Hala Hala ||| Ateez

26

Jongho pushed his lips out in a slight pout as he read through the recipe in front of him. He and Yeosang had decided to try and cook something for dinner so the others had something warm to eat once everything had settled down.

It also helped him keep his mind off the panicked look on Seonghwa's face when he had come by asking if they had seen Wooyoung.

So much had happened in just a short period of time, he didn't quite know what to think about it.

But his view on staying behind had changed a little.

With everything that had been going on at the bank, Yeosang had really been showing signs of being stressed while trying to keep an eye on everything.

So even though he had no idea what he was doing, Jongho had done his best to help the older out.

"Can you pass me the flour?" Yeosang asked from behind him.

Jongho grabbed the package, a small puff of white powder coming from it as he squeezed, and turned to hand it to the hacker.

He paused when he saw a lollipop stick protruding from between his lips. "Again? I swear that's your fifth one today."

Yeosang looked up at him with wide eyes, then turned red. "It's better than smoking, or some other disgusting habit." He mumbled, looking down.

Jongho couldn't help but smile a little at the embarrassed look on Yeosang's face. He was true, it was better than being a smoker. But eating all that sugar had to be bad too, right?

Maybe he was just being judge mental because he didn't like sweets.

He watched as Yeosang carefully measured out the flour and dumped it into a pan that had melted butter and a few other things in it.

"Where did you learn to cook? This is all gibberish to me." The fighter asked, turning back to the book on the counter.

Yeosang let out a low chuckle. "My mom. She was an amazing cook. She had this ability to make something amazing out of whatever she could find in our pantry. Maybe it was just my child eyes being enchanted by her passion, but there was never a meal I didn't like."

A sad smile crossed the younger's face that had Jongho stepping forward. "What happened to her?"

"She died." Yeosang's voice became a whisper as he continued to stir the sauce. "She got sick and couldn't afford the medicine or to go to the hospital. She didn't deserve any of it..."

"I'm so sorry." Jongho said, not sure what else he could say to try and comfort him.

Yeosang sniffed and rubbed his cheek. "It's ok. I really miss her sometimes. She was the kindest person I had ever met." He looked at the fighter with a small sparkle in his eyes. "She was a teacher too. Grade school. She loved kids with a passion." He turned back to the pan and poured in some heavy cream. "But nowadays teachers are paid like shit, and treated even worse, so we lived paycheck to paycheck."

Jongho bit his lip, unable to look away from the hacker even though he sensed someone else walking into the room.

"She always made sure I had something to eat. I always had three meals a day, even though there were a few times that she went hungry." The older sniffed again as he kept stirring slowly. "That's why I started to do what I did..."

"What do you mean?" Jongho tilted his head a little, then reached up to brush the tear on Yeosang's cheek away.

"One of my favorite stories growing up was 'Robin Hood', have you heard of it?"

Jongho nodded, now gently caressing Yeosang's cheek as he leaned into his touch.

"Well I was always good with computers in school, and after my mom died, I would stay for long hours to teach myself after class was over. I taught myself everything I know now. All so I could help others." Yeosang's voice kept fluctuating between being hard and quivering as he spoke. "I stole from the rich and would carefully siphon the money into the bank accounts of teachers. I studied their paydays and would go in and change their pay statements to reflect the additional amount I would add to every check. I never did enough to be detected, but I know I made enough to make a difference."