#message.reply

he would have laughed if he could, the irony of it all. sunggyu’s eyes gazed down at the glowing screen of his phone before tossing it at the foot of his bed, and falling to his side. he pulled his knees to his chest, and let his gaze rest upon the wall near his bed instead. yes, the mysterious message he had received before forewarned this, this numbing pain that sunggyu would eventually have the displeasure of feeling. he was so used to it though, sunggyu was beginning to wonder if it would ever end. his stomach hurt; or rather, the wound near his stomach hurt. an unpleasant sting reminding him of a few days prior. discharged from the hospital just the evening before, woohyun hadn’t let him out of his sight except to go to class. his boyfriend didn’t have to worry.

sunggyu wasn’t going anywhere.

it was around three in the morning and being interrupted by a loud ringtone was something jongsuk didn’t want. in fact, he blames himself for not putting his phone on silent before going to sleep that night. what a stupid thing for him to do, he’ll be sure not to make that mistake again. he debated on reading his new messages, or putting them off until tomorrow. but when remembering that the only person (if he can even be called that) who had his number, should be answered quickly, or at least have his messages be read.

so rolling over onto his stomach, jongsuk reached for his phone and slid the screen, the words he was met with? not something he needed to see. not something that he needed to be thrown in his face. the other was telling him things he already knew. things that he’d rather not think about. not to mention kang had the greatest way of making him pissed off, he could practically hear the sass through the typed words.

jongsuk typed a quick message, before tossing his phone to the floor, and rolling over to face the wall. he stared at it for a little while, before closing his eyes.

he knew it was stupid, unnecessary. he knew he should do something about it. but he just didn’t know what. or rather, he did. but he didn’t want to do it. jongsuk was selfish, he always had been. so he selfishly kept his unnecessary feelings. kang can go fuck himself on this one, because jongsuk didn’t want to be told how wrong, and stupid – he already knows he’s being.

[ONE NEW TEXT MESSAGE: +(888)444-4444] #094293.Team Iris. One of your friends resides within the same team as you– the other is a devoted member of Team Lotus. Be careful with who you choose to be closest to. The jump you take may lead you down to the fiery pits of Hell itself.

[ONE NEW TEXT MESSAGE: +(888)444-4444] Oh, my bad. Where are my manners? I forgot to say one important thing within the beginning of these messages: Spoiler Alert.

it was early thursday morning when sunggyu’s phone began to buzz, it wasn’t usually for this to happen -- because really who was there to contact him other than woohyun? from what he could tell, the other was curled up on his side of the room, sleeping away. so, with a small grunt, sunggyu blindly reached for his phone off his nightstand and let out a small hum, eyes squinting as he typed in the password.

it was an unknown number, and he didn’t recognize it. for some reason, sunggyu felt his stomach twist. something felt off. slowly, sunggyu pushed himself up into a sitting position and ran his fingers through his messy strands, before clicking the first message.

his eyes scanned over the words, and he felt his throat begin to close slightly, and his stomach lurch violently. gagging, he took in each and every word. this -- no. this must be some sort of prank. it had to be, it --... he knew the send of the message was talking about woohyun and junho. his relationship with the two. he understood this, but what he didn’t understand is how the unknown sender came to know this. the words hurt, cut him like a knife, and he was almost afraid to click the second message.

but he did.

these words, they hurt more. they made sunggyu shake and his fingers twitched. they made him gasps quietly as if he was drowning, desperately needing air. woohyun, woohyun was on team iris with him. that was established so did that mean… no.

no that -- that’s not fair.

the realization of junho’s situation made sunggyu just want to scream, cry, hit something. but he couldn’t, he was frozen in shock; in fear. his eyes filled with tears, and with trembling lips and twitching fingers, he clicked the final message.

what a sick stranger. what an ass --

he wanted to scream, curse, yell -- do something, but sunggyu realized that all he could do was sit there and try to fully process the information he was just given. he had a feeling the sender wasn’t lying, because slowly -- things started to make sense. sunggyu pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his face into his sweats. he tried to catch his breath; not wanting to wake woohyun, not wanting to have him be worried.

woohyun. clearly woohyun was the obvious choice. the person he would stay with, who he would choose. but a part of sunggyu yearned for his best friend. he couldn’t just abandon junho like that, not after they’d just gotten so close. not after everything they’ve been through. sunggyu couldn’t leave woohyun, he wouldn’t. never. but he didn’t want to leave junho either -- why was this so hard?

why did it have to be like this in the first place.

and the part about the knife, hidden behind a smile. did that mean junho too? but junho rarely smiled. woohyun smiles, always smiles. he was confused, he was anxious. he felt as though his heart was racing a mile a minute, his mouth dry and head pounding.

he needed to take a walk.

so quietly, he stood from his bed and threw on a jacket, before slipping on his shoe’s. he glanced at woohyun’s sleeping, oblivious form once; before walking out of the apartment.