The Aged | Gyuhao (Sequel to Youth)

- 49

| Chapter Forty - Nine — GN |

Right when Joshua closes the door to Mingyu's bedroom, 3 kids are all up in his face.

He speaks before they can, "He's getting some rest. Tell me where you all are staying,"

"Why should we?" Jungwon crosses his arms, "You could kidnap and kill us at anytime if we spill,"

Joshua sighs. He doesn't have time for this, "If any of us wanted to kill you, we would've already," He tells them, "Stay here for the time being. We have enough rooms,"

"What? No way," Riki says.

Joshua closes his eyes, clenching his fists by his sides in annoyance so he doesn't yell at them, "Look, we've all had a long ass day and I know you 3 are tired," He says, "You're probably staying in an awful motel that smells like sweat and cheese. Stay here. The entirety of Chicago knows your faces by now, anyways,"

They all fall silent, not having anything to say. Joshua was right. And they hated it.

"Only for a little while," Eunchae speaks up, hands clasped around her back, "Where are we staying?" She asks.

"Follow me," Joshua says.

They make small talk and the place is absolutely enormous, but they eventually end up making their way up one flight of stairs before Joshua is stopping them.

"You want separate rooms? There's enough," The oldest tells them, "If you're still shaken up from today, you can share," He tosses Riki a pair of keys, glancing at the others as well, "It's better not to split up, if—"

"Separate is fine," Jungwon says, scoffing when Riki and Eunchae glance over, "What? I kick and I snore, okay?"

Eunchae rolls her eyes, grabbing a 2nd pair of keys from Joshua's hand, "I'll take this one," She walks up to the matching door number, unlocking it, "Thank you," She says to Joshua before walking inside.

Riki rolls his eyes, sluggishly taking the last pair. They click and clack in his grip, "Thanks, I guess,"

"Get some sleep," Joshua sighs, twirling on his heel to leave.

"Well," Jungwon pats Riki's shoulder, "Let's hope we don't get murdered in our sleep tonight, hmm?" He pays no mind to Riki's jaw drop, slipping into his room and closing the door behind him.

Riki's left in the hallway alone, jangling his keys by his side as his head pounds with all the shit that's happened today.

"You going in?" Eunchae asks, leaning on the doorframe, as she had never shut her door.

"How are we supposed to sleep?" Riki stares at the floor, "Everything we know is fucked up. Our leader is gone again, we're apart from our people, and now we're staying at our rival gang's hideout. Doesn't this all seem a little weird to you?"

"Well, it's not like we have a choice," Eunchae shrugs, "We really don't have anywhere else to go. If you think about it, we never really came here with a plan. It was more-so a move of desperation in finding Hao,"

Riki looks at her, tears fogging his vision. Eunchae visibly stiffens in panic.

"I'm so tired," Riki shudders.

Eunchae frowns, walking over in a split second to pull him into a comforting embrace, "It's gonna be okay," She squeezes him tight, stuffing her face into the crook of his neck, "It's all gonna be okay in the end,"

Riki sighs shakily, looping his arms weakly around the dip of her back, and cries.

It's silent yet heartbreaking, and Eunchae feels like a thousand knives are being repeatedly stabbed into her heart.

"Sunbae," She coos, closing her eyes.

Riki sniffles, back jolting in his heart wrenching sobs, "I-I'm sorry," He shudders, breath heavy and hitched, "I'm supposed to be better than this. I'm supposed to—"

"You're not supposed to be anything other than yourself," Eunchae corrects, "You don't have to prove anything. You don't have to make us believe that you never feel down. It's okay to cry, sunbae. It's okay to be human,"

Riki inhales deeply, breath tickling her neck, "I'm sorry,"

"Stop apologizing," Eunchae pulls back, the tips of her thumbs swiping under his eyes to rid of his tears, "And don't cry. It'll make me cry," She tells him, chuckling softly.

Riki frowns, "You're an angel,"

Eunchae smiles, taking his hand, "Come on," She tugs him inside her room, "There's no way I'm leaving you alone after this. Let's have a fun little sleepover,"

"Sleepover?" Riki snorts as she closes the door, "I've never had a sleepover before,"

"Me neither," Eunchae shrugs as Riki laughs, "I've never had a friend to have one with. I'm not sure what to do," She crosses her arms, tapping the tip of her finger on her chin as she thinks, "What should we do?"

Riki goes to say something but pauses, walking over to the window to examine the world as he hears the pitter patter of raindrops on the roof, "It's raining," He says, a smile creeping into his face.

Eunchae makes her way over, taking a seat at the bay window as she pushes the curtains back.

Her eyes find Riki, "We could—" She shrugs shyly, hugging her knees as she tugs them to her chest, "We could watch the rain?" She swallows when he looks back at her, "And talk some more, if you want to?"

Riki smiles almost immediately at the idea, plopping down right in front of her and mimicking her position, "That sounds nice,"

Eunchae blushes, looking out the window, "Well," She sighs, "What do you want to talk about, sunbae?"

Riki leans his head on the window, the chill of it making him internally shiver, "Anything," He says, "I like to talk about anything with you," He admits.

Eunchae chuckles, "I'm honored," She tells him, "And here you couldn't stand me when we first met," She teases.

"Hey," Riki tsks, "You swore never to bring that up again,"

Eunchae giggles, "My bad,"