The Boy From The Bridge - Jakehoon

Chapter 75: Chicken Shop Blues 4/7

Jake ran, his instincts had overruled any rational he held. He had had to get out of that situation with his parents. He did feel more than a bit petty for repeating the same tactic that had allowed him to escape the surprise meeting they had in Seoul but ultimately reusing it prove successful.

The streets Jake moved through were full of shoppers. It was the Christmas Shopping period and so he had a hard time building up any kind of pace along the main street he had tried running down.

Realising he was at a T-Junction, Jake checked his left and right and went over the road and down the perpendicular street. It was remarkable to him how quickly the dense number of shops became cocktail bar after cocktail bar. It became increasingly difficult to move quickly as the smell of liquor and cigarettes begun chocking his nose whilst crowds of adults moved inconsistently in front of him

The crowds forced Jake to slow down to a walk, while frustrating this did allow him to catch his breath and collect his thoughts. 'Well that was a waste of time. They don't even want to try seeing things from my perspective, it's always me who's in the wrong, me who's in the... what?'

Jake felt a hand grab his shoulder. "Jake?" The voice belonged to Taehyung.

"What do you want?" Jake asked without turning back.

"To talk to you - Jake, slow down?" Taehyung requested, tightening his grip as Jake tried moving away from him.

Angry with the force which Taehyung was using, Jake snapped, "Get off me T. I don't want to talk. We just tried that and I would say it didn't work. Wouldn't you?"

"Well... no, but that was with Dad. Can I try by myself?"

"No."

"Don't be like that"

"Like what?"

"Like that!" Taehyung exclaimed, "In a huff where you just reject everything."

Jake sighed, incapable of rebuffing his brother further, "urgh but I've got nothing more to say to you"

"Okay... well can I buy you some food - maybe some chicken?"

At the mere mention of the word Jake heard his tummy rumble. Stopping, her turned to his brother,  "Fine, but no parents - okay?"

"Just me Jake." Taehyung confirmed with pleading eyes.

__________

Sunghoon woke, worried. A dream had turned into a nightmare and his heartbeat had increased such that it had woken him. He checked the time and it was nearing 3AM. "Urgh!!!!" He groaned at waking so early.

The pain in his hand still remained and it had prevented him from drifting off to sleep easily. He had ended up placing it beneath the pillow he lay his head on, numbing it, he'd being able to get a few hours rest.

Exhaling, he thought about the coming day. Direct tickets to London had been near impossible to buy but Jungkook had managed to find some but they involved two connections. In order to catch those flights they were going to leave their building at around 7 in the evening.

Sunghoon had hoped he would spend the day resting up and preparing himself but, by waking himself at this hour he'd be pretty useless come the afternoon. Alone with his thoughts, he enjoyed their new found optimism.  His outlook had change substantially, even if all he had was a slight glimmer of hope.

Remembering how short their odds were of catching Jake, Sunghoon decided he needed to call on everything he could think of, which lead him to plead to some higher power for some intervention. As he concentrated his thoughts he realised he had never prayed before, not properly at least.