Feels Like Family

Chapter 5

No one quite had the energy to return to their normal lives the next day. Hongseok hardly got any sleep and the other two were the same. Hongseok lay in the bed, eyes open but wet from the tears, even in the morning. Changgu kept looking at pictures and videos with them with their father while Yan An texted for a while before getting himself busy with this and that.

As morning drew closer, they started to get out of their rooms to freshen up. Hongseok was in the worst condition out of the three and that worried Changgu a lot. He could understand what his hyung was going through but he could do nothing to help. All he could do was to act as usual with him, hoping that would help in some way. Hongseok smiled when Changgu said “Morning hyung” but the tiredness on his face and his eyes made it seem like an obvious lie. With the bit of strength he had, he replied by saying “Morning” and the conversation ended right then and there. As Changgu looked at his brother’s defeated back, he could hear his mother call him from downstairs. Her voice was the loudest that day. None of the three men spoke a word for most of the morning and the silence was absolutely painful.

Hongseok barely ate anything, Changgu tried his best to take a few bites and Yan An finished about half of the food. Do not be mistaken, it was not that Yan An was not affected by what had stricken them but going through all that he did, made such situations unfortunately usual to him. Even though he was feeling for what was going on, he still kept eating, as if to show that nothing bothered him. This caught the elder's attention as she mumbled from the corner of her mouth “How can he eat at a time like this, pathetic” and it was not as if she was trying to say it too quietly. All of them heard what she said and Hongseok was the first to respond but… this time, it wasn’t the way he would usually speak. A lot had happened and his mind was a complete mess. Some might think it was a bad thing but somehow, his difference didn’t particularly seem to be a weakness. He looked up from the table and looked at the woman sitting right across, as he replied “Then what was the breakfast for” and it was as if everyone had seen a ghost. Nobody was expecting such words from his mouth and it even left Yan An looking at him in awe.

“What did you say?” asked their mother, with an irritated face and an enraged voice. But Hongseok had no intention of letting go and thus continued by saying “I was very loud and clear when I spoke”. One could guess how her face kept changing at the man's words but before she could snap back at him, he said “And you have no right to say anything while wearing make up” before getting up from his chair and leaving the room. He kept wondering why he even went to the dining room to begin with. He still kept thinking how he was acting was wrong but letting out what he truly felt, made his heart somehow lighter. After he disappeared through the door, she kept talking about how rude he was and how he knew no manners, Changgu could only sit there and admire his hyung. He truly wanted to smile and he would’ve had his mother not been there next to him. But Yan An kept looking at Hongseok’s direction till he went out of the frame. This was a first for him. He personally had nothing against him and found no certain flaw in Hongseok as a person but at that moment, a sense of respect grew inside him.

Yan An was the next to leave the table, leaving only Changgu and his mom in the room. He went up the stairs and before entering his room, he stopped to look at the direction of Hongseok’s room for a few short seconds. He felt like saying “Thank you” but he was nowhere near to that point. Although he knew he should have, he quietly went into his room without making a single sound. Meanwhile, all Changgu could do was listening to his mother talk ill about his brothers. Her voice heightened from the anger and it was loud enough to irritate her son. But the words she said were more the reason for that. He finally spoke by saying “Mom stop already, he’s been through enough” and that didn’t sit well with her for obvious reasons.

“Of course, you’re taking his side” is what she replied with and continued with “Sometimes I forget you’re my son and not his son”. The pain Changgu felt when she said that was a first. No matter what his mother did, he couldn’t help but love her because of how well she treated her and for how she took care of him all these years. But her words left him miserable and all he could do was keep looking at the woman as she got up and stomped to her bedroom. He felt horrible to say the least but he kept a check on his emotions because he wanted to go and check on the other two. He always had this sense of responsibility to apologize to them for his mother’s actions and Hongseok never liked that. Yan An never said anything but he felt sorry for Changgu nonetheless. He got up from the table and started to put the food in the fridge before the housekeeper came in and told him she’d do the rest.

He went up the stairs and knocked on Hongseok’s room door. He couldn’t hear an answer and after a few seconds he opened the door to go in. “Hyung”, he called out as he saw the figure sitting on the bed but he still got no reply. Hongseok's head was buried inside his hands and the room was dark even for a morning. Changgu didn’t say anything more and closed the door behind himself before going to sit beside Hongseok. He sat there quietly and even though he wanted to say and ask so much, he didn’t. After a moment of silence, the older finally spoke by saying “I’m sorry” and Changgu felt this sharp pain in him. That was the last thing he wanted to hear but the first thing he expected from his brother. He replied “You did nothing wrong hyung don’t apologize” and he could finally see his hyung's face as Hongseok slid down his hands from over his face. His eyes were wet, the swelling of his eyes prominent and his hands shaking.

“I am not like this but, I just… couldn’t take it anymore… how she… how she talked to him”, Hongseok said in his muffled voice and Changgu almost instantly gave him a hug. That’s what he needed the most, Changgu thought. A shoulder to cry on. And he was right, as Hongseok lost all his resolve and hid his face on his younger brother's shoulder. Changgu kept telling him “It’ll all be okay, we’ll be okay” again and again, to try and give him a sense of relief but even he knew not how they were to achieve that. But the crying didn’t seem to stop and no one cloud blame him for being like that. Changgu held onto him as tightly as he could, wishing to let him know that Hongseok will always have him but it was not only he who was worried for the eldest. Yan An stood outside the closed door and listened in to everything that had been going on inside. He felt heavy inside, because he felt that what had happened downstairs and what was happening then was his fault. There were times when he thought that Hongseok was weak but he always reminded himself that he was no better, since he never spoke up for himself either. But there, standing outside and not being able to go in no matter how he felt, he knew he was the coward. He knew he was the only blood relative Hongseok had left but, he still couldn’t come to terms with that. So he didn’t stay long since it was hard for him to do nothing and stand there. He went back to his room but somehow Yan An left his mind at his brother's door.

But, as the men were inside, no body noticed the woman of the house meeting up with an odd looking individual. Odd not in the sense of appearance but in the sense that something seemed off about him no matter how one looks at him. The man wore monotone clothes and looked dreary but his eyes were sharp and his voice heavy and clear. “Samonim” said the man as he bowed down before the woman in front of him. She replied “Is he at the law firm?” while looking at the man with a cold stare. The man spoke once again by saying “He is not at his office today, but I believe the will is there” but that didn’t change her expression even by one inch. “Make him give it to you. I don’t want you to risk taking it from his office” she said in her cold voice. “I’ll make sure he complies without problems” said the man before bowing once more and leaving the room. No sooner than he did, she took out her phone to call another acquaintance. “Hello, I was just calling to inform you it’s going as planned”, she said with a smile on her face. She continued “Yes… yes I will have it by today evening so might we meet then?... Okay, I’ll be looking forward to our meeting”. One could see the excitement in her eyes as she spoke with the other party and the expression didn’t disappear even after she hung up the phone. Whatever it was that she planned, it was evident that she was having her way… for now.