Exactly six months.

That was how long ago it was since you moved schools.

No, technically Si-eun hadn't been counting. He just sort of always kept it in the back of his head every month. How it was basically his fault. How you would still be there with him if he hadn't done that.

God, he didn't know why he was acting like you died on him. You were still there, still alive. He just never saw you. He couldn't. You barely even lived in the same area anymore. It was cruel, really. Just when he found friends. No, more than that, just when he found you. Of course it was just his luck to have it all ripped from his hands.

Yet he still saw your face in every crowded area. He still smelt your scent in his room.

That stupid fight he got in. He got in so many because of how many people....hated him. They hated the way he didn't talk. The way he just stared at people. He didn't talk because he didn't have you to talk to. And without you there was no point, was there?

That fight that Beom-seok caused, that boy now gone to the Philippines to study. The one that landed Su-ho into the hospital with a coma that still carried on. The one that sent you away because your parents were worried that it would harm your education. That being around people like Si-eun was bad.

Si-eun wasn't bad. He just had to do it. Had to do the thing that caused him to get moved to a different school as well, to the school where all the kids who got into fights were sent to. Eunjang High.

He supposed it wasn't so bad. Nobody really bothered him. He didn't know wether it was because he was a senior, or if it was because of all the rumours that spread around. The rumours saying that he killed a boy at his old school with a pen. The rumours saying that you got sent away for your own safety. He wasn't sure how they found out about you. Must've been from one of his old classmates. He hated whenever they said your name.

They didn't deserve to say it. Not the way he did.

And he hardly did himself.

Much to his protest and fighting against it, he actually did get a group of friends. Jun-tae, Gotak, and Baku. They were good. Some of the only good ones at the school.

But they weren't you. And they never would be.

Being friends with people like Baku meant problems though. There was a new threat for Si-eun, the Union, which was still trying to get Eunjang high into their little gang, though Baku never let it happen. It caused fights for him. For his group. He always defended his...friends. Did they deserve that title yet? He was comparing them too much to you.

Today had been bad. Seong-je was a constant, relentless force sent by Baek-Jin and the union to fight him and his group. Today Si-eun fought him on the roof.

Today they both lost.

Another fight. More bruised knuckles and split lips for him. More of those pounding insistent bruises on his ribs. And more heartache when he thought about you.

The dim light from an outside streetlamp bathed Si-eun's room in a honeyed glow. He turned the brightness on his phone down as he picked it up. He hated these quiet nights. Nights when he didn't bother studying. When all he could think, all he could miss, was you.

He pulled up your contact on his messages. You guys didn't really speak that often. Only the occasional message. He wasn't sure if you were allowed to or not. Or maybe his messages never really sent through.

He usually ended up deleting them before they fully sent anyway.

He sighed slightly, moving to sit up properly. He typed out a message. Deleted it. Typed it again. Sighed again. Typed another.

"I got into another fight today."

Send. There. He sent that one. Simple enough. Hopefully enough. A minute passed. Two. Maybe three or four. It felt like forever. He waited in silence.

Then finally, he noticed it was read. That you were typing.