the six boys walked tiredly into school. they'd been on a break for a few weeks, but it was finally time for them to go back. they were all dreading it, since there were a handful of people the boys did not want to ever see again.
especially yeosang. he felt sick to his stomach at the thought of seeing him again.
the boy knew that he was going to see him with his girlfriend—the girl he'd cheated on yeosang with. the girl who yeosang saw smirking at the sight of him getting angry at him. the girl who broke up their fight before yeosang could break the other's bones. he didn't want to see either of them.
anyways, the boys all split to go to their lockers and put their stuff away. yeosang, once he had everything he needed, closed his locker, turned, and started walking down the hallway.
suddenly, his worst fears became reality.
he saw beomseok turn to walk down the same hallway, but in the opposite direction.
when the older saw yeosang, his face lit up, though he looked upset, and a bit desperate. he began jogging towards the younger.
oh god. yeosang thought to himself.
"h-hey, yeosang, i—"
"f-fuck off." yeosang snapped.
beomseok immediately froze, as the boy walked off with no further explanation. the older was speechless, shocked at how clearly and easily yeosang said that to him.
he quickly snapped out of his state of shock, trying a second time to talk to yeosang.
"yeosang—" he said, grabbing the boy's shoulder.
"l-l-let go-o! i do-don't want t-to talk to.. y-you!"
"w-when did you get so good at—whatever! yeosang, please, i'm really sorry, i'll explain everything, just pl—" "n-no! i don't c-care wh-what excuse-ses you have! w-we're done for g-g-good!" he finally said, then running off before beomseok could do anything else.
"hey?" yunho muttered, tapping a familiar boy on his shoulder to get his attention.
"oh, hi?" "hey, you're junyoung, right? youngseok's older brother?" "yeah..?" "i just wanted to ask how he was doing. have those bullies been bothering him?" "oh, actually, no.. i think you scared them away—at least, for a little while."
they both smiled. "good. well, let me know if they mess with him again, i'll make sure to let them know to leave him alone." yunho said, finally turning and walking away.
as yunho walked, he mentally compared junyoung's face to the only baby picture hongjoong had showed him of his missing son.
he felt like a detective, investigating this mystery.
if dad's son went missing when he was two, and he took in jongho a little over a year later when jongho was three, that would mean, if dad's son is still alive, he'd be jongho's age right now... and i think junyoung is jongho's age, he may even be in his class.. same name, same age, adopted—meaning he may not know who his biological parents are... the boy thought, getting lost in all of these thoughts and ideas as he walked into his classroom.
he saw wooyoung sitting in the back corner, saving a seat next to him for his oldest brother.
yunho walked in and sat down, the whole time watching as wooyoung was quite obviously staring at a boy a few desks in front of him.
he quickly realized that wooyoung's stare wasn't just a normal stare, as if he'd zoned out or something. he definitely seemed interested in this mystery boy, yunho was sure of it.
as the older sat down, he nudged wooyoung, snapping the boy out of his mindless gazing.
"who's that?" yunho smirked.
wooyoung realized he'd been caught staring. "n-none of your business.." "are you sure, you looked like you were about to smile." the older whispered as he set his stuff down on his desk.
"shut up, i was just zoned out."
seonghwa's eyes slowly opened, as he felt something shaking his arm in an effort to wake him up. he quickly rubbed his eyes and turned to face whoever needed him.
when he turned, he found jongho, who was crying.
at the sight of seeing the youngest crying, the parent quickly sat up and asked him what was wrong.
"i don't k-know... i c-can't sleep and i'm real-really anxious right no-ow.. noth-thing is calming m-me down.. i just want to sl-sleep.." jongho explained, letting out quiet sniffles and letting his tears fall down his cheeks without wiping them off.
seonghwa then sat along the edge of the bed, immediately pulling the boy into a hug.
"..mm..? what's wrong?" a very sleepy hongjoong suddenly said, lifting his head off the pillow and looking confusedly at the two.
"jongho can't sleep. i think he's having a panic attack." seonghwa whispered.
"aw, hon... what can we do to help you feel better? do you want to take medicine? would a snack make you feel better?" hongjoong asked, crawling over to the one side of the bed, sitting right up against seonghwa and stroking jongho's hair.
"i-i-i know i'm too o-old for this, but.. can i sleep with-th you ton-night..."
the parents glanced at each other, giving each other looks of approval before seonghwa finally said "sure, you can sleep with us—at least just for tonight, okay?" "y-yeah..."
seonghwa then moved out of the way, as jongho climbed into the bed and laid down in between the two parents, still trying to calm himself down.
he laid on his back and wiped his tears. seonghwa rubbed his shoulder, still worried about him.
there was a while where jongho was just sniffling and trying to relax, that task being easier as he felt comforted by his parents' presences. seonghwa felt so guilty that the boy had to go through this, all he wanted was for all six of his children to be happy, so seeing jongho crying and anxious made him feel like a horrible parent.
hongjoong, on the other hand, was thinking of memories he had when the kids were toddlers. jongho coming in to sleep with them because he was anxious reminded the father of all the times the kids would do that when they were younger. when they were toddlers, it was always mingi, san, and wooyoung who would come in and claim they'd had "nightmares" and would want to sleep in the parents' bed. he figured it was because of their lives before they were put up for adoption. he always felt so, so bad for them.
hongjoong then realized something.
we don't know wooyoung's or yeosang's complete backstories... did the adoption centers ever tell them to us? he thought.
this was such a messy chapter im sorry 😭
anyways this book is getting close to 100k reads and i honestly cant believe it, like i almost deleted it way back last year because i didn't have any ideas for it,,,, thank god i didn't lmao
and sorry for the slow updates!! my second semester just started and im also sick but i promise im trying my best :((
thank you for all the lovely support!!!
