Sixteenth

Kyungsoo

I didn't stick around long enough to hear my parents lecture me, as I went to the hospital to see Chen right away. I figured Xiumin would be there, so I wasn't surprised to see him sitting outside of his room when I arrived. There wasn't really any kind of expression on his face, but I could he was emotionally drained and that he had been crying. I went over and sat down in the chair next to him.

"I'm so sorry, Xiumin," I said, rubbing his back gently. It took him a minute or two, but he looked at me with reddened eyes. "Has the doctor said anything yet?"

"Yeah," he said, his coming out as a soft whisper. "They said he'd be okay despite all the of the blood loss. He still hasn't woken up yet. His grandparents are in there with him right now."

I just nodded my head. "Well, I'm sure he'll wake up soon," I said in an attempt to be as comforting as possible. "Do you need me to do anything or get you anything?"

"No, I just..." he started to say, stopping suddenly to sniffle and swallow. "Can you stay for a little bit?" 

I nodded my head affirmatively. "I can stay as long as you need me to." He nodded, trying to smile a little bit. I put my arms around him in a hug and it didn't take long for him to begin crying softly into the crook of my neck. His arms went around me as I tightened my grip. "It's okay," I said as I began rubbing the back of his head gently. His hands gripped the back of my shirt tightly. He continued for another few minutes and I just stayed there with him.

I couldn't stop my mind from wondering to Jongin, though. Maybe this was what my parents were talking about. Maybe their disapproval of him had nothing to do with him as a person, but rather the dangerous environment that surrounded him. Maybe they were right, though I was scared to think that. I didn't want them to be right, but after seeing what happened to Chen and what it had done to Xiumin, I was questioning whether or not I was prepared for the risk of getting hurt, too.

Kai

I was going to call Kyungsoo as soon as I heard about the shooting outside my neighborhood, but I figured he would have gone to the hospital, so I decided to just wait and talk to him in person. It was a sad story to hear and I felt bad, especially since the kid just seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I had honestly become so desensitized to things like that. Ever since I was young, I had been forced to understand that anything can happen and they usually happen to the people who least deserve it.

Kyungsoo came up to me the next day at school and I could tell something was on his mind from the look on his face.

"Hey, I heard about what happened on Sunday," I said. "Is that guy okay?" 

He nodded, exhaling lightly. "Yeah. I guess the doctor said he lost a lot of blood, but he'll be alright," he replied. "The last I talked to Xiumin, he had just woken up this morning." 

"That's a relief. He's lucky." I glanced down and shoved my hands in the pockets of my pants. I heard him sigh again and when I lifted my head back up, his was lowered. "Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Look, what happened last night, that's not something I'm used to seeing happen. It was scary and it really freaked me out." I listened as he talked, but I was confused as to where he was going. "My parents don't exactly feel comfortable with me spending a lot of time at your place anymore and honestly, for the first time in a long time, I kind of agree with them..."

My eyebrows, I looked around. "Sorry, I'm just trying to figure out what any of that has to do with us," I replied, my eyes moving to his face again. "I-I mean, you've been over there so many times and nothing has happened. You even spent an entire weekend there."

"I know, but maybe that was just luck," he said. "Something like that could happen at anytime. And as selfish as it sounds, I don't want to risk the possibility of being shot or even killed if I end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, too. Maybe you're used to seeing stuff like that, but I'm not. Can't you understand why just the possibility scares me?"

"Okay, I'm going to look past the fact that you just low-key insulted me because of where I live," I said. He took a deep breath and looked away for a moment. "But yeah, I get it. It is scary, but you know what? So is life outside of my neighborhood. People get mugged and shot even in perfect suburbs like yours all the time, but somehow it's a sign of my character when it's my neighborhood? Make that make sense to me."

"You're twisting my words, Jongin. I never said anything about not trusting you o-or not feeling safe with you," he said. "I just don't feel comfortable going to your house right now. That doesn't mean you can't come over to mine or that we can't go somewhere else. It doesn't mean I want to stop spending time with you. I'm sure my parents would like that, especially now, but I told you I wouldn't let them break us up and I meant that."

"It doesn't feel like that right now," I said, earning a soft but heavy sigh from him. "I can respect the fact that you're scared, but this is about more than that. It's about the fact that despite how different a-and nonjudgmental you are, you're still just as bad as your parents or friends. Did you ever stop to think that made I don't feel comfortable at your house with your mom constantly watching me to make sure I don't steal anything or your dad telling me not to fuck up your future?"

"Jongin, I--"

"No, I--" I paused, chuckling to myself as I ran my hand through my hair. "I should have known this would happen. But no, I was stupid and let you in and even told you I trusted you to look after my sister."

"Jongin, don't do this," he said as he shook his head. "Don't make this something it's not. I just want to spend time with you and Taeyoung somewhere else. That's all this is."

"That's all this is to you, but to me, you're basically trying to remove a part of me just because you don't like it," I said, now feeling very pissed off. "You're right. I am used to stuff like this happening because that's just the way I've grown up, and the way I've grown up is what made me who I am right now. So, I'm sorry if that doesn't align with the plan you or your parents have your life, but I won't change for you and I certainly won't let Taeyoung be around someone who's going to judge her for something she can't control."

There were tears building in his eyes. "S-So, what are you saying? A-Are you saying you want to break up?" he responded. 

"Of course I don't want to, but I'm tired of being made to feel like I'm not good enough for you because I'm not rich or because of where I live. So maybe it's better for both of us if we just cool things down and take some time apart."

I could see how hurt he was and as much as it killed me to say those words, this wasn't just about me. If I only had myself to worry about, maybe I could have handled the judgment. But I had to think about Taeyoung, too because she was and would always be my first priority.

I walked away after that, too upset and afraid to say another word. Maybe it was just another case of the right person at the wrong time. I still held on to the hope that eventually, we would find our right time.

A/N

Changed up the final scene a little bit here because I thought it fit better with the ongoing theme of the differences in their social classes and how that affects them. I tried to explain the reason for Jongin being so upset the best I could (it makes sense in my head), so hopefully you guys can understand!

Thanks for reading as always! xoxoxo