Page 177 of Scarbound

Duri was silent for a moment. “You won’t.”

Noeul glanced at the time again. “I really have to go.”

“Fine.”

“I’ll come by tonight, if you want.”

Duri laughed softly. “You have no idea how much I want you, baby.”

Heat rushed into Noeul’s face. “Bye, Duri.” He ended the call before Duri could make it worse and stared at his phone for a second, smiling despite himself. Then he returned to work.

As agreed, the two former friends met for lunch. Minho took him to a nearby sushi bar. For the first part of the meal, neither of them said much.

Minho sat across from Noeul, finishing his plate and sipping his iced tea before finally setting the glass down. “Look… I know things between us were bad.” He rubbed his thumb against the condensation on the glass. “I’ve thought a lot about what happened. I just… wanted to say I’m sorry.”

Noeul raised an eyebrow. “Sorry for what, exactly?”

Minho looked down. “For abandoning you when everyone turned against you. For treating Gong’s actions as if they were yours. For believing things about you I should have known weren’t true.”

Noeul didn’t move.

“You hurt me deeply, Minho,” Noeul said at last. “You took their side without listening to me. You accused me of harming Haneul. They didn’t know me, but you did.” His jaw tightened. “You were my childhood friend. You should have known me better.”

Minho nodded.

“You should have been there.”

“I should.”

“And you weren’t.”

Minho lowered his eyes. “No.” His fingers tightened around the glass. “I wasn’t.”

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Minho drew in a breath. “I can’t undo that. And I don’t expect you to forgive me because I bought you sushi.” A faint, bitter smile crossed his face. “I just wanted you to hear me say it.”

Noeul watched him closely, searching for excuses.

There were none.

“Why now?” he asked. “What changed after all these years?”

Minho hesitated. “I don’t think it was one thing.”

Noeul waited.

“For a long time, it was easier to believe I had done nothing wrong. Haneul was dead. Gong had hurt him. Then Gong died too, and…” Minho shook his head. “Everything became very simple in my head. There were victims and there were people to blame.”

His gaze dropped to the table. “And you were standing beside Gong.”

Noeul’s fingers tightened around his chopsticks. “Yes.”

“I think that was enough for me back then.” Minho paused. “But years passed. I got older. I learned more about mental illness. I kept remembering things you had said about Gong, things I thought were excuses at the time.” He looked at Noeul again. “And eventually I started wondering whether I had ever actually listened to you.”

Noeul said nothing.

“I still don’t understand everything Gong went through,” Minho continued. “And I won’t pretend what he did to Haneul was okay.”

“It wasn’t.”