Moral of the Story || seongsang · 2ho

10. Begining of the end

"By the time October rolled around again, the nightmares had, to both soul's immense joy, subsided. Jongho graduated highschool, and, now being twenty, Yunjung was just enrolled on a PhD track in East Asian Lit.

The only thing Jongho missed from highschool was soccer; he'd had a few scouts come, especially in the last year, and managed to secure a half scholarship to university through it.

So his birthday this year, according to Eomma and Mama, was a celebration of that as well.

Yunjung had spent the night like every October 11th for the past four years, but this time he awoke to yelling, and an empty bed.

Groggily looking around, he stumbled up and out. As he saw the scene in the kitchen, however, he was wide awake.

'EOMMA I told you I don't want to go out today!' His Soul shouted.

'Jongho-ah, please calm d-' But Wheein was interrupted.

'Mama, please!' Jongho pleaded, albeit aggressively. 'I-I do not want them. Can we just have a d-day without any stress whatsoever?'

Mama looked over at her wife and you could see Hye-jin about to burst.

'Choi Jongho! You are an adult now and Mama and I expect you to start acting like one and show respect!' Hye-jin huffed. 'Jongho I'm so sorry you have relatives that want to come over and ruin your special day by merely being around you but, honestly-'

'Oh MY- -EOMMA!' He shouted, looking exasperated.

Mama spoke up again, trying to diffuse. 'Jongho. They are already driving and you know how long it is; we can't just make them turn around.'

But like Eomma, like son. Jongho's anger outweighed his logical response and he slammed a fist to the counter with a loud thud.

And Yunjung had enough.

'JONGHO!' Came his stern voice from the doorway; this was finally getting out of hand. The older blanked his face to match his voice, and Jongho froze. His face heated and tears burned his eyes. He didn't dare look at his Soul. Not after that. He'd never heard that voice before.

And so, shaking, he ran.

Yunjung, Eomma, and Mama were left looking at each other.

Wheein sighed, 'He didn't used to be like this. I have no idea what happened. . .' Hye-jin pulled Mama into her arms but spoke to Yunjung. 'I made coffee if you want some, Yun-ah.'

Yunjung bowed but politely declined. Instead, he picked up Jongho's shoes, and, putting on his own coat and boots, he followed his Soul out the door.

Walking two blocks through the, surprisingly, warm October weather, he entered a corner store and found Jongho seated at a both there, the girl behind the counter eyeing him with concerned looks.

'Little bear,' he softly called.

But the younger just scoffed, looking down. 'You haven't called me that in ages.'

'I know.' Yunjung replied, sitting down opposite Jongho in the booth. 'Maybe it's time I bring it back.'

But Jongho made no reply, only nervously fiddling with his sleeves.

'Jongho-ah, can you please look at me?'

So Jongho raised his eyes the the speaker's chest.

'My eyes, Jongho.' He encouraged calmly. 'Look at my eyes.'