HOMEBOUND

🥝 two

hyunjin sat in the coffee shop, anxiously tapping his finger nails against the side of the cup continuously. his eyes darted across the coffee shop, scanning the faces of all the people who walked in. it was obvious that he was waiting for someone, at least to the part-timer that stood behind the counter. he had served him an americano, which the male nervously sipped. the male radiated anxiety, and seeing as it was a sunday morning, the cafe wasn't very busy, so the barista could only focus on what the brunette male was doing.

"jungwon, you plan on working today?" the boy was startled, whipping round to face his floor manager, jihyo. she had her hands on her hips, and one of her eyebrows raised. the boy quickly dropped his head, hoping to just slip past her, but jihyo had other plans. she stuck her arm out to the side, stopping him from going anywhere, so he then looked back up at her with a cheeky smile. she rolled her eyes. "for that, you can clean the filters," she then said with a wink, leaving him behind the counter.

the bell above the door sounded as it opened, and a male walked through the door. hyunjin sighed, letting go of a breath he didn't even realise he was holding. he was so worried about his meeting today that all he could think about is everything that could go wrong. he thought of everything he could say that would ruin this rekindling of his and his sister's relationship.

the door opened again, signalled by the ringing of the bell above the door, and there she was; his little sister. she looked so grown up since the last time he saw her, her long, dark hair tied in a slick high ponytail. she wore a pure white cropped blazer with a matching straight skirt, both bedazzled with gems, and topped off with white knee high boots. she looked like a princess, and hyunjin was astonished by her appearance.

she quickly looked around the cafe until her eyes fell on hyunjin, and a brilliant smile grew on her face. yeji hurriedly rushed over to him, the male standing up and the two meeting in a tight embrace. "i missed you so much, hyunjin," she exclaimed, squeezing him tightly as to not let him go again.

"well maybe you should let me breathe then," hyunjin croaked, his sister quickly letting him go with a small laugh. hyunjin invited yeji to sit while he went to get her coffee, making small talk with the barista while he made the coffee. while at the counter, hyunjin took deep breaths, muttering to himself, telling himself that everything was fine. once the coffee was ready, he gave the barista a wide smile and thanked him, taking it back to yeji.

the two talked nonstop about their lives now, yeji telling her brother about how she met her fiancé, who's name was yeonjun, and she gossiped about her friends and what they got up to. she also updated on hyunjin about anything that had happened with the family, like cousins getting married, having kids, divorces, and so on. hyunjin also gossiped about his friends, more notably chan and jeongin, and their failing relationship.

"it's like they are complete opposites. chan is all serious about his work and has goals in life, y'know, but jeongin is just there for a good time, and he just wants to enjoy being young while he still can. despite all that they are determined to stay together," hyunjin sighed. he commended his friends for their determination, but they were pretty much just tearing each other apart. hyunjin couldn't understand why they would at least just take a break from each other.

"well you know what they say; love makes you do crazy things," yeji said with a small laugh, taking a sip of her iced coffee. "maybe that's why mother is still with father, depsite everything." she didn't know why she said it; it just came out, like word vomit. she didn't know what to do when hyunjin had completely stopped moving, staring blankly down into his coffee.

yeji cleared her throat. "you know, dad is uh... well he doesn't talk anymore; he doesn't exactly remember anyone," she said in a timid voice, not exactly knowing what else to say. she knew she would have to talk to hyunjin about their father at some point, but she hoped it wouldn't be because of her own slip up. "dad has dementia, and he's got it bad. the doctors say he doesn't have long left, so maybe it would be good for you both to see each other before he passes, y'know."

hyunjin scoffed. "you think it would be good for me to see the father that abused me for years? that pushed me to almost commit suicide?" he said in disbelief, staring at his sister with such a hurt look. "i'm coming to this wedding for you, not to see him or mother for that matter. they decided they didn't want to be my parents a long time ago and that's how it's gonna stay," he then finished, taking the last sip of his coffee.

yeji looked at him, defeated. she hoped that maybe, just for the one day of her wedding, that they could all be a family again, just like when they were younger. she desperately wanted everything to go back to how it was when they were kids, with no worries or cares in the world. she wanted to bring back the summers when her big brother would take her out and teach her how to ride a bike, or how to dance, or when their mother would let them have icelolly after icelolly, as long as they didn't tell their father. she missed the good old days.

"hey, big brother! look i can ride with no hands!" the little girl exclaimed to her brother, not looking where she was going and ending up on the floor with a grazed elbow and knee while the bike lay beside her. having just looked up she fell, the big brother ran over to her side, examining her small grazes with a sigh and a shake of his head.

"yeji, you need to look where you're going, or you're going to hurt yourself, like you just have done," he said, helping her stand up and the two of them walking back into their house. he led her to the kitchen, helping her to sit up on the counter while he went to get the first aid kit for her. he used the stool that his sister used when she helped their mother cook to reach the cuboard with the kit inside, pulling down the red bag and placing it on the side next to the small girl.

"ah, it hurts!" the girl whined as her brother cleaned up the grazes, kicking her legs out in front of her and unintentionally hitting her brother, to which she immediately apologised for doing so. he sighed and told her to sit still until had finished cleaning the grazes, before applying some small plasters to the wounds that were bleeding.

"there, all done," the brother said, looking up at his sister with a smile. he helped her jump down, getting a quick thank you from her before she rushed out of the kitchen to go back outside while her brother packed up the first aid kit. he then put the stool back in its place as well and then followed in his sister's footprints and walked outside to see her back on her bike, and he couldn't help but just smile.

he never wanted things to ever change.

—
lol not me taking like six
months to update whaaat

okay but all the support i
still get is amazing so thank
you to you all, you guys are
amazing <3