CATastrophe | WayV |

[8] Gege/Hyung

The cold breeze made Kun got up from his desk; he closed the open window then sat back down to continue writing a song he had been working on. After several failed attempts to write the chorus, he decided to take a break. He took his phone and called his little brothers. ‘Are they busy at this hour? Should I hang up the call?’ His thoughts went away as the call got through.

“Hello, what are you doing? Are you kids busy?” A smile appeared on his lips when he heard soft chatters on the other end.
“Kun-ge,” the voice cried out, “what am I going to do? Jisung put an egg in my coffee.”
“What? Why would he do that?” He laughed at the imagination of Jisung sneakily putting a whole egg on Renjun’s coffee.
“He said he felt lazy to boil water so he thought it might get hard if he put it on my hot coffee. Ah- seriously, I don’t know what to do with him.”
“Wait, wait,” he could hear Jisung’s voice in the background, “I saw it on the internet that’s why I wanted to try it.”
“Please, carry some sense with you. Why would you try something like that?” Renjun whined at him.
Kun laughed as he listened to them argue back and forth.
“Hyung, when are you coming to Korea?” Jisung asked.
“I don’t know, it looks like we’ll be staying here for awhile.”
“Why? What are you doing?”

‘What are we doing? Hiding from the world?’ To be honest, Kun had no idea what to say. He could say anything as an excuse and he knew they’d believe it. But he felt like he needed to ask himself that question more than anyone. He was the one who suggested renting a house, he was the one who talked to the staff and managers, and he was the one who made the final decision for the members in everything. His only reason being Louis since there was no way he could go back to China or anywhere with them. He had no passport, no identity, no relatives and they were the only people Louis had. But how long were they going to keep this up? How long before someone eventually finds out about him and what will they do then? All those questions floated around his head.

“Hyung? Hyung? Can you hear me?” A confused Jisung asked. “Maybe there’s a problem with the signal.”
Kun snapped out of his thoughts. “Oh, sorry, I got distracted for a second.”
“We saw the pictures Ten-hyung posted in the group chat, the house looks so nice. I’m jealous.”
“Yeah, it’s the best. It’s really spacious too.”

They continued their conversation about their new house and talked about other things. Meanwhile, in the playroom downstairs, the boys were challenging each other in a game of Mario Kart. Louis was surprisingly good at it and Ten was trying his best to beat his high score. All the while, Hendery had a growing urge to ask Louis about his dream but he was always occupied with the other boys. Frustrated, he excused himself and told the others he was going to take a quick nap.

He walked out the room and ran upstairs with a dishearten look on his face. Winwin had been in the living room, practicing his lines for his upcoming drama when he saw Hendery walk by. He had noticed how quiet Hendery had been since breakfast and wanted to make sure he was okay. Instead of inquiring it himself, he went to Kun and told him his concerns. Kun reassured him and promised he’d look into it.

Hendery had been lying on his bed, forcing himself to go to sleep when Kun knocked on his door. He called him in.

“Are you sleeping?” Kun asked. “Did I wake you?”
“No, I was just lying down.” He watched Kun sat down on Winwin’s bed. “Can I ask you something?”
“Yes, what is it?”
Hendery was quiet for a moment. “Did you ever question or wanted to know how Louis turned into a human?”
“Sometimes,” Kun stared out the window, “but not anymore. Right now, all I think about is taking care of him, taking care of everyone,” he looked at Hendery with a smile, “taking care of you.”
“Kun-ge?”
“Yeah?”

In this moment, as Kun sat beside him, he wanted to let it all out. The secret he carried had felt heavier and heavier since the very first day. ‘Would they hate me for what I did? I was so desperate at the time that I didn’t think things through.’ That fact that Kun was beside him made him feel at ease. He decided that if there was anyone he could lean on to, it was Kun. So, taking a deep breath and gathering all his courage, he told Kun everything that happened.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
“It’s okay, I understand your reason. But we need to do something before things get out of control. We have to think about the worst case scenario.” Kun was lost in thought for a moment. “Do you still remember where you met the man?”
“I’m not sure, but I’ll be able to recognize it if I saw the ally again.”
“Okay.” Kun stood up. “Let’s go find him.”

The two boys got ready to go back to Osaka. The plan was to drive to the old man’s store and confront him about what was happening to Louis. They went down the stairs and met a very confused Winwin who was playing with Bella. They told him they were going out to meet a ‘friend’ and would be back before dinner. After they left, Winwin went to the playroom and told the others. Lucas took Bella from him and noticed something near his mouth.

“What’s this?” He wiped the substance off Bella’s mouth.
“Oh, I was eating chocolate and I gave her some.”
“What?!” Lucas’ voice made Xiaojun jump on his seat. “How much did you give her? Chocolates aren’t good for them. What should we do?”
“Winwin gave her chocolates?” Ten came closer to see what was happening.
“She kept smelling it so I gave her some. I’m sorry I didn’t know. Will she be sick?”
“I don’t know, it depends on how much you gave her. Don’t worry. We’ll make her eat some vitamins. I think she’ll be fine.” Ten reassured him.

Lucas made Bella sit on his lap and stroked her little head while whispering words of comfort. Yangyang slowly approached them then sat down by their side.

“If Bella becomes sick, I know something we can give her. Hendery bought some medicine last time and I think there’s some left.”