[CHAPTERED] Boomerang's (CH.2)
Title: Boomerang's
Rating: G-PG13-R-NC17
Pairing: YunJae
Summary: What if fate wasn’t a red string, but a boomerang instead? Yunho's first memory of being in love was when he was 7 years old. Meeting Kim JaeJoong was the start of a nearly 20 year long love that spanned many separations. After being unexpectedly ripped apart at 7, they meet again 10 years later as soccer players on opposing high school teams. On a tragic night, they are pulled a part once again only to find each other 11 years later as adults working at the same hospital. This time, their new complication resides in JaeJoong's memories; or the lack there of. The complications don't stop there. Yunho's fiancé, Song Hyun Gi, is less than pleased to have Yunho's first love back in his life and will stop at nothing to keep them a part. Will the boomerang return a 4th time, or will the distance finally become too far? {Doctor!YunJae}
Chapter 2 - Truths
"How many languages do you think I can learn?" Son Yee smiled as she unpacked Yunho's bag, separating the clothes he worn from the ones he hadn't during the 5 week stay.
"At least 200 hundred because you're so smart." Yunho rolled his eyes and giggled. She was so glad to finally have her sweet boy home again.
"No really? My fri-, no my hyung JaeJoong knows 3 and he's going to learn 4. He's only 8!" Son Yee couldn't help but to laugh at Yunho's exaggerated movements as he talked about his new friend. He actually hadn't stopped talking about him the whole way home; never running out of stories to tell. From what she had learned, this young man JaeJoong was impressive and had been a huge influence on Yunho. When Yunho asked if she would call JaeJoong so that he and Yunho talked, she quickly agreed.
"Well if you want to learn a new language, we can certainly get you lessons. But it's going to be hard work. Is that okay?" Yunho nodded quickly, his head moving so fast it looked like it was going to fall off his tiny shoulders.
"If hyung knows it, I want to know it. " Son Yee smiled, filled with pride for Yunho. He was still so young but already incredibly smart. Even though it terrified her, she couldn't wait to see the kind of teenager, and ultimately, the adult Yunho would become.
"Then we better get started. JaeJoong sounds like he's learning languages pretty fast." Yunho agreed before rushing into the bathroom to get ready for bed. As he brushed his teeth, he peered around the corner at his mom.
"I have to go to sleep earlier. It'll help me learn stuff faster." Son Yee chuckled. A seven year old willing to go to bed on time was going to get no complaints out of her.
"Sounds good to me!"
....
Over the next few weeks, between phone calls to JaeJoong and early hours of studying, Yunho was successfully learning English. Yunho's dedication learning the language made Son Yee proud and she was humbled by how little she knew. She helped him as much as she could by getting the books he requested and finding American tv shows for kids for him to watch. But the real assistance came from JaeJoong, who religiously spent 2 hours on Skype with Yunho 3 times a week to help him with his studies.
Son Yee was impressed by how well rounded JaeJoong seemed, but also a little taken a back by his maturity. He seemed much older than just 8 and was very serious. But he would never scold Yunho for a mistake or when he got silly when trying to say a word. He was patient and laughed with Yunho which was when Son Yee got a glimpse of JaeJoong's youth.
One night, a week before the first day of school, Son Yee was folding laundry when Yunho came rushing into the room, cheeks flushed.
"Mom!" She laughed.
"Yunho-yah!" Yunho jumped into her lap, sending piles of laundry in all directions.
"Can JaeJoong have a sleep over here?" Son Yee wrapped her arms around Yunho's small frame. The little boy was practically vibrating with excitement.
"But JaeJoong lives in Seoul. Won't that be far from home?" Yunho bounced, his cheeks flushed red. Son Yee rubbed his back gently to remind him to take a breath.
"His piano teacher is giving lessons here this weekend and JaeJoong isn't allowed to miss. So I told him he could stay at our house so he's not late for his lesson on Saturday. Please!?" Geez, JaeJoong played piano too? When did this kid have time to be well...a kid?
"Well if it's alright with his mother then sure he can." Yunho cheered and jumped out of Son Yee's lap.
"His nanny says it's fine! Thank you mom." Like a flash, Yunho was out of the room and hurrying back up the stairs. Son Yee finished the laundry quietly, lost in thought. She didn't think she'd have the chance to meet JaeJoong in person, but now that she was, she was suddenly very curious. What could a boy only one month older than her own son, be like when all he did was study and spent time with his nanny?
-
Yunho fluffed his pillows for what felt like the millionth time. JaeJoong was going to be here any minute now and he was so nervous. What if the boy didn't like his room? From what Yunho had seen of JaeJoong's room during their video chats, it was large and impressive. Yunho loved his room. His sky blue walls and bird and lion art was cool and he loved them. But what animals did JaeJoong like? What were his favorite colors?
"Urgh!" He fell face first into a overly fluffed pillow.
"Well that's not what excitement should sound like." Yunho turned his face to look at his mom.
"What if JaeJoong doesn't like my room?" His mom sat down on the edge of his bed.
"JaeJoong seems like a nice person and a very good friend to you. If that is truly who he is, it won't matter if he likes your room or not." Yunho groaned. He liked everything about JaeJoong. He would probably die if JaeJoong didn't feel the same about him.
"I just want him to be comfortable and happy while he's here." He knew it was only for one night, but he hadn't stopped thinking about it since his mom said 'yes' on Monday.
"And because you want that, he will be. I promise." She smiled warmly at Yunho. "Besides, I'm going to make you guys so many snacks that he won't have time to worry about your room." Yunho mirrored her smile as he finally brought his whole face out of the pillow.
"Will you make dumplings?" She nodded.
"And Kimchi, and eggrolls, and bimbibap, and all the rice you can eat." Yunho's stomach growled loudly making his mom laugh.
"I hope he gets here soon!"
As if JaeJoong had heard his request, the doorbell rang. He hopped to his feet and ran down the stairs. He almost tripped over his own feet getting to the door. His mother followed by behind him. Opening the door, Yunho finally came face to face with his friend again.
"Hyung!" Suddenly too overwhelmed to say anymore, Yunho burst into tears. JaeJoong dropped his bags and wrapped his arms around Yunho in a hug.
"Don't cry. I'm right here." JaeJoong shushed Yunho who held him back and cried even harder.
....
Son Yee watched JaeJoong and Yunho from the other side of the dinner table, still processing Yunho's meltdown at the door earlier as well as JaeJoong's response. She knew that Yunho would sometimes get sometimes so overwhelmed, from either sadness or happiness, but that was the first time she had seen him react that way to the friend.
Now, perfectly calm, Yunho hung on to JaeJoong's every word while they ate. The other little boy, barely an inch shorter than Yunho had the composure someone much older than 8 and the manners to match. And while Yunho ate without a care in a world, Son Yee noticed how JaeJoong was careful with his bites and never got crumbs outside of his bowl or plate. It was as if he had been trained to not make a single mistake.
"Dinner was really good Mrs. Jung." Son Yee smiled.
"I'm happy you liked it. Can I get you something to drink? Juice?" JaeJoong's eyes lit up at the word 'juice' but disappeared even quicker.
"No thank you. I can't have juice. Water will be fine." She nodded and filled his glass with more water.
For the rest of the evening, Son Yee left JaeJoong and Yunho be. The boys were so wrapped up in playing and speaking in English, that neither or them noticed when Yunho's grandmother rang the doorbell. Lee Eun Hee was tall, elegant and still beautiful at age 57. Her long brown hair was still full only slightly tinged with gray and her eyes were bright. Every year, Son Yee became more excited to see how much of her mothers look she would inherit.
"Where's our Yunho? He always greets me at the door." Son Yee took the bags of groceries from her mother and headed towards the kitchen.
"His friend from stay away camp is visiting. They're going to have a sleepover before JaeJoong has to leaving in the morning." Sorting through the groceries, she turned a grateful smile to Eun Hee. "Thank you for doing the shopping. I don't know how the week got away from me." Her mother rolled her eys and waved a dismissive hand at her.
"I know how. You're a full time nurse taking care of a very energetic 7 year old all by yourself. If I were doing that when I was your age I'd have no hair from the stress." Son Yee laughed. Her mother was the daughter of a chaebol and didn't know what it was like to lift a finger until she met her husband. He had come from a poor village and had parents that farmed and sold vegetables at the market to make a living. They met by chance on school trip when they were in high school and once again in college. Convinced their meetings were nothing less than fate, Eun Hee fell in love on their first date. Despite the objections of her parents, she married him, was immediately cut off, and had been living a humbled life ever since.
"Well I appreciate it non the less." Son Yee, finished with putting the groceries away, started a pot of tea.
"So is this little friend of Yunho's nice?" Eun Hee leaned in looking like a teenager waiting to hear gossip. Son Yee poured their tea and sat down across from her at the table.
"Almost too nice." She shook her head. "He's a sweetheart, but he seems so contained. Yunho is his complete opposite. It's just weird. I've never seen a kid with such an adult-like presence." Her mother nodded to show that she was listening as he drank her tea.
"You had a friend like that." Son Yee's brows furrowed.
"I did?" Her mother nodded.
"Im Dae-Hee. You guys were close friends for about 6 months before she moved away suddenly." Son Yee tried her best to recall the friend her mother was talking about. After a few moments finally she remembered and was instantly sad.
"She left without saying goodbye. It was so sudden." A sad look came over Eun Hee's face. "What happened to her, mom?" The older woman didn't say anything for a long time, her face troubled. After a full minute, she finally cleared her throat and looked at Son Yee.
"They found her body in a trash bag behind her house. We later found out that it was the mothers abusive boyfriend who had hit her so hard she fell down the stairs. He panicked and put her in the bag. The mother went crazy when she found out and had to be locked up. And of course the boyfriend went to prison." Eun Hee sighed. "You were so young and so upset. Your father and I didn't know how to even broach the subject which is why -"
"You said she moved away." Son Yee finished for her. Her chest felt tight thinking about how sad she was when she was told her best friend had moved away and hadn't liked her enough to say goodbye. Eun Hee rested a reassuring hand on her daughters arm.
“She had suffered for a long time and no one knew. Your father and I didn’t know how to tell you. We also weren’t sure you needed all of the details. We just wanted to focus on making sure you knew how to be safe.” The extra caution that came with playing outside and how she was repeatedly warned to never talk to people she didn't know, came back to her. Thinking back on it, she knew that it was something all parents did; she did the same when it came to Yunho. But the more she thought about it, it had felt a little more than necessary.
"That's so sad. How could anyone be like that to a child?" The very idea that someone as young as Yunho and JaeJoong being hurt made her stomach turn. But as an ER nurse, she knew she was fooling herself if she believed that some of the "accidental" fractures and breaks she saw on small children were always accidents.
"Some people just can't separate their anger and end up taking it out on people who can't defend themselves; it's easier that way. It doesn't excuse it by any means, but it happens more than we know and some kids, like Dae-Hee don't make it out of the crossfire." They sat in silence for a little longer as they finished their tea. Once they were done, Son Yee and her mother said their goodbyes and Son Yee headed up stair to check on the boys who had been uncharacteristically quiet for nearly an hour. She pushed opened the door to Yunho's room and heart nearly melted on sight.
His head in JaeJoong's lap, Yunho was fast asleep. JaeJoong, who must have fallen asleep reading to him, was still holding the book. Trying her best to move quietly, Son Yee took the book out of JaeJoong's hand and started to pickup the few toys that were scattered around them. Once everything was put away, she carefully lifted Yunho and placed him in the bed and did the same with JaeJoong. When she was done, she turned out the lights and headed over to her room. It was only 8:30, but she rarely had a chance to be done with everything and have time to read before bed. Grabbing her latest crime novel, she got into bed and opened to the last page she left off on. At exactly 6 pages in, she fell asleep.
...
The sound of running water woke Son Yee. She looked at her bedside clock that read 10:30. Sighing, she closed her book and sat up in bed. The running water continued making her realize that it wasn't coming from the sink, but from the bathtub. She got up and headed back down the hallway to the bathroom. The door was ajar so she peaked in and saw that JaeJoong was sitting in the bathtub, furiously scrubbing his arms. She pushed the door open a little wider and almost screamed. JaeJoong's back, now in full view was covered in blue and dark red bruises. From his small shoulders to the mid point of his back, there wasn't one unmarked piece of skin.
"Oh, Mrs. Jung..." Son Yee hadn't even realized that she had opened the door all the way and was now standing in the bathroom. JaeJoong looked up at her with wide, shame-filled eyes. Shame! What did an 8-year-old have to be ashamed of?
"JaeJoong-ah, wha-" she stopped herself and took a steadying breath, "Who did this to you?" JaeJoong looked away.
"I wet my pants. I just didn't want to wake anyone so I took a bath. I'm sorry for not asking." Son Yee shook her head and squated down next to the tub.
"No sweetie you have nothing to be sorry for. I just want to know if you're okay." The little boy sniffled and nodded.
"I just wanted to clean up because I made a mess." Son Yee ran a calming hand through JaeJoong's damp hair.
"Oh honey, wetting the bed isn't a big deal. Can I help?" JaeJoong nodded and Son Yee took the wash cloth and dipped it into the warm and soapy water. She gave him a careful bath, mindful of his bruised back. When they were done, she got a towel and helped him dry off. When he was dry she wrapped him up in the towel and held him tight. She felt the tension in his body loosen as he gave in to the hug. It was almost like he hadn't been hugged in a very long time. When she finally let him go, she looked at his face and saw that his eyes were half lidded.
"I'm sleepy." She pressed a kiss to his forehead.
"Then lets get you back in bed." He sleepily put on his clean underwear and pajamas before taking Son Yee's hand and following her back to Yunho's room. Son Yee took the towel she used to dry him and placed it over the damp spot in bed. JaeJoong climbed in and Son Yee tucked him in. He was already asleep when she kissed his cheek. This time when she left, Son Yee went down stairs and into the kitchen.
On the refrigerator was the piece of paper with JaeJoong's phone numbers that Yunho had given her on his first day home from camp. The last phone number had a sad face drawn next to it and she remembered that meant it was JaeJoong's mothers number and they weren't supposed to call it unless something bad happened. She grabbed it off the refrigerator angrily.
"Fuck that."
A/N: Here's chapter 2! The first few chapters are a little short, so I'll be releasing one every other day before getting started on a regular schedule. If you want to know when I have uploaded the latest chapter, feel free to follow me on twitter here. In the mean time, please feel free to leave me comments if you're up to it! Thanks a bunch! And once again, it's so good to be back! See you soon for chapter 3 :)