𝐢𝐢. 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞

A frustrated sight escaped Cha Hyunsoo's lips when the big caption on the screen announced his death in the game. He took off the headphones, throwing them at the table. He leaned on the chair, rubbing his eyes. He sighed again, pulling out the arm to take his cellphone. When he looked at the screen, it was already half past seven pm. The boy turned his head to look at the window, but it was covered by curtains.
He got up from the chair, and uncovered the window. He squinted his eyes, surprised how bright it is outside. The hoodie he was wearing, sadly, didn't cover his face. Hyunsoo opened the window, and leaned on the sill. Some bird was chirping not that far away.

   The boy looked around, when he noticed the girl from apartment 1406, sitting in her window, with her legs hanging loosely in the air. She held a cigarette in the right hand, and on her head she was wearing small, yellow headphones. Her head was wobbling to the music she was listening. Hyunsoo watched how the wind was blowing her brown hair in every direction. The girl noticed him staring at her. The boy looked down, embarrassed, pretending that he didn't watch her. Soojin smiled and took off the headphones, putting them on her neck. She waved to Hyunsoo vigorously, but he just raised his hand a little.

"Hello neighbor!" yelled Soojin, but her voice was not well hearable,"How are you?"

   Hyunsoo looked around, as like there was someone else. He only pointed a thumb up. The girl said something again, but he couldn't hear her that well. The boy put his hand to ear to give her to think that he doesn't hear her. Soojin repeated, but Hyunsoo just shrugged. She bit her lip, and pointed a one finger up at him, trying to tell him to wait. The boy looked confused, when she disappeared in her apartment.

   He didn't have to wait for so long, until someone knocked on the door of his apartment. Hyunsoo walked to them, and looked through the peephole, and as he expected, Soojin was standing outside. He opened the door a little, putting his head in the aperture.

"Hi," Soojin smiled, and stood on her tiptoes, trying to see the boy's apartment

"What are you...."

"Can I come in?"

    The girl pushed the door a little, making Hyunsoo take a step back. Soojin walked inside. The smell of instant noodles was all over the room, and many of empty boxes after them and other garbage were laying everywhere. But after living in the house with an alcoholic person for such a long time, it didn't faze her.

    Soojin noticed a big computer standing on the table with a game turned on.

"Oh cool, you're some kind of gamer, huh?"

She sat down in front of the computer. Hyunsoo was watching her confused, from a few steps back, when the girl started to clicking on the keyboard and the mouse next to it. She was very focused on this game, forgetting for a second about the boy in whose apartment she was. She licked her tongue, and bit her lip, when the big caption "Game over" showed on the screen.

"Shit..." the girl took hands of the keyboard, "Sorry, I wanted to try it"

   She chuckled and got up from the chair. Hyunsoo was standing right there in the same position, looking at her like he saw a ghost.

"Can you talk?" she asked him, trying not to sound rude

The boy nodded his head slightly, "Yes"

"Then say something," Soojin sat on his mattress, "For example; why the hell did you move to this shithole?"

"What do you mean why...."

"Well, do you think it's such a cute place to live?"

"No, but...." he scratched his neck, "It's cheap"

"That's true," the girl stretched her arms lazily, and fell on her back on the mattress, "You're living alone? No parents or anything?"

"No"

"Damn, you're lucky" Soojin sighed, and then looked at the boy who looked at her with weird gaze, "I'm sorry, I assumed that they are shitty, and... Sorry"

   She patted herself on the forehead, to show how embarrassed and dumb she felt. Experiences with her parents, made her think that everyone hate them.

"They were shitty," said the boy, sitting on his chair

"Were? Are they dead?" asked curious Soojin

"It's none of your business," murmured Hyunsoo, turning back to look at the computer

   The girl placed her hand on the chest where the heart is, and dramatically gasped.

"It's none of my business? Wow, that's rude..." she chuckled

   The boy didn't say anything, he just turned on the game again and sat on his chair.

    Soojin got up from the mattress, and walked to him, leaning on the table. Hyunsoo looked at her with the corner of his eye, then focused on killing others on the screen, but the girl standing so close to him, watching how he play, made him a bit nervous.

"How is it called?"

"Hounds last hope" murmured the boy, and she nodded her head

   He was clicking on the keyboard very fast, without any problem killing his enemies. Soojin from time to time was instructing him what to do, even if she had no idea about this. She got really excited about this, squeaking like a little child whenever Hyunsoo win.
    Soojin sat on the table, looking around. The big suitcase was thrown in the corner of the room, slightly opened.

"You are here already for three days, and you still didn't unpack your things?" she asked surprised, and jumped off the table

She walked to the suitcase, and them Hyunsoo quickly rushed to her, putting a leg on the top, so she couldn't open it. The girl smiled.

"What? You have a dead body in there?"

"No...." he took his leg off the suitcase, and kick it away, so the girl couldn't see what's inside, "I don't want you to look through my stuff. There's something called privacy"

"Privacy?" Soojin acted like she was thinking about very focused, "No, never heard of it"

"Funny" murmured Hyunsoo sarcastically, but Soojin smiled amused

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

The teenagers didn't even notice how two hours already passed. They weren't doing nothing in particular, Hyunsoo was mostly playing on his computer while Soojin was chilling, reading comics that he brought or just watching boy killing other players. The girl took out her phone, looking at the screen.

"Aish, it's late"

She got up on her legs. Hyunsoo put down the headphones, looking at her surprised.

"It's only nine pm"

"Excatly"

Soojin put on her zipped hoodie, and ran through her hair with fingers. She walked through the room, opening the doors.
   Hyunsoo stood up from the chair, and went to the girl. He was looking at her surprised. Why she rushed to the exit if it's only nine pm?

The girl twisted her head to him, with one leg in the corridor, "Thanks, but I don't need your accompany"

"I know," the boy scratched his neck embarrassed

   Soojin chuckled amused and put another leg on the corridor. She left Hyunsoo, who watched her as she was walking back to her apartment. Her hands were in the pockets of the hoodie, and her walk was very slow, like she didn't want to come back.

    Soojin put a hand on the handle, and twisted her head to the boy, feeling his gaze. She smiled softly, and waved to him with fingers. Hyunsoo raised his hand a bit, pursing lips.

    The girl disappeared in the apartment, but he stood there for a while, looking at the same place where she stood. He was surprised how only after few seconds, he heard angry screams from her apartment. And it wasn't a girl's screams, but some grown man. Just like three days ago.

        Hyunsoo stood in the corridor for a few minutes, before the sounds stopped. The boy looked around, and walked back to his room.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

TW: !self harm!

   Soojin slowly slide down the wall of the bathroom, closing eyes, letting tears roll down her cheeks. The muffled wept escaped her mouth, even tho she was trying not to make any sound. Her breath was shaky, as so were her hands.
   She got up from the cold floor after a few minutes, and stood in front the mirror. Soojin raised her hand to the right eye, where all the surrounding skin was red and when she touched it with finger top, she felt even more pain.
   The girl bent to the sink, and opened the cabinet under it. She grabbed a single razor, and sat again on the floor. With the hand, she wiped the tears from her cheeks.
   She looked at her legs, then at the arms. Then again at legs. Soojin bit her lip, before taking off her pants. She was sitting cross-legged, when the cold razor touched her skin on the left thigh. While dragging the blade across her skin, she tried to avoid old scars. The blood slowly started coming out from fresh cuts, dripping down her thighs. The girl didn't stop until she felt satisfied. When she finally did, she raised her head, closing her eyes and breathing heavily.

The razor fell on the floor.