Golden Slumber 📚 ATEEZ [▶]

11

The creaking of the old swing outside was deafening, enough to distract Jongho from his math homework. 

Repeatedly, he reached for the eraser, now blackened, to erase the numbers from his incorrect calculations. Yunho, in his bed, was completely unaffected. Focused on the laptop screen, he was playing yet another game when the door swung open abruptly, revealing Mingi.

Jongho snorted, wrinkling his nose as Mingi passed by. The smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke clung strongly to him. Mingi didn't care. He opened the fridge and took out a new bottle of beer. Yunho shook his head, watching his older brother drink alcohol like it was just plain water, downing it quickly until it was gone.

Mingi opened the fridge again, searching for more stock, only to realize there were no more bottles of alcohol left.

"My beer stock is empty," Mingi said, not really addressing anyone in particular. He rummaged in his pants pocket, pulling out some cash from his job. "Who wants to buy me some beer?"

"Just buy it yourself!" Yunho snapped at his older brother, annoyed by his unchanged behavior.

Mingi glared sharply, approaching Yunho with irritation. "What do you mean?" He got no response. Yunho closed the curtain around his bed, making Mingi even more frustrated with his younger brother's behavior. "Hey, you buy it!" he demanded, tossing a wad of cash onto Jongho's notebook.

"I don’t want to. You buy it yourself."

"I work hard to support you all!" Mingi raised his voice, angry at his younger siblings for suddenly disobeying. "You won't even work a little!"

"You only work twice a week!" Jongho shouted back, pointing at his oldest brother. "And that’s only if you’re not drunk! You don’t save any money to support us! Everything is always gone by the time you wake up!"

Enraged, Mingi kicked Jongho's desk, scattering all his stationery. Yunho, still in bed, stopped his game to watch as Mingi continued to yell at Jongho, while his twin brother looked frustrated, hastily packing up his stationery and bag.

"Fine, go! Don’t come back!" Mingi pushed Jongho as he stomped out of the house.

Jongho wasn’t actually running away. He just wanted a quiet place to study. He left his bag on a long bench near a swing and went back to his homework with better focus.

Mingi, in his bed, felt no regret. He started snoring, falling into a sleep as if he would never wake up again. Yunho thought this would be better for both him and Jongho.

However, when Mingi woke up the next morning, Yunho realized that his wish hadn’t come true. With his wrinkled shirt and the lingering smell of alcohol, Mingi walked past Yunho, who was back to his game, and left the house. Jongho was still outside, sleeping on a bench overnight in a short-sleeve shirt and knee-length pants. But Mingi didn’t care. He had more important things to do than covering his stubborn younger brother with a blanket.

His staggered steps had just reached the convenience store when a somewhat unfamiliar person called out to him.

"Excuse me! Song Mingi?"

Mingi turned to see a neatly dressed man calling him.

"Hello, I’m Park Seonghwa. Yunho and Jongho’s teacher."

Normally, Mingi would have walked away or even yelled at someone who spoke to him about something irrelevant. But this morning, he was calm enough to stay where he was, waiting for Seonghwa to state his purpose.

"May I speak with you for a moment?"

Mingi didn’t respond much. He followed Seonghwa, who took him to a dining place and bought him a healthy breakfast, something he hadn’t had in years. But inviting him to breakfast wasn’t what Seonghwa intended. Slowly and carefully, Seonghwa began to educate Mingi on how dangerous each sip of alcohol was to one’s body.

Once again, Mingi remained silent. He listened, reflecting on everything.