forever ; hyungwonho

05

CHAPTER FIVE

EVERYTHING felt different that particular morning.

the air felt colder; dark, ominous clouds hung low in the atmosphere, almost as if they were waiting for something horrible to happen. waiting just so it would start pouring down with rain, pelting the ground with all its sorrow and misery. maybe the universe already knew of the unknown, maybe it was preparing for what the future held.

only if the universe could speak, then maybe hoseok and hyungwon would've stayed home.

both boys were currently walking back to hyungwon's foster home. it had been two days and the younger wanted to go back. despite being an orphan, and not living with any actual blood-related family, the taller boy loved all the people he lived with. to him, they were a real family.

as they neared the other side of town, the younger spotted his friends, but they weren't exactly what captured his attention.

his gaze landed on the food stall, hoseok could see it, too: the chaos. a table was flipped over, oranges and apples seemed to be thrown across the gravel, most were bruised and squished- a person must have stepped on them. it was a saddening sight to witness, especially since no one was brave enough to actually step in and help clean up the mess. of course, hyungwon's friends did.

he saw yoohyeon talking to an old man sitting on a stool, with his head resting in his wrinkled hands, while the others' were trying to collect the scattered food.

he held onto hoseok's hand tighter, pulling him over to the girl and old man. "what happened here?"

the girl twirled around, eyes lighting up upon seeing her friend, but the spark soon faded into nothingness. her lips pulled down into a frown, looking between the old man and all the mess.

"they did it," yoohyeon's voice dripped in disgust.

hoseok immediately tensed up, knowing that the guards were the ones who trashed the old man's food stall, when those same people were capable of so much more. he really didn't want to stick around and wait for them to get back, if they did. he needed to keep hyungwon safe, and he couldn't do that if they stayed there for any longer.

"we should go," hoseok's voice came out shaky, as did his breathing.

hyungwon turned to him with furrowed eyebrows, "what? no, we need to help clean up here. we can't let those people get away with it."

the boy loosened his grip from hoseok's hand, walking over to the fruit and vegetables that laid on the ground. he started gathering them in his arms, with the help of jian. both knew they weren't edible anymore - that they weren't even worth a cent - but they couldn't just let them rot on the dirt.

nevertheless, the older boy knelt down, too, picking up the flipped over table with the help of another girl, siyeon. they positioned it upright and started to fix the baskets that used to be sprawled on the ground.

a pang of all sorts of emotions erupted inside hoseok's heart, he tried ignoring it but it felt suffocating.

he didn't understand what it meant. he so badly wished he knew. the inexplicable feeling reminded him of all the times his parents weren't in this world anymore; when it was like they guided him away from danger. and hoseok knew something definitely wasn't right. he could feel it in his soul. he looked around, everyone was cleaning up, the old man even had a small smile on his face now.

everything is okay, he thought. there's nothing to worry about.

but the dim, quiet voice in the back of his mind was telling him to run. telling him to take hyungwon and go home.