The Aged | Gyuhao (Sequel to Youth)

- 9

| Chapter Nine — Apologies with a side of Sarcasm |

"I hear by swear to never cause anymore harsh harm to you." Kazuha sighs, left hand held in the air as she speaks in a way that tells Riki and Eunchae that she just wants to get it out of the way, "I understand the force of my training has been a threat physically and mentally for you."

"Okay, just stop." Riki sighs, "I'll cut you some slack. You can stop now."

"Thank God." Kazuha relaxes, walking away to retrieve her training attire.

"See?" Eunchae smiles, "She apologized. That wasn't so hard, now was it?"

"Yeah, and she's still gonna beat my ass." Riki scoffs, gulping from afar as Kazhua gathers her boxing gloves, "That wasn't even an apology." And Kazuha really didn't have to apologize. Riki was the weak one here for not being able to handle her specific ways of training well.

Eunchae sighs, nudging Riki's shoulder, "You'll be fine, don't worry. I'll be here."

"I don't need a kid to supervise me." Riki chuckles, slipping on his own gloves.

Eunchae gasps, holding a hand to her heart, "That really hurts coming from a kid, himself."

Riki clicks his tongue, flicking Eunchae's nose, "I can't stand you, really."

"Alright, you ready?" Kazuha's unscrewing the last few nails from her nunchucks (presumably from being screamed at by Seokmin), slipping on her boxing gloves, "You know what?" She pauses, "I'll skip the nunchucks today." She tosses them aside with a smile.

Riki internally thanks whoever's listening.

"Good luck." Eunchae gives him two thumbs up, going to take a seat across the room.

Kazuha makes her way closer, fists right by her face as she stares at Riki like she usually does. Terrifyingly. This girl was too good.

Riki feels like he's sweating.

He looks over at Eunchae, the younger mouthing a sweet 'fighting!', Riki wants to die.

"Just aim a punch," Kazuha says, not at all bothered by Riki's silence and not even noticing it in the first place, "Whenever you're ready, kid."

Kid. Riki cracks a smile, tightening his gloves.

He goes for the abdomen, only to fail the exact moment he takes a swipe at her, his arm pushed away and his chest throbbing from the sudden punch she sends to it.

Noticing his distraction, Kazuha slams the glove right across his face.

Riki stumbles back, tips of his fingers dabbing the copper along the corner of his mouth, "What the hell?" He groans.

Kazuha shrugs, "Slow. You're too slow."

"Because you're not training me," Riki curses under his breath, shoulders slumping, "You're just beating the shit out of me."

"And each time it ends up not knocking sense into you," The older girl sighs, cracking her neck, stretching her arms, "With every one of our sessions, you should've learnt a lesson from the last." She rolls
her eyes, tossing her gloves back into the box she retrieved them from, "I'll see you 2 later." And then, she's gone.

Is she serious?

Eunchae stands up, smoothing down her pants and clearing her throat, "Well—"

Riki laughs in disbelief, "She's horrible."

"She's not horrible," The younger walks over, sighing softly. She pats his shoulder in hopeful comfort, "I'm sure she's just bad at communicating. You know how Cerise found her—"

"No parents. Dumped in an alley to die, I know, Chae." Riki sighs, leaning against the wall. He slips off one glove, plays the with straps of the other, "Hao hyung ignores me, Seokmin ignores me—"

"I don't ignore you."

Riki chuckles, "You used to."

Eunchae shrugs, "Well, I don't anymore." Her teeth show as she giggles, "It's my bad for not talking to you before, sunbae."

"Nah, we had this conversation." Riki sighs, "And you can drop the sunbae."

Eunchae grins, going to lean on the wall next to him, "Do you ever wonder what you'd be doing if you weren't apart of Cerise?" She asks suddenly. It makes Riki turn his head in wonder.

"Why do you ask?"

Eunchae shrugs, "No reason."

"Hey," Riki shakes his head, "You can tell me."

Eunchae's frowning now. Riki isn't too fond of it. It doesn't suit her— Sadness, "I miss my family." She tells him, looking down at the floor, eyes set on her fidgeting feet, "My real mom and dad..."

Riki blinks, looking away from her. He sighs softly, resting his head against the wall, "Yeah,"

Eunchae folds her lips together, "Do you happen to know what it feels like to miss someone you don't even remember?"

Riki closes his eyes, pained, "I do, actually."

Eunchae hums, "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Riki responds, "They really treated me like shit— beat me so bad it made me forget their true souls, but I still can't help but miss them." And Riki hates it. He just wants to forget his family, wants so desperately to forget what they looked like and why he ran away.

Eunchae takes Riki's hand, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Riki shakes his head, "I've moved on." Hopefully. He likes to think he has.

"It's okay if you haven't," It's like this girl can hear his thoughts. Riki doesn't know if he likes it or if it's the biggest thing he despises.

Riki doesn't say anything for a moment, just squeezes her hand tighter, "Thank you for talking to me." I don't know what I'd do without you, is what he wants to say. But he'd rather die than admit that to anyone.

"You, too." Eunchae smiles, "You're such an amazing friend, sunbae."

Riki's smile threatens to falter. He doesn't quite know why, "Yeah,"

The doors barge open suddenly, it scares Riki and Eunchae half to death, both of them shooting away from each other— only to relax when Seokmin comes stomping inside, "Weapon up! We're outta here by midnight!"

Riki's eyes blow wide, "What?"

"Outta here?" Eunchae repeats.

"We're relocating. Carmine found us." Seokmin says, "Hurry."