𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭. 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐢𝐟 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭… maybe it would be easy to forget if there wasn’t a constant reminder every night. there had been an alarm set… every night at 11:00 pm, to replay the message left by the officer concerning her “murder”. she died because she was old, he lied to himself and everyone around him… and he was just far too weak to face it. in truth, he knew it may have been something else, but if he was too weak to face a natural death, how could he ever possibly face a murder of his beloved mother? he blamed himself for not being there for her, just like before with his father. these emotions he’d spent years of building a mask around somehow flashed in his eyes, the windows that carried all of his emotions, and this man whom he’d missed most of all. his best friend.
there had been nights where he had thought about calling him, letting him know he was still alive, and that he was doing alright, but he didn’t have the strength to make it to the phone and on the rare nights he did he would be caught off guard by the voicemail he kept purposely on repeat, and it would leave him in the fetal position, sobbing until he passed out. he had no one and buried himself inside himself, confiding in his pet fish when need be.
he felt a smile growing on his face as he watch min-jun walk away, tears begin to well up in his eyes, it was hard to fight overwhelming emotions. he laughed, it was real, for once in years, it was an actual real feeling. his heart felt like it was going to explode with happiness, this memory engraved in his mind forever, he would be forever grateful to min-jun for pulling him from his shallow grave which he placed himself into. ❛ haha, “in training”? ❜ he asked, tilting his head slightly. ❛ that gives me nothing but hope! hey, i know, why not call me your partner in training, or… or bodyguard. i always could fight better than you - hey… min! how’s yu-mi? ❜ he ran and kept pace at his side, he’d missed him … more than anything.
𝐝𝐚𝐞-𝐰𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐬𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐧, he’d missed that laughter more than he realized, ever since he lost touch with dae-won, it seemed that misery and tragedy loomed over him like a constant rain cloud intent on drowning him, but here he was again, just like the sun, chasing away the gray clouds to bring warmth, happiness and hope, a smile passed over his features as his back was turned to dae-won, he meant to turn around and show him, let him see how happy he was to see his best friend again, how he had finally let the scowl peel away and they could pretend they were kids again,
it was like a gunshot to his chest, the whole world stopped and he felt himself go cold, how could happiness be stolen so fast? in a mere moment, her name was said, and he was reminded why he was here, why his heart hurt, why he couldn’t smile, why he wanted to die—she didn’t deserve to die, she was the light in his darkness, the reason he fought so hard to be better than his father, the reason he endured the pressure of his mother, and now she was gone, he had froze for a moment, before shaking it away, he hoped that dae-won didn’t see—he couldn’t let him see, the reminder of his smile as he ran up next to him, gave him all the reason he needed to hide it away, not now, not now, he said softly to himself,
❛ bodyguard? oh come on! ❜ he turned quick to face him, pulling his back back up quickly, he knew enough about dae-won to know that telling him the truth would only damage him, push him away, and right now, he needed him, perhaps it was a selfish need, but he’d been so lonely for so long, suffering his mother’s aggression every now and then for his failures and listening to her cry at night for her loss, he needed something that made him happy, he needed his best friend, ❛ you know i’ve gotten better at it? i needed to—to take care of criminal scum, you know? ❜ he wore a proud smile as he approached his car, ❛ hey, do you drive? or did you walk here? ❜
