FOR THE FUTURE ⋮ nohyuck/markhyuck/markhyuckno

Chapter Five

Donghyuck succeeded to sneak Noram into his room only when he went through hardships. It cost him so much energy and made him more nervous, unlike exams. This was funny as the student didn't fear being on the stage but had a fear of getting caught with a kid.

Anyway, it was a whole journey as Donghyuck had to watch out for people, walk back and forth to see if the path was clear and when it was, he had to go all his way to the stairs under which he told Noram to hide.

So, now that they were finally inside, Donghyuck went to rest on his bed, promising himself to deal with groceries afterward. Noram, on the other hand, was still energetic but didn't say a thing when he saw that his papa from the past was exhausted.

"Tell me if what happened at the store was an accident or not," Donghyuck spoke as he locked his eyes on the ceiling. "Because I feel like you're used to that."

Noram got happy that Donghyuck talked to him. Happily, he skipped to the bed and sat on it.

"It's bad, right?"

"It is bad, but answer my question."

"Papa from my time said the same. But he also said that stealing for a living isn't bad."

"Did he teach you that?"

Noram nodded.

"How bad is your situation? Where do you live?"

The kid seemed troubled that he got so many questions. Yet he still answered them all.

"We're poor," he said, obviously, speaking his papa's words. "You can't buy what we like, I don't have many toys... We live above the convenience store, the same one you found me, but the store at this time doesn't have a second floor yet..."

Donghyuck shifted his eyes to the boy.

"Is that... Is that why you waited for me there?"

"You from my time said that the convenience store is like a centric place. All ways lead there. You knew that I'll find you there!"

"I was the one who found you, but okay..." Donghyuck scoffed as he sat up. "Shall we look at your backpack?"

Noram vigorously nodded his head and left the bed first. Together they kneeled in front of the bag and Donghyuck effortlessly opened it. It was too familiar to him to struggle with it.

He took off the neatly folded clothes one by one, glancing at them for at least two seconds to see if they also looked outworn. To his surprise, Noram's clothes looked perfect. They even smelled nice.

"Oh, wait!" Noram touched the inner pocket until he found the zipper. He unzipped it and pulled out like fifty dollars. "Future Papa told me to give this to the Past Papa."

It wasn't much when it came to taking care of the kid, but Donghyuck was touched. He from the future even paid himself. How should he feel about this if not emotional?

"Anything else?" Donghyuck asked as he gladly accepted the money and locked his eyes on more pockets.

Noram opened the front pocket and pulled out his childish wallet. He skipped through it, got disinterested, and put it on the floor. The kid looked through other pockets, but Donghyuck was already interested in that wallet.

Taking it into his hands, Donghyuck opened it and looked at the thing that caught his eye first—a student ID card. The photo of Noram was cute and all, but the student himself was curious about the dates under the kid's name. Its validity date was from 2028 to 2032. A scary yet eye-catching thing.

"I don't have anything more," Noram pouted, "except for my toy cars," he added with a proud smile.

Donghyuck looked at the little toys in interest. He knew that it was he who bought them.