PROMISE | yungi

chapter 2.

yunho's pov

without sparing another second, i quickly unlocked the front door with urgency— i knew i'd be harshly reprimanded for being late, even if it was only by a few minutes.

stepping through the door, i slipped my shoes off and walked quietly towards the stairs. i was hoping i'd be able to make it to my room without even being seen by the two adults; however, luck was not on my side today. when i noticed two shorter presences behind me, i froze in place and turned cautiously.

"so... care to explain why you're late for the third time this week?" my mom's boyfriend, juwon, was the first to speak up. they both looked at me with hatred and judgment; i wasn't even sure why anymore.

"it took longer than usual to leave school, there was an event today, i guess," i sighed, uninterested in having this conversation with them. we had conversations like this often— it would start off as a useless inquiry, but it always escalated into something worse.

"you should've walked faster or something. why are you always so fucking lazy, yunho? it isn't that hard to put in more effort," my mother spat at me. she looked as if she was getting angry, and the reason why was unknown to me.

"sorry, i'll try harder next time." i tried to end our conversation there, as i turned my head and made it up the first step. before i knew it, my head was jerked back by someone pulling on my hair, which caused my body to fall flat on the floor with a thud.

"we aren't fucking stupid, yunho. who was that guy you were walking with? is that your boyfriend or something? you should leave him alone, there's no use in burdening more people than you already are, right?" juwon muttered with a malicious smile, crouching down beside my body.

i knew they wanted a reaction from me. for me to tear up at their words and crumble at their feet. unfortunately for them, i didn't have the energy to react anymore. of course, their words hurt me, but it wasn't worth getting upset over. i already think that way about myself, what makes them think these might sound like foreign words to me?

"he's just a new classmate who offered to walk with me. i barely even know him," i replied as i finally got up to my feet again. not even allowing the two to form a reaction, i ignored the pain in my shoulders caused by the fall and bolted upstairs. i knew they wouldn't chase after me, so i shut my door and locked it once i was surrounded by the walls of my room.

i sighed as i sat down on my bed, looking out the window as the sky began to turn an orange color. it was about 5 in the evening, and it was getting darker fast. my eyes traveled to the window of the house across from mine. there were oddly no curtains in the window.

that's when it dawned on me— mingi is in that room. i saw him as he walked out of the frame of the window and back, seemingly pacing around his room. i wondered what got him so jittery like that.

i decided to text him— i hoped he wouldn't find it odd for me to send a message without the topic of school.

—————

***-***-****

yunho
hi
sent 5:22 pm

—————

as soon as my message was sent, i sat with my head against the window frame, counting how many minutes it would take for mingi to respond. he was probably dreading getting a message from you, yunho.

1 minute passed. mingi picked his phone up and viewed his screen with a confused expression on his face. he was probably thinking about who the hell messaged him.