「 simple ; lee jihoon 」

[ three : 口是心非 ]

Just as Hoshi had gently eased the blanket over Jihoon's cute, little foetal figure, a monotonous, almost irritated groan was released.

The lone smartphone, which was always left to sit on the cold surface of the drawer had come to life again.

Hoshi sighed as he sauntered over to it with heavy footsteps, almost tripping under his impeccable fatigue. When Mr Jeon called, it was rarely a good sign.

Hopefully the police hadn't spotted them from their little scene the other day. A lashing from the 30 year old man was the last thing both Hoshi and Jihoon needed after the happenings of tonight.

"Ji, he's calling, stay quiet." Hoshi whirled around and whispered sharply, followed with a quick nod from Jihoon to show he understood.

"Hello, K-"

"My apologies for cutting you off, Mr. Jeon. Woozi is currently in the same room as me, and I can't risk him knowing my identity." Hoshi cut in hastily, earning an eyebrow raise from Jihoon.

What was so bad about knowing Hoshi-hyung's name? He's not out to kill me, right? His small, glassy eyes darted around the barren, moonlit room like a fox, just as he always did when he was thinking deeply. It was weird, he knew-people normally stared at a single object when they lost their train of thought.

Jihoon was different, in the most beautiful way possible.

"Ah, I understand; but please do alert me before the call." Mr. Jeon said in an irritatingly curt manner before continuing, "Anyway, the reason why I called you was due to the electricity bills. I can't pay for two people at the moment, so only one of you can stay here today, so I think Ji-um, sorry, Woozi can leave first. You can stay, I know you don't have anywhere else to go." Hoshi's temper rose at the hint of joy in the disgusting man's monotone, "That's all. Goodnight."

And just like that, the call was ended abruptly. Hoshi gave the wall a good kick before returning to the bed, which he definitely regretted doing after-his toes were hurting terribly.

"Hey, Woozi-ah, are you okay?" Hoshi asked, noticing that Jihoon had long lost his bearings and was staring around aimlessly. He was still trying to fathom Hoshi's real name that started with a "k"-either that, or it was just his surname.

CLAP!

"AH! What was that?" Jihoon flinched at the sudden pang in his ear, and when he found the older thoroughly amused with his reaction he couldn't help but pout in slight irritation. Hoshi-hyung's so mean.

Anyway, he hastily began, "Mr. Jeon says you can go home. That's really all there is to it."

Jihoon's small, olive eyes lit up like the streetlights that paved the way outside the house. "R-Really?"

Hoshi broke into a small, almost wan smile, causing his high, curved cheekbones to protrude out again. "R-ea-lly." He said the word syllable by syllable.

Jihoon immediately leaped off from the bed that the two shared and onto the cold floor-the paranoia he had previously had about the nails on the floor was gone. He really couldn't care less. The thought of seeing his family again was like coming back to the highest of heavens on earth.

However, when he whirled around, eager to go on about his little bit of happiness, Jihoon was faced with two droopy, milky eyes and an almost-frown. The pure face of dejection.

And that's when he realised, that he had a father, a mother, and a sister-while Hoshi had nobody.

Jihoon's smile dropped into a duplicate frown of his own. He wasn't happy if his brother wasn't. His eyes could not help but drift away awkwardly, wondering just how his 5 year old self could fix the situation, until Hoshi spoke again.