- four -

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the sounds of his parents fighting grew, causing jongho to pull yewon closer to his chest as her crying increased. he held back tears of his own, afraid of breaking down and having the little girl in his arms lose hope. he couldn't be weak in front of her, he was supposed to be her hero.

when he noticed the yelling wasn't going to stop any time soon, he took a deep breath and stood up, causing the small girl to look up at her big brother, confused. he went to his closet and grabbed some of the snacks he had hidden for times like these, then smiled a bit.

"how about we watch a movie until mama and papa stop fighting?"

yewon nodded, smiling brightly through her tears. jongho felt his heart clench a bit, realizing how he was the only one who could cause such a smile, and he would soon be moving out for college. he had less than a year until that moment, and he couldn't bear to think about it.

"what do you want to watch, bunny?"

"frozen!" she said excitedly, warming jongho's heart.

"alright, let's watch frozen."

jongho quickly grabbed his remote and turned on the tv as he sat back next to yewon, the little girl curling into his side. he turned on the movie and kissed his sister's head, then opened one of the snacks for the two to share.

yewon was immersed in the movie, despite having seen it so many times, leaving jongho content despite being so distracted by his parents' yelling. he was beginning to get angry as he realized how selfish his parents were, and he found himself rolling his eyes as they went on arguing about god knows what.

halfway through the movie, yewon had fallen asleep, and jongho was sick of the constant yelling. he made sure the younger girl was safe and sound in his bed, then stormed out of the room and got in between his parents.

"enough!" he yelled, looking between them with daggers in his eyes. "i'm so sick of this!"

"jongho..." his mother began, trying to comfort the boy.

"stop. let me speak."

"jongho, that is no way to speak to your mother. apologize, now," his father snapped.

"how about both of you apologize. to each other, to me... and how about to your daughter too? do you realize what you're putting us through with your constant fighting?!"

"our fighting is none of your business, young man."

"it is when it affects me and my sister! every time you guys fight, she comes to my room and cries until she falls asleep or i put a movie on to distract her! do you know how horrible that is?"

his parents were silent.

"i should've known better than to think you'd actually care about how yewon and i feel," he muttered, shaking his head as he left the room.

he reentered his bedroom and sighed, picking up yewon and bringing her to her own room before he went back and collapsed onto his bed. tears pricked his eyes as he realized how stuck he really was, unsure of what he could even do to help himself. he thought about contacting his cousin, san, despite how he was "forbidden" to do so due to san's sexuality.

san had always understood jongho, he was his closest friend from day one. he was a little bit older, already in college, but that didn't change anything. jongho felt safe with him.

jongho quickly dialed san's number, praying the older wasn't busy and could pick up.

"jjong? what's wrong? w-why'd you call?" san asked, afraid for his favorite cousin.

"i-i—"

"you're going to get in trouble... you know how your parents feel about me..."

"i-i don't care... i-i just needed to talk to someone who would listen to me..."

"do you want to come over and talk? i don't want them to find out you still have my number... it's too risky."

"i-i don't have a car..."

"i'll have mingi come get you. he's the only one of my friends who your parents would believe is straight."

"is he actually straight though?" jongho whispered.

"hell no," san laughed. "but like i said, he's straight passing."

"o-okay..."

"before i hang up... is yewon okay?"

"s-she's asleep..."

"hopefully she doesn't wake up while you're gone..."

"yeah... hopefully."

"i'll call mingi and send him to come get you, yeah? he'll text when he gets there."

"thank you..."

"anything for you, jjong. i'll see you later."

and just like that, jongho was left to wait for mingi's arrival.

_______
a/n:
another double update bc i've been writing like crazy :))

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