chasing lights

19 | father knows best

Blurry, dull, quiet. Or is he just too numb to properly register?

Darkness, then flashes of colors, blurry but bright. They alternate in a dizzying mess. His head feels too heavy to lift, simply falls to the side along with a low groan caused by the headache, blaring through his skull, making it pretty much impossible for him to think straight at all. It takes a few seconds, maybe even a minute or two of him squeezing his eyes together and relaxing them again, repeatedly so until the world around him is finally a clear and familiar image.

Too familiar.

With ceilings and walls he has painted on so many times, then repainted again at some point when he felt like he needed a change. Furniture and a fireplace, the stool right next to it, the smell of life before simply being all he can possibly register. It confuses Minho beyond anything to be here now, all by himself and in complete and utter silence until the door to his room bursts open and his very worried father comes rushing inside.

"Oh my god, you are awake! Are you alright? Thank goodness. I thought I had lost you forever...", the man tells him, tears in his eyes and clearly having feared for his life in what Minho is sure has to be the most sincere worry he has ever been able to see in his father's expression. He helps Minho when the young man grumbles, tries to sit up somehow, but cannot do so by himself. His father is quick to reach for the side, get a wet cloth to press against his forehead, dab it against the skin. "Can you try and heal yourself? I made you some food too and I need you to eat something, son. Regain your strength."

Minho nods, takes a deep breath and starts to sing, quietly so, weak, still barely even able to gather enough strength for it. But he has to sing to heal himself and with every word, the silvery white light of his hair further lighting up the room, he can feel the pain subside, the headache now an issue of the past. His father hands him the tray of food, carefully places it on Minho's lap and all Minho can do is to dumbly stare at it, the bowl of rice porridge with some meat and vegetables in it, some bread and butter on the side, as well as a glass of water and a cup of tea that smells exactly like the one Minho had made two weeks ago when he saw his father last.

"What... what happened?", he asks, frowning at the food but slowly starting to eat regardless. Though he only does so because he hates wasting food and his stomach is far too empty right now anyway, is screaming for the comforting meal, the porridge his father used to make all the time back when Minho was still cute, still an innocent young boy whose only wish it was to see a whole bunch of lights in the sky and know what the hug of a mother might feel like, how it might be to have friends, someone to talk to apart from his only family member. "Where is Bbokkie? How did I... how did I get here?"

His father's face falls, falling deeper into a slump, carefully reaching out to hold Minho's shoulder, give it a light squeeze, as if preparing to deliver very hurtful news. It instantly has Minho worried, has him tense up, gulp down the thick lump forming in his throat. What if something happened to Bbokkie? He could not... no, never, not possibly... Minho refuses to believe it already, though he has not even heard yet what his father is about to say to him.

"I was worried, Minho. So worried when I came back and you were gone. It took me forever to finally find you and then I saw you by the lake close to the main city, with that... with that thief-", Minho inhales sharply, his father tenses up, closes his eyes to take a deep breath of his own, as if trying to stay calm despite the very clear hatred in the edge of his voice at the mere mention of someone Minho has promised himself to. The one man Minho would do absolutely anything for. "I was too slow, I'm sorry, it's just- I was too slow to notice, but before I knew it, he already had you knocked out, just kicked against you afterwards as if you were some piece of trash, as if you are not someone's child, someone so precious. He just left you there then, Minho, laughed all the way towards the forest. He took what he needed, then left you right there and I took you away from there immediately, brought you somewhere safe."