hongjoong sighed when he saw yunho still asleep i bus bed and mingi still curled up on the couch. both of them were missing school because of their recent situations.
yunho and mingi weren't the only thing the parents had to focus on, though.
jongho had recently asked the parents if he could dye his naturally brown hair a jet black, san had given up bringing shiber to school despite it making him uncomfortable and unhappy, wooyoung was spending way, way, way too much time on his phone, and yeosang was starting to pay more attention to beomseok than he would his own family.
so, you can see how stressed the parents were.
puberty really changed the kids. seonghwa and hongjoong barely mastered taking care of young kids before those skills became useless.
they were trying their best to parent well, but, with six kids, one with depression, one with a speech disability, and everyone going through puberty, parenting particularly well was impossible.
hongjoong thought about it. he, as crazy as it sounds, sort of wished they were back in the days when they'd just finished adopting. the diaper days.
"seonghwa, is the milk ready? jongho won't stop crying—yes, yunho, i will grab your blanket.. yeosang, san, take those out of your mouths! i'm not—seonghwa, grab the wipes, wooyoung just spit up.. seonghwa!"
hongjoong smiled remembering the chaos.
'dad?' yeosang walked up and signed, snapping hongjoong right out of his thoughts.
"yes?" 'beomseok's here. we're going to do a sleepover before he's going on that 4 day long trip starting this weekend, because i'm gonna miss him. mom said the sleepover was ok. bye!' yeosang signed, then walking quickly out the door.
a little bit after yeosang left, hongjoong had to head to work, leaving seonghwa home alone with five of the kids. he walked into jongho's room, yelling something inaudible over the rock music the kid was blasting.
the child paused it, rudely saying "what?"
"put your clothes in the hamper, not the floor. and please turn down your music, yunho and mingi are trying to get some sleep."
"but it's fine. they haven't told me it's bothering them, why can't i play it then?" jongho rolled his eyes.
seonghwa was dumbstruck. "hey, i know you're annoyed, but that attitude of yours is really ugly. i asked you simple things, you cannot complain. how would you feel if you were mingi or yunho?" seonghwa lectured. "bad, i guess?" "exactly. so turn down the music or i'm turning it off completely. got it?" seonghwa snapped. jongho nodded and groaned.
the father then left the room, having to stop and take a moment to process how unlike himself jongho was acting. it was confusing.
"so, what do you wanna do now?" beomseok asked excitedly, as yeosang thought deeply.
the pair had been playing board games and just dance all afternoon. they then went to a diner for dinner, and then made brownies and are half of the pan. which then brought them to where they were now, thinking about what to do next.
'i think we should watch a movie.' yeosang suggested.
"you're right. let's watch.. the nightmare before christmas!" beomseok yelled excitedly.
'ok!' yeosang signed back just as excitedly.
the couple then went to the kitchen to grab a bunch of snacks, and grabbed a couple of blankets and pillows to get comfortable. beomseok's mom helped them pull out the leg of the couch so they could lay down, and then she went upstairs to leave them alone.
and so, during the whole the movie, the pair cuddled very closely, beomseok lying on his back, his head resting on the arm of the chair, with yeosang lying stomach-down on the older, his head resting on beomseok's shoulder. they then put a blanket over themselves so that they'd be extra comfortable.
eventually, once the movie ended, beomseok's mom came downstairs to check on them, only to find the two asleep in each other's arms.
she jokingly clenched her heart as she thought they looked so cute, then turning off the tv, turning off the lights, and going back upstairs.
"mingi? are you awake?" seonghwa knocked on the door and waited for a response.
after a few moments passed with no sound, the father decided to go in. "alright, i'm coming in..." he said, pushing open the door, only to find that mingi wasn't in his bed, nor anywhere in sight.
seonghwa then looked down at the bed, seeing a note lying crumpled up on the bed.
upon picking it up and reading it, the father went pale.
"dear family,
i have to leave, i can't stay here. i'm going to a place that will be much better for me. don't worry about me, i'll be fine, and taken care of. i love you all, i'll miss you guys.
- mingi
(ps on back)"
seonghwa covered his mouth as he almost cried out and turned the page over to the back.
"ps: please help me it's my parents they took me but i c-"
then the note cut off.
seonghwa screamed hongjoong's name as he fell into an intense panic. hongjoong, along with yunho and wooyoung, came running in immediately. they read the note out loud, causing hongjoong to scream and drop to his knees, which then caused san and jongho to run in.
yunho, out of pure instinct, pulled out his phone from his pocket and called the police.
"119, what is your emergency—" "w-we just found a note from my thirteen year old brother saying he's leaving, we don't know where he is, he has depression and recently has suicidal thoughts and so we thought that's what was happening but there's a thing on the back, he was begging for us to help him, that his biological parents took him, because he and the rest of us are adopted... i don't—we don't know what to do..." yunho was crying, as the parents began their own search party.
alright, time for some backstory. about hongjoong.
way back before the parents had even ever met, hongjoong, a young, hip bisexual was fresh out of high school, and he'd had this girlfriend for years. one night, them being two drunk college kids, they did, you know, some things... and she got pregnant. hongjoong was under the impression that she was happy, as she didn't complain at all, she seemed excited to have the baby. but, not even a full week after the baby was born, she dumped hongjoong, leaving him as a single father with a newborn child. when hongjoong's child was two, one day, he went missing. he was gone without a trace. losing a child can really mess up someone in the head, and so hongjoong went through the lowest point of his life. and that was when he met seonghwa. they instantly clicked, and they fell in love. seonghwa came at just the right time, and was able to help hongjoong recover from his loss. about a year ago, they closed the case, deeming it a kidnap-murder, and gave up on finding the child. the child's name was junyoung. since the day the boy had gone missing, hongjoong had slowly developed the absolute worst fear of missing children.
so, you can see how mingi's disappearance will play out with hongjoong and his horrible phobia.
ok ok i SWEAR i will get updates up and running again. ik i did that for a few chapters but then i left for like four days but i'm back. i swear. call me out if you catch me slipping, please bdjsjdkdk
