The Underground - 3RACHA

19

Jisung felt strange attending the funeral of a man he'd never met, but when Changbin called him up and asked him to, he couldn't say no. He found it best not to question why Changbin was inviting him, at least not until after the event. He had to borrow a suit from his uncle who didn't look so pleased to give it up, but when he explained he was going to a funeral, his uncle was slightly more lenient.

The funeral was at a local church which had broken stained-glass windows and graffitied walls, but Changbin's mother didn't want to travel far for a better place. Changbin was surprised to see his mother sober that morning. She'd washed and brushed her hair, styling it up into a black bun and wearing makeup to show she was making an effort. She'd even bought a new black dress for the occasion. Changbin wondered if she would have done this for him though because Minhyuk had always been the favourite. Minhyuk didn't scare their father away when he was born, that's what Changbin did, giving him the blame ever since. "You look pretty, mum," he'd said to her before they got in the funeral car that morning. She'd replied with a simple huff.

"Jisung?" Felix asked, seeing his friend hesitating by the gates as he approached the church that morning. He was in a suit like Jisung, but his wasn't as fancy due to the money difference between the two. Jisung lived on the good side of town, Felix and Changbin lived on the bad side. "How come you're here?"

"Oh, Felix!" Jisung exclaimed, more than relieved to see a familiar face to walk in with, "Changbin invited me...it's his brother's funeral, right?"

"Yeah," Felix nodded, "come on, you can walk in with me."

Jisung followed closely behind Felix as they walked through the gates. The outside of the church looked like work or repairments hadn't been done on it since it was built, and god knows when that was. Inside the church wasn't much better either. It wasn't warm like Jisung had hoped and the air from the smashed windows caused a constant chill to pass through his body. There were only five people in the church currently, a priest at the front, two young men on the second row of pews, a middle-aged man on the first row and two girls near the back of the building. Felix sat on the third row and Jisung joined him.

Jisung and Felix sat in the tense silence that had formed around everyone. Jisung didn't understand why. People had talked at his parents funeral, so why didn't they here?

Changbin and his mother soon walked in. They were relatively calm at first, walking down the aisle with their heads down, but when Changbin's mother reached the first row, her expressions contoured into something of horror and distress. Changbin didn't understand at first. She seemed to be staring at the middle-aged man who was sat down. It took Changbin a moment because he'd never met the man, but he eventually recognised his face from photos of his family before he was born, the only ones on the wall. The man was his father.

"What are you doing here?" The woman asked, her voice wavering and cracking.

"Subin..." the man said, standing up and looking at her for a second, but his eyes had soon moved over to Changbin. The man must have known Changbin was his son, but he didn't say anything, he merely stared at Changbin before moving his eyes back to his mother. "Minhyuk was my son. It's his funeral," he answered.

"You left when he was four!" She spat, her emotions quickly escalating. Changbin reached for her hand to pull her back from anything she was thinking of doing, but she yanked it out of his grasp. "You left when he was four, you're not his father! You left us!"

"Mum-" Changbin began but she turned on him with an anger that made him step backwards.

"Shut up, you fucking brat. You're the reason he left us so don't say anything!" She said, jabbing a finger into Changbin's chest.