When You're Not Around

Get Some Toast

Yunho's POV

I sighed as I put my phone back in my pocket. I hope Hongjoong can actually forgive me, even though there's no reason to.

As I sniffled a bit, Jaeho, my younger brother, shuffled into the room. "Hyung, are you okay?" He asked, his pale face showing concern. He was only 18, and had enough to deal with, so I wiped my eyes and smiled.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Good morning." I got up and hugged him. He looks small, due to the fact that he was wearing Gudetama footie pajamas.

"Is Junggie up?" I asked, getting three plates out for breakfast. "Nope." Jaeho said, plopping into a chair at the table. "Can you start the toast, then?"

I walked down the hall to the door of the room that the two younger boys shared. "Jungho, get up." I said quietly, opening the door.

"Mmmm, why?" The pile of blankets on the bed by the right wall shifted, revealing a thin, pale face similar to Yunho's. "It's time to get ready for work." "Ugh." Jungho grumbled, slowly getting up.

Seven months ago, Yunho had received a letter from his father, who he hadn't seen in 11 years. In the letter, his father, who apparently wanted nothing to do with any of his children, said that his mom had died in a car accident, and asked if he would take in both of his brothers.

It was quite a shock for Yunho, who, fortunately, had always saved his money. Their father had agreed to pay for their train tickets.

When Yunho had pulled into the station in his '98 BMW 850CSi, he saw two tall, very thin young boys standing together, glancing into the fast moving crowd. Their two small, beat up suitcases sat on the ground.

The two wore old, scuffed shoes and worn, faded clothes. Those are my brothers! How did they end up like that?  I walked towards them, and as got closer, Jungho spotted me, his eyes lighting up. He pointed me out to Jaeho, who smiled.

"Hey, you two. How was the trip?" I asked, picking up thier suitcases after we had embraced. "Okay I guess...we were in third class." Jaeho said quietly. Third class? He's a five star general, and that's all he could spare?

I managed to fit both the suitcases in the small trunk. Jaeho got in the front and Jungho squeezed into the backseat. "Where's your apartment?" He asked. "About fifteen minutes from here." I tried to smile reassuring.

I led them into the small living room. "It's not big, but it works." I commented, uneasily. Their probably used to this. The younger boys were looking around. "There's two bedrooms!" Jaeho exclaimed excitedly.

"Do we get separate beds?" Jungho had asked, walking over. "What? Of course." I was confused. "Why would you not?" "Well, Eomma couldn't afford to keep the two bedroom apartment, so we moved to a one room." He explained, his head haning low.

"You two had to share a bed?" I asked, shocked. Why didn't Eomma tell me she was struggling? "Yeah, but it wasn't terrible." Jaeho assured me quickly.

I shooked my head, snapping out of the memory. The boys entered the small kitchen pulling on their clothes. "Grab some toast and we'll get going."
I said, pushing my hat onto my head.