the way i love you ➵ beomkai

Chapter One

The sound of Huening Kai's clock beeping continuously stirs him out of his sleep, and he blindly reaches a hand towards his bedside table to silence his phone. Once he's successful he just lies there for a moment, staring at the ceiling before deciding to sit up. The blanket pools over his lap, the cool air chilling his arms and face as he rubs his eyes tiredly.

"Are you awake, sweetie?" Kai's mom is suddenly calling from behind the door that's followed by soft knocking, and he feels a small smile forming on his lips once he sees her standing at the now opened entrance.

"Mm, I am. Thanks for checking," Kai says genuinely, his smile widening when she approaches his bedside to land a kiss on his forehead. He feels a hand card through his hair before she's making him face her fully by cupping his chin.

"Don't forget to take your medication before school, okay?"

He nods in response, and she gives his hair a ruffle before she's exiting the bedroom and Kai's smile drops. With a sigh, he stands up and makes his way to the bathroom connected to his bedroom. He opens up his medicine cabinet and grabs the bottle staring back at him.

Quetiapine, it reads on the label.

Kai takes a pill out of the container and fumbles it between his fingers and studies it; how was it that a simple peach colored pill was supposed to cure all of his problems? He'd recently got prescribed a higher dosage of the pill, and in return he gets extremely nauseous afterwards. He thinks nausea is far worse than the way he feels before taking the medication.

So without a second thought, he opens the lid of his toilet and dumps the entire bottle. He manages just fine without the pills, so he doesn't need them; he doesn't want to depend on them to help him. He closes the lid and goes to the sink to wash up.

Soon after, he's dressed and with his bag hanging off his shoulder, he heads to the kitchen downstairs. The warm smell of coffee hits him as his mom stands by the counter, pouring herself a cup of it. He grabs an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter, biting a chunk of it as he retrieves two water bottles from the fridge. He stuffs them into his bag, not noticing the look being sent his way until he's turning to his mom.

"Did you already take your medicine?" She asks him, stirring her coffee for a moment before stopping. "You know Dr. Gyushik said it's important for you to take it every day—"

"Mhm, sounds good mom," Kai is suddenly cutting her off with a side hug. He throws away the apple core as he heads towards the front door. "I have to go before I'm late. Love you!"

He doesn't turn to see her expression, but he hears a confused but small "I love you" before he's shutting the door behind him. As if on cue, he sees the old white minivan jerking to a stop in his driveway. He snorts as he walks over to the vehicle. The door opens before he could do it himself, and he's met with a smile from Beomgyu that he returns as he climbs in the backseat. Soobin turns around and pinches his cheek, cooing despite Kai slapping his hand away from him. "Aren't you just sunshine on a cloudy day, Kamal?"

Yeonjun snorts and then coughs quickly to cover it up, and Kai just rolls his eyes at both him and Soobin. "Good one, Steve." This earns him a protest and a hit to the knee, along with a mini rant about how he hates his English name, but he just laughs in response as Yeonjun turns up the radio to tune out Soobin's complaining. Beomgyu just watches them from his spot against the window, an amused smile playing on his lips.

The ride to school's about thirty minutes away, so Kai leans more into his seat, his eyes latching on to the trees outside. The December snow coats the trees and ground, with it falling off the naked branches as the breeze occasionally blows through. A faint smile starts to spread across his lips; Winter has always been one of his favorite seasons, especially with the fond memories he associates with it. Him and his sisters playing around outside with their father, giggling and screaming as they throw snow at each other. They would go inside and drink hot chocolate afterwards and sit by the fireplace to warm up their bodies. The memories are so vivid to him, but that was a long time ago.