"i-i'm sorry..." mingi muttered.
"no, don't worry about it! just having you here already makes it the best birthday ever! i don't mind." san said with a bright smile.
yep. it was san's birthday. like yunho and yeosang, he was now seventeen years old.
the family had gone out to get korean barbecue for lunch, and everyone seemed to be generally happy, until one of the news channels playing on a TV talked about one of mingi's triggers. you see, since mingi had PTSD, mentions of kidnapping and abuse in any way would quickly cause him to break down.
seonghwa had taken him back to their car, where he tried his best to help mingi calm down.
eventually, san abandoned his own birthday lunch to go to the car and check on his brother. the younger felt guilty for causing problems on san's birthday, but the older reassured him.
san pulled mingi into a big hug, with seonghwa's heart combusting as he watched them.
"thank y-you... i-i just don't want to r-ruin or waste your birthday.." "it's no problem at all. i'd much rather you cry it out instead of faking a smile and holding it all in. i really appreciate you caring so much about my birthday!" the boy said and ruffled mingi's hair, causing the younger to finally smile.
"there's that pretty smile!" seonghwa said as he rubbed the boy's shoulder.
"i'm gonna go tell them to hurry up, i really wanna open presents! i'll make sure they get your food to go." san said, patting mingi's head, then leaving to go back into the restaurant.
after about five minutes, the rest of the family came outside, and they finally went home.
the rest of the day went well. after san had opened presents, they played a few board games together, went to the mall, got dinner, then sang happy birthday to san before eating some cake.
after eating cake, since it was already dark outside, everyone split up to do their own things.
seonghwa found himself, unsurprisingly, overly worrying about every little thing. he was planning on getting professional help for it soon, but it reminded him of something he'd been meaning to do.
he was going to check on yunho. you know, to make sure he was doing alright.
hongjoong gave him a thumbs up as he entered yunho's room.
"oh, hey." yunho said and smiled. "hey, whatcha up to?" seonghwa asked. "i was just watching youtube.. do you need anything?" "no, i don't need anything, i just came to.. just, check on you, i guess.." seonghwa sighed.
"so.. how are you?" the parent asked.
yunho looked up at him with a confused and curious face. "i mean like, how have you been feeling? i just figured, since we're always so focused on the other boys' mental health, i just wanted to, you know, check in with you, to see how you're doing.."
should i tell him about my anxiety? yunho thought.
"i'm doing fine, things have been going well and i'm excited to be a senior, so.. yeah, i feel great right now." yunho responded.
i'm not exactly lying.. there's just some information i'm leaving out... but why? shouldn't i tell him, or.. i don't know.. the boy thought.
"that's great to here, i'm glad you're doing well right now." seonghwa said with a relieved smile.
"alright, thanks, i just wanted to make sure we weren't ignoring your feelings, in case you were having a problem. i love you, goodnight." the parent then said, giving the child a quick hug then walking to the door.
do i do it.. do i not.. do i do it.. do i not..
"actually.." yunho suddenly said.
seonghwa's heart skipped a beat.
"..there is something i wanted to talk to you about.." the boy said nervously. "can you get dad in here too? i want to talk to both of you.."
"of course, hon.." seonghwa said, then calling hongjoong over.
the parents sat down at the foot of the bed facing yunho. they were both extremely attentive, and nervous about what yunho was talking about.
"so.. recently—actually, not even just recently.. for a while, i've been feeling, like... really.. really anxious.. about things.." yunho began explaining. he tried to explain his worrying over his brothers as quickly as possible, but it ended up lasting a long time before he was done.
"aw, honey.." seonghwa started, immediately pulling the teen into a tight hug.
hongjoong quickly joined in, as seonghwa said "thank you for telling us, i know it's hard to talk about.."
"we're gonna help you get through it, okay? we'll be here to help you in any way we can." hongjoong added as they continued to embrace each other.
"and hey," seonghwa said, pulling away.
"i know how you feel. i worry like that too. it sucks, you want to enjoy spending time with everyone, but you can't help but worry about them. i get it. we can both get past this, okay?"
"mhm." yunho nodded, feeling relieved.
the nice atmosphere was quickly interrupted.
"mingi just threw up.." jongho suddenly said as he frantically swung open the door.
the three all stood up, following jongho to the bathroom, where mingi was curled up into a ball in front of the toilet, with san rubbing his back, as yeosang stood in the doorway and watched.
as seonghwa rushed to mingi's side, hongjoong suddenly noticed that wooyoung was standing nearby, seemingly avoiding the situation.
he seemed angry, and upset.
"what happened?" yunho asked as he came up to stand next to yeosang.
"wooyoung and mingi just got into a really bad fight.. i couldn't even understand what it was about, i heard something about it having to do with mingi's triggers.." jongho whispered to hongjoong and yunho.
the father glanced over at wooyoung once again, now noticing that he was crying.
meanwhile, seonghwa was embracing mingi, trying to calm him down, as he was crying as well.
the fact that the boys are in the same stage of life as me (turning 17, going into senior year, thinking about college), it means that ill probably use this book as a way to express my feelings even more than i already do so sorry in advance :,)
also speaking of me turning 17.. my bday is on wednesday the 22nd!! im excited lol
thank you sooooo much for 220k+ reads i cannot believe the growth this story has gone through in the past year!
once again i really appreciate all your patience and support, i really love writing this book and reading comments always makes me smile, im very grateful for all this love 🥺🥺🥺
anyways i love yall so much :,(( go collect some votes on some k-award apps so we can get ready to get ateez their third win!!
