Sweet Rejection | seongjoong

Thirty

"Just like you? You mean... a murderer? Never. I'll never be like you." Seonghwa tells him.

"Oh really? Because it looked like you would've killed me if my guards wouldn't have showed up." His father stands up and walks over to him, then slaps him in the face.

"I told you I broke up with Hongjoong. Why did you try using Seongyoon to hurt his brother?!"

"It was just going to be a warning." He shrugs. "Just so that you see that he and his family will be the ones to pay the consequences if you keep disobeying me."

"Your threats don't scare me anymore."

"Oh of course they don't." He says sarcastically. "That's why you're still living with Yeosang even though you don't want to."

"It's better than living here." He tries to stand up but the guards push him back down. "Let me go! I'm taking my brother with me! I can't let him live with you anymore!"

"Oh, why are you so worried about him? It's not like he's your real brother after all."

"What the hell are you talking about? Of course he's my real brother."

"You two don't even share a drop of the same blood. Have you forgotten that already? Have you forgotten that he's adopted?"

"That doesn't mean anything!" Seonghwa tells him. "He's MY brother!"

"Your mother was so happy about adopting him that day, but you know why I even wanted to adopt him in the first place?" He smirks. "Because I would finally have someone I could take out my anger on... And no one even noticed."

"You're sick!" Seonghwa feels his eyes watering and he gets out of the guards grip and rushes upstairs to Seongyoon's room.

The guards are about to rush upstairs and follow him but Mr.Park stops them. He doesn't care about Seongyoon anyway.

"Seongyoon! It's Hwa, open the door!"

After a few seconds, the door opens and Seonghwa quickly rushes inside and locks the door behind him.

"You need to listen to me okay?" He asks him and Seongyoon nods, looking scared. "Pack some of your things. You're coming with me."

-

"Why does dad hate me?" Seongyoon looks down at the floor once they're at Seonghwa's apartment. "What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing. You did nothing wrong, Seongyoon. He's just mad that you're not a terrible person like he is." Seonghwa tells him and moves closer to him. "For now, we're going to stay here, okay? I'll try to get you and Hongseok to get homeschooled. It's better if you two don't go out much for now."

"Okay." He nods. "But why are you doing this for me? I'm not even your brother. That's why dad hates me."

"Don't ever say that, Seongyoon. I've always seen you as my little brother! Even when you were first adopted."

"Thanks, Hwa." He gives him a small smile.

Seonghwa pulls him in for a hug and smiles. Hugging is something they don't really do since Seongyoon absolutely hates it.

Seonghwa pats his back as he's about to pull away from the hug and notices Seongyoon flinch in pain.

"What's wrong?" Seonghwa pulls away from the hug.

"It's nothing."

Seonghwa ignores him and raises his shirt up to see bruises on his back.

"Because I would finally have someone I could take out my anger on... And no one even noticed." Seonghwa remembers his fathers words clearly.

So that's what he meant...

"I-I'm so sorry, Seongyoon. I had no idea this was happening. How didn't I notice this before?!"

"You couldn't have known." He looks down. "He'd beat me when you weren't home. It's not your fault."

"I'm so proud you... did you know that?"

"Why?"

"Because you've gone through so much and you're still such a good person." Seonghwa feels tears rolling down his cheeks as he thinks about everything his little brother has had to go through. "I-I'm sorry."

"Hwa, stop apologizing. I'm starting to feel worse." He frowns.

"Oh I'm so sor-" Seonghwa starts but cuts himself off and sighs. "Just know that you can count on me always, okay? Don't ever hesitate to tell me anything, Seongyoon. I want to know everything going on and I want you to be happy."

"Don't worry. I'm sure I'll be happy here." He looks around the apartment and the front door opens.

"Oh, hello." Yeosang sees him and waves at him. "Are you Seonghwa's brother?" He asks him and he nods.

"Seongyoon is going to be staying with us... is that okay?" Seonghwa asks him.

He knows he should've probably asked him beforehand, but he just wanted to get Seongyoon out of there.

"Yeah, of course." Yeosang nods and notices a sad look on both of their faces, which makes him realize something's going on. "Seongyoon, do you like video games?" Yeosang sits down on the couch and turns the tv on.

"Yeah..."

"Come on... let's play then."

Seongyoon stays next to Seonghwa for a while but then sits down next to Yeosang and grabs a controller.

Seonghwa remembers he has to go talk to Hongjoong, so he quickly stands up. "I have to go out for a while. Could you please stay with him?"

"Yeah, of course. Go." Yeosang nods and starts the game.

"Thanks." Seonghwa decides to leave his phone there since his father will most likely track it. He then walks out of the apartment and sees San standing by the door. "San? What are you doing here?"

"Oh... I-"

"Oh, right. You're dating Yeosang. My minds all over the place and I've been forgetting things nowadays." He sighs. "I have to go somewhere real quick so make yourself at home."

"Yeah, okay. See you later." He waves at him before walking into the apartment and closing the door behind him. "Hey, boyfriend... where are you?" He looks around.

"Over here!" He hears Yeosang's voice in the living room and walks in. "And why are you calling me that?"

"Have you forgotten that you're the one who said we were together?" He asks him and notices Seongyoon. "Oh, he's here?!" He rushes over to him and they do their secret handshake.

"What the..." Yeosang is surprised when he sees how long their handshake is.

"And you two are playing video games?! Seongyoon, I want a rematch from last time! You definitely cheated!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Yeosang looks over at San as he's play fighting with Seongyoon. He can't help but smile at their cute little friendship.

And as he's watching San smile, showing his dimples, he realizes what Seonghwa said was true. He realizes it can really happen.

He realizes that love at first sight might exist after all.