"please, i was forced to-"
the words rang in yeosang's head over and over.
he wasn't sure how to feel. he wanted answers to his questions about what really happened with beomseok, but he was too afraid to face him. it felt like it had been so long since the breakup, and yeosang was over him, but this just started up all of the chaos again.
he wished he never agreed to go to that party. he wished none of them went to that party.
too many things were happening. too much was going on in his head. now that he wasn't an ignorant child, he kept thinking: why am i so unlucky?
and now, with quarantine starting because of the virus, the whole family was trapped at home with their thoughts and issues. jongho couldn't see eunsoo as much anymore. wooyoung was suffering from whatever happened at the party. mingi was trapped with his still existent depressive thoughts, without anything to distract him. san was worried sick about him and wooyoung; literally sick. he threw up from how worried he was. yunho, as always, had five younger brothers to take care of emotionally and physically, which exhausted him.
and then, not only did hongjoong lose his job due to the virus putting him out of work, sending their family funding way down, seonghwa's father was now dying, and he couldn't go be with him.
it was bad for everyone. way too much to handle.
now, all the time the family would normally spend going out and spending time together, they now spent lying in their rooms, most probably asleep.
what am i going to do? yeosang thought.
he wanted answers. but he was afraid to pursue them. he was stuck.
meanwhile, wooyoung was lying on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
yunho was supposed to have come in already to talk with wooyoung, but for some reason hadn't come in yet. while the younger waited, he fell deeper into his thoughts.
he kept thinking about the party. he still felt the weight of guilt pushing down on him.
the feelings he felt during his encounter was weird.
it felt a bit.. familiar.
he wasn't sure where that familiarity came from, but slowly, he realized it was from memories of his early childhood, before hongjoong and seonghwa adopted him, even before he was put into the foster care system.
when he was with his biological family.
he only lived in that home for less than three of his first years of life before being sent away from the home, according to the documents he'd found and read a long time ago.
this got wooyoung curious. he wanted to know what happened there, and who his biological parents were.
he knew where the documents were. he wanted to go snooping around again.
but, before he could even take a moment to think about when he would go looking, yunho finally walked in. he immediately apologized for taking so long and sat on the bed.
"hey woo, i—" "yunho?"
yunho paused as wooyoung looked up.
"..yeah?" "who are your parents?"
the older froze. where did a question like that come from? he thought to himself.
"what.. what do you mean?" "i mean like, your biological parents. i've been thinking about that whole thing recently.."
"oh, well.. mine passed away before i was even a month old. what about yours? or the others?"
"mine... i don't know. i think my dad is still alive, i'm not sure if he's in jail or free.. and the others, i know mingi's, san's, and jongho's are all in jail.. not sure about yeosang's. i know little to nothing about yeosang's past."
"yeah, that's weird.. do you think he knows? or mom and dad?" "i don't know."
"hm." yunho responded and nodded.
there was a moment of complete silence.
"yunho?" "yeah?" "can i tell you something.. weird, and... i don't know.. bad?" "of course."
"well.." wooyoung sighed.
he knew talking about this would make him cry.
"when.. i-it happened... it felt..." the boy sighed again, his voice becoming a loud whisper. "it felt... like, i don't know how to explain it.. f-familiar? like.. i knew what it.."
he stopped. his eyes began to water, and he hugged himself to try to avoid crying.
"i-it's like it.. h-h-happened.. before.."
"..oh my god, woo.." "i-i.. i think that's.. that's what happened to me.. when i lived with.. my biological family.." he said.
yunho rubbed the younger's shoulder, a concerned expression plastered on his face.
"woo.. do you think you're gonna tell mom or dad?"
"i.. i kind of wanted to tell mom.. but it's so hard to even think about, let alone explain.." "i know. and i'm so proud of you for being this strong. you're stronger than i could ever be." yunho said.
"thank you." wooyoung responded, smiling weakly.
"oh, hey mingi.. whatcha doing?"
hongjoong had just walked in on mingi walking around the kitchen, wearing one of seonghwa's aprons, and seeming to be making something. the parent had a lot of questions.
"baking." "...baking what?"
"a cake. something to cheer everyone up."
"aw, that's so thoughtful of you.." hongjoong smiled and gave the teen a quick hug.
"yeah, just thought i'd do something to pass the time. you know, since we're all stuck here, i'm trying to avoid letting my depressive thoughts come back. plus, wooyoung, yeosang, and jongho, plus mom, are all pretty upset right now, so i'm hoping this will make all of us feel better."
"thank you hon. need me to help with anything?" "yeah, actually.. i need to use the bathroom, and the cake is about to be done baking. can you take it out when it's done?" "sure."
hongjoong watched the boy walk away, smiling as he thought happily about his family.
yes, this was a hard time for everyone. but considering the things that the family had gone through, hongjoong was pretty confident that they were going to be okay.
suddenly, he saw wooyoung leave his room, and walk into the parent's room, hearing the boy say "mom, can i talk to you.."
oh god.. he sounds upset. the parent thought.
yayy yet another chapter being done at a decent time!! im proud of myself for keeping updates more consistent now
and oh my god thank you so much for 175k reads... the fact that we're getting closer and closer to 200k every day is so crazy to me, i never thought this story would get so popular
thank you so so so much for everything, i love you all, please stay safe and wash ur hands!! and im always here if you need anyone to talk to :)
