𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁 | ateez

09.

09.
to fly after falling

—

A tired Seonghwa was standing slumped over the kitchen counter, elbows holding his weight and black hair falling in barely tamed strands over his puffy eyes. Outside, a nighttime thunderstorm was raging and pounding unapologetically on the windows of his warm apartment with a cold atmosphere.

The blue city lights and yellow glows of lamps were against one another as always, disobedient as two magnets facing opposite directions. They refused to let the tension and turmoil simmer between their contrasting hues, much like Seonghwa's mind. While he looked practically devoid of life, he couldn't be more bombarded with thoughts.

These past forty-eight hours have been some of the most stressful in his life, even more than his college graduation or wedding day. Because at least then, Seonghwa knew exactly what was coming but yesterday, he didn't know what to expect.

This morning had marked the third day since Yeosang's disappearance and on the morn of his sudden departure, Seonghwa had crafted enough white lies to grant one day of peace to Wooyoung's delicate heart. But the older knew he couldn't keep up his ruse forever and thus, his lies quickly collapsed on themselves.

Yesterday when Wooyoung finally learned the truth, he stormed out of the police station at the end of his shift.

Maybe it was from an overwhelming wave of anger or sadness (or even both), but Seonghwa knew one thing for sure — and that was Wooyoung heartbroken all over again. The glass animal that Yeosang had worked so hard to mend was effortlessly shattered in Seonghwa's hands, who could only watch helplessly from the station entrance as Wooyoung swerved wildly onto the slicked streets and disappeared into the drizzled city.

Though, the real cherry on his anxiety sundae was that the younger didn't pick up any of his fifty phone calls after the matter — his line was dead.

And if Seonghwa wasn't already rattled from fear of losing Hongjoong, the fact that he lost Wooyoung definitely did the trick.

It slowly tore him apart limb by limb, festering feelings of deep self-hatred and regret. As personal punishment, he traded two precious nights of slumber for sobbing in Hongjoong's arms and constantly praying that Wooyoung hadn't done anything too drastic.

And when no news came this morning — he informed the police station of Wooyoung's sudden leave the day before, pleading the secretary to let him know of any news came in regarding the boy — this past afternoon thankfully came to the rescue.

The detective's office phone rang at twelve.

And Seonghwa answered it with earnestness, just coming off the heels of confirming with Wooyoung's apartment security that the boy never came home. He would've liked to hear a miracle delivered in the tones of an older, more authoritative voice, but didn't complain when a high, pitchy voice spoke instead.