Chapter Text
Title: Fractured Bonds
Saint stormed into the dimly lit room, his chest heaving with the weight of unspoken emotions. His gaze found Shin, standing by the window, staring out into the rain-soaked streets with an expression that was far too distant for someone he had once called his closest friend.
"Shin!" Saint's voice cracked with frustration, the pain of years of silence and growing distance finally spilling over. "Why? Why can't we just go back to how it was?"
Shin didn’t turn around. The only sound that filled the room was the steady drumming of the rain against the glass, like a metronome marking the distance between them. Saint took a few steps closer, his hands balled into fists at his sides.
"You promised me," Saint continued, his voice growing stronger. "You promised we'd always have each other's back. That no matter what happened, we'd be together. And now... now you’re pushing me away like I’m nothing. I can’t—I can’t understand why you’re doing this, Shin. Why can’t we go back to being the way we were?"
Shin’s shoulders tensed at the mention of promises, but he still didn’t turn. "You don’t get it, do you, Saint?" Shin’s voice was low, almost a whisper, but it was sharp, cutting through the silence with the weight of something long held inside. "You’ve hurt me. You’ve always hurt me."
Saint recoiled as if struck. The words hit him like a slap, but it wasn’t the force that hurt—it was the finality in Shin’s tone. The betrayal.
"I—I hurt you?" Saint’s voice trembled. "How can you say that? I was always there for you. I’ve always been there!"
Shin slowly turned, his eyes colder than Saint had ever seen them before. "You’ve been there when it was convenient. But when things got tough, when I needed you the most, where were you? You were too busy with your own selfishness, with your own pain, to notice mine. You couldn’t even see it. You couldn’t even care. And now you come here asking me to just... to just forget everything. To pretend like nothing’s changed."
Saint took a step back, his breath catching in his throat. "Shin, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t know... I didn’t know I was hurting you. I never meant to. I’ve been trying... I’ve been trying to fix this. To fix us."
Shin's eyes flashed with a mixture of hurt and bitterness. "Fix us? It’s too late for that. There’s nothing left to fix, Saint." His voice cracked, and for a moment, the armor around him seemed to break, but he quickly recovered, hardening once more. "You think I can just forget the years of silence? The years where I was left alone, picking up the pieces of something that you threw away? I don’t need your apologies. I don’t need you to fix anything. I need... I needed you to care, to be there, to not leave me."
Saint’s heart splintered at the words. He could see the truth in Shin’s eyes—the raw pain that Saint had been blind to for so long. The silence between them stretched, heavy and suffocating.
And then, Shin did something Saint hadn’t expected. His voice softened, barely above a whisper, but the hurt in it was unmistakable.
"You’re the one who broke this, Saint. Not me. Don’t come back to me now, pretending that everything can be fixed with a few words. I’m not that person anymore. I don’t need you to fix me."
Saint stood frozen, his mind scrambling for something to say, something to undo the damage. But the words wouldn’t come. The raw ache in his chest grew, as if Shin’s words had torn through him, leaving nothing but an emptiness he hadn’t known was there.
"You… you don’t need me?" Saint’s voice broke, the question barely a whisper. His eyes stung, and for a moment, the world around him blurred. "But I need you, Shin. I need us to be the way we were. I can’t—I can’t lose you."
Shin didn’t say anything, his gaze hardening once more. The silence between them spoke volumes, louder than any argument they had ever had. Saint felt the weight of those words—the finality of them—and it crushed him. He had taken so much for granted. He had let his pride and his own inner turmoil blind him to the person he had once cherished above all else.
Finally, Shin spoke again, his voice colder than before. "You already have. You lost me a long time ago."
Saint’s legs felt weak beneath him, his heart heavy with a pain so deep, he didn’t know how to carry it. For a long moment, all he could do was stare at Shin, at the person who had once been his everything, but who now felt like a stranger.
With a shaky breath, Saint turned away, his eyes burning with unshed tears. "I’m sorry, Shin. I’m so sorry…"
But the words felt like too little, too late. The damage had been done.
As Saint stepped out into the rain, the door closing softly behind him, the world seemed colder, emptier. The space between them, once filled with laughter and shared dreams, was now a chasm that neither of them could cross.
And in that moment, Saint realized that some things—some bonds—could never be mended, no matter how much you wished for them to be...
To be continued... bye khaa 🫣