checkmate ; xdinary heroes

16.

jiseok just didn't remember how it felt to be left in the streets and having nowhere to go. he was in this kind of situation only a few times. and the hardest one was the first one. when he ran away from a cursed place he never dared to call home. after that he always had someone by his side but they always found a new place to stay at in a few hours or so. 

but this one was different. they had to move into a new city. there was no way they would be staying not just in that building, but in that city. for their safety. that's what gunil had said. 

first of all, he trusted the eldest among them and second of all, not like there was something he could do about it. 

the moment they left the house and started walking in the nearly empty street ⸺ because it was too early in the morning ⸺ jiseok felt like missing that place already. his mind was automatically making him believe that they were just going somewhere together and would come back by the evening. 

if only that was really the truth and they would really be coming back here soon. jiseok didn't know how would they be able to manage everything. just thinking about how they most definitely had to get all the furniture again, find an actual building where they would be able to stay, make it look presentable from the inside so that they themselves would want to stay there, was making him feel dizzy. 

he found it impossible to make any other house look like the one they had just left. that was how much he loved it. he had so many memories there and had stayed there for a long enough time to feel attached to everything that they had left there. his bedroom, his favorite spot in the living room, the kitchen and everything else that they weren't able to bring with them and had to leave. 

gunil had said that they only would be bringing the most important things with them and leaving most of the things there. jiseok's backpack was filled with some clothes that were actually good to wear and weren't much damaged and he somehow managed to put his beloved chess in the backpack too. there was no way he would be leaving it there. 

he was pretty sure, all of the others' backpacks were too, filled with just clothes because that was the most important thing for them. he also knew that gunil had some amount of money they had stolen awhile ago, jungsu was carrying a plastic bag where he had collected the food they would most definitely need and hyeongjun was carrying a guitar case. 

right. that was one thing the younger could never leave anywhere. what chess was for jiseok, it was guitar for hyeongjun. maybe even more valuable. he remembered hyeongjun having a small quarrel with gunil that morning telling him that there was no way in million years he would leave his guitar there. 'do you know how fucking expensive the guitar is?' hyeongjun asked something like this with a frown displaying on his face. 

yes, gunil did know how expensive the guitar was and no, hyeongjun didn't say that because he had bought the guitar with his own money. 

❝i didn't know you had a guitar.❞ jooyeon approached hyeongjun with excitement tinted in his voice. 

❝just because you didn't see it, doesn't mean that we don't have it.❞ hyeongjun rolled his eyes, nonetheless he couldn't help but curve his lips up in a small smile. ❝me and jiseok got it from the store.❞ he added. 

widening his eyes, ❝you stole it?❞ jooyeon couldn't believe what he had just heard. maybe he misunderstood it, but knowing how they lived, there was no way they would spend this much money on a guitar. but on the other hand, how did they even steal a god damn guitar from a store. 

❝yes we did.❞ hyeongjun was so proud saying that. ❝do you know how to play or sing?❞ he then asked, looking to the side at the younger. ❝i don't know if you are aware of it but, jungsu has angelic voice.❞ hyeongjun stated.