spectrum【fem!reader .lookism】

. xlviii

"It's not-" Midway through her response, (Y/N) cut herself off, eye twitching. She dislikes how just the thought of saying those words reminded her once more of her brother who's acting like a coward again.

Yujoon has a triumphant look on his phase because of this. So she ended up sighing in resignation, and says, "Alright, maybe it's not nothing."

"You know," he leans on the wall, arms crossed. "You're free to talk to me about it. I'd like to think we're at least close enough to talk about these sort of things, right?"

She squint her eyes at him. "Close?"

"Platonically, of course."

"Right, yeah." She still recalls that time he admitted liking her in a non-platonic way, though. It was a fully valid reason to be slightly suspicious, considering it's a bit unbelievable to get rid of those feelings overnight.

She didn't decline his offer though. So he remains in the same place, patiently waiting for her. With him doing so, she was able to carefully sort out her thoughts before it gets all messy and jumbled up again.

In fact, this is probably the only chance she has of being able to do so.

"I have a stupid brother," she ends up saying. The corners of his lips quirked uo slightly.

"The one with the sugar daddy?"

"The one-yes, that one," she groans in annoyance at the reminder. Ugh. "Exactly. You see, he's stupid. And a coward. And, well...I can't think of other better synonyms for idiots."

"Did he do something wrong?" Yujoon asks calmly as he moves to a better position where he can talk properly to her.

"Yes."

"And you're angry because of that?"

"Yes," (Y/N) says again. But then she stops, thinking about the question. "...No? I...don't know."

She mulls it over. Why was she angry? Because she recalled him keeping silent the same way back when they were young? Or because he was unintentionally hurting and worrying Zoe because of what it was he was doing?

Or, if she were to take a wild guess, because he's the reason why Crystal was in a sad mood that one time they hung out together?

(Y/N) shook her head in frustration. Sometimes, she questions if it was a bad idea to switch schools. If she didn't she wouldn't be having to deal with such annoying situations.

But then again, she wouldn't have met her...friends.

"Maybe he's not yet ready to talk about it," she hears the boy's voice try to soothe her frazzled mood. "Or maybe he still hasn't sorted through his problems properly yet. Unfortunately, you can't always meddle with what he's doing."

She glances at him. "Yeah?"

"Give him more time, maybe?"

She keeps looking at him for a while, trying to understand what it was that came through his head to suggest that. Time - she'd like to say she's given plenty. But hearing Yujoon say it made her realize how impatient she tends to be.

Her eyes trailed off outside, where life simply goes on and about without knowledge of her turmoil.

"Alright," she mutters. "Fine. Whatever."

-

So she let her brother off. She stopped glaring at him too much whenever she sees him in the apartment. Nevertheless, he doesn't seem to notice this eitherway.

He looks as if he's far too lost in his own troubled thoughts.

She was adamant on doing as she told her co-worker slash friend question mark about not getting too much into Daniel's life. She really did. However, her curiosity got piqued when she noticed him once writing a letter with such a solemn mood.

That's just creepy. She doesn't like to think of the possible implications. But she still kept an eye out for whatever will happen to the letter.

In the end, she couldn't help herself when she snuck inside the hospital without his knowledge the same day he left it there. Or rather, she went there by the time she was sure he doesn't know what she's doing and has already left.

He left the letter there, next to his other body's bedside.

Dear Zoe, were the first two words, and (Y/N) immediately lowered it. She came to the conclusion that it wasn't for her, she has no right to read it.

It didn't take too long for the door to creak open, though. When she looked, she recognised Zoe's figure, nervously chewing her bottom lip and fidgeting her sleeves.

"(Y/N)?" she asks in genuine confusion.

Said girl observes her for a few more seconds, taking note of how troubled and worried she looks. The (h/c) haired girl chose to assume he probably came here because her brother told her to.

Wordlessly, she handed over the letter.

It was silent as she reads it. (Y/N) didn't dare make too much noise, although the curiosity bubbling in her was too much. The letter was lengthy, from what she can see. She just knew Zoe needs enough time to read it all.

Seeing the serious look the other girl has while reading reminded her of how Daniel also wore the same expression while writing.

(Y/N)'s eyes went over to the comatosed body lying on the bed. Just like the last time she's seen it, it still looks ridiculously perfect as always.

Her thoughts were cut short by a soft sniffing sound. Alarmed, the girl looked over to see what was wrong.

Zoe...is crying.

It looks as if she didn't even recognize that she was. Tears simply ran down her cheeks, later on staining the page on her hands.

(Y/N) stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. She's never quite good with these things anyway.

And then Zoe lowered the paper, tearful eyes looking at her. She blinks once, and seemingly realized just how blurry her vision is. The girl reaches up her face, trying to wipe off the tears. But they all desperately kept pouring down.

"Zoe," she speaks. "What's wrong?"

She smiles, because of course she did. Zoe always tries to be cheerful around friends.

But her smile looks more like a grimace.

"He left."

--

Unedited.

HEYYYYYY!! Guess who gets a little too into playing genshin as soon as she found out how to use GeForce.

I can't exactly say I'm fully back, though. I had a bit of time and was in the mood to write, so this chapter came out. Thank you for all of you who waited patiently!! Hopefully I'd be able to return to the schedule eventually.

(I also haven't been able to catch up with the latest chapters yet rip)