Come Morning Light

Seven.

Jooheon opened his eyes and quickly searched his surroundings. He sighed, relieved. The nightmare he had was terrifying. He was happy to know he was still with his family and not stranded in a deserted forest. 

A light weight on his side caught his attention. He smiled softly at the sight of Changkyun curled into his side, fast asleep. In the front, Kihyun sat in the driver’s seat, taking small bites out of a slice of bread. Hoseok slept in the passenger’s seat.

Bright sunrays entered the car windows. It was morning. Jooheon sat up and stretched. A yawn escaped his lips just as he stopped stretching. Kihyun turned in his seat, a bright smile on his lips.

“Joojoobee, you’re awake,” Kihyun said. “Are you hungry for breakfast?”

Jooheon looked around, noticing they were the only ones awake.

“Sure.”

“Nothing really fancy,” Kihyun said, digging into a plastic bag. “Mostly bread and some fruit cups. Hoseok hyung and I agreed we should save the heavier foods for later in the day.”

“Oh, I’ll have a slice of bread and a fruit cup please.”

Kihyun nodded, handing him a small fruit cup and two slices of bread. Jooheon’s eyes widened. He had only wanted one slice of bread. He tried to give the other slice back, but Kihyun put up his hand and shook his head.

“I know you are hungry, so eat,” Kihyun said. “Oh, here's some water too. Hoseok hyung and Hyungwon made sure to grab as many water bottles as possible so we should be good for now. Feel free to have the whole bottle.”

Jooheon frowned, thinking about the basket he left behind. “I dropped a whole basket of food yesterday.”

Kihyun tied up the bag and stashed it on the floor in the middle seat. 

“Oh?”

Jooheon nodded.

“Yeah, I was running for the exit, and I just dropped it to run faster.”

Kihyun nodded.

“Well, I’m glad you thought of dropping the basket. It would have slowed you down.”

Jooheon looked at him, confused.

“Like we said yesterday, we are so happy you are okay. We were able to get a decent amount of food from the grocery. Not a lot but enough to last us until the next stop. So, please don’t worry about what happened yesterday.”

Jooheon nodded, opening the tiny fruit cup, and dumping the contents into his mouth. He tore a piece from the bread. As he ate, the others slowly started to wake up. Changkyun’s eyes cracked open, a yawn escaping his lips. Jooheon chuckled, patting his younger twin on the head.

“Wakey wakey Kyunnie, time for breakfast,” Jooheon said.

“Huh?” Changkyun asked, sleepily.

“It’s time to eat.”

Changkyun groaned.
“Okay.”

Jooheon asked Kihyun for some bread, water, and a fruit cup for Changkyun. Their older brother happily handed the items over to him. He gave Changkyun the bread and the fruit, a tiny smile on his lips. After everything that happened, he was glad there was a moment of peace.
Soon everyone else started to wake up. Kihyun started to pass out food to everyone. Jooheon smiled as everyone ate their small breakfast. There was a sense of hope burning within his chest. Perhaps, things will get better soon.

“We’ll need to figure out our location,” Hoseok said, after finishing his slice of bread. “I wonder how much we’ve veered away from our original direction.”