Hannah (Part III)
The week following Hyukjae's outburst had Siwon in some sort of a depression. Instead of going out with his co-workers after work he went straight home. He went to church every other day instead of just on the weekends and he took to refusing to talk about anything but church and work around his parents.
"Siwon ah," Mrs. Choi said one day during a late dinner. "Are you okay? Lately your father and I have noticed that--"
Siwon cut her off politely. "I'm perfectly fine, Mother."
Mrs. Choi raised her eyebrows but she changed the topic. "So, how was your little outing with your high school friends last week? I've been so busy with the Church party coming up that I didn't get a chance to ask you."
Siwon smiled a tight smile then put a forkful of vegetables into his mouth. As he chewed he shrugged.
Mr. Choi ate silently as his wife and son had a 'conversation', all the while thinking about work and numbers.
Mrs. Choi's brow furrowed at Siwon's nonverbal answer so she turned to Mr. Choi.
"Say something." She mouthed.
Mr. Choi ignored her and stood up with his plate in hand. "I'll be in my office." He said curtly.
Mrs. Choi frowned and looked back at Siwon to meet his eyes. Unfortunately Siwon too had stood up and was walking to the kitchen to put his plate in the sink.
She looked down at the untouched food on her plate. "What is wrong with this family?"
The whistling of the teapot signaled Hankyung's tea was done so he got up from his seat to fetch it. He walked back to the table to pour some of it onto his rice and some of it into his cup. After setting the teapot down, he spooned a mouthful of tea and rice into his mouth and nearly choked from the heat. "Ah, hot, hot, hot!"
He fanned his mouth and glared down at the innocent bowl.
"Didn't your mother teach you to blow on hot foods before you eat them?"
Hankyung nearly jumped in his seat. He turned around to find his friend Yesung standing in the doorway. "Yesung ah! Why can't you knock like normal people?"
Yesung took a seat in front of Hankyung. "You know I'm not like normal people. Whatcha eating?"
"Tea and rice."
"Yuck, don't you have any ramen around here?"
"That's not really any better than tea and rice."
"True. So, you got any plans for tonight besides your tea and rice?"
Hankyung took his phone out of his pocket and scanned his calendar. No new events and no new messages. "Not that I know of." He said, trying not to sound too sad. Siwon hadn't called him since last week.
Yesung squinted. "That Siwon guy doesn't have you on booty call anymore?"
Hankyung frowned as he put his phone back into his pocket. "Don't say that."
"You know it's true, hyung. He has you on booty call. If he didn't he call you more often and take you out other places besides a hotel."
Hankyung bit his lip. "That hurt." He said quietly, looking into his bowl.
"It hurts because it's true." Yesung said bluntly. "Look, he's not worth it so I'm going to tell you this again: dump him before you get dumped or humiliated first."
Siwon walked slowly down the card aisle, looking for an apology card for Hyukjae. Apologizing by card was not usually his style, but after what happened he figured that Hyukjae wouldn't want to see any of them in person for a while. A phone call would be too awkward and he forgot Hyukjae's e-mail so a card it would be. He picked up a dark blue one with a teddy bearing holding big white letters that said, 'I'm So Sorry!'.
"Too kiddish." He put it back and picked up a green one with black lettering. 'I'm Sorry' the front said. He flipped it open to find that it was blank.
"Perfect." He muttered to himself. He was just about to reach for an envelope when a warm hand covered his. He looked up to find Hankyung and another man staring at him.
"Siwon sshi?" asked Hankyung in his soft voice.
"Hannah sshi," Siwon said with mild surprise. His eyes then drifted to the shorter, angry looking man beside Hankyung. "Who's your friend?"
Yesung looked Siwon up and down. "I'm Yesung, and I think you're a douche."
Hankyung smiled apologetically. "Sorry, we couldn't find his favorite ice cream flavor so he's a bit grumpy. Um, so what are you doing all the way on this side?"
Siwon took an envelope. "My friend lives near here and I had something to give him." He was about to ask what Hankyung was doing with Yesung when another man came running down the aisle towards them.
"Hyung, hyung! They have your favorite coffee!"
Hankyung and Yesung turned around to find their other friend Donghae holding two cans of imported coffee and a jumbo bag of shrimp chips.
"Donghae ah! We were beginning to think you got lost." Hankyung said, his eyes crinkling.
"I come here almost everyday silly. Why would I get lost?" Donghae laughed. "Did you find the beer?"
Yesung held up two six packs. "Yup!"
Siwon cleared his throat as he watched the three men in front of him laughing and talking. It reminded him of Hyukjae and suddenly he felt awkward. "Well then, I guess I'll, uh, be going. See you later Hannah sshi, Yesung sshi."
Donghae finally noticed the other man in their midst. "Well, who do we have here?" He asked, his smile growing bigger.
"That thing is Siwon, the douche Hankyung hyung has been 'seeing'. Don't even bother saying hello to him Donghae." Yesung growled.
Siwon never saw a smile drop so quickly from someone's face.
"You? You are Siwon?" Donghae asked, his voice more serious.
"Yes, I am Siwon. Why?" Siwon looked suspiciously from Donghae to Hankyung. Hankyung averted his eyes.
"Nothing." Donghae said as his grip on the items in his arms grew tighter. "I just thought you deserve this!" Without any warning he kicked Siwon in the shin.
"OW!" Siwon dropped his card and bent down to rub his shin. "What was that for?!"
Hankyung gasped and was about to help Siwon up when Yesung grabbed his hand and began dragging him towards the cashier.
"Let's go, hyung. We have better things to do."
"What did you do that for, Donghae?" hissed Hankyung as soon as they were out of earshot. He grabbed the six-pack from Yesung and placed it on the conveyor belt.
Donghae frowned. "I don't like anyone who uses my hyung." He placed the shrimp chips and coffee down.
Hankyung opened his mouth to say something in defense but nothing came out.
Yesung watched as the person in front of them paid and left. He dug his wallet out of his jacket and began to pull out several bills.
When the cashier finished scanning everything Yesung handed over the bills.
"Yesung ah! It's my treat!" Hankyung protested as the cashier accepted the bills. "Here, let me pay you back." He began to fumble through his bag for his wallet when Yesung stopped him.
"Nah, it's mine."
Hankyung frowned. "Just because you paid for everything doesn't mean I'll forgive you that quickly for being so rude to Siwon sshi."
Donghae grabbed the bagged items. "I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry hyung."
Yesung took the receipt from the cashier and the three of them began to walk to the exit. "We might seem a little too nosy, but we want you know it's only because we want you to be happy."
Hankyung tucked his hands into his jacket and smiled sadly. "I know. But it's my life and I'm your hyung. So for the last time, I'm asking you to just let me handle it. I'm a big boy, okay?"
Donghae and Yesung exchanged a glance. Because Hankyung hardly asked anything from them, they had no choice but to agree this time, no matter how worried they were.
Siwon got only as far as 'I'm sorry for' on Hyukjae's card because he was too busy thinking about Hankyung. He reached down to rub his shin and he winced. "What in the world was that for? Did I say something wrong?"
He thought back to what Yesung had said and furrowed his brows. "What exactly had Hankyung told his friends to make them hate me so much?" He wondered as he picked up his pen again. He wrote exactly three more letters on the card--'what happened last'--before his phone rang. He put the pen down and answered the phone.
"Hello, Choi Siwon here."
"Siwon ah, it's Mother."
"Yes, Mother?"
"I forgot to tell you the other day at dinner that the Church party is this coming Wednesday. Are you able to come?"
"If it's during lunch I might be able to get off work for a little bit."
"It's at 11."
"I'll see what I can do, Mother."
He hung up and turned back to his card. Taking a deep cleansing breath, he banished all thoughts of Hankyung from his head and proceeded to finish the card.
"Trash, trash, bill, trash, bill, Choi Siwon, trash, wait what?!"
Hyukjae picked up the envelope he just tossed aside. Sure enough, it said Choi Siwon as the sender.
"What could he possibly have mailed me?" He slit open the envelope and pulled out a green card that said 'I'm Sorry' in black letters.
"Oh," Hyukjae said softly. "Well, that was nice of him." He opened the card and started to read what was written.
"Dear Hyukjae," the card began. "I'm sorry about what happened last week at lunch. What Kangin said was very wrong but what Eeteuk hyung and I did was even worse. We didn't stand up for you. I wish I did something or said something at the time but honestly, I was in shock. I'm not going to ask what happened to you for you to say such a thing like that, but I assure you I don't hate you. Please accept my apology. Sincerely, Siwon."
Hyukjae crumpled the card in his hand and tried not to feel hurt by Siwon's ignorance. "Why does everyone assume that something happened to make me gay? I just am."
-------
Note: Hey everyone! :) This is part three. I'm sorry I took so long to write it so I made it longer to make up for it. <3
Edit: Read part IV here!
"Siwon ah," Mrs. Choi said one day during a late dinner. "Are you okay? Lately your father and I have noticed that--"
Siwon cut her off politely. "I'm perfectly fine, Mother."
Mrs. Choi raised her eyebrows but she changed the topic. "So, how was your little outing with your high school friends last week? I've been so busy with the Church party coming up that I didn't get a chance to ask you."
Siwon smiled a tight smile then put a forkful of vegetables into his mouth. As he chewed he shrugged.
Mr. Choi ate silently as his wife and son had a 'conversation', all the while thinking about work and numbers.
Mrs. Choi's brow furrowed at Siwon's nonverbal answer so she turned to Mr. Choi.
"Say something." She mouthed.
Mr. Choi ignored her and stood up with his plate in hand. "I'll be in my office." He said curtly.
Mrs. Choi frowned and looked back at Siwon to meet his eyes. Unfortunately Siwon too had stood up and was walking to the kitchen to put his plate in the sink.
She looked down at the untouched food on her plate. "What is wrong with this family?"
The whistling of the teapot signaled Hankyung's tea was done so he got up from his seat to fetch it. He walked back to the table to pour some of it onto his rice and some of it into his cup. After setting the teapot down, he spooned a mouthful of tea and rice into his mouth and nearly choked from the heat. "Ah, hot, hot, hot!"
He fanned his mouth and glared down at the innocent bowl.
"Didn't your mother teach you to blow on hot foods before you eat them?"
Hankyung nearly jumped in his seat. He turned around to find his friend Yesung standing in the doorway. "Yesung ah! Why can't you knock like normal people?"
Yesung took a seat in front of Hankyung. "You know I'm not like normal people. Whatcha eating?"
"Tea and rice."
"Yuck, don't you have any ramen around here?"
"That's not really any better than tea and rice."
"True. So, you got any plans for tonight besides your tea and rice?"
Hankyung took his phone out of his pocket and scanned his calendar. No new events and no new messages. "Not that I know of." He said, trying not to sound too sad. Siwon hadn't called him since last week.
Yesung squinted. "That Siwon guy doesn't have you on booty call anymore?"
Hankyung frowned as he put his phone back into his pocket. "Don't say that."
"You know it's true, hyung. He has you on booty call. If he didn't he call you more often and take you out other places besides a hotel."
Hankyung bit his lip. "That hurt." He said quietly, looking into his bowl.
"It hurts because it's true." Yesung said bluntly. "Look, he's not worth it so I'm going to tell you this again: dump him before you get dumped or humiliated first."
Siwon walked slowly down the card aisle, looking for an apology card for Hyukjae. Apologizing by card was not usually his style, but after what happened he figured that Hyukjae wouldn't want to see any of them in person for a while. A phone call would be too awkward and he forgot Hyukjae's e-mail so a card it would be. He picked up a dark blue one with a teddy bearing holding big white letters that said, 'I'm So Sorry!'.
"Too kiddish." He put it back and picked up a green one with black lettering. 'I'm Sorry' the front said. He flipped it open to find that it was blank.
"Perfect." He muttered to himself. He was just about to reach for an envelope when a warm hand covered his. He looked up to find Hankyung and another man staring at him.
"Siwon sshi?" asked Hankyung in his soft voice.
"Hannah sshi," Siwon said with mild surprise. His eyes then drifted to the shorter, angry looking man beside Hankyung. "Who's your friend?"
Yesung looked Siwon up and down. "I'm Yesung, and I think you're a douche."
Hankyung smiled apologetically. "Sorry, we couldn't find his favorite ice cream flavor so he's a bit grumpy. Um, so what are you doing all the way on this side?"
Siwon took an envelope. "My friend lives near here and I had something to give him." He was about to ask what Hankyung was doing with Yesung when another man came running down the aisle towards them.
"Hyung, hyung! They have your favorite coffee!"
Hankyung and Yesung turned around to find their other friend Donghae holding two cans of imported coffee and a jumbo bag of shrimp chips.
"Donghae ah! We were beginning to think you got lost." Hankyung said, his eyes crinkling.
"I come here almost everyday silly. Why would I get lost?" Donghae laughed. "Did you find the beer?"
Yesung held up two six packs. "Yup!"
Siwon cleared his throat as he watched the three men in front of him laughing and talking. It reminded him of Hyukjae and suddenly he felt awkward. "Well then, I guess I'll, uh, be going. See you later Hannah sshi, Yesung sshi."
Donghae finally noticed the other man in their midst. "Well, who do we have here?" He asked, his smile growing bigger.
"That thing is Siwon, the douche Hankyung hyung has been 'seeing'. Don't even bother saying hello to him Donghae." Yesung growled.
Siwon never saw a smile drop so quickly from someone's face.
"You? You are Siwon?" Donghae asked, his voice more serious.
"Yes, I am Siwon. Why?" Siwon looked suspiciously from Donghae to Hankyung. Hankyung averted his eyes.
"Nothing." Donghae said as his grip on the items in his arms grew tighter. "I just thought you deserve this!" Without any warning he kicked Siwon in the shin.
"OW!" Siwon dropped his card and bent down to rub his shin. "What was that for?!"
Hankyung gasped and was about to help Siwon up when Yesung grabbed his hand and began dragging him towards the cashier.
"Let's go, hyung. We have better things to do."
"What did you do that for, Donghae?" hissed Hankyung as soon as they were out of earshot. He grabbed the six-pack from Yesung and placed it on the conveyor belt.
Donghae frowned. "I don't like anyone who uses my hyung." He placed the shrimp chips and coffee down.
Hankyung opened his mouth to say something in defense but nothing came out.
Yesung watched as the person in front of them paid and left. He dug his wallet out of his jacket and began to pull out several bills.
When the cashier finished scanning everything Yesung handed over the bills.
"Yesung ah! It's my treat!" Hankyung protested as the cashier accepted the bills. "Here, let me pay you back." He began to fumble through his bag for his wallet when Yesung stopped him.
"Nah, it's mine."
Hankyung frowned. "Just because you paid for everything doesn't mean I'll forgive you that quickly for being so rude to Siwon sshi."
Donghae grabbed the bagged items. "I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry hyung."
Yesung took the receipt from the cashier and the three of them began to walk to the exit. "We might seem a little too nosy, but we want you know it's only because we want you to be happy."
Hankyung tucked his hands into his jacket and smiled sadly. "I know. But it's my life and I'm your hyung. So for the last time, I'm asking you to just let me handle it. I'm a big boy, okay?"
Donghae and Yesung exchanged a glance. Because Hankyung hardly asked anything from them, they had no choice but to agree this time, no matter how worried they were.
Siwon got only as far as 'I'm sorry for' on Hyukjae's card because he was too busy thinking about Hankyung. He reached down to rub his shin and he winced. "What in the world was that for? Did I say something wrong?"
He thought back to what Yesung had said and furrowed his brows. "What exactly had Hankyung told his friends to make them hate me so much?" He wondered as he picked up his pen again. He wrote exactly three more letters on the card--'what happened last'--before his phone rang. He put the pen down and answered the phone.
"Hello, Choi Siwon here."
"Siwon ah, it's Mother."
"Yes, Mother?"
"I forgot to tell you the other day at dinner that the Church party is this coming Wednesday. Are you able to come?"
"If it's during lunch I might be able to get off work for a little bit."
"It's at 11."
"I'll see what I can do, Mother."
He hung up and turned back to his card. Taking a deep cleansing breath, he banished all thoughts of Hankyung from his head and proceeded to finish the card.
"Trash, trash, bill, trash, bill, Choi Siwon, trash, wait what?!"
Hyukjae picked up the envelope he just tossed aside. Sure enough, it said Choi Siwon as the sender.
"What could he possibly have mailed me?" He slit open the envelope and pulled out a green card that said 'I'm Sorry' in black letters.
"Oh," Hyukjae said softly. "Well, that was nice of him." He opened the card and started to read what was written.
"Dear Hyukjae," the card began. "I'm sorry about what happened last week at lunch. What Kangin said was very wrong but what Eeteuk hyung and I did was even worse. We didn't stand up for you. I wish I did something or said something at the time but honestly, I was in shock. I'm not going to ask what happened to you for you to say such a thing like that, but I assure you I don't hate you. Please accept my apology. Sincerely, Siwon."
Hyukjae crumpled the card in his hand and tried not to feel hurt by Siwon's ignorance. "Why does everyone assume that something happened to make me gay? I just am."
-------
Note: Hey everyone! :) This is part three. I'm sorry I took so long to write it so I made it longer to make up for it. <3
Edit: Read part IV here!