Tɪʟʟ Dᴇᴀᴛʜ Dᴏ Us Pᴀʀᴛ ❤︎ ~Seongjoong~

12: A simple wish...

Hongjoong sighed heavily for the millionth time that day. He looked at the towering and daunting house in front of him. He hated the way his father had forced him to come home when he knew he didn't like being here, to begin with. Given its history and all, the least he could've done was meet him at a restaurant or something. He walked to the front door and rang the doorbell, waiting a few minutes before the housekeeper, Ms Wang opened the door. A wide smile and glossy eyes greeted him as she tackled him into a big hug. "Joongie!"

"Hello, Ms. Wang." He greeted her back, hugging her too. He pulled back to see the old lady tearing up and chuckled a little swiping her wet cheeks. "Why are you crying? Aren't you happy to see me?" He lightly teased.

She sniffled a little, lightly tapping his arm "Of course I did. Am just happy you're back!" She pulled away and smiled brightly at him. "Your father is waiting for you in the dining room."

"Brilliant, just perfect." He sarcastically remarked, entering the lifeless and dull mansion.

"Oh, Joongie," She softly cooed. "You know your father regrets it a lot." She said while leading him to the diner. "Oh, and your mother came too."

Hongjoong chuckled. Just why would his father call all of them? There was no reason for them to gather cause whenever they gather, all hell always breaks through. He silently followed Ms Wang until they reached the grand doors of the diner, stopping to mentally prepare himself for whatever shit show was bound to go down.

He pushed the doors open and saw his mother and father, both sitting at the ends of the table, silently glaring down at each other and charging the air with tension. From a glance, Hongjoong knew they had already been fighting but had now decided to mentally curse each and any one of them could explode at any time. But thankfully their meals were already being served, so they could easily finish their meals and leave just as fast.

"Mother, Father. I see you are already here. Hope you both have been well." He politely greeted them, taking his seat right smack in the middle of the two of them and he prayed that they would not fight this time.

"Hongjoong, you're finally here. How was Europe? I hear it's beautiful around this time of the year." His mother sounded as soon as he sat down.

"It was nice." He half-heartedly answered, not in the mood to talk.

"Oh, okay." She quietly said not expecting such an answer and awkwardly cleared her throat. "I heard you started at the company today. How was it?" His mother asked. Bless her soul for trying to diffuse the tension and awkwardness.

"It was alright." He smiled slightly and if his mother noticed she didn't say anything about it, ignoring it in favour of her steak.

The room soon went silent again and it was suffocating. Why bother with a so-called family dinner if it was going to be awkward? The rest of the meal was eaten in silence. Of course, there was nothing to talk about after all this was their first meeting nearly 3 years after that incident, so of course, it was still weird around the house and he was thankful to not be stuck in the same room as his parents any longer than needed.

He walked along the once-bright halls decorated with pictures of their family. If one were to see the pictures they would be under the illusion of the picturesque family, when in reality they weren't even on good terms, let alone talking ones. He roamed around the mansion, his feet taking him there before he even noticed where he was. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what stood in front of him. There in the somewhat dimly light hallway stood a navy blue door.

He hesitantly reached for the door handle, exhaling sharply as he opened it. He blindly searched for the light switch and flickered it on as light filtered through the room. The room looked like it was frozen in time, still awaiting its owner's return, who sadly would never come back. It looked like no one had been in the room for a long time, the furniture thickly covered in dust. He was surprised his father had not yet cleared up the room, at least he had done something good for once. It truly was once a lovely and lively room partially because of its owner who made it liveable in the first place.