Secrets in the Woods- Beomkai

Exploding stars

"Beomgyu?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I show you something?"
He nods.

Kai climbs into the front seat to grab his keys and clicks a button. The sunroof opens up with a perfect view of the night sky. Kai gets out and pulls out a couple of bags from the trunk. He opens up another hidden compartment in one of the doors and pulls out a long candle lighter, a Huening family heirloom reduced to hide in a car door for emergencies only. Except this wasn't an emergency. Kai had questions yes but he figured they could wait until tomorrow. This was more important. He was determined to end their first date on a high.

The next 15 minutes we're spent by Kai setting up the fireworks in the grass and angling them just right so they'd explode west of sunroof. Beomgyu was looking at the stars now but Kai couldnt wait to create his own, just for him. After they were placed in his satisfaction he closed the sunroof and picked up Beomgyu. He made sure his honey bear was wrapped in a blanket before he placed him on the roof of the car. Kai admittedly was cold but he didnt care.
He flopped back down the side to double check all of the ripcord was attached to each firework and then hopped back onto the roof.

Beomgyu didnt know what was happening but he saw Kai's grin the whole time and knew it was something special for him. Telling Kai was the right decision. Kai was even tempered. Logical. Mature beyond his age. A far cry from his childhood.

When Beomgyu was 5, he knew his parents weren't normal when he told his teacher that "mommy always had a purple eye and daddy always had scratches on his back" when asked to explain the drawing of his parents. The teacher asked him if he had any purple marks or scratches and he said no. The look of concern on the teachers face is something that was burned into his memory.

His parents never physically abused him but they made sure to tear down his self esteem every chance they got. When he was 6 and won a spelling contest, his dad broke his trophy right in front of him and told him to go win a real award.

When he was 7 he was named a soccer prodigy by his gym coach and asked his parents if they considered enterring him into an academy. His parents laughed and said he wouldnt last a day with how pathetically small he was.

When he was 8 he picked up a skateboard and became a street legend by 9. He even met Tony Hawk one day and got him to sign his board. He hid it in his closest from his parents and when he came home from school, he found his board smashed on his bed.

At age 10 he met Taehyun. Tae is considered his first real friend. Beomgyu had a hard time making friends before then because his parents always managed to convince them he wasn't a person worth hanging out with.

Taehyun always stuck around. He was smarter than his parents understood and saw right through the bullshit. His heart broke when Tae told him he was moving schools before their freshman year of high school. They kept in contact but it wasn't the same.

Beomgyu began to sleep around in high school. People started noticing him after he grew 6 inches taller in the summer. He clung onto anyone who would give him an ounce of positive attention. His mother saw what he was doing and everything finally clicked. She saw her son becoming his father. She saw his future as he was snoring with a bottle by his side on the couch at 2 in the afternoon. Before he could wake up, she packed everything and picked Beomgyu up from school.

They moved every 6 months of Beomgyu's next 2 years of high school because his mom couldnt hold down a job long enough before her ex found them. Taehyun called Beomgyu every night out of concern. It was the only thing that Beomgyu looked forward to every day.

While he was taking a final, he got a call saying his father was arrested for attempting to kill his mother. His mom was unharmed and his dad remains in prison to this day. He told Taehyun and Tae said "thats it. Im going to tell my mom to move you next door so you can go to high school with me. The house is for rent but I know a friend who will buy it if I explained your situation." Taehyun ignored all of his protests and presented the deed to the house to their mother the next week. He never found out who bought it for them.