checkmate ; xdinary heroes

15.

❝it's all my fault, i'm sorry. i'm sorry.❞ jiseok sobbed, his face buried in his hands. the words he was saying were muffled, but it was still all clear to everyone present in the living room. 

hyeongjun sat beside jiseok on the floor, having his hand wrapped around the elder's shoulders, trying his very best to comfort him. assure him that it was okay, it wasn't his fault but jiseok was just not hearing any of it. he kept shaking his head a little too violently, repeating the same words over and over again. 

❝i⸺ i don't even fucking remember what i was doing that day. half of the day is just blank for me.❞ jiseok looked up with tears welled up in his eyes. he blamed it all on himself. hyeongjun had left, trusting him with everything and he didn't even remember what he did after the younger had left. 

he felt so bad about the whole thing. he couldn't even face them. especially hyeongjun. jiseok felt like betraying them. ❝y-you know that i would never do that on purpose, right?❞ he turned to hyeongjun who was still sitting beside him. 

the younger nodded aggressively, ❝of course. i know that jiseok. i don't blame you. it's not your fault. please stop crying. it's okay.❞ hyeongjun spoke fast, as if he was trying to say everything at once. he knew, and they all knew that it definitely was not okay. nothing was okay. but now it was too late to do anything about it. 

apologies, nor cries nor those sorrys would do anything. it wouldn't be able to turn back time and make them correct the small mistake they had made. they just had to think of something, to make it impossible for the police to find them. 

hyeongjun remembered that the officer said that they had nearly nothing. and that was good. he couldn't help but smile, thinking how even the police officer 'praised' their work. how flawless ⸺ almost flawless ⸺ it was. hyeongjun assumed, the fingerprints on the bullets were his and seungmin's. because seungmin was the one giving him the bullets and he himself put them in the gun. 

it was good that the police had close to zero clues and there was practically no way they would be able to find them. nonetheless, that didn't mean that they had to not be extra careful and actually even think of something. 

❝okay enough.❞ gunil spoke up, after the long silence in the living room. only jiseok's muffled sobs could be heard from time to time. the eldest among them walked towards the crying boy and took a seat beside him. opposite of hyeongjun. 

he placed his hand on the younger's shoulder, in a comforting way. ❝no one blames you for anything jiseok.❞ gunil repeated the same words hyeongjun had said just awhile ago. ❝sadly we can't change what happened now, so we need to think of something.❞ he looked around the living room, making sure to look at everyone present there. then turning to jiseok, ❝calm down.❞ he uttered in a soothing voice pulling jiseok closer and letting the younger rest his head on his chest. 

silence fell in the living room and it was heavy. so heavy that someone could cut it with scissors. only jiseok's quiet sobs were heard here and there and after a minute or so, he calmed himself down fully. he felt a huge source of comfort when being in gunil's arms.