wooyoung's breath hitched, as he grabbed the window and slowly opened it. he was trying to be as a quiet as possible—the boy was attempting to sneak out of the house.
he was itching to go out and do something, and even had a temptation to simply run away.
he had a car, it would be easy for him to just drive off.. but his mind wasn't set. his instinct was just telling him to get out and do something.
wooyoung climbed up onto the windowsill, reaching over and grabbing a branch from one of the trees in the front yard. he then swung to the trunk, and finally leapt safely down onto the grass. a sigh of relief escaped his lips, and the boy walked to his car, which he'd parked a bit further away from the house, so that he wouldn't get caught.
and so, without anyone in the house knowing, wooyoung successfully snuck out, and drove to a nearby park, where a few of his friends were meeting up.
wooyoung smirked as he parked his car and got out. he felt so cunning, and sneaky, since he'd seemingly escaped the notice of his parents.
he walked back to the house, climbed the tree, and swung back into his open window. he expected to see nothing but darkness, and planned on simply going back to sleep, and acting like this never happened.
but, he was met with something much different.
seonghwa was sitting on his bed, patiently waiting for wooyoung.
"oh my god--dad, wait.." the boy began to try to explain, but couldn't come up with anything. he knew he had just been caught.
"sit down." "dad, please, i'm sorry—" "i said sit down." seonghwa said in a stern voice.
wooyoung fearfully sat on the ground, placing his backpack to the side and looking at the floor. he didn't dare look into his father's eyes.
"did you even think about what the hell you were doing?"
"w-well, kind of, i mean.. n-not really.."
"wooyoung, you know how much bullshit we've been through. you know how seriously we take it when one of you is gone. you know how badly it affects your dad when one of his kids is missing. did you even think about any of that?" seonghwa asked.
"n-no.." "exactly. because you were only thinking about yourself. don't you see the issue? what if some stranger saw you out all by yourself and took you away with them? i'm sure that would make you think about others for once."
"look, i'm sorry, i j-just--" "no, you're not sorry. don't lie to me."
wooyoung hung his head. he was sorry, but he didn't know how to convince seonghwa that he was sorry.
"now, don't lie to me, don't make excuses, don't try to twist anything. tell me everything you did while you were out, in full detail."
"i went.. out.. with my--" "i said full detail, wooyoung."
wooyoung sighed. "i drove to a park with my friends, they let me vape with them, we spray painted on some playgrounds, got some food, i drove around for a while, and then i came back. there, full detail. what else do you want to hear?" the boy raised his voice a little.
"wooyoung, i swear to god, do not raise your voice at me. i just asked for an explanation. i'm very disappointed in you, woo. what happened? where did the peaceful, hard-working wooyoung go? what made you become like this, sneaking out, vaping, vandalizing, and hurting yourself in all these ways? what happened to you, wooyoung?" seonghwa said. there was pain in his voice, but he was trying not to start crying.
"well, people change, i'm obviously not going to be the same as i was when i was still in elementary school! i'm not perfect!" "i know you're not perfect, i've never expected you to be perfect, but when your issues start affecting your mental and physical health, obviously there is fixing we need to do!"
"what the hell is going on?" "i-is every..th-thing okay?"
the two both looked at the door, seeing mingi and yeosang standing in the doorway, both looking tired and confused.
"yes, sorry, everything is fine. i'll explain it to you guys in the morning, okay? sorry for waking you up. go back to sleep." seonghwa's voice went from yelling in anger, to almost whispering softly.
jongho's heart was pounding as he walked down the sidewalk and towards the park. he was finally going to talk to eunsoo about what they were going to do with their relationship.
dealing with feelings and emotions like this wasn't really his thing. he'd never had an actual crush, let alone someone crush on him.
and now, he could actually get into a relationship.
it was a weird thought, and a weird feeling. he liked it, of course, but it also confused him a lot.
jongho also knew he was going to get over emotional about it. he expected to end up breaking down in front of eunsoo—which he was trying to avoid.
"jongho!" a familiar voice shouted, interrupting the boy's thoughts.
the boy looked up, seeing eunsoo standing up tall and waving excitedly to him. it made jongho feel comforted for them to be so excited to see him.
once he was close enough, eunsoo took the opportunity to run up and embrace him. they rubbed his head and rocked him back and forth, staying in the hug for a little while.
once they finally pulled away, there was a brief moment where they were both silent.
jongho felt a shy smile creep onto his face.
"so, about this whole liking each other thing.." eunsoo finally started. "what i think we should do, as long as you are comfortable, is that we should give this a try, but, move at a slow pace. i just don't want to jump into anything that could end up hurting you. what do you think?"
"..y-yeah, i like that idea, i'm comfortable with that.. thank you for c-caring about me so much.." the boy said nervously.
"of course, it's no problem at all. i just want what's best for you."
they both smiled, and finally hugged again. jongho felt so relieved and comfortable, he wished he could've just stayed there hugging them for a much longer time.
"..you wanna hang out for a while?" "definitely."
ik i keep apologizing but im so so sorry for not being actively updating, i promise i have ideas and i love this book!! im at a very low point with my mental health and im trying to focus on getting better, and i really really appreciate all the support and understanding from you all!!! youre all the best i dont deserve u 🥺🥺🥺
thank you for 140k reads!!!! ilysm!!! <3
