"Now where would Daniel go? If you're Daniel, where would you go?" Seongwoo asked the others.
"Buy ice cream I guess." Jinyoung suggested, recalling the first time they lost him.
"Let's move by partners and make sure you have your phones. Samuel, create a group chat that includes all of us." Seongwoo said before grabbing Youngmin and Hyeop.
Jihoon grabbed Jinyoung.
Samuel and Somi are left together, creating an awkward atmosphere. Apparently they're dating but it doesn't seem like it.
"Should we hold hands?" Samuel asked going to hold her hands. Somi couldn't answer him. Of course she wanted to say yes, but she would look desperate if she answers.
Samuel noticed her stiffen so he decided to not hold her hand, scratching his head. "Let's look for him shall we?" he said awkwardly.
They went to look for him on the whole area but he's nowhere to be found. They didn't just look for him at any ice cream shop, but everywhere.
They ran around until their feet are numb.
"Does Daniel hide when he's upset?" Somi asked Samuel while they're resting at a bench.
Samuel silently knelt in front of her to massage her feet to keep himself busy. The truth is, he's never seen Daniel upset to the point where he'll runaway and hide.
Somi tried to hide her blush, applying BB cream. But the truth is, her heart can break out from her chest now from beating so strong and fast.
"Honestly, Daniel was never the upset type. If you spent enough time with him, you'll get irritated if your insults don't get to him." Samuel confessed.
Somi kinda knew that. She's never seen Daniel get mad before today. "What if he's just waiting for us on the parking lot?" she joked then Samuel's head lifted up.
"It can't be. Then looking for him would've been a joke." Samuel nervously chuckled.
But then the possibility made sense.
"I'll give you a piggy back ride. Let's check the parking lot." he suggested, carrying Somi on his back.
Somi smiled to herself, shutting her eyes close. She didn't want to worry about what people think right now. At this moment, the only thing she wanted to remember was Samuel's carrying her on his back.
Samuel's thoughts are different. He keeps on mentally slapping himself. He did this to all his victims but it felt different with Somi. Right now he's debating if it really meant something special or it was just him who's creating this romantic scene in his mind.
And so he pushed them all away, convincing himself that he's being stupid right now.
1 point goes to Somi real quick. He needs to get back at her if he doesn't want to be under her.
And that's when the score board started.
"I'm worried about Daniel." Somi whispered. The feeling of vibration from her voice on his back made Samuel have goosebumps. He wanted to release Somi and run away from her.
"Do you think his parents asked him what he wanted even once?" she asked.
"Why are you suddenly interested in Daniel?" Samuel asked. It always end like that. Apparently, girls are attracted to guys who joke around. Guy also loves spending time with Daniel because run around giggling, spreading lots of jokes and headache.
Now Samuel's starting to think of the possibilities. Somi might fall for Daniel, and that's possible.
"I don't know. It's just for once, I started to interact with real people with real feelings, and interests. My friends, they worry if their dress doesn't go well with their heels. If their make up is on point. I forgot how it felt to be concerned of a person, and not the Prada bag that's limited and might be sold out once the class dismiss." she told him.
Samuel was silent. He also stopped walking.
Somi wondered why, lifting her head up and opening her eyes. Samuel released her and her feet felt much better now.
She followed to where Samuel was staring at, and there he was, the guy with a pink hair, sitting beside the car.
His head was lowered down, and for the first time, they caught him not hyper and with his deep thoughts. It's like Bae Jinyoung possessed him.
"What do you think he's doing?" asks Somi.
"Staring at the ground?" Samuel answered unsure.
They came closer to confirm it was Daniel and not Bae Jinyoung trying to cosplay him. And he was Daniel, because the moment he noticed them, he flashed his signature smile.
"Thank God you're here. I was waiting for like forever. Did umma and appa keep you in?" he asked in a softer voice.
"No. We were looking for you actually." Somi said as Daniel jerked himself to stand up.
"Looking for me? I was just right here." he pointed to where he was sitting before.
Somi was right. He's just right there.
"I need to tell the others." Samuel said, before concentrating on typing.
"By the way, your parents allowed you to transfer schools." Somi informed Daniel. His slit eyes widened, covering his mouth in shock.
"Really?" he asked excitedly.
"Yes. By the way, you seem like you know what you're doing in there. Was it because you live with doctors?" Somi asked Daniel.
"Why would't I? I practically lived in the hospital. I come home from school and there's nobody there. Just to show my grades I needed to go to the hospital, where my mother is at a 24 hour surgery and my father is in sanitary inspection. I sit on the waiting area where the only reading material available are books that I'm already tired of, or the medical books on the front desk." he explained.
"Wow! That's impressive." Somi was amazed. "No wonder you analyze so quick and logical." she nodded her head.
"Thanks, that's the nicest thing a person has even told me for a while." he said. "Sam! Sammie, can we get in the car. I'm growing a lot more taller from standing." He told Samuel, changing the topic.
Samuel opened the door for Somi. He sat beside her followed by Daniel.
"They'll be here." Samuel reassured the two.
"I won't leave the car once we go to Hyeop's house." Daniel giggled like a girl.
"I won't too." Samuel joined him giggling.
"I don't get it? Was she scary?" Somi asked.
"Scary?" Daniel asked. "Scary?" Samuel repeated before they shared a high five and started giggling. "She said scary." they insulted as if that was not the word to describe Hyeop's mother.
Their giggles started to irritate Somi that she wanted to slap them at once, but nope. She won't do such a thing.
"Sorry it took too long." Seongwoo apologized as soon as he entered the car along with the others.
"Why are those two giggling?" Youngmin asked, hitting both Daniel and Samuel on the head with only his index finger to make them stop.
"Hyeop ah! Somi thinks your mother is scary." Samuel joked, making Hyeop smirk.
"Don't worry," the guy said. "You'll meet her soon enough. She's inspirational." Hyeop smiled, nodding. Something tells Somi that this is a massive lie.
"You've met Daniel's mother. Now you see how a doctor teach her child. You'll see what a teacher taught her son." he said.
"What did your mother teach you." Daniel joked.
"Umma always told me about punishments and rewards. Study hard and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so and the consequences may be... severe." Kwon Hyeop said, catching Daniel's full attention.
"Heyyyy! So you do know what Harry Potter is!" Daniel said shaking his head.
"That's from Harry Potter! I didn't know." Hyeop lied. "I didn't know that it was from half blood prince, professor Umbridge's line."
Now Somi was confused. What's with Hyeop's mother.
It's starting to become interesting.
"Here we go." Seongwoo said, parking the car in front of Hyeop's house. Bae Jinyoung, Park Jihoon. Wanna accompany Hyeop?" he asked, because there's no way he would enter that house after knowing that she can send her son into a reform school.
How strict can a person be to raise a liar?
"Actually, stay here." Hyeop said, going out of the car alone.
Perfect timing that someone came out of the house. It was a really tall handsome guy.
They can't really tell if he's a visitor, Hyeop's father, or his sibling. They look nothing alike.
"Hyeop ah. Dongsaeng." he greeted, walking towards him when Hyeop stopped in horror, glancing at the car. He grabbed his brother, pulling him inside.
"Should we at least accompany him?" Somi asked.
"Tssk! Do you have hidden desire with all of my cousins? You seem to worry about them a lot." Samuel starts to acused.
"I don't!" Somi protested.
"That's why you're wearing one of Jihoon's shirt. I get it, of course you don't like them." he said in sarcasm.
Jihoon and Seongwoo were now focused on Samuel who keeps muttering nonsense.
"She doesn't have shirt yesterday and today. I thought it would be nice to lend her some. What's your problem Samuel?" Jihoon was now irritated, but not yet angry.
"She can just borrow my clothes." Samuel replied.
Now Daniel joined too. "I can't borrow your clothes but she can?"
"You have your clothes already." Samuel pushed Daniel away. Daniel returned the favor.
"Oh my goodness. I just wanted to see Hyeop's mother." Somi got out of the car walking towards Hyeop's house.
"She can't just go alone." Youngmin said, getting out of the car too.
The rest of them were forced to follow.
"How am I supposed to face my coworkers after they heard you were missing. They'll think that I didn't raise you right." they overheard from the other side of the door.
"What's so offensive about that? I mean you didn't even raise me. You left us with grandmother and took us back when she died. Did you have amnesia?" Hyeop talked back.
"Repeat?" his mother threatened. "You don't have respect Kwon Hyeop! I didn't raise you to grow up like this."
Hyeop rolled his eyes wanting to repeat the part where his grandmother took care of them.
"One question! Do you still want to dance?" his mother asked in an angry voice.
"Do you want the real answer or do you want the answer you wanted?" Hyeop asked in sarcasm, making his mother more angry.
"You know the right thing to answer Hyeop!" she warned.
"I wanna go to school. I wanna have a real profession. The ones with license and lots of responsibilities to slave myself even when I graduate." Hyeop answered in sarcasm once again.
"That's not how you answer your mother! Why can't you be like your brother? For once find something you're good at. Your brother is recognized by all my colleagues and friends, but you, they know you for being a troublemaker. What is with dancing? So what if you won contests. Everybody can dance if they want to. Don't think that you're something special if you can." she screamed.
"Umma stop it!" Hyeop's brother cut in. "We're different. He can't do what I do and I can't do what he can do. You can't expect us to be exactly the same. Can't you see you're making him feel like he's not good enough to be in this family. You never once cared, because when me and Hyeop returned, we're already responsible, and all you need to do is find something within us that you can brag about."
"Hajima hyung!" Hyeop interrupted. "Umma likes you, you should like her the same way. I'm the problem here, nobody else, and I get that. I get that I'll never be as clever as you, I'll never be as good looking as you and I'll never be on the top ranking as you. I never once felt that you're competition, but they're all comparing me to you. It came to the point where I didn't want to go out with you because they're all going to ask the same things." Hyeop was now in tears but silently.
"I'll never be good enough in your eyes but you keep on forcing me. You wanted me to fly even though you knew that I'm a fish not a bird. I don't have wings. There's only one solution to this." he said grabbing a knife.
"Don't do it!" Hyunbin screamed.
"Hyeop!" His mother screamed too, but Hyeop was unstoppable. He took a deep breath, but before he knew it, his mother grabbed the knife from his hand on the sharpened side.
He flinched, dropping the knife, glancing at his mother. "I...It's just deep enough to leave a scar. "There you go! Now you'll never expect me to use my face and be a fucking model. Maybe now you won't expect much from me. Maybe now I can dance." he said before walking out, still bleeding.
"Hyeop!" Youngmin gasped in horror.
"Fuck!" Daniel went to the car and went for the first aid kit.
And went for cotton and disinfectant, and butterfly bandage. "Don't fucking move Umma!" he warned before treating him. The wound was too long that it might need stitches. But after Daniel was finished treating it, Hyeop ran as far as he can.
"What did I tell you?" Hyunbin told his mother before trying to follow Hyeop.
"Eomeoni, if I was your kid, I might have already killed myself for not meeting tour expectations." Jihoon remarked.
"You shouldn't say that to a mother." Seongwoo scolded his cousin.
"I don't think she'll be affected. You've heard her harsh words on Hyeop earlier. Actually I bet my life that if Hyeop dies today, she would still nag him for making the wrong choice. Nae eomeoni?" Jihoon insulted.
"I had goosebumps, so part of Hyeop's lies are true." Daniel said shivering. "He told me before that his real parents are dead. And it was indeed true. His grandparents served as his real parents." he said hurting Hyeop's mother even more.
"Even I was lucky, my parents believed I could be whatever I want to be, it's just that they want me to sort out my priorities. But my mother never told me that I'm not special." Daniel said being thankful, hurting Hyeop's mother's feelings in the process.
"Enough, let's find him." Seongwoo said, before Hyeop's mother grabbed Daniel's hand to talk to him.
"If the wound was properly cleaned and taken care of, it won't leave a scar, right?" she asked in concern.
"I'm afraid it's to late to take care or treat it properly now. The wound was there long before you even noticed. He's been bleeding for too long. You never failed to push away your son, and I hope you're happy that he's gone. At least it's not your favorite son." he said before getting into the car.
It was harsh, probably the most harsh this that's ever said to her.
Now he wanted to reflect on what she did to push Hyeop to his limit where his only choice is to hurt himself. She still couldn't figure it out.
Seongwoo drove to football fields, basketball courts on the area but Hyeop was nowhere to be found.
"Message him." Somi suggested in concern.
"Try to call him Youngmin, he listens to you." Seongwoo said.
"Remember when we were watching 'Miracle on Cell no. 7' I asked if the father would live and he doesn't want to be a spoiler, he said that the case would be solved and he would raise Yesung himself?" Samuel asked.
"I believed him and cried at the end of the movie, while he was laughing at me." Samuel continued. His cousins smiled at the memory.
"He did the same thing on 'Windtalkers' he swore on his life that Nicholas Cage would survive and meet this Navajo's son. I wanted to kill him. He's such a liar." Youngmin said.
"But that's how he was raised, to say what the other person wanted to hear and not the truth." Seongwoo said.
Then Somi recalled his lie about Seongwoo.
"He hates you from the start. You keep on joining the picture and you're not even a part of this family."
So why does Hyeop think that's what she wanted to hear?
She glanced at Seongwoo at the rear view mirror, and then their eyes met. She glanced away, avoiding him.
What's more worse that being hated by Seongwoo? What is this truth that she wouldn't want to hear?
"Won't he be on the Arcade?" Jihoon asked.
"With painful wound on the face? No way." Seongwoo contradicted.
"Drop me off at my school, I'm going to get all my transcripts." Daniel told them.
Seongwoo accompanied him, leaving Bae Jinyoung to drive the car.
"He's not picking up." Youngmin sighed.
"Tell him we'll sell his Jordan's if he won't pick up." Samuel suggested in irritation from the tiring day.
Youngmin agreed, texting him this time since he doesn't pick up.
Youngmin: Since you won't show yourself anymore, we're going to sell your shoe collection. How much for that New Jordan's by the way. I need the right price for that. I need money. There's this new motorbike I saw.
Hyeop: Son of a bitch! I'm in school, showing off my ugly face. Wait for me on the parking lot.
"We got him. Nice threat." Youngmin gave Samuel a high five. "You little devil. What do you have on me?" Youngmin asked.
"None." Samuel responded.
"Really?" Youngmin asked, not convinced of Samuel's answer.
"What do you think of me, holding secrets to threat people? I'm disappointed hyung. I thought you knew me well." he said in sarcasm. So he does have something against everyone of them.
"He told us to wait on the parking lot of his school. Honestly, I just wanna know if he's alright." Youngmin remarked.
"He'll be fine, Daniel hyung's parents own a hospital." Jinyoung said.
"Not that, but leaving with unsolved fight." Youngmin said.
"Do you want him to face his umma again?" Jinyoung asked. "Hyeop needs to leave her for a long time, and maybe then she'll realize how much of a loss he is."
"Bae Jinyoung, are you talking about revenge? Are you possessed?" asked Jihoon, shaking him awake.
"His mother is abusive. The kind that torments you emotionally. It's inside the house, nobody can see it. Hyeop dealt with that all his life. No wonder he chose to be on that house." Jinyoung said as they drive towards Hyeop's school.
When they got there, Hyeop was already waiting with his brother. He got all the papers he needed.
"Dude, we're going back to Daniel's parents' hospital to check up on you." Bae Jinyoung told him.
As soon as he said those words, Hyeop wanted to run again, but Youngmin and Samuel are prepared for that escape plan. They tackled him and then pushed him inside the car. Somi tied his arms just in case.
"Kidnap! Kidnap!" he yelled but nobody can hear him now.
"This is so unfair!" he pouted, upset that he couldn't move.
"This would've been less painful if you didn't slice your face." Samuel said, pulling Hyeop's papers on a brown envelope. Passing it to Jihoon.
"She keeps on thinking face is everything. I wanted to scratch her pride. Even just scratch her pride I wanna try." Hyeop answered.
They drove quietly until they reached the hospital. Daniel and Seongwoo are also there, waiting for them.
Hyeop didn't argue anymore and had it checked.
"It's long, but not deep. Daniel can you handle it? Take care of your cousin until it's fully healed?" His mother asked.
Daniel nodded.
"Don't worry so much. Tell your mother we know a plastic surgeon that can make your face like it was not wounded at all." Daniel's mother reassured.
"Such a handsome face." she whispered before turning around. "Here you go. Give it to your mother." she said giving him the business card of the plastic surgeon.
Hyeop rolled his eyes, receiving it but crumpling it inside his pocket.
His mother would love that plastic surgery and change his face to be more like his brother.
...
You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net