the lost boy

His new life

N O B O D Y

Hyunjin was a 14-year-old boy, he went to school like everyone else. He got good grades, was always the best in school and yet he never seemed good enough for his parents. His parents eventually started to put pressure on him. They said things like "You need to get better!" - "You don't want to be a disappointment for us, do you?" - "Do more sport and eat less!" - "Stop hanging on your phone all the time and study instead!" And much more. Hyunjin did what his parents said, he was still learning and trying to be even better than he already is, although that was no longer possible since he was already the very best, but Hyunjin didn't see it, he didn't realize it because of his parents. They stressed him out so much that he couldn't take it anymore and ran out of the classroom that day. He ran to the roof of the school where he always stayed because there was never anyone there but himself.

And that day changed his whole life. Hyunjin didn't go back to class for the entire school day. And because of this, his class teacher called his parents to ask if Hyunjin happened to be at home. When his parents said no, his class teacher became concerned as the boy was quite upset when he ran out of the classroom. The teacher ended the phone call and searched the school building together with his colleagues, not knowing that a student was also still there and knew where Hyunjin was, since he had often observed him walking alone on the school roof. The student also went onto the school roof and found Hyunjin there. He slowly walked towards the boy, afraid he might startle him. The student sat down next to the missing boy and said a soft and quiet "Hey..."

Hyunjin looked at the voice with his swollen eyes and saw one of his classmates sitting next to him. "Hey..." he whispered back. "Are you coming with me?... Some teachers are looking for you..." he said softly. Hyunjin looked at him for a while until he slowly nodded and let his classmate pull him to his feet. "Come on... your parents are probably worried about you too..." At the mention of his parents, his whole body tensed and he didn't move a meter. "Hyunjin?... Everything alright?.." he asked the boy in front of him, but he didn't get an answer. He put his hands on the older boy's shoulders, who looked at him with glossy eyes and shook his head rapidly. "Hey.. calm down... we are both still up here? Calm down... do you want to tell me why you reacted like that when I mentioned them?..." the younger one asked, but Hyunjin shook his head.

Without thinking much about it, Huynjin's classmate hugged him. Hyunjin cried again, but quickly calmed down in the other's arms. "It's okay... everything will be fine okay?" A slight nod from Hyunjin was enough for the younger one and so the two walked back down into the school building. There they met Mr. Yoon "HYUNJIN! There you are! Where were you? We looked for you everywhere.." he said worried. "Mr. Yoon, I found him.. and I managed to convince him to come with me..." Hyunjin's classmate said. "Thanks Beomgyu. That's very thoughtful of you. Come on, let's get your things and then you can go." Said Mr. Yoon to the two boys. Arriving in the classroom, there was a bag on Hyunjin's desk, the boy knew exactly what that meant, but dubbed it in front of Mr. Yoon. But he couldn't fool Beomgyu, who was able to take a look at the note that was also included and was shocked at what was written on it.

Hyunjin,
all your clothes are in there! We don't want to see you anymore!!
You are a disappointment to our family!!
Look what you do with yourself, we don't care!
You are no longer our son!!

Mr. and Mrs. Hwang

After Beomgyu and Hyunjin were alone in the classroom, the older one cried again. Beomgyu hugged the boy while he called his mom. He asked her if she could pick him and a classmate up and he would later explain what was going on. She heard the sobbing in the background and immediately agreed. So Beomgyu grabbed his backpack, Hyunjin's backpack and the bag and note while pulling the boy out of the room by the hand. While the two were waiting for Beomgyu's mom, Beomgyu hugged Hyunjin to calm him down a bit. But when he realized that it was no use, he was glad when he saw that his mom was just parking the car. Beomgyu grabbed Hyunjin's things again and went with the still crying boy to his mom's car. He gave his mom the boy's things in his arms and pointed to the note, his mom understood and read it through. Shocked at how parents can be, she hugged Hyunjin to help his own son a little. "Oh dear, it's alright... you can stay with us okay? Shhh... we'll figure it out..." Mr. Choi said.

On the way to the Chois, Hyunjin fell asleep, exhausted from all the crying. Beomgyu put his jacket over the sleeping one and so they drove in silence to their home with the now peacefully sleeping boy. Once there, Mrs. Choi fetched her husband, to whom she explained the whole thing and also showed the note, he was right on his wife's side and carried the still sleeping boy into the living room. He took off his shoes and took his son's jacket into the hallway to take the boy's bag and backpack from his wife. He carried the things into his youngest son's room and so he went back into the living room where his wife and two sons were already sitting. He sat down with them and they waited until Hyunjin woke up from his peaceful sleep.

2 hours later

Exactly two hours later, Hyunjin woke up again, rubbing his still swollen eyes. He sat up and looked around confused until he saw the Choi family sitting a little further away on the other sofa. Right away his eyes glazed over again, but Beomgyu's parents acted quickly and rushed to the boy to prevent him from crying again. "Shhh... it's okay... stop crying okay? We'll work it out.. don't worry..."  Hyunjin took a deep breath and blinked away his tears. He smiled slightly at the two older ones and hoped not to burst into tears at any moment. The Chois tried to distract the upset boy. "Soobin? Beomgyu? Take the boy to one of your rooms and distract him a bit okay? We'll get you for lunch as soon as it's ready.." said Mr. and Mrs. Choi.

The two boys nodded, got up and took Hyunjin's hand and pulled him upstairs in the direction of their room. They sat down with the boy on the bed and just waited, after 20 minutes Soobin decided to turn on his younger brother's console so that they could play something, this also seemed to help Hyunjin to think about other things and to make him laugh. When Mr. and Mrs. Choi went to get the boys to eat, they were relieved to see the boy laughing. "Guys? Dinner's ready, will you come when you're done playing?" The three nodded and so they went down to the kitchen while the three of them played this round to the end.

to be continued...