Two Against All {A Yungi Fanfic}

6.

**content warning at the asterisks below**

"Yunho, can I talk to you?" She said, her eyes never leaving Hongjoong and Seonghwa. "And may you two kindly leave?".

Their faces were bright red, but Hongjoong’s was far more fearful than Seonghwa’s. They scrambled up and quickly left, Hongjoong tossing a sympathetic glance at me as they passed.

She watched them leave and took a deep breath. Her fists were clenched and her lips were in a tight line. After a moment, she then called back into the room.

"Yeosang, can you please leave us for a few minutes." She asked, her voice strained.

He hesitated, watching me closely, before nodding and quickly running down the steps. My mom stepped inside the room, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Mom...." I tried, and she put her hand up to stop me.

"I'm going to get your father, wait here, inside your room, please.". And she left.

My hands were shaking, the room felt cold, and I could feel my heart beating faster as I waited. Listening to the hushed voices from below, I could hear the pattern of my father walking towards me.

I saw his hair peek over the top of the steps, quickly followed by his poorly hidden anger, and it felt like my heart stopped for a second. His eyes narrowed at me.

"Yunho." My father said, his voice hushed. "Is what your mother tells me true?".

"Y-yes," I answered, not looking him in the eye. I knew that if I were to lie, and he finds out, I would never be able to see any of my friends again. I pressed my hands together behind my back.

"That Hongjoong and that other man were about to kiss each other?". His voice cracked with anger. I looked at the floor and I could hear the disappointment in his voice.

"Yes," I answered, my voice becoming weaker.

"Have I not taught you what is wrong and right?". His hands grabbed my shoulders and shook me with each word. I opened my mouth to answer but he cut me off.

"We are going to the church again, get ready to go." He spat, dragging me towards the stairs.

My mom watched us go. Turning back for a moment, I could see her eyes filled with tears, but after she looked me up and down, she turned and left towards her room. I could feel the tears burning in my own eyes.

Because of the bible study, my father wasn't able to the church immediately with me, so he sent me to the car, whispering a threat to begin praying for my own sins. It was not much longer before people began to leave my house, a few glancing at me from the front seat of the car.

My father quickly walked out, started the car, and began towards the church. The ride was silent. When we arrived, my entire body was shaking and a few tears had already fallen. My father hadn't looked at me since he yelled at me, and Yeosang was who knows where else.

We went downstairs and into a small room that not many people knew about.

I stopped right outside, my fear preventing me from moving any closer inside but they wouldn't budge.

"Son, I'm doing this because I love you and you have to learn." He said, grabbing my arm and dragging me inside. I wanted to scream and yell but I couldn’t.

**************************************

He closed the door and took off his belt, he then tapped my shirt.

"Take it off." He said.

I felt tears falling down my face as I did.

Folding and setting it aside. He took my wrists and tied them to the bench that took up the back half of the room. He put his hand on my shoulder

I knelt down on my knees and put my head down.

"I love you, Yunho, but it's necessary." He whispered, taking his hand from my back.

I closed my eyes and listened for the belt.

I heard the buckle clinking, then a whistling sound, and felt it slash across my back. The metal buckle hurt so badly that my legs almost gave out.

The pain caused my tears to pour out and I let out a scream and a sob.

My father kept hitting my back. Over and over again. The pain was so overwhelming that I almost passed out several times.

When my father thought he had completed his duty, I couldn't pick myself up from the bench. My back screamed out in agony and my legs were cramped up so tightly that I could barely pull myself up onto the bench.

My father untied my wrists but didn't help me up.

"I'll come back tomorrow." He said, leaving me in the room alone.

I crawled onto the bench and let every tear that I had been holding back go.

I cried until it felt like I had no more tears left.

**************************************

I used my shirt as a pillow and gazed at the door.

My thoughts wandered to Yeosang and Hongjoong, then to Seonghwa. I wondered if Yeosang got yelled at by my parents for being a "witness" and I thought about how Hongjoong and Seonghwa would never be let back to anything that our church did. I wondered if Yeosang would come Sunday or if he would stay home.

Eventually, my thoughts found their way to Mingi. His face, his smile, his hair, and his surprisingly deep voice. I remembered his eyes, how they made a common brown seem so pretty. I wished that I had gotten his number or something but then I remembered what my father had told me many times over.

"Being gay is wrong.".

"God made relationships for only men and women.".

If that were true then why am I feeling the way I am towards Mingi? Why has being in a relationship with Seonghwa made Hongjoong actually attend school? Or how his eyes no longer had bags underneath them? Why must these feelings exist if they are wrong?

I let these questions fill my head but I kept going back to Mingi's face. I soon fell asleep to the thought of him.

Completed: May 9, 2023