TIME ─ JAEYONG

004⸰

— past moment, leading up to the previous chapter [3]

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a whole week had passed. each day jaehyun thought about the night in front of the coffee shop. guilt ate at him the longer he waited. yuta had left for the poor side multiple times this week but there jae was, too scared to face the real world like usual until one sunny morning.

he sat outside yuta's porch, shaking his leg nervously as he awaited the return of his best friend. under his hoodie he had on the same black shirt yuta lended him a week ago.

next to him was a small bag filled with waters for whoever and whatever. after talking to himself he found the courage to do what he wanted to do, to find the tae kid.

"yo jaehyun!" yuta called out from just beyond the fence. jae rose and met him halfway.

"i want to go. i'm finally ready." yuta gave him a surprised look.

"what changed your mind?"

"the guilt i guess. i realized if you could do it so could i." yuta nodded and clapped jae on the back.

"about time baby."

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jaehyun noticed how less scary the city was during the day. no one seemed to be scavenging for time like they do at night.

"so how do you expect to find the tae kid? he could be anywhere." jae observed his surroundings before shrugging.

"i don't know. let's ask around. we can stop by that sicheng guys shop." yuta faintly turned red and nodded.

yuta led jae to the oh so familiar shop. it wasn't busy when they arrived, the most being 3 adults. the bell above the door jingled as yuta pushed open the door.

the sicheng kid looked up from behind the register, an instant goofy smile washed over his face. he nearly ran towards the two. "hi yuta. who's this?"

"this is my best friend jaehyun." he motioned towards the nervous male. jae waved slightly, giving off his awkward dimpled smile.

"nice to meet you! would you two like anything?" jaehyun watched as yuta's eyes sparkled each time sicheng would speak. he could sense the admiration and love yuta described.

"i'm sorry but we can't stay." sicheng frowned. yuta reached out to take ahold of sicheng's pale hand. "don't be sad, please. i'll be back to visit again." he practically begged.

wow.

was all jae could think. yuta was totally infatuated with this middle-class kid.

maybe my love life will be like this one day...

"okay, yuta. but if you weren't coming to stay then why did you come?"

"we're looking for a kid who goes by the name tae. do you know where he might stay?"

sicheng bit his lip and hummed while in thought. yuta felt as if he could shout out how adorable sicheng was but he contained himself, which caused jae to chuckle.

"can you describe him?" yuta turned to look at jae. he cleared his throat and thought of the tae's kid physical attributes he could see/remember from that night.

"uh skinny, black or brown hair? knows a kid named doyoung?"

sicheng snapped his fingers while looking like a light bulb went off. "he's usually in an alleyway not too far from here. you might see him unless he's somewhere else." jae smiled although he wanted to frown.

he thought he would get more out of sicheng but then again, this was a slim chance since he could literally be anywhere. jae thanked sicheng and walked out the warm brewery, leaving yuta to say his goodbyes.

"okay. this way." yuta took off left the moment he stepped outside. jae followed him like usual. each alleyway yuta chose happened to be empty. "well."

"one more. if he's not there then we can go back home." the next alleyway was a few minutes past the last one. this certain one seemed to be barren as well as the pair walked through it. jae sighed with a frown, his shoulders slumped.

"do you hear that?" yuta tugged on jae's hoodie to stop him from advancing.

"you're only making this worse for yourself!" yuta knew just by the sound of the voice it was a no good scum bag.

he quickly pulled jae between one of the cracks and pressed his finger to his lips as jae looked at him with wide eyes. "stay quiet."

jae gulped but nonetheless remained dead silent. he shifted his body around so he could see what was happening just beyond their hiding spot. two gruff looking men ran past them, not even stopping to glance around.

"no good bastards. picking on kids." a familiar voice panted once the footsteps fainted. jae realized the voice and smiled.

he had found tae.

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― how are you liking it? i promise to update every sunday! tysm for reading! 💕