about cutting all of them off like that. But unless his parents took the foot off his neck, he couldn't meet up with them at all. If it wasn't for the fact that his parents would more than happily ask his teachers who his friends were, then he would talk to them at school. But he couldn't.
Seokju knew that if he got caught talking to Ijin there at the training center, then they were going to take away his privilege to go and work out.
That was the last thing he wanted.
Swallowing thickly, Seokju whispered, "Sorry... I..."
"Yeona already told us," Ijin wasn't looking at him, instead he was looking at the lockers as he spoke. Seokju didn't know if he preferred that, or being faced with Ijin's intense stare, "we know that you're not doing this willingly."
That didn't make him feel any better.
Seokju wasn't doing it willingly, but that didn't mean that he didn't feel bad for pushing all of them away.
God, he was such an idiot.
He should have behaved, he should have stayed out of trouble. It was stupid of him to get caught up in his and Ijin's antics at school and training.
He knew better than that. His parents raised him better than that. They may not have been too involved in his upbringing, but that didn't mean they didn't teach him his morals and principles.
His parents only wanted him to do one thing, and that was to stay out of trouble, to keep his head down to avoid bringing bad attention to both their family and Yeona.
It was undeniably his fault. There was no squirming out of it, there was no blaming someone else.
It was all fully and completely his fault.
"Stop it." Ijin elbowed him, a slight frown on his face as he brought Seokju out of his thinking, "whatever you're doing, stop it."
He dismissed it almost immediately, "I'm fine," Because he really was fine. "really." He was taking it harder than he should have, especially since his parents wanted nothing but to secure his future.
Ijin huffed and Seokju knew that Ijin hadn't bought it for a second. Ijin would have to be an idiot to believe him. He may have grown up in a shit hole and was terrible at social cues, but he was not stupid.
Maybe it was the kettle calling the pot black, but Seokju wished Ijin wasn't as observant as he was.
"Seokju." Ijin started out, a stern look on his face, "Do you remember how I passed out that one time when we traveled with Ms. Jiyeh?"
Seokju gave him a look that portrayed his annoyance at that obvious question, "Like I could forget. You scared the shit out of me, and everyone else." Seokju had not left his side the entire time Ijin had been in the hospital.
Ijin nodded before continuing. "Remember how you stayed with me overnight in the hospital?"
Seokju started to get confused, slightly tilting his head as he answered, "Uh, yeah?" It was hard to forget something like that. Both Kang and the other men had been quick to either praise or tease Seokju for being such a loyal friend.
"Let me help you like you've helped me," Ijin said gently, his voice so genuine in his delivery.
He almost felt like a fool.
All Ijin wanted to do was help. Ijin and everyone else, all they wanted to do was help, and there Seokju was, trying to keep them at arm's distance in an attempt to protect himself. Seokju didn't even know what he was trying to protect himself from, not from his friends at least.
Seokju knew that out of everyone, Ijin understood the need to do everything himself. He couldn't be hurt or disappointed if he relied on no one but his own two hands. For Ijin, Ijin of all people, to be telling him to accept his help. It said magnitudes about his situation.
Maybe he did need help.
He batted away the idea before it could form further. Seokju looked away as he almost bitterly admitted, "There's nothing you can do to help, Ijin." He was fine. For all he knew, Ijin's help was going to be that he should tell his parents to go fuck themselves and that he should live his own life. For obvious reasons, Seokju had a feeling that his parents wouldn't be too happy if he did that.
Based on the way Ijin sighed, Ijin didn't sound too happy. "Have you tried talking to your parents?"
"No." Seokju admitted, still adamantly refusing to make eye contact despite the way Ijin was staring holes into the side of his head. In an effort to ignore the staring, Seokju decided that the lockers to be utterly fascinating at the moment.
He was thankful that Ijin took the hint and stopped staring. "Why not?" Ijin had softened his tone, trying to be more curious than accusative.
That was an easy answer. "They're already mad at me, Ijin. I don't want to make it worse." Things were already bad enough. The last thing he needed was for his parents to decide that they needed to remove him from the school as a whole instead of making him cut off his friends.
"Seokju," Ijin ran his hand through his hair, and he could hear some of Ijin's frustration leaking into his voice as he asked, "what could be worse than what they're doing? They don't hit you do they?"
Seokju's head snapped over to him, a look of indignation and offense on his face, "What- no! No, they don't hit me! What the hell man!?" Seokju was genuinely offended by the accusation that his parents hit him. Where did Ijin even get that idea from?!
Sure, Ijin was worried about him, especially with what his parents were making him do, but why would he think that?! If there was one thing Ijin didn't have to worry about, it was that Seokju would get hurt in the comforts of his own home.
"Then what could be worse than this?" Ijin flattened out, his eyes boring into Seokju's. "They don't let you talk to anyone but Yeona. You're not allowed to leave the house for anything else but school and here. You're not even allowed to go training. What could be worse than this?"
That made him pause.
There were a few things that were worse than his current situation. But save for the thought of his parents making him move school, none of them were realistic. There was no way his parents would make him leave S.W., not after the way he had been trained for years upon years to be Yeona's right-hand man.
What was stopping him from trying?
"I... I just don't want them to get mad at me..." Seokju quietly admitted, earning a huff from Ijin.
It was a weak reason but it was the truth. Seokju doesn't want to make his parents anymore upset. He didn't want them to think poorly of him. He wanted them to be proud of him and questioning them was a surefire way to lose their approval.
He still wanted to make them happy.
But did he really deserve the punishment that was handed down to him?
"Seokju-" Ijin started, stopping when Seokju cut him off.
"No, no." Seokju cut him off with a wave of his hand, "I know but... what am I supposed to tell them?" how would he even go about saying it?
"The truth," Ijin said simply.
Seokju thought Ijin was something of a hypocrite for saying that and he hoped Ijin could tell by his facial expressions.
He didn't know if Ijin did notice because he followed it up with. "Yeona didn't tell us the specifics, but she said that you were upset about this so tell them that. Nothing will change if you don't try."
Seokju scoffed, a bittersweet smile gracing his lips, "Yeona said the exact same thing."
"And when was the last time Yeona was wrong?"
That did it.
Sighing softly, Seokju nodded his head. Yeona usually wasn't wrong when it came to her advice. "Alright. I'll talk to my parents. When they come home... God, that's going to take a while. They almost never come home." Seokju threw his head back in a groan, thoroughly lamenting his ever-so-absent parents. He shouldn't even be surprised because it certainly wasn't the first time Seokju wished his parents were home for once.
It looked like it was just another strike against his parents in Ijin's eyes. "Why don't you call them?" It was a genuine question because it really would be much faster to just call them, even if Seokju wanted to talk to them in person.
Seokju dismissed his question with a head shake, "They're too busy. I'm lucky if I get a text from them."
Wow, it was like the more Seokju talked about his parents, the more Ijin didn't like them. He should probably stop if he wanted his friend to give his parents some grace.
Seokju wondered if Ijin would. He knew that Ijin grew up in a war zone. Ijin had grown up in a place where crime was rampant, and he had no doubt Ijin had seen all types of crime tear families apart. Seokju's parents being too busy probably wasn't a valid excuse in Ijin's eyes. Everything must have seemed like a load of bullshit to him.
He decided he didn't want to know what Ijin thought about his parents and thankfully, Ijin kept his thoughts to himself. "Will you be fine until then?"
Seokju nodded his head. "They'll be home in a few weeks. I'll talk to them then." Ijin squinted his eyes in suspicion and for good reason.
Seokju didn't answer if he was going to be fine until then.
He must have seen the look on his face, because it wasn't long before Ijin was leaning slightly towards him, his stare intensifying until Seokju was damn near forced to avert his eyes. Ijin repeated, "Will you be fine until then?" Ijin himself was good at avoiding direct answers by offering relevant information, so Seokju wasn't able to squirm his way out of that one.
Seokju swallowed hard enough that it was audible, "Um..." he was really starting to hate how observant Ijin could be at times.
"Seokju." It was a simple yes or no question, and Seokju was taking a concerningly long time to answer.
"I'll be fine," Seokju finally answered, internally cringing at the way he didn't sound too confident about it. "I'll tell Yeona if I'm not but... I'll be fine. It's just a few weeks." Again, Seokju didn't sound the most confident about that, but he was going to hope that Ijin was going to drop it because it was a rather uncomfortable topic. Seokju wasn't used to talking about his emotions and with the stonewall that was Ijin, he felt even less inclined to do so.
"Alright," Ijin finally seceded, his hand going up to ruffle his hair as he did so. The sigh that Seokju had let out had quickly died with the next question. "Does this mean you'll start talking to us at school again?"
Seokju stiffened up, his face turning slightly red at the question. "I really can't... my parents are the type to ask my teachers about who I'm talking to and well..." he wished he could have said yes. He really did, but if his parents found out that he was still talking to his friends...
He didn't want to think about the consequences.
Ijin let out a huff of annoyance at that, but thankfully, he decided to stay quiet about that. "Okay. I'll tell the others."
"Thank you..." Ijin was so quick to move on and Seokju was so grateful that Ijin didn't linger on it.
His friend hummed, "Don't mention it."
Seokju sighed in relief, feeling a bit lighter after the talk.
He had good friends.