Achromatic Ecstasy, Part 12
Title: Achromatic Ecstasy
Pairing: Kenbin
Rating: R
Genre: Angst, drama, AU, bunch of fucked up stuff
Summary: Despite having been best friends all their lives, it only takes them one month apart to turn everything on its head.
Chapter wordcount: 2,914
A/N: This fic deals with themes that may be triggering to some. Read with caution.
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11
The interview goes well for them both. Hongbin doesn't want to mention that his father is a journalist at the paper, but it seems he's already put in a good word for both Hongbin and Jaehwan, so they are offered part time jobs immediately. Their working hours are to be from 2am to 6am, and Hongbin is set to start working two days later than Jaehwan. It's a victory, a huge stone off his shoulders when he finds out they get to start working as early as next week.
He feels like he could burst into song on the way home, but Jaehwan's face stops him from doing so. Jaehwan doesn't say anything, doesn't smile, but acts like he's barely even there on the whole way home. Hongbin doesn't know how to comfort him, because he knows that Jaehwan is tired, close to his breaking point, like a rubber band stretched too far. When they reach Jaehwan's apartment, the older stops outside the door, staring at the ground, unmoving.
”What's the matter?” Hongbin questions carefully, holding his hand a little tighter.
”I don't feel like going inside,” Jaehwan mumbles, his eyes already tear-filled. ”I don't feel like being around people.”
”Oh.” Hongbin looks around, thinking hard. ”Uhm, I could go hang out with Sanghyuk for a while if you want to be alone.”
Jaehwan pulls at his arm. ”You're not people.”
”No?”
”I just don't feel like going in there.” A tear rolls over his cheek, and Hongbin wipes it away gently.
”So now I suddenly have to convince you to spend time indoors? That's very unlike you,” he jokes, and Jaehwan gives a sad smile. ”Let's go back to the playground, yeah?” Hongbin says, already pulling him along with him, and Jaehwan follows without a word.
Hongbin wraps his arm around his middle as they make their way over there, and Jaehwan leans his head against his shoulder. ”What are you thinking of?” Hongbin asks as they stand beneath their cliff, hopping up on the only side that's low enough. He reaches out his hand and helps Jaehwan up, too, when the older looks sad and helpless where he stands.
”I'm scared,” he admits when they walk over to the edge together. ”He still hasn't replied to my message. It's been days. I feel like we'll never get the money in time.” He sits down, his feet dangling over the edge as he looks out over their neighborhood. ”I'm so worried all the time that something's going to happen to Hyuk or my parents... or you. I feel like I can't breathe.”
”Hyung, nothing's going to happen,” Hongbin says, and he knows that it's pointless, because he can't know that, but Sanghyuk has stopped going out, and he doubts Taekwoon would mess with his parents very strongly. Jaehwan simply shakes his head, and Hongbin sits down next to him. ”You're right, though. I understand. I'm scared too. So let's... let's give him your parents' money for now.”
Jaehwan turns to him with a frown. ”No.”
”What does it matter if we give the money we earn directly to Taekwoon or if we give them back to your parents?” Hongbin insists. ”Listen, we can pay Taekwoon off now and be done with it, and pay your parents back with what we earn.”
”I don't want to have this discussion right now,” Jaehwan says, angrily wiping at the tears on his cheeks.
”Then when are we going to have it?” Hongbin asks. ”This is happening right now, hyung!”
Jaehwan leans forward and covers his face with his hands. ”I know.” Hongbin wraps his arm over his shoulder, trying to show the other man that he's there for him.
”Think about what's best for you, hyung.”
”I don't want to,” Jaehwan says, shaking his head. ”I feel like that's all I've been doing for months, just thinking about myself.”
Hongbin looks down at the older's hands, still and lifeless against his thighs. ”What's best for you is what's best for all of us in this situaion,” he mumbles, and he sees Jaehwan's lip tremble with effort to keep himself together as more tears roll down his cheeks.
”Fine. We'll give him the damn money.” Jaehwan leans against Hongbin, opening up and crying freely without trying to hide. ”I just want it all to be over with.”
”It will be,” Hongbin exhales in pure relief. ”Very soon.”
And that's when they see him, Taekwoon, walking over the lawn towards the cliff. They stumble to their feet, but before they know it he has reached then, and he's climbing up, trapping them both up there. Hongbin's heart beats so hard he's seeing spots, and he holds onto Jaehwan's lower arms desperately, terrified.
”I didn't want to do this,” Taekwoon says, and there's a knife in his hand as he closes in on them.
”No, hyung, don't,” Jaehwan begs. They stumble backwards, closer to the edge. ”You'll get your money, and soon, I promise you.”
Taekwoon shakes his head. ”I might be evicted because of you and the money you cost me. Do you understand? Evicted. I have nowhere else to go.”
”You'll have them by today,” Jaehwan cries, trying to stand in front of Hongbin to shield him from danger, but Honbin refuses. ”Please, hyung, don't do this.”
Taekwoon launches at them, swinging his knife in a wide bow, mostly in Hongbin's direction, and Jaehwan screams. ”Please, leave him alone! If you're going to hurt someone it should be me. He hasn't done anything wrong.” Hongbin wants to tell him to shut up, but he can't find his voice.
”You? Why would I want to hurt you, Jaehwanie?” Taekwoon says sarcastically. ”I need your money. Him, I want gone from the world.” He charges at them again, stabbing the knife firmly towards Hongbin's stomach, and Hongbin jumps back, barely evading the blade, but then he's standing right on the edge and he can't regain his balance, he reaches out and he sees Jaehwan do the same, his fingers brushing Hongbin's shirt, but he's too far gone already, and then he falls, Jaehwan's screams echoing in his ears.
His feet hit the uneven side of the cliff first, and the tingling sensation in his stomach is enough to make him want to scream, but he still can't find his voice, and then his back hits the fence that separates them from the rest of the playground, the side of the plank stopping his fall with a deafening crash. He's jolted forwards, the breath knocked out of his lungs, and then he lands on his stomach, face down in the grass.
He can't move. He can't breathe. He feels the wound opening on his back, blood trickling in every direction and getting his shirt sticky, and though he struggles for a breath he can't move his head and free his nose and mouth from the grass, no matter how hard he tries, and he can't hear anything other than the ringing in his ears, can't see anything but the explosions of color that play on the inside of his eyelids, and then even those, even the ringing, starts to fade away. The last thought he has a chance to form before he falls unconscious is, what about Jaehwan?
”Hongbin... Please, wake up. Please, please.”
Hongbin draws a breath and it scratches at his throat, so he coughs, gasping for air. He's dizzy, his whole body hurts, but he curls his hand around Jaehwan's wrist and knows that at least he's not paralyzed.
”Thank god,” he hears Jaehwan sob, and he realizes he's lying with his back against Jaehwan's legs, that they're still down on the grass below the cliff, and maybe he hasn't been out for that long after all. ”I've called an ambulance, they're on their way- are you okay?”
Hongbin stares at Jaehwan's hand, because it's covered in blood, and he grips his wrist tighter, looking up into Jaehwan's tear-streaked face. ”Are you hurt?”
Jaehwan shakes his head. ”That's- that's yours, Hongbin, you're bleeding a lot. Are you okay?”
Hongbin forces a hand in under his own back and finds that his shirt is drenched in his own blood. He gasps at the pain, the way it sends aching stabs in every direction of his body. ”Do you need to lie down on your stomach instead?”
Hongbin nods, and Jaehwan holds him in his arms carefully, trying his best to turn him over without hurting him. ”Taekwoon,” Hongbin grunts. ”What happened? Where is he?”
”He left,” Jaehwan cries, and when he turns Hongbin over, Hongbin finds Jaehwan's legs stained red from Hongbin's own blood. ”He- he said he has no interest in hurting me, all he wants is my money.” He wraps his arm around Hongbin's lower back and holds him, shaking with sobs. ”I'm so sorry, Hongbin, I'm so sorry.”
”Stop,” Hongbin musters, and he wants to say more, so much more, tell him that it's not his fault, that it was Taekwoon who did it, not Jaehwan, but his strength is leaving him again, the little strength he had left, and it's only a few seconds more until he loses consciousness again, in Jaehwan's arms, while the older is still holding him close and crying into his hair.
They tell the doctors it was just an accident, that Hongbin was just playing around when he fell over the edge, and they buy it without much complaint. They call his parents, to his horror, as well as Jaehwan's, before they make him lie down on his stomach on a gurney. The wound stretches in a straight line from one side of Hongbin's back to the other, and it requires fifteen stitches to close up. They say Hongbin may have a mild concussion, too, after the fall, but that he should have no problems going home. He doesn't need to stay the night at the hospital.
Jaehwan crouches down by Hongbin's side, holding onto his hand through the whole process. He doesn't want to look at the wound, Hongbin can tell, and he's thankful that Jaehwan is there with him, down on his level, allowing Hongbin to focus on his beautiful face when the pain sets in.
Jaehwan's parents arrive at the hospital first, when Hongbin is all stitched up, sitting shirtless on his gurney with Jaehwan beside him. They don't hug him when they enter, but take wordless looks at his back, facing his hollow eyes with sympathy. ”Are you coming with us back home?” Mrs. Lee asks, and Hongbin wants to cry, because he wants to more than anything, but if he knows his mother right, that won't be the case. Jaehwan looks at him anxiously when he doesn't reply.
”I hope so.” He wants to talk to them all about what they're supposed to do now, if they're really going to call the police, but he doesn't want to with the doctor in the same room, and as he looks at them all one by one, he knows they feel the same.
Hongbin's mother and father walk in about twenty minutes later, and his heart sinks at the sight of his mother's outraged face.
”That's it,” she says, walking up to him where he sits, ignoring Jaehwan and his parents' presence. ”Put your shirt on, we're going home.”
He shakes his head. ”I want to stay with Jaehwan.” He looks to his father, whose sad eyes feel like his only hope.
”I don't want to hear it,” she replies.
”We will take care of him, I promise you,” Mrs. Lee speaks up, and Hongbin's mother holds up a hand to silence her.
”I don't want you two spending any more time together.” She pulls Hongbin's hand out of Jaehwan's grip, and as they look at each other, Hongbin feels his heart break in his chest. Perhaps it isn't true, but Jaehwan looks helpless without him. More importantly, Hongbin is helpless without Jaehwan.
”Honey,” Hongbin's father says, sweeping in to stand next to her with an apologetic glance to Mr. and Mrs. Lee. ”Let's not be hasty.”
”I didn't think Jaehwan was this kind of person, but look what he has done to our son,” she says, turning Hongbin around forcibly to look at his bandaged wound.
Hongbin winces in pain and tries to argue. ”He didn't-”
”I don't care what happened, I don't want to know! Even if he didn't do it personally, he might as well have! He's the one who got you into this mess.”
Jaehwan looks heartbroken, tears welling up in his eyes again, if he ever really stopped crying, and Hongbin shakes his head at him. ”Don't listen.”
His mother is about to say something when his father puts a hand on her arm. ”Hongbin... I really wish you would come home, too, and tell us what has happened.”
Hongbin returns his father's gaze, and he knows that he owes them an explanation. Even if he isn't sure how to give it to them. ”One night,” he offers. ”One more night away, then I'll come home. Please?”
His mother shakes her head immediately. ”No. You're coming home where I can keep an eye on you.”
”Please,” Hongbin repeats, frustrated tears now slipping down his face, too. ”Just one night. One last night.”
”I said no.”
”Honey,” his father interjects again. ”Look at him. He needs this.”
Hongbin cries harder out of gratitude, locking eyes with his father to make sure he knows it. His mother looks between their faces a few times before she gives up with an exasperated sigh. ”One night, but that is it. I don't want you two to hang around each other after that. Do you understand? You can end this... whatever it is that's going on with you.” Hongbin nods simply to get it over with, and he doesn't even dare to look at Jaehwan this time. ”I'm serious, Hongbin, do you hear me?”
”He gets it,” his father says. ”That's enough.”
They leave shortly afterwards, leaving Hongbin with Jaehwan's family. As they walk out the door, Hongbin exchanges a look with his father, and he knows that he will under no circumstances leave Jaehwan alone, not like this. He won't let his mother win, and he's sure his father will help him on the way.
Jaehwan helps him put his shirt back on, one Jaehwan's parents brought for him, when the pain becomes too much for him. He's still crying silently, and Hongbin wants nothing more than to comfort him, tell him that they're not over, that Hongbin will still be there for him, but he needs them to be alone for this.
The car ride home is quiet. Jaehwan and Hongbin sit in the backseat, hands connected on the third empty seat between them, and they both stare out their respective windows, just waiting for time to pass, waiting for the moment when they can finally be alone.
”Tomorrow, we go to the police,” Mr. Lee says eventually. ”First thing in the morning. No objections.”
But none of them have any objections, not Hongbin, not even Jaehwan anymore.
”Hongbin,” Jaehwan cries the moment they close to the door to his room. ”Don't let her keep us apart, I'm sorry for everything, just please don't-”
”Never.” Hongbin wraps his arms around his hyung. ”Never. I swear to you, hyung.”
”I'm so sorry.” Jaehwan is desperate, tears falling non-stop down his reddened face, but Hongbin just shakes his head at him. ”What are we going to do?”
”I don't know,” Hongbin says truthfully. ”My dad will help me, we'll figure something out. Okay? Don't let it worry you.”
”How can I not?” Jaehwan cries, and Hongbin has never seen him look so destroyed before, his eyes red and wide and his nose running. ”I want to kill Taekwoon for doing this to you, I want to kill him.” He stutters and hiccups, and Hongbin hold up a finger to his lips to silence him.
”I'm okay, hyung. See? I'm right here.” Jaehwan doesn't hold him, and he knows that it's becuse of the wound on his back, that he's afraid of hurting him, and strangely enough, in this moment it is Jaehwan's love for him that hurts the most.
”I'll never let him come near you again. Never.”
They move towards the bed to lie down, because by now it is late and the room is dark. Jaehwan cries inconsolably, and Hongbin knows it is because of the mixture of everything: his own depression, Hongbin's injury, the knowledge that by tomorrow Taekwoon might tell the police about what he has done (whatever it is, Hongbin doesn't need to know), at the same time as Hongbin might be snatched away from him and he will have a gaping, empty hole by his side and in his heart that no one else can fill. So Hongbin doesn't say much, because he feels it all too, and he has no idea how they're going to get through this.
”I love you,” Jaehwan breathes over and over again. ”I love you.”
The only way forwards, Hongbin knows, is together. And no matter what tomorrow brings, as long as they have each other, eveything will be okay.
Pairing: Kenbin
Rating: R
Genre: Angst, drama, AU, bunch of fucked up stuff
Summary: Despite having been best friends all their lives, it only takes them one month apart to turn everything on its head.
Chapter wordcount: 2,914
A/N: This fic deals with themes that may be triggering to some. Read with caution.
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11
The interview goes well for them both. Hongbin doesn't want to mention that his father is a journalist at the paper, but it seems he's already put in a good word for both Hongbin and Jaehwan, so they are offered part time jobs immediately. Their working hours are to be from 2am to 6am, and Hongbin is set to start working two days later than Jaehwan. It's a victory, a huge stone off his shoulders when he finds out they get to start working as early as next week.
He feels like he could burst into song on the way home, but Jaehwan's face stops him from doing so. Jaehwan doesn't say anything, doesn't smile, but acts like he's barely even there on the whole way home. Hongbin doesn't know how to comfort him, because he knows that Jaehwan is tired, close to his breaking point, like a rubber band stretched too far. When they reach Jaehwan's apartment, the older stops outside the door, staring at the ground, unmoving.
”What's the matter?” Hongbin questions carefully, holding his hand a little tighter.
”I don't feel like going inside,” Jaehwan mumbles, his eyes already tear-filled. ”I don't feel like being around people.”
”Oh.” Hongbin looks around, thinking hard. ”Uhm, I could go hang out with Sanghyuk for a while if you want to be alone.”
Jaehwan pulls at his arm. ”You're not people.”
”No?”
”I just don't feel like going in there.” A tear rolls over his cheek, and Hongbin wipes it away gently.
”So now I suddenly have to convince you to spend time indoors? That's very unlike you,” he jokes, and Jaehwan gives a sad smile. ”Let's go back to the playground, yeah?” Hongbin says, already pulling him along with him, and Jaehwan follows without a word.
Hongbin wraps his arm around his middle as they make their way over there, and Jaehwan leans his head against his shoulder. ”What are you thinking of?” Hongbin asks as they stand beneath their cliff, hopping up on the only side that's low enough. He reaches out his hand and helps Jaehwan up, too, when the older looks sad and helpless where he stands.
”I'm scared,” he admits when they walk over to the edge together. ”He still hasn't replied to my message. It's been days. I feel like we'll never get the money in time.” He sits down, his feet dangling over the edge as he looks out over their neighborhood. ”I'm so worried all the time that something's going to happen to Hyuk or my parents... or you. I feel like I can't breathe.”
”Hyung, nothing's going to happen,” Hongbin says, and he knows that it's pointless, because he can't know that, but Sanghyuk has stopped going out, and he doubts Taekwoon would mess with his parents very strongly. Jaehwan simply shakes his head, and Hongbin sits down next to him. ”You're right, though. I understand. I'm scared too. So let's... let's give him your parents' money for now.”
Jaehwan turns to him with a frown. ”No.”
”What does it matter if we give the money we earn directly to Taekwoon or if we give them back to your parents?” Hongbin insists. ”Listen, we can pay Taekwoon off now and be done with it, and pay your parents back with what we earn.”
”I don't want to have this discussion right now,” Jaehwan says, angrily wiping at the tears on his cheeks.
”Then when are we going to have it?” Hongbin asks. ”This is happening right now, hyung!”
Jaehwan leans forward and covers his face with his hands. ”I know.” Hongbin wraps his arm over his shoulder, trying to show the other man that he's there for him.
”Think about what's best for you, hyung.”
”I don't want to,” Jaehwan says, shaking his head. ”I feel like that's all I've been doing for months, just thinking about myself.”
Hongbin looks down at the older's hands, still and lifeless against his thighs. ”What's best for you is what's best for all of us in this situaion,” he mumbles, and he sees Jaehwan's lip tremble with effort to keep himself together as more tears roll down his cheeks.
”Fine. We'll give him the damn money.” Jaehwan leans against Hongbin, opening up and crying freely without trying to hide. ”I just want it all to be over with.”
”It will be,” Hongbin exhales in pure relief. ”Very soon.”
And that's when they see him, Taekwoon, walking over the lawn towards the cliff. They stumble to their feet, but before they know it he has reached then, and he's climbing up, trapping them both up there. Hongbin's heart beats so hard he's seeing spots, and he holds onto Jaehwan's lower arms desperately, terrified.
”I didn't want to do this,” Taekwoon says, and there's a knife in his hand as he closes in on them.
”No, hyung, don't,” Jaehwan begs. They stumble backwards, closer to the edge. ”You'll get your money, and soon, I promise you.”
Taekwoon shakes his head. ”I might be evicted because of you and the money you cost me. Do you understand? Evicted. I have nowhere else to go.”
”You'll have them by today,” Jaehwan cries, trying to stand in front of Hongbin to shield him from danger, but Honbin refuses. ”Please, hyung, don't do this.”
Taekwoon launches at them, swinging his knife in a wide bow, mostly in Hongbin's direction, and Jaehwan screams. ”Please, leave him alone! If you're going to hurt someone it should be me. He hasn't done anything wrong.” Hongbin wants to tell him to shut up, but he can't find his voice.
”You? Why would I want to hurt you, Jaehwanie?” Taekwoon says sarcastically. ”I need your money. Him, I want gone from the world.” He charges at them again, stabbing the knife firmly towards Hongbin's stomach, and Hongbin jumps back, barely evading the blade, but then he's standing right on the edge and he can't regain his balance, he reaches out and he sees Jaehwan do the same, his fingers brushing Hongbin's shirt, but he's too far gone already, and then he falls, Jaehwan's screams echoing in his ears.
His feet hit the uneven side of the cliff first, and the tingling sensation in his stomach is enough to make him want to scream, but he still can't find his voice, and then his back hits the fence that separates them from the rest of the playground, the side of the plank stopping his fall with a deafening crash. He's jolted forwards, the breath knocked out of his lungs, and then he lands on his stomach, face down in the grass.
He can't move. He can't breathe. He feels the wound opening on his back, blood trickling in every direction and getting his shirt sticky, and though he struggles for a breath he can't move his head and free his nose and mouth from the grass, no matter how hard he tries, and he can't hear anything other than the ringing in his ears, can't see anything but the explosions of color that play on the inside of his eyelids, and then even those, even the ringing, starts to fade away. The last thought he has a chance to form before he falls unconscious is, what about Jaehwan?
”Hongbin... Please, wake up. Please, please.”
Hongbin draws a breath and it scratches at his throat, so he coughs, gasping for air. He's dizzy, his whole body hurts, but he curls his hand around Jaehwan's wrist and knows that at least he's not paralyzed.
”Thank god,” he hears Jaehwan sob, and he realizes he's lying with his back against Jaehwan's legs, that they're still down on the grass below the cliff, and maybe he hasn't been out for that long after all. ”I've called an ambulance, they're on their way- are you okay?”
Hongbin stares at Jaehwan's hand, because it's covered in blood, and he grips his wrist tighter, looking up into Jaehwan's tear-streaked face. ”Are you hurt?”
Jaehwan shakes his head. ”That's- that's yours, Hongbin, you're bleeding a lot. Are you okay?”
Hongbin forces a hand in under his own back and finds that his shirt is drenched in his own blood. He gasps at the pain, the way it sends aching stabs in every direction of his body. ”Do you need to lie down on your stomach instead?”
Hongbin nods, and Jaehwan holds him in his arms carefully, trying his best to turn him over without hurting him. ”Taekwoon,” Hongbin grunts. ”What happened? Where is he?”
”He left,” Jaehwan cries, and when he turns Hongbin over, Hongbin finds Jaehwan's legs stained red from Hongbin's own blood. ”He- he said he has no interest in hurting me, all he wants is my money.” He wraps his arm around Hongbin's lower back and holds him, shaking with sobs. ”I'm so sorry, Hongbin, I'm so sorry.”
”Stop,” Hongbin musters, and he wants to say more, so much more, tell him that it's not his fault, that it was Taekwoon who did it, not Jaehwan, but his strength is leaving him again, the little strength he had left, and it's only a few seconds more until he loses consciousness again, in Jaehwan's arms, while the older is still holding him close and crying into his hair.
They tell the doctors it was just an accident, that Hongbin was just playing around when he fell over the edge, and they buy it without much complaint. They call his parents, to his horror, as well as Jaehwan's, before they make him lie down on his stomach on a gurney. The wound stretches in a straight line from one side of Hongbin's back to the other, and it requires fifteen stitches to close up. They say Hongbin may have a mild concussion, too, after the fall, but that he should have no problems going home. He doesn't need to stay the night at the hospital.
Jaehwan crouches down by Hongbin's side, holding onto his hand through the whole process. He doesn't want to look at the wound, Hongbin can tell, and he's thankful that Jaehwan is there with him, down on his level, allowing Hongbin to focus on his beautiful face when the pain sets in.
Jaehwan's parents arrive at the hospital first, when Hongbin is all stitched up, sitting shirtless on his gurney with Jaehwan beside him. They don't hug him when they enter, but take wordless looks at his back, facing his hollow eyes with sympathy. ”Are you coming with us back home?” Mrs. Lee asks, and Hongbin wants to cry, because he wants to more than anything, but if he knows his mother right, that won't be the case. Jaehwan looks at him anxiously when he doesn't reply.
”I hope so.” He wants to talk to them all about what they're supposed to do now, if they're really going to call the police, but he doesn't want to with the doctor in the same room, and as he looks at them all one by one, he knows they feel the same.
Hongbin's mother and father walk in about twenty minutes later, and his heart sinks at the sight of his mother's outraged face.
”That's it,” she says, walking up to him where he sits, ignoring Jaehwan and his parents' presence. ”Put your shirt on, we're going home.”
He shakes his head. ”I want to stay with Jaehwan.” He looks to his father, whose sad eyes feel like his only hope.
”I don't want to hear it,” she replies.
”We will take care of him, I promise you,” Mrs. Lee speaks up, and Hongbin's mother holds up a hand to silence her.
”I don't want you two spending any more time together.” She pulls Hongbin's hand out of Jaehwan's grip, and as they look at each other, Hongbin feels his heart break in his chest. Perhaps it isn't true, but Jaehwan looks helpless without him. More importantly, Hongbin is helpless without Jaehwan.
”Honey,” Hongbin's father says, sweeping in to stand next to her with an apologetic glance to Mr. and Mrs. Lee. ”Let's not be hasty.”
”I didn't think Jaehwan was this kind of person, but look what he has done to our son,” she says, turning Hongbin around forcibly to look at his bandaged wound.
Hongbin winces in pain and tries to argue. ”He didn't-”
”I don't care what happened, I don't want to know! Even if he didn't do it personally, he might as well have! He's the one who got you into this mess.”
Jaehwan looks heartbroken, tears welling up in his eyes again, if he ever really stopped crying, and Hongbin shakes his head at him. ”Don't listen.”
His mother is about to say something when his father puts a hand on her arm. ”Hongbin... I really wish you would come home, too, and tell us what has happened.”
Hongbin returns his father's gaze, and he knows that he owes them an explanation. Even if he isn't sure how to give it to them. ”One night,” he offers. ”One more night away, then I'll come home. Please?”
His mother shakes her head immediately. ”No. You're coming home where I can keep an eye on you.”
”Please,” Hongbin repeats, frustrated tears now slipping down his face, too. ”Just one night. One last night.”
”I said no.”
”Honey,” his father interjects again. ”Look at him. He needs this.”
Hongbin cries harder out of gratitude, locking eyes with his father to make sure he knows it. His mother looks between their faces a few times before she gives up with an exasperated sigh. ”One night, but that is it. I don't want you two to hang around each other after that. Do you understand? You can end this... whatever it is that's going on with you.” Hongbin nods simply to get it over with, and he doesn't even dare to look at Jaehwan this time. ”I'm serious, Hongbin, do you hear me?”
”He gets it,” his father says. ”That's enough.”
They leave shortly afterwards, leaving Hongbin with Jaehwan's family. As they walk out the door, Hongbin exchanges a look with his father, and he knows that he will under no circumstances leave Jaehwan alone, not like this. He won't let his mother win, and he's sure his father will help him on the way.
Jaehwan helps him put his shirt back on, one Jaehwan's parents brought for him, when the pain becomes too much for him. He's still crying silently, and Hongbin wants nothing more than to comfort him, tell him that they're not over, that Hongbin will still be there for him, but he needs them to be alone for this.
The car ride home is quiet. Jaehwan and Hongbin sit in the backseat, hands connected on the third empty seat between them, and they both stare out their respective windows, just waiting for time to pass, waiting for the moment when they can finally be alone.
”Tomorrow, we go to the police,” Mr. Lee says eventually. ”First thing in the morning. No objections.”
But none of them have any objections, not Hongbin, not even Jaehwan anymore.
”Hongbin,” Jaehwan cries the moment they close to the door to his room. ”Don't let her keep us apart, I'm sorry for everything, just please don't-”
”Never.” Hongbin wraps his arms around his hyung. ”Never. I swear to you, hyung.”
”I'm so sorry.” Jaehwan is desperate, tears falling non-stop down his reddened face, but Hongbin just shakes his head at him. ”What are we going to do?”
”I don't know,” Hongbin says truthfully. ”My dad will help me, we'll figure something out. Okay? Don't let it worry you.”
”How can I not?” Jaehwan cries, and Hongbin has never seen him look so destroyed before, his eyes red and wide and his nose running. ”I want to kill Taekwoon for doing this to you, I want to kill him.” He stutters and hiccups, and Hongbin hold up a finger to his lips to silence him.
”I'm okay, hyung. See? I'm right here.” Jaehwan doesn't hold him, and he knows that it's becuse of the wound on his back, that he's afraid of hurting him, and strangely enough, in this moment it is Jaehwan's love for him that hurts the most.
”I'll never let him come near you again. Never.”
They move towards the bed to lie down, because by now it is late and the room is dark. Jaehwan cries inconsolably, and Hongbin knows it is because of the mixture of everything: his own depression, Hongbin's injury, the knowledge that by tomorrow Taekwoon might tell the police about what he has done (whatever it is, Hongbin doesn't need to know), at the same time as Hongbin might be snatched away from him and he will have a gaping, empty hole by his side and in his heart that no one else can fill. So Hongbin doesn't say much, because he feels it all too, and he has no idea how they're going to get through this.
”I love you,” Jaehwan breathes over and over again. ”I love you.”
The only way forwards, Hongbin knows, is together. And no matter what tomorrow brings, as long as they have each other, eveything will be okay.