Charmed || Chae Hyungwon

10| Restricted

Chapter 10

School was a bit weird after you came back. The guys didn't really try to hide the fact that you were all friends, yet somehow they still managed to keep themselves professional. You didn't know how to act around them and it sort of stressed you out. Hyungwon had explained how hard it was not to focus his entire attention on just you. He'd whine about it nonstop as soon as classes ended for the day, which was convenient since you were in his last class and he was your last class, as well as your first on some days.
You'd moved out of their house too. Which in someways was a relief, but it almost seemed empty too. You loved living with your besties again and it was just something you were so incredibly used to and wouldn't give up for the world, but living with the seven of them was just so thrilling. It was like it was it's own world in there. Which it literally was since no one knew it existed!
Jooheon got teary eyed the day you left. According to Shownu, he had cried a bit with Minhyuk. Also according to Shownu, Kihyun had to tell them that you'd be back to visit every now and then to get them to shut up.
They were being drama queens, especially since you were literally going to see them every single day during class.
It was also great since you were all caught up in school thanks to them. You didn't fall behind and you managed to keep up your pretty solid grades.
Apparently, Jooheon had decided to skip the Boggart unit after your little incident.
Your back still hurt every now and then, but thankfully you always had a friend there to support you. Whether it be, Mira, Sicheng, or even Hyungwon.
You'd been gone for so long that it was already December. School would be out in a few weeks for the Christmas holidays and you'd be lying if you said you weren't anxious about it.
Before school started, you'd ended your little contract thing at your old hostel downtown. The money Yoon left you wasn't going to last you another year there. You'd honestly rather be on the streets than there anyways. You didn't know why Yoon spent so much money on that sad sack. In his defense, he was eleven when you both ran away. There was no way in the world your eleven year old brother could've been able to tell which place was good for you. He had so little time and so little money to find somewhere safe for his five year old little sister before he had to leave.
He did a good job though.
You'd always be thankful for him.
You just wish you could've told him that.
Just one last time.
From what you'd heard from the guys, he didn't talk about you much. He brought you up every once in a while but then immediately shut it down before they could ask anymore questions. They knew close to nothing of your parents too, other than your mother's death of course. You guessed he was very reserved of that stuff. You understood why though. You could count the people you'd told the story on one hand, and even then, you didn't tell them everything.
If there was one thing you had gotten from your parents, it was their secrecy.
Their goddamn secrecy.
You'd talk if you could but there was something in your head that was restraining you. Every time you tried to tell someone even the smallest thing, it was as if an imaginary hand would slap over your mouth and physically stop you from saying anything. You were being dramatic, but you just wanted to tell someone.
You wanted to tell someone about how happy and perfect your family was before your mother unexpectedly died.
You wanted to tell someone about how your dad fell into a state of shock and depression after she died.
You wanted to tell someone about how his loving personality slowly deteriorated into an abusive one, one that would lead to Yoon taking hits for you and you crying in the corner while you watched.
You wanted to tell someone about how your brother found a way to take money from your mother's saving account and courageously snuck the two of you out of the house in the middle of the night.
You wanted to tell someone about how your brother would come all the way from school to be with you every single weekend, and how he never missed a single weekend in all of those years.
You wanted to tell someone about how you have no real memories of your mother and how the only person who ever felt like a parent to you was your own older brother.
You wanted to tell someone about how your brother's death crushed you despite the cold demeanor you put up. As an eleven year old, you didn't want to show that you were broken. You didn't want to show people your vulnerability because from the early childhood you'd experienced, you'd learned that vulnerability got you nowhere good.
You wanted to tell someone about how although it all happened forever ago, you still carried the guilt of his death and how if you hadn't ran, he would've probably survived. Or even you dying alongside him. It would've been better than carrying the agonizing guilt of his death on your shoulders, but you deserved it. After all you made him go through, this was the least you could do for him.
You wanted to tell someone about how suspicious Yoon's death was, about how quickly the case was closed as an "unexpected accident," about how careful he was months before it happened, as if he was aware that his death was near.
But you couldn't.
You kept your mouth shut.
"Someone's at the door!" Jihyo shouted from most likely the kitchen.
"I'll get it." You shouted back, groaning as you straightened out your clothing and hair, in attempts of looking somewhat presentable. You didn't feel like caring though.
It was probably just Jamie.
You opened the door slightly, peeking through the cracked door.
It wasn't Jamie.
"We're going somewhere." Hyungwon smiled as he grabbed your wrist and began to pull you out of the door, not giving you any explanation. You grabbed the handle to stop yourself, making Hyungwon look back at you.
"What?"
"You need to explain what's going on." You chuckled and opened the door completely, stepping outside so you don't bother anyone in the household.
"I want your help with something."
He grabbed one of your hands that was covered by your oversized sweater, gently drawing circles on the back of it with his thumb. It made you smile a bit.
"And that is?"
"It may or may not be illegal bu-"
"Chae Hyungwon, did you kill someone?"
You stared in pure shock at the man in front of you as he cackled loudly, using your shoulder as a crutch because of how hard he was laughing.
Stupid tall, Hyungwon.
"I was kidding with you." He adjusted his newfound black circle glasses and grinned with satisfaction while he spun a strand of your hair around his pointer finger, something he tended to do a lot.
"Kind of."
You hit his arm.
"Be clear with me. Do I have to hide a body or do I have to go help Minhyuk do something stupid? Please specify for me. I need to know the severity of the situation."
"Good to know you'd hide a body with me if I needed to."
You rolled your eyes at him, glaring with your side eye look. You could almost see him shudder in fear.
"We have to go somewhere."
"Where?"
"The library."
"I can't go in this."
You looked down at your clothes. You were in comfortable clothing. All super oversized and not anything you can be seen in public with.
"You look fin— isn't that my sweater?"
He pointed at the dark green sweater that you were wearing. On you, it was down to your knees and the sleeves were dangling down your fingers. You smiled at him, embarrassed.
Shownu literally never brought your clothes while you were living with them, so you never had the courtesy to give back the ones you just happened to take with you.
And you might have a couple more in your closet.
"It's fine." Hyungwon gently folded up the sleeves so they weren't hiding your hands, warming up your probably frigid hands in the front pocket of his black hoodie.
"I think it's cute."
You gently tapped your cheeks with your palms, feeling the heat of them rush through your fingers. You leaned your head into his chest, hiding your face, embarrassment taking over.
"Just come on." Hyungwon tugged gently on your sweater sleeve.
"But Hyungwon..." You whined. You didn't feel like going anywhere. You'd just finished your work for the day after your classes and you just wanted to relax, not be dragged to the library.
Honestly, what possibly illegal thing could you conduct at a library?
Hyungwon gave you the, "you're really making me do this" look, and you'd be lying if you said you weren't scared of what he was going to do. He grabbed your arm and held onto it tightly.
"What are you do-"
Your sentence was cut off by a cloud of gray smoke surrounding you. It was almost suffocating, the way the smoke surrounded you. Everything around you felt numb and feeling had just completely left your body. You felt Hyungwon's hand slip away from you, and you immediately panicked. You reached out to where he was but you just waved around in the gray smoke. You closed your eyes tightly and before you knew it, everything was gone. There was no gray smoke to be suffocated by, there was no numbness, and most importantly, you could feel Hyungwon's hand tightly holding yours.
"I'm sorry, Y/N. I know you hate apparition, and I probably should've given you a heads up, but I think you'll really like what we're about to do."
You punched him.
The fear that had surrounded you seconds ago had perished completely and had been replaced by a burst of anger.
He doubled over and clutched onto his stomach, wincing in pain. You smiled in satisfaction at the sight of your boyfriend seconds away from hitting the floor.
You may have been weak before but you'd regained the strength you once had.
"W-was that really necessary?" He stuttered, still holding onto his stomach.
"Yes, very. Do that again and I will literally kill you."
"Noted."
You looked around the giant library you were standing in the middle of. You never really came to the library, you never had a reason to. Unlike most students, you preferred using online sources since it was so much more convenient. You didn't have to leave your bed but you could still get all your school work done without having the search every corner of the thousands of shelves of books to get a single thing. Hyungwon silently dragged you across the floor, you didn't argue but you had trouble keeping up with his long strides.
He stopped right in front of an old sign.
And old sign and a glass door.
A glass door with a lock.
"Restricted Section?" You exclaimed as quietly as you could. You didn't forget that you were in a library.
"Hyungwon, we can't go in there." You whispered while pulling his arm away from the area, looking around to make sure no one else was around to catch you both by it. You pulled him with all the strength you could muster up but his chopstick self wouldn't budge. You kept trying to get him to move away from you, yet he managed to pull you from your spot with one small tug. He caught you before you almost fell and kept his arm around your shoulder as he came over to the glass door.
"Chae Hyungwon!" You said through your clenched teeth, still looking around to see if anyone was around to see you next going directly to the section, or next to him.
The lock needed a key, which you obviously didn't have. You didn't know why he said you'd enjoy whatever this was. It was an old, rusty lock, one that looked like it was older than you plus the seven guy's ages added up. All despite it being on a fairly modern looking door. It was just made of glass. You didn't know how on earth he was going to get in there. He didn't make a single noise as he gently placed his pointer finger above the lock. Nothing happened.
Until the glass where his finger rested glowed a soft green, the door opening in front of you. You mindlessly walked through, Hyungwon's arm slipping off your shoulder while you were being completely amazed by what had just happened in front of you.
"Did you forget that I work here? I can get into anywhere I want, whenever I want."
His arm snuck back around your shoulder and you just scoffed. You looked around the library, basically dragging him along with you. It looked exactly like the other one but the feeling was different. Probably because you knew you weren't supposed to be here, but the thrill of this mere library was enough to get you excited.
Hyungwon pulled out a tiny glass bottle bottle from his pant pocket, the gray liquid inside glowing slightly. You leaned in closer to get a good look at the elixir. You'd never seen one like this before.
"Invisibility potion. I had Kihyun hyung make one just in case."
You went to go touch it but he slipped it back into his pocket with a cheeky smile, you pouted. He better teach you how to make that.
"We're going to do some studying."
"Studying?"
You were about seven seconds away from falling onto the floor. Hyungwon really just took you right after a busy study filled day just to do more studying.
You hated him sometimes.
"It's interesting, I swear!" He assured after noticing your annoyed facial expression. He took his arm off of your shoulder and grabbed your hand instead. You still weren't convinced.
"It's about me." He rested his head on his free hand in attempt to look lovely. You rolled your eyes at him.
"Yes, cause I can't get enough of you." You said sarcastically, trying to drag him back to the glass door but he wouldn't budge.
"I'll pretend you didn't say that. We're doing something I've been meaning to do for years."
"And that is?"
He pointed at his sapphire blue eyes, which sparkled as they always did.
"We're going to learn a bit about why I have these and how they work."
"And we can find that in here?"
"We can find anything in here, darling."
An awkward blush crept to your cheeks, making you pull your hand from Hyungwon's grasp and walk into a bookcase, hitting your head on it. Hyungwon rushed to you, bending down slightly to get a good look to see if there was any bruising on your forehead. You just giggled.
"Anyways, I don't know we can find some family tree books or something. Maybe they'll give us something? You do good in school, I assume that you're good at studying."
You walked through the aisles, running your hand across the spines of all the books while looking through the titles.
"I'm not good at studying." You admitted lowly, you looked back to Hyungwon and a grin was soon plastered on your face.
"I'm amazing at it."
Hyungwon broke out into a smile.
"That's my girl."
Hyungwon joined you, searching through the books on the opposite side of the aisle that you were on.
As you were mindlessly searching for a book that could relate to Hyungwon's family tree, an idea came to mind. You booked it across the library and went to where you speculated the certain thing you were looking for would be. Conveniently, it was right where you suspected it to be. You scrolled through the books and grabbed the one you thought it would be in. You ran back to a table, lugging the giant book to the one that was around where the two of you had started, placing the book down on it. It landed with a loud thump.
It was a big ass book.
Hyungwon curiously waddled over to the table to see what you had found.
"A yearbook?"
You rapidly flipped through the pages of the yearbook eventually finding the person you needed to find. You had just presumed that they'd been around this year. It was the year that your parents graduated. After a minute of flipping, you'd finally found him. The person that stood out among the rest of the people on the other pages. So much that he had his own page.
Chae Hyunghyun.
"Dad." Hyungwon sighed while looking at the picture, running his fingers on the page. He kneeled down on the rug underneath the table, really looking at the photo. His smile was visible, but you could see the sadness in his eyes. You comfortingly wrapped your arms around him and he gently rested his head on your hand.
"Are you okay?"
You sat down next to him, leaving the book on the high table. He looked to you and nodded.
"I'm fine. It's just been a while..."
Deep breath.
"It's just been a while since I've seen his face. Even if it's an old picture."
You understood. Maybe a bit too well. Hyungwon pulled the book down from the table and onto his lap, flipping through the pages even more and stopping on a woman. His expression instantly softened.
A woman that looked exactly like Hyungwon.
Actually, more of
Hyungwon looked exactly like the woman.
A spitting image.
And then you realized.
It was his mother.
"She's beautiful." You breathed out. You heard Hyungwon's soft chuckle from beside you.
"She really was beautiful. I got my looks from her."
"I can tell, Wonnie."
She was stunning. Her hair was jet black, the long waves of it gently resting on her shoulders. Her smile looked like the type in the movies. She looked like she belonged in a movie.
Kim Miwoo.
Even her name was beautiful.
You looked around at her page. It was filled with pictures of her friends. She wore the prettiest of clothes and she instantly caught your eye in every picture. She was the main character. You looked at all the pictures of them. There were pictures with Hyungwon's dad, there were pictures with other dudes. But there were a lot of pictures with girls. You guessed she was popular, but unlike her son, she actually seemed to go out and talk to people.
Something caught your eye among the picture of girls. There was a picture with only three girls, which was unlike all the other pictures that had more than like ten people per picture. There was something about this picture that seemed so intimate. It was just three girls, their arms on each other's shoulders and laughing about something that you could only imagine. They looked like they were having fun. Almost as if they were having the time of their lives.
You took a closer look at it and you gasped. Hyungwon looked genuinely startled at your reaction, putting a hand on your shoulder comfortingly despite not knowing what for. You pointed to the woman at the left of Hyungwon's mother.
"T-that's my m-mom."
Hyungwon's eyes widened just as wide as yours.
"Really?"
He leaned in towards the page and took a good look at your mom, and then turned to face you.
He didn't say anything, and you could easily tell it wasn't that he couldn't, he just didn't know what to say.
You looked at the picture fondly, taking in every bit of the picture because you, just like Hyungwon, hadn't seen your mother in a long time.
"I don't remember much of her." You smiled sadly while feeling your body slowly fall into his.
"But from what I do remember, she was the best mother I could've asked for."
Hyungwon gently stroked your head, rocking you back and forth like a baby.
That made you laugh.
"I'm not a five year old, Hyungwon. I'm an adult, not a baby."
"But you're my baby."
"You're so annoying."
He grabbed the page and ripped out the picture of your mother's, making you shout.
"Why did you rip that?" You exclaimed, snatching the piece from his hand and pathetically attempted to put it back despite the fact that you didn't have anything to put it back with. Hyungwon stopped your hands and pointed to the page.
The rip was disappearing and the picture was back where it used to be, but there was still one in your hand.
You let out a breath of relief.
You forgot that the yearbooks did that.
"Let's actually get to work now."