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Chapter 15

Around the same time, Oseong was at home studying business like his parents had decided he'd do. They had taken away all of his papers, his drawing materials, his paints, his notebooks. They'd taken away everything that he enjoyed doing and left him nothing but textbooks, a single pencil, and one of his father's old laptops (so he couldn't access anything on his personal one). He had already gotten his phone confiscated, and he wasn't sure when he was getting it back.

He placed his round, wireframe glasses on top of the desk and rubbed his eyes, trying to get rid of the exhaustion clouding his head. It had been almost a week since he'd been locked up at home, and the only time he'd gone outside was only as far as the sidewalk.

Money, money, money. That's all his parents cared about. If they wanted him to have a business, he could've had a musical one. It was a pretty good idea, actually, but his parents were still upset with him, so he decided to save that for later.

It turns out, Oseong's parents were more upset about him leaving to drive Minsoo and his brother than they were about anything else, but that wasn't much of a surprise.

"What kind of adult doesn't have enough money to take themselves to the hospital?" his father had said.

"Could they not have taken the bus?" his mother had asked.

And Oseong had replied simply with, "No. No, they couldn't."

His parents were quite nosy, but he wanted to keep Minsoo a secret for now, so he brushed off the subject as soon as he could. As punishment for leaving right after he'd been grounded, they took his phone right away.

Since then, Oseong has done nothing but study business, just like his parents said he would.

But this was not the way to get your child to "behave." In fact, most children who had parents that were too strict end up becoming even more disobedient.

Indeed, this was the exact opposite of disciplining.

~*~*~*~

"So why exactly are we here?" Fuji asked, tucking his hands into his pockets. It was getting colder these days, so he had his winter coat on, and as much as Euntaek hated to admit it, he always looked super cute in it.

"Street performances," he said casually, placing his hands in his hoodie pocket. He didn't think it would be this cold tonight, but it was, and now he was suffering because he hadn't bothered to check.

Fuji checked his watch and gave his friend a weird look, "At 12 o'clock? Don't you have better things to do at this hour? Like, sleep maybe?"

Euntaek just brushed this comment aside with a dismissive wave of his hand, "Whatever. We're already here, aren't we? Let's just watch."

They found Hyojin's stage after a few minutes of searching, and by the time they arrived there, a huge crowd had already gathered. Apparently, the black haired boy had quite a lot of fans from his daily performances.

"Is that Hyojin?" Fuji whispered as the music started to play. It was a familiar song, one that everyone knew: The Eve by Exo. He had obviously chosen this song on purpose, and he fit the concept perfectly.

"Yeah..." Euntaek almost missed Fuji's question because he was so mesmerized by the boy performing on stage. He had never seen Hyojin like this before. He was good at making expressions and acting, that he knew, but the way he moved was also incredibly elegant and natural.

It was so beautiful.

These types of songs typically made Euntaek feel a little uncomfortable, especially with the dance, but he quite enjoyed watching Hyojin perform. It was almost magical how he danced like that. Often times, when people danced by themselves, it was a little lonely, but Hyojin made the entire stage his own. He belonged up there, performing in a way that expressed his thoughts and emotions better than words ever could.