strawberry shortcake

64. deja vu

"Yongbok! Are you alright? What did they do to you?" Minho immediately scrambled to pull his brother into a bone crushing hug, the younger letting himself easily as he was still too drowsy from the pills they forced him to swallow just few hours prior. "Minho? What are you doing here? Why aren't you safe with Jisung?" He managed to get out in a tired voice.

Minho cupped his face, his breath hitching upon the sight of the many bruises and cuts littering the beautiful features. "I came here for you." He felt like tearing up. This was not what he ever wanted. All he ever did was try to protect his little brother from all the bad hidden in the world and now he was suffering due to his actions.

"You're an idiot, you should've stayed safe hyung. Why would you put yourself in danger for me?" Yongbok's eyes glossed over with tears, his voice getting hoarse due to the sadness he felt upon realizing they hurt Minho as well and probably will do even more damage later on.

"I promised you I would always protect you," brushing the dirty blonde locks out his face, It revealed even more than he wanted to ever see. Yonbok's eyebrow was cut and it definitely needed stitches, his cheeks were bruised and hollow. He definitely looked thinner. Upon feeling his fingers slightly sticking together he started to panic even more when the realization on what must be decoloring his brothers light locks.

"You were nine, Minho. And no promise should ever put you in a situation where you can get killed." Yongbok rasped out, taking a pause right after to catch his breath.

They beat him pretty bad and he's had a small difficulty breathing since they, although having no idea behind the cause

"Oh shut up, will you? I couldn't just sit at home and do shit while knowing you were somewhere alone, in danger."

"Does anyone know you're here? Did you at least tell Jisung?" He asked desperately, staring up into the older's eyes with hope.

Maybe they could rescue them. Hyunjin told him they were dealing with missing people as well. He told him he liked him and Jisung loved Minho, they wouldn't just leave them there, right?

"I didn't tell anyone." Minho looked down in shame, regretting as soon as his eyes met the damp floor. It was disgusting. Worse than when he was kidnapped by Hongjoong. At least their intention was never to hurt him since they wanted to sell him. These people obviously went after something else by completely ruining Yongbok.

"Yeah we're going to die," the younger chuckled humorlessly, hiding his sadness behind the jokes.

He missed Hyunjin a lot and this whole ordeal made him realize maybe there already were deeper feelings building up.

Only he won't ever get the chance to tell him

The realization made him sad that much more.

There was so much he wanted to do that he was only now coming to.

"I still didn't tell mom I was the one who broke the bed..." he muttered quietly, shaky fingers picking on the fabric of his pants. If there was a memory from childhood it was this one. The constant reminder that he was the cause of their parent's divorce. 

Minho's eyes softened and he moved closer to him, laying his hand on his knee as a comforting gesture before he spoke up, "Bokkie you were just a kid, you couldn't have known what it would cause... I don't even think anyone cares at this point, it only helped her discover father was cheating." Honestly, he couldn't be blaming himself for something that ran way deeper than a broken bed. Their parent's relationship was over long before they started noticing. Besides, they were just kids. None of it was their fault.

"True, but I feel guilty..." Yongbok sniffled, laying his head on his knees. The cold, dark room they were in only made him overthink more and get to all the stuff that was pushed far away into his brain to reoccure to him unless he was put into a similar situation.