Jisung arrived late on Monday, skipping the first three periods and joining the boys at lunch. He had driven his father to the facility aligned with the hospital that tries to help people overcome their addictions. In all honesty, Jisung was glad to be home alone for the next six weeks. His father hadn’t touched alcohol in two days and Jisung had already dealt with the consequences of it. The bruising on his chest being the stark reminder. He couldn’t believe his father had hit him again after having such a heartfelt conversation not even 17 hours before it happened. Jisung had been feeling depressed the whole night before today, but after a call with Changbin he managed to calm down. He reminded the boy that it couldn’t happen for the next six weeks and that if there were any times Jisung didn’t feel like being alone, he would gladly stay there a couple of days.
So about 3 hours late, he met up with the boys at lunch and quickly sat down after a quiet greeting. He sat within Changbin and Minho, uncomfortable to sit anywhere else. He still felt like he had messed up their night on Friday and couldn’t help but worry he had ruined their friendship, even after they had already talked it out that same night. It seemed like no one paid mind to it, the atmosphere not uncomfortable to anyone else.
“Hey Sungie.” He heard from both sides, smiling softly to his two closest friends. “Hey guys.”
“How was the remainder of your weekend, Jisung? Any good?” Felix asked, not aware of the whole shitstorm that had gone down on Saturday as well as Sunday.
“A-Ah! It was alright, I guess. Nothing too crazy, haha.” Changbin shot his best friend a look, aware of Jisung lying. He couldn’t really blame him though, he couldn’t imagine what it was like to have an abusive alcoholic father. It isn’t something you can just tell anyone. “What about y-yours?” Jisung asked back, wanting to swerve the topic away from himself as soon as possible whilst mentally cursing at himself for swearing.
“It was pretty good! After leaving Seungmo’s house on Saturday I went shopping with Chan hyung, to get gifts for our families back in Australia.”
“Sounds lovely, I hope you two found something good for them.” Jisung said with a small smile. “We sure did, I hope they’ll like it.” Chan said, Felix nodding in agreement. “Will you guys be going back to Australia for Christmas?” Minho asked, earning nods from both boys. “Coincidentally, we’re both from Sydney so we’re planning to hangout there if we get the chance. We’re flying there together as well. Fun stuff.”
Jisung looked up, realising it would be four weeks until Christmas. Since he clearly hadn’t had the best childhood, he never celebrated it ever since the passing of his mother. She also passed in early January, making the festive season in December a weird thing for him. He had received a gift from Changbin ever since he didn’t celebrate. Even when they were 10, he would receive a gift. He had never understood how Changbin managed to buy him a gift at such a young age, but the older always told him not to worry about it. Christmas was the only time of year Jisung spend money on something that wasn’t necessities, feeling the need to give Changbin a gift back. He then turned to Minho, who he realised also had no parents or family.
“H-Hyung. With who will you be celebrating Christmas?” He whispered, not sure if Minho wanted that type of attention on him. The older turned to him, smiling sweetly. “With Doori. What about you? Do you celebrate Christmas?” Jisung shook his head. “I have never but… my dad won’t be home then. I-If you want… we could celebrate together?” Minho’s eyes lit up, excited at the idea of spending Christmas together with Jisung. He nodded his head before confirming he would indeed like to hang out with the younger during the holidays. “I think that’d be cool!” Jisung smiled widely in exchange, nodding along as well.
Jeongin and Hyunjin, who were sitting opposite of the two, watched the exchange happen. The two of them turned to one another and grinned, clearly seeing that there was something more going on between the two. Neither mentioned anything though, knowing better than to push Jisung out of his comfort zone. Besides, it seemed like the two themselves were oblivious at the fact they seemed to like one another.
“Cute.” Hyunjin whispered, earning a nod and giggle from Jeongin. He immediately smiled and turned to his boyfriend, placing a quick peck on his cheek. “But you are way cuter, aren’t you?” He smiled at Jeongin who was now blushing.
“Eeeeeewwww, romance.” Everyone turned to Seungmin who had faked annoyance. They all started laughing when Hyunjin started defending his actions seriously, talking about how cute his boyfriend was and that there was no helping his desire to give him small kisses. Seungmin had just stuck out his tongue pretending to be disgusted whilst Chan watched them all with a fond smile, glancing over at Felix every once in a while.
After school, Jisung made his way to the flower shop to start his shift. He came a little early like always, greeting Sana and asking to have a small chat with her. Since he had to pay rent by the end of the week, he would ask if they could arrange some things to make sure he could do so. He had send a request to the bank to view and use his mother’s credit card, however it was now signed to his father’s name. Neither of them knew the password, so Jisung had to wait a couple of days for the bank to get back to him. It originally should be handled by his father, but Jisung pretended to be him instead. Of course, with agreement from his dad. The man hadn’t done taxes or anything money related in so long, Jisung didn’t trust him to handle this as well.
“Yes, Jisung? What is it?” Sana asked after the customer had left the store. It was currently empty, just them two there. He decided to just be up front about it, Sana was a really nice person he actually enjoyed having as a manager and friend, he didn’t mind being real with her.
“I was wondering if there was a way I could work full days the next couple of days? And if I could get paid on Friday? I know this is kind of rushed and something I wouldn’t normally ask… but I got fired at my other job noona, and I need to pay rent before Saturday. Maybe you can take a few days off and take a mini vacation? I know you have been working hard every day for a while now. It would really mean a lot to me if you could, but if not I also understand.” Sana looked at him for a moment, clearly considering her options and if she could do something for him.
“Let me pull out my agenda for a moment, I have a feeling there is something I’m forgetting and I don’t want to backpedal after agreeing.” Jisung nodded, turning to the door as a customer walked in. Telling Sana he’ll help them, he left her to go to the register and help them. After adding a happy birthday card and giving the customer back their change, he wished them a good day before returning over to Sana.
“As I thought, I actually have a new employee starting tomorrow. I need to be the one to tell them everything, I hope you understand that. What I can do, is pull your shift down by one hour, so you start at three instead of four? I can also pay you on Friday, but this is all I could do for you, I’m afraid.” Jisung nodded, already thankful she at least tried to help him out. “I’d appreciate that, thank you so much noona. Anything is better than nothing so really, thank you.”
“No problem, Jisung. I hope this can help slightly.”
The rest of the shift went well, Sana left an hour before closing time to even the hours in the schedule for the week. Jisung knew how to close the store and even thought he would close alone, the clothing store next door always made sure they closed safely, seeing they both closed at the same time. So, at six, the store closed and he wished the employees from next door a nice evening.
Walking back home, the air was chilly. Seeing it was the late days of November, the cold winter was slowly approaching. Feeling slightly uncomfortable for some reason, he decided to call Minho. The phone rang for a moment until he finally heard the older pick up.
“Hey Jisung, is something wrong?”
“Hey, no there’s nothing. I’m just walking home from work but felt the need to call someone.” Jisung pouted slightly, a little upset Minho associated Jisung calling with something being wrong. In Minho’s defense though, Jisung never really called unless he was upset. Nevertheless, the boy shook the sad feeling off his shoulders, focussing back to the conversation.
“Ahh, I see… You’re not being followed now, are you?” Jisung looked over his shoulder quickly, seeing no one behind him. He laughed to himself before answering Minho. “No, but thanks for putting that thought in my head, haha!” Minho laughed too before apologizing.
“So, how was work?”
“It was alright, not too many customers. How about you? How’s your afternoon been.” Jisung said, turning the corner to enter his street. “Kind of boring, actually. I was just doing some work on one of my projects. I’m glad you called to save me from that, so thanks.” Jisung could hear the smile on Minho’s face through those words. “Really now?” Jisung opened his front door, walking into the empty house. Realising he hadn’t given Minho the update on his situation yet, he decided to inform him.
“Oh, by the way. My dad is going to be out of the house for the next six weeks. If you ever want to come over to hang out, feel free.”
“Will you be okay on your own?”
“I think so. If not, I’ll just call either you or Changbin… I-If that doesn’t bother either of you, o-of course.”
“Of course not, you know that.”
“Yeah… I should know. A-Anyways! I’m going to make dinner, I’ll see you tomorrow at school, alright?”
“Sure, see you Sungie~” Jisung smiled to himself as he hung up. He was glad Changbin had asked Minho to join them that first day. He finally was able to make friends, step out of his comfort zone -even if it was only slightly, and he actually started developing a crush. His head was in the clouds as he took of his shoes before making his way towards the kitchen. Humming an unfamiliar melody, he opened the fridge to pick out something to eat. His face fell quickly as he realised there wasn’t that much food left. He hadn’t noticed the day before, but his father had been stress eating due to the lack of alcohol. He hit himself on his forehead for not realising it earlier.Â
It then dawned on him that he would not be able to pay rent, his head started to spin. He tried to think rationally as he closed the fridge.
“How can I make a lot of money quickly?” He paced back and forth before grabbing a pack of Jin Ramyeon from one of the cupboards. He grabbed a pan and filled it with water, gnawing on his bottom lip absentmindedly. He turned on the heat as an idea popped into his head, however he quickly tried to disregard it. “There has to be another way…” he mumbled to himself, trying his best to think of something else, someone else. Eventually, he gave up. He hated the idea, but it really was his only option. He had been turned down by the jobs he had applied to, or he was still waiting for a reply. It wasn’t as if money would just fall from the Heavens, he had to work for it himself and technically… this was a way of working.
“If Changbin finds out, I’m fucking dead.” He groaned out loud, turning of the heat and taking the pan off the stove. He put it down on the kitchen island before sitting down on one of the chairs. He mindlessly stirred his fork through the noodles. He hadn’t added anything to it, not wanting to waste any food he might need later.
“Maybe I can just… eat at Changbin’s for two days? But then I’d just be a bother… and I’d still be short on money…” he decided against the idea. After he got paid, he would still need to save up to get through December. He sighed as he realised he only had two options, and he was not about to sell his body on the streets.
He whipped out his phone, scrolling through his contacts. Seeing he didn’t have many, his thumb quickly landed on the name. Letting out another heavy sigh, he pressed the call button and put the phone to his ear. The phone rang for a while, almost going to voicemail. He was about to hang up, until he heard it.
“Hey, Han! Long time no talk, what’s up?”
“Hey Wang, I have a favor to ask of you.”
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👀👀👀
This story is all over the place, but don’t worry, I have not forgotten our baby Minho has some sick guardian angel abilities. For Sungie. Angst incoming 👀?
Sorry this was a shorter chapter!
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