{Angst, Trigger warning- self harm, attempt to suicide.

Still a happy end so 'all is well that ends well?'}

Kim Rok Soo was exhausted. It was no surprise, since he had worked for almost 11 hours straight, missed his breakfast and lunch, got drenched in the thunderstorm while on his way back.

Now he was home, cold, wet, hungry and wanted nothing more than to just plop on his comfy bed and drift into unconsciousness.

It had definitely been a long day.

He lamented at his addiction to earning money and destroying his comfy bachelor life.

He glanced at his phone, which was thankfully protected from the rain and worked just fine.

Time: 1:03 am

He sighed in a tired manner and entered the house, waddling straight into the kitchen after getting a hot shower and changing into a fresh pair of clothes.

Ha, wonderful. He forgot he had to buy groceries. The fridge was empty except for the japchae from last night.

He grumbled for a while and finally decided to make do with it. His vision was already getting all blurry from tiredness.

He groggily trudged back to his bedroom and flopped on the bed with an 'oomph', Sleep hitting him the moment he laid on those soft sheets.

Riiiingggg Kim Rok Soo was in the middle of nowhere as gold coins kept pouring onto him. The trinkling sounds of 'ring' were a bit annoying though.

Ringggg ringgg ringggggggg The ravenette finally jolted awake from his sleep. There were no gold coins around him.

Oh. It was just a dream.

He thought blankly and laid back down to get the good night of sleep he deserved-

Ringgggggg!

The man abruptly sat up and cursed in every language he knew. The annoying ringing of his phone irked him to no end. He sharply turned towards his phone with a grumpy look on his face.

His phone's back cover was a classy black and red combination with a little white patters here and there. He liked it, it was expensive and something he had bought with his first earning.

But right now, he wanted nothing but to throw the phone on the ground and let it break into pieces, or he could just throw it out of his bedroom window.

He picked up the phone and saw an unsaved number. He took the call and abruptly asked, "Do you know what time it is?"

The other side was silent. Rok Soo furrowed his brows as impatience came kicking in.

He was about to hang up when he heard a soft response from the caller, "I'm sorry."

Kim Rok Soo frowned.

"Who the hell is this?"

"I-I'm sorry, sorry for waking you up, I just dialed a random number.."

"Why the hell would you do that?Do you even know what time it is?"

The ravenette sat up and glanced at the wall clock, 3:13 am.

For god's sake, he was about to lose consciousness due to the incomplete sleep of 2 hours and the silence on the other side.

He faintly heard an incoherent sob as the soft voice came through again, "I-it hurts."

"..what?"

"It hurts.."

Kim Rok Soo wasn't amused.

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"The razor cuts. I-it hurts."

If Kim Rok Soo was on the verge of passing out before, now he was wide awake.

"Wait what? You're hurt? Is this a joke or something?"

A string of sobs came from the other side as he heard the voice,

"N-no, it's not. It hurts. I-it hurts to exist. It would be so much better if I didn't exist."

Oh boy, Kim Rok Soo jumped on his feet as he heard the words. He was well versed in psychology since his job required him to, and he definitely knew that this person, whoever the hell he was, was definitely not mentally stable at that moment. He was sure that the person was actually using that razor on himself, cutting himself as he was talking on the phone.

"Hey, wait, stop, it's not true, stop hurting youself, okay?"

"And why?"

The mirthless loathing for himself was enough to make Kim Rok Soo pity the stranger.

"Because, there might be someone who will be sad if you die." He tried not to leave gaps in his sentence that showed any uncertainty.

A broken laugh was heard along with the sobs,

"And why would you think like that? My m-mother died because of me. She died because she protected me from a car accident. My father and brother blame me, they hate me, they want me to die. I get bullied at school just because I..exist. I'm a burden. So, it's better for me to just not exist, right?"

Kim Rok Soo furrowed his brows and sighed. This kid led a tough life. He couldn't believe at himself for complaining last night when compared to be boy...ha..

"Hey, do you mind me asking you a question?"

"Huh..?"

"Why did you call me?"

"...I...I just dialed a random number..."

"What?"

"I- really... I'm sorry...i just dialed a random number.."

Kim Rok Soo was surprised. Though, he was glad. If the boy had called him, then there was hope.

His line of thought was broken when he heard muffled sobs from the other side,

"I'm so...so tired of being alive...tell, tell me one reason why I shouldn't slit my throat right now..."

Ah fuck.

This wasn't good.

He knew things were taking a bad turn and he didn't want that.

Kim Rok Soo's mind raced to come up with something to stop the boy.

"Ah wait! You called me in the middle of the night, even if it's just a random number, right?"

"Yes....?"

"You called me. If you wanted to kill yourself, you could have done it without anyone knowing."

"..."

"You called me, because deep down you want someone to help, someone to care, Doesn't that mean you want to live? Even if it's just a little?"

Kim Rok Soo heard no response.

He took a deep breath and continued,

"Do you know why, I, a complete stranger is still here, listening to you?"

"Why...?"

"Because I care."

It felt like an eternity had passed when Rok Soo heard a shuddering sob from the other side accompanied by painful whimpers.

"Please...h-help me.."

The ravenette let out a sigh of relief. Alright, there was a chance.

"Tell me where you are."

The kid gave him the address as Kim Rok Soo looked at his bed and grumbled for a second before getting up, wearing an oversized coat and grabbing his car keys in a swift motion.

"Which floor are you on?"

"...I'm not on any floor."

He shuffled through, opening the door of his house, looking outside to see a brewing storm, heaving rain and thundering sounds.

He gulped.

"Fuck- don't tell me- are you freaking serious-"

"..I'm on the rooftop."

Kim Rok Soo sighed while opening the car door and chided the boy,

"You're a complete idiot, you know?"

"I'm sorry.."

"What- don't apologise- forget it, anyway, keep talking to me u told i reach there, got it?"

He heard a small whisper of 'yes'.

"What is your name, though?"

"C-Cale..Cale Henituse."

****

It had only been about 20 minutes since he left his house and only god knows how many traffic signals and traffic rules Kim Rok Soo had broken, speeding past the other vehicles while still keeping a continued conversation with the boy.

He got to know that Cale was 17,3 years younger than him, he liked money, and loved tteokbokki and smagyeopsal.

When another car honked at him, he frustratingly turned to the driver and shouted at him, "I'm trying to save a punk's life-!"

He kept on talking to the boy, as he rushed to the building, quickly taking the few blankets he had in the car, startling the receptionist.

He kept talking and talking as the elevator kept beeping at every floor.

At around 5th or 6th, his phone's battery died out. He cursed frustratedly, still not understanding why he felt responsible for the boy.

The floors in the elevator ticked like a time bomb to Kim Rok Soo.

****

"Y-you're really here."

Kim Rok Soo had never seen a boy with hair as red as this one.

He huffed in exhaustion and said,

"Come here."

The boy slowly made his way towards the ravenette, and found himself get wrapped up in a bunch of blankets.

"There's a shop down there that sells great tteokbokki, Come on."

The huddled up boy, still in the man's arms sniffled and stifled a few sobs, lips breaking into a small, unnoticeable smile as he replied,

"Sure."

*****************************
(1449 words)

A prompt that I had read on Google a long while back. It just came to me suddenly lmao.