√ mask on | lee haechan

07

a/n: honestly, i miss him so much. but i need to understand he needs time to heal properly.

-

The next morning, you woke up to Jisung's groaning. You instantly got up to check up on him.

"Jisung, are you okay?" You tapped the boy's cheeks softly as you saw the little boy nodded while trying to get up.

You helped him up and he turned to you giving a smile, "I did well, didn't I?" He heard you chuckle and you patted him on his head, "Yeah Jisung. You did well, but it would be great if you listened to me in the first place."

Jisung frowned, "But it's the money you keep," You grinned, inching closer to his ear to whisper, "Do you think I'm a fool to only keep in one piggy bank?"

Jisung's eyes widened, he broke into a grin of amusement. "Woah, noona is amazing." He clapped. You nodded, "You are talking about Yoojin, you know,"

You grabbed your bag, and dug in the bag full of the snacks you stole. When the antiseptic cream landed in your hand, you ordered Jisung to lift up his shirt as you helped to apply them on his stomach.

You heard him hissing at the stinging pain, you giggled. "Does it hurt that bad?"

"Why are you laughing" Jisung whined, "Because, the bruise isn't that big. Dad must have gone easy on you." You finished off neatly, putting away the cream.

"It's the weekend, so what are you gonna do?" Jisung raised a brow. "I'll go to part-time work."

"Can I-"

"And you are going to study, alright?" You cut him off, "You gonna leave me here? You don't even study yet you ask me to," Jisung pouted as he folds the blanket.

You sighed, "Then, come stay at the convenience store while I work, but I bet it's gonna be very boring for you,"

"Anything as long as I'm with noona" He grinned.

"Thank you, come again!" You smiled at the customer. You exhaled, peeking through the shelves to see Jisung doing his homework on the table while slurping his ramen.

You walked to the back of the store to restore the empty snack shelves.

Everything needs to be in order and you hate it since people would mess it up anyway. Whether on purpose or not.

"Excuse me," you heard a voice from the counter. You lightly jogged to the counter to ring in his item.

"Yoojin?" You look up, an eyebrow raised as the male knows you. "Oh, Haechan," You nodded, back to tagging his things.

"You... work here?"

You ignored his question, not bothering to reply to it. "It will be $9.20". Haechan scoffed, he clutched the plastic of his things and took a step back, "You owe me yesterday, pay for it" He smirked.

You rolled your eyes, too lazy to deal with him, you walked away from the counter to restock the snacks.

You didn't want him to bother you at work, you know he'll complain that you should treat him right as a customer. Because that's how he had fun.

You heard footsteps coming closer to you when you are seated on the floor crisscrossed, a pair of white Adidas shoes stopping right in front of you.

"You acted differently yesterday, thought you changed." You shut your eyes close, not wanting to yell at him. "See you later, then," he said, walking away from the store.

You internally groaned as you stood up from your uncomfortable position. You are left with only 2 minutes on your shift.

Walking to the counter to pack your things, you called your younger brother but he didn't respond.

You saw $9.20 on the counter, probably it was Haechan. You keyed it in the counter and left to get Jisung when the next staff arrived, giving you green light to leave.

A small smile appeared on your lips as you saw the boy sleeping with his head on the table. You helped him pack his bag and threw out the snacks he ate.

You sat next to him, admiring your little brother. You unconsciously reached out your hand to his hair, softly stroking it. "We'll live a better life, I promise," You whispered.

"Jisung, let's go home." You woke him up. He stretched as he opened his eyes. Jisung flashed a toothy smile, making you pinched his cheek.

"Cute,"

edited.