abide

chapter 12

each step jihoon took, his eyes inadvertently went to the left. the boy next to him, the one whose arms were entangled around his arm as tightly as if his life depended on it was walking steadily next to him, trying to keep up with jihoon's accelerated pace.

his cheeks were wet, the skin prettily shimmering as the rays of sun tried to fight back the thick, monstrous clouds.

"will you tell me or should I ask?"

yoshinori's shoulders twitched instantly. his tired eyes were bleary, nevertheless as he looked directly at jihoon, his pupils dilated, the hazel brown of his irises enlivened.

"doyoung cried the whole night. we couldn't calm him down until dawn."

the one listening was taken aback. the name 'doyoung' didn't ring a bell, he tried to recall whether yoshinori has ever mentioned him before.

"doyoung is..."

"the one I want to safe."

at this moment the other's voice cracked down, he swallowed the fit of sobs which were about to burst out. jihoon was at a loss - he wasn't the most appropriate person when it came to comforting. he hummed and hawed for some seconds, bit his lips, his eyes running to and fro, not knowing whether to draw yoshinori closer, maybe pat his back, would brushing off his tears be gentle enough?

sneakily, he looked behind him. luckily, his one last rope to hold was there as expected. a few meters away, watching two of them vigilantly was his member, walking side by side with one from yoshinori's retinue. the latter's name jihoon has heard before, they met yesterday and so the infamous 'hyukie' has been already surveiled from his head to toe by junkyu. later, yesterday night after yoshinori's farewell, he ordered his subordinate to browse every source he could find.

this mean facilitated much more information than the mere pet name, and after reading a pile about his ex bosses, the people he threatened, assaulted, or even the ones whose lives were taken away by his bullets, jihoon could tell one thing for sure.

yoon jaehyuk wasn't the guy to play with. his hand even in the current moment was cautiously reaching behind, always wary, on the alert if jihoon pulled out a knife and stabbed the one who looked him in the eyes with trust. jaehyuk didn't have the same trust towards the other leader, his hands itchy in case something happened, and his weapon had to go off.

next to him, the face much more familiar to jihoon stared back at him. hyunsuk bit the silver ring pierced through his bottom lip, trying to read his leader's mouth.

"what should... what?" hyunsuk murmured, trying to decipher the enigma sent to him out of a sudden.

jihoon rolled his eyes, opening his mouth a bit wider, uttering each word slower. this worked, the message "what should I do to comfort him?" was successfully conveyed. hyunsuk although at first had to ponder over this matter, he soon came up with a nice act of kindness.

"hold his hand!" he screamed, simultaneously stifling his tone.

jihoon's warmer hand with no hesitation found its way down, undoing their previous knot. as their fingers intertwined, he liked the ripple which danced on his spine. he soon noticed that yoshinori started playing with his silver fingers, moving them, grazing, it seemed to have an alleviating effect on the other, so jihoon didn't hinder his actions.

"we met when he was just sixteen. i see him as my brother, i promised myself i would protect him, but as he... they trapped him and demanded drugs in exchange for the body."

colder wind blew on their backs, goosebumps emerged on jihoon's skin and he didn't know whether it was because of the sudden decrease of temperature or the other's words.

as yoshinori continued the story with a lower voice, teary eyes and trembling body, jihoon embraced him. only then did he realize that for yoshinori, the ones he worked with weren't only pawns, subordinates, or henchmen as jihoon would say what his team comprised.

doyoung, haruto, jaehyuk, yedam, asahi, he was introduced to them indirectly through the account which rendered him silent. all of them were yoshinori's family.

and as one of them got hurt so badly, the red-hair boy could do nothing but helplessly stare at the scenes he blamed himself for causing. 

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