the stars aligned for us | sunsun

8

song: howling   –viction

8| independent heart

"sunoo hyung! do you mind helping me out?" jungwon gestured to sunghoon who had empty glasses strewn around him at the bar counter.

"i drank though," sunoo uttered.

"i'm sober hyung, sunghoon is just too heavy for me to drag home by myself."

sunoo was conflicted, he had seen jay drinking with a couple of people and he's nowhere to be found. "i need to find jay first."

jungwon scratched his head, "about that, heeseung and jake had driven him back after he had puked earlier."

sunoo sighed giving into jungwon's pleading eyes and pouty lips. sunoo gently placed all the cups onto a tray by the side before he and jungwon each carried one of sunghoon's arms. jungwon opened the door to their mercedes as sunoo lowered sunghoon's head as he swiftly chucked sunghoon into the car before sitting in the shotgun seat.

"i hate to ask it again but do you and hyung know each other from before?" jungwon whispered as he sneaked glances at sunoo, hoping that he didn't upset his hyung.

"we were neighbours."

"ah so you must haven known that i'm not sunghoon's real brother."

sunoo nodded, as far as he remembered sunghoon was an only child with a single mum.

"your dad married his mother?" sunoo asked, though it was quite obvious.

"yup, sunghoon was 17 and i was 14. we just met each other once before our parents got married and we were forced to live with each other. hyung hated it though. he hated to moving towns and showed his extreme dislike for me since day one. though as time went by, he seemed to realise that i also had no say in the situation. then, he slowly opened up and treated me like his brother. oh i'm sorry, i'm rambling–" jungwon smiled apologetically for reminiscing his past.

"i do that sometimes too," sunoo smiled.

jungwon's smile got wider, his teeth on full display. "hyung, you look cute when you smile."

sunoo chuckled.

"is this your way of opening up to me?" jungwon exclaimed.

"maybe," sunoo muttered as he gestured for jungwon to focus on the road.

hyung isn't as cold as i thought.

sunoo slowly dragged sunghoon into the brothers' apartment as jungwon pushed open the door to sunghoon's room.

"hyung, i'll go brew us some tea. please wait wherever you'd like," jungwon politely welcomed sunoo into their humble abode before padding off to the kitchen.

sunoo silently walked out of the apartment building as he made his way to the mart he had seen nearby.

"do you have xxx brand of hangover cures? it doesn't seem to be on the shelf." sunoo asked the cashier.

"it might be out of stock," the cashier replied politely.

"um...my friend only drinks that particular one so is there any chance you have one right now?" sunoo's monotonous voice held an inkling of urgency now.

friends? we are nothing.

the cashier rubbed his head before sighing, "i'll check in the back for you sir. please wait for awhile."

"5,300 won."

sunoo thanked the cashier as he exited the mart, the plastic bag in his hands as the cold night breeze sent shiver down his spine.

"oh hyung you're back!" jungwon jumped to his feet.

"did you think i just left?"

jungwon nervously shuffled his feet.

"i just went to get these," sunoo put them on the kitchen counter.

"you shouldn't have hyung. let me pay you back," jungwon reached out for his wallet just to be stopped by sunoo's hands.

"we are friends. there's no such thing as paying back okay?" jungwon smiled gratefully as he handed the mug of piping hot chamomile tea he brewed earlier.

"woah, thank you for buying this brand! sunghoon hyung only drinks these when he's hungover. i thought i'd have to run back down again," jungwon smiled happily.

"i'm leaving jungwon," sunoo placed the mug on the coaster before he tied his shoelaces.

"hyung, it's late. why don't you stay here?"

"i have to take care of jay, jungwon-ah. maybe sometime else."

between the both, as long as sunghoon lived in the premise, there was no way sunoo was staying over but sunoo did not blatantly reject jungwon which was considerate of him.

"you should pat him down with a wet cloth. he tends to get a fever easily when he's drunk," sunoo mumbled.

"you seem to care a lot for someone you say that you hate," jungwon noted.

sunoo's sharp glare and his stern voice rumbled in the vicinity. "let's pretend i never came."

wow, the duality is real.

"good night hyung," jungwon waved before he shut the door.

sunoo looked up at the stars that decorated the seoul skies.

"sometimes we don't choose who we want to care for jungwon-ah. our hearts do," sunoo thought to himself. 

– L