Sunghoon

Silence.

It followed me like a shadow.

When I stepped through the front door of our house, the echo of my own shoes was the only thing that greeted me.

The lights were already on—probably left that way by the housekeeper before she left for the day. She always did that. Said it made the place feel less lonely.

She was wrong.

I dropped my bag by the door and walked into the living room. Spotless, like always. A magazine rested neatly on the coffee table. Some business article with my stepfather’s name on the cover.

Another successful deal overseas. Another month gone.

I looked at the framed photo on the shelf. A smile plastered on their faces. My stepmother's eyes crinkled like she meant it. She probably didn’t.

I stared at it for a moment before turning away.

They weren’t bad people. Just… absent. Always were.

I wasn’t sure if that made it better or worse.

———

School wasn’t much different.

People talked. Laughed. Walked in groups. I walked alone most of the time.

Not because I couldn’t be with anyone.

But because I noticed more when I wasn’t.

The way people looked when they thought no one was watching.

The words they didn’t say, louder than the ones they did.

The lies they told, especially to themselves.

That’s why I noticed her.

Yuri.

The way her voice trembled slightly when she said she wanted to join the calligraphy club.

The way her eyes flicked—not toward the pens or the ink, but toward me.

And the way her hand tightened slightly around the form when I handed it to her.

It was a lie.

Not a bad one. Not malicious.

But still a lie.

I didn’t say anything, of course. Just nodded and smiled, like always.

But the truth tugged at the edges of her words. I was used to that.

Lies glowed, sometimes.

Not literally. But they felt different. The moment they left someone’s mouth, the air shifted.

Sometimes—just sometimes—I saw more than that.

A flicker.

A glimpse.

Like a single frame from a film only I could see.

Her standing on the rooftop.
Her voice trembling.
My name in her mouth.
The wind.

It passed in an instant. And then it was gone.

I blinked, keeping my face neutral.

“Make sure to decide wisely whether you want to join or not,” I told her.

She left. I watched her go, paper still clutched in her hand, not filled out.

“You saw it again, didn’t you?” Rin’s voice pulled me back. Calm, quiet.

I looked at her, eyes softening but said nothing.

She already knew the answer.

Rin always did. She was the first to know about my… condition. Or gift. Whatever it was.

The others found out eventually, except for Jungwon.

It wasn’t that we didn’t want him to know.

It was that… some things were harder to explain to the people closest to you.

Especially when they’ve already lost so much.

Especially when your visions never showed your own future—only others’.

Especially when every time you looked at Yuri, the future felt less and less clear.

“She’s asking questions,” Rin said after a moment.

“I know.”

“She saw something?”

“Something she shouldn’t have.”

Rin dipped her brush back in the ink. “You’re going to tell her?”

I watched the black ink swirl in the bowl.

“…She’s not ready,” I said.

Rin didn’t reply. She just wrote another word in careful strokes, her eyes low.

But in my chest, something was stirring. An ache. A flicker of something I couldn’t name.

Because I saw her again when I blinked.

Standing on that rooftop. Crying.

And whispering a name I didn’t recognize.

Mine.

———

It was raining.

The kind that soaks through your bones, but the world in his vision felt warm. Too warm. Almost like it was… flickering.

He saw Yuri. Not like she was now—but younger. Much younger. Eight? Nine?

She was standing in the middle of a street. Crying.

Across from her was a boy. Wet hoodie clinging to his skin. Cuts on his hands. Eyes wide with panic.

They weren’t saying anything.

But something in the air felt off. Like something big had just happened… or was about to.

Yuri took a shaky step back. She looked terrified.

The boy reached forward—but stopped.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he whispered. His voice cracked.

“I told you not to use it,” Yuri said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“But you were dying—!”

The world around them shook slightly.

A flash of light.

Yuri collapsed.

The boy caught her before she hit the ground. Held her tightly, like he was scared to let go.

“Forget it,” he whispered. “Please forget me.”

And just like that—

The street warped into darkness.

Her name echoed one last time.

And then—

Silence.

I snapped awake, holding my chest tightly.

────୨ৎ────

Word count : 822.
SOTD : Sacrifice by Enhypen
QOTD : A commonly asked question— beach or mountain?

—Honestly depends like on what mountain or beach but i prefer beach for sight seeing and not cuz of swimming in 😭