Sehun wakes from hearing the door creak open and paper rustling coming from that direction. He cracks open an eye and looks toward the door to see a brown paper bag being pushed inside the room as quietly as possible. He then looks to where the window is and sees the sky being colored with the oranges and pinks of a new day.

He lays his head back onto the pillow and pulls the blankets to his chin. “You can come in. I’m not mad.” Probably, he adds in his head.

The door creaks open and Jongin pokes his head through the opening, a wide smile on his face when he sees the large lump on Sehun’s bed. He bends down to pick up the bag and walks over to Sehun’s bed, taking a seat on the edge.

“I got you a treat!” Jongin presents the bag to Sehun’s face. Sehun raises an eyebrow at the bag in front of him before turning his attention to the person holding the bag.

“Okay and?” Sehun asks, not moving from underneath his blanket cocoon he’s created.

“And!” Jongin whines as he takes out the flattened bun from inside and Sehun grimaces at the shininess and cream that oozed out of the bread. “You are supposed to eat it!”

“And why would I do that?” Sehun moves deeper into the blanket as Jongin brings the treat closer to his face.

“Because you’re hungry!” Jongin concludes as he smiles. He rips the blanket off of Sehun and straddles his waist to prevent him from moving. Sehun looks at him with a horrified expression as he tries to get out from beneath his brother.

“No, no. I think I’m fine brother dear,” Sehun tries to reason with him as he holds back Jongin’s wrist that was struggling to bring the bun closer to his face.

“No, no. I don’t think you are fine brother dearest,” Jongin changes his hand and Sehun is forced to hold both of his wrists back. Jongin smiles widely as Sehun struggles to keep Jongin from getting the bun any closer to his face.

A knock on the door forces them to stop their struggle to turn and see who was at the door. Kris was leaning against the door frame with a fond smile. “I think Sehun would much prefer actual food instead of that Jongin.”

Jongin frowns and presents the bun to his father. “But Kyungsoo made this! I can’t let it go to waste.”

“Then you eat it,” Sehun suggests as he lets out a breath of relief when Jongin turned his attention to their father instead of trying to force the pastry down his throat. Jongin looks at the treat and hums in thought. Before Sehun could react, Jongin shoves the bun into his mouth and runs off past Kris, leaving behind a sputtering Sehun.

Sehun pulls the bun from his mouth with a cough and throws it into the abandoned paper bag on his bed. He then throws the bag into the waste basket next to Jongin’s bed.

“Breakfast is ready if you want to eat,” Kris says before leaving Sehun. Sehun forces himself out of his bed and picks his blanket off of the floor to toss into his bed. He messes up his hair as he walks out of the room and into the living space.

It's quite cramped with the kitchen/dining room/living room sharing the small space. The kitchen is only a small amount of counter space which the sink takes up half of it with a clunky old stove and refrigerator that Kris wants to replace, but is to lazy to.

The dining room is just a table with three chairs shoved under the only window in the room. The living space is taken up by a dusty bookcase and an old leather couch. A small shrine sits atop the bookcase with small incense sticks burning, filling the room with a smoky lavender smell.

Sehun glances at the shrine as he takes a seat, noticing the fresh fruit sitting on the plate in front of it. Kris places a plate full of toast, eggs, and bacon in front of Jongin and Sehun before he sits with his own plate.

They all eat in silence, the only noise the clanking of the silverware against the plates. Sehun is the first to finish and he goes to put his plate into the sink.

“Sehun could you go grocery shopping? The list is on the board downstairs,” Kris tells him without turning around. Jongin cautiously looks up at Sehun's back and to his father.

Sehun nods and goes to his room without another word. He changes into dark colored trousers and a khaki colored tunic, he also puts on a pair of boots and his bag before he leaves. When he walks back out into the living space, Jongin and Kris had disappeared, the plates all washed up and left to dry on the dining table.

Sehun quietly walks to the shrine and picks up the package of incense sticks. His fingers crinkle the plastic of the package as he takes out two sticks. He notes the decreasing amount and makes a mental note to buy some more. He trades the package for the matches and lights one.

It takes about three tries before he is able to light them up properly. When he does he closes his eyes in a silent prayer as he holds the incense with two hands in front of his face. He blinks his eyes open and sticks the incense into the ashes in front of the framed picture in the center of the shrine. When he's sure the incense won't fall over, he leaves with a silent goodbye.

They aren't staring at you. They aren't staring at you. They aren't staring at you. They aren't staring at you. They aren't-

A rock bounces off Sehun's head and he hears the laughter of children fade away into the distance as he hears the snickers of the teenagers rise up over them. He silently rubs the back of his head and checks his hand for blood. Luckily for him, there's none and he continues his walk.

The morning sun pounds heavily on Sehun's head and shoulders as he makes his way to the bustling marketplace. He holds back a sigh and quickly makes his way into the crowd.

Just get in and get out. That is the goal for every trip he makes and it's no difference here. In fact, the goal is increased ten fold.

Sehun bows his head and bends down slightly to blend in, his height isn't the most handy thing in the world during moments like these. He has extra money since these farmers and merchants love to charge him extra and Sehun doesn't want to argue and waste time. He tunes everything out except for the prices he has to pay because the longer he spends here, the more they will charge and he only has so much money.

He manages to get out with a decent amount of money leftover. Which is great since he still has to go to the bakery to buy bread.

Sehun walks into the bakery, setting off the little bell and is greeted with the fragrant smell of freshly baked bread, he also doesn’t see anyone in the store, but does hear someone humming in the back.

He’s about to say something, but Kyungsoo appears from behind the curtain, smiling when he sees Sehun awkwardly standing in the middle of the store. “Hello there. What can I get you today?”

Sehun doesn’t say anything, but does bow his head in greeting and points to the basket next to him. “I’ll be taking two of these.” Kyungsoo nods and walks to the counter while Sehun grabs two baguettes from the basket to bring over to Kyungsoo.

“Do you want anything else?” Kyungsoo asks as he takes the bread from Sehun’s arms. Sehun shakes his head and puts down the bag full of groceries. He watches Kyungsoo wrap the bread in brown paper. Kyungsoo holds up the wrapped up bread with a smile, but doesn’t move to hand it over. Sehun makes a questioning look when the bread is shoved into his hands and Kyungsoo runs into the back, demanding that Sehun not leave yet.

Sehun looks at the bread then at where the curtains were fluttering after Kyungsoo ran through them. He bends down to stick the bread in the bag when Kyungsoo comes out of the back with a small box in his hands. Kyungsoo rolls the box in his hands as Sehun slowly stands.

Kyungsoo visibly gulps and hands the box to Sehun with shaky hands. “C-Could you give this to Jongin?” His voice dies down to a mere whisper at Jongin’s name and Sehun just takes the box without saying a word.

“I’ll make sure it gets to him,” Sehun assures him and Kyungsoo lets out a shaky exhale. His panicked expression disappears with a grateful smile. Sehun only nods and picks up the bag.

“Thank you,” Kyungsoo bows slightly with pink tinted cheeks as Sehun walks out of the bakery.

Sehun eyes the box in his hand and shrugs as he tucks it inside of the bag, making sure nothing would crush it. He knows what it's for and he's going to make sure to tease Jongin for it later. A smile makes its way onto his face as he begins his walk home.

His tranquility is rudely interrupted when a small figure bumps into his legs and falls to the ground with a worrying thud. Sehun gently sets his bag down as he kneels next to the child who is slow to sit up. He helps them stand and dusts off any dirt on them.

The child is about to say something to Sehun when their eyes widen and they turn to run, but trip over their feet. Sehun tried to lunge forward to catch them, but ends up falling onto his hands and knees.

“Aha, look at what I found. Two dirty rats,” a deep guttural voice makes Sehun look behind him. A stout, plump man with a stained white apron towered over Sehun. He leans down and Sehun winces at the stench of alcohol coming from the man's entire being.

A sharp yelp forces Sehun to stop trying to cover the stench and he quickly turns to look behind him. The man has the child's shirt in a tight trip as he lifts them off of the ground. Sehun scrambles to his feet, but his breath is knocked out of him and he's struggling for air on the ground.

The man clicks his tongue as he looks down at Sehun with disdain. Sehun holds his chest as he struggles to look up at him. “I remember when you were like this. Is that why you're helping the damned brat? I guess it's only right to help the ones who reminds you of you,” he turns his attention to the child and squints at them. “Now, what to do with you?”

Panic begins to settle in his gut as he tries to reach out towards them.“Don't-”

A fluttering cloak comes into Sehun's view and he's not sure what happened, but he does hear a groan and a child's yelp.

“W-Who the do you think you are?!”

“Just someone who has money. Here! This should cover whatever the child has stolen.”

Sehun finally has the strength to stand after taking a harsh kick to the stomach, but stands to find that the old man had disappeared and the person in the cloak holding the child in their arms. The child is holding on tightly to the person's cloak until they see Sehun and reach out towards him.

The person's face is covered by their hood and Sehun can't say anything when they put the child on the ground. He pats down their hair when they latch onto his leg.

“Glad to see everything has sorted out!” Sehun furrows his eyebrows at the person's voice. The person purses their lips and takes a step backwards. “Well. I have to go now.” Sehun nods and the person runs past him without another word.

“Hyung,” the child looks up with watering eyes and Sehun kneels down to their level. “I'm sorry.” Sehun shakes his head and rubs off the dirt caking their face. The child grabs onto his sleeve and bows their head. “Thank you trying to help me.”

“You should be thanking the other hyung. Not me,” Sehun says. “He did a lot more for you than I ever did.”

The child shook their head and looked directly into his eyes. “But you’re the one who always comes to help me. Thank you hyung!” Sehun could only shake his head and laugh. The child looked at him in confusion.

“Give me what you took first,” Sehun held out his hand with an expectant look. The child slowly opens the bag hanging from their shoulder. Sehun’s blood runs cold when the child places cold metal against his hand. “What did you take?” He didn’t dare look as he wrapped his hand around the object.

“You said you needed this...I only got it for you,” the child explains as they grip their shirt tightly, waiting for Sehun to scold them.

Sehun closes his eyes and puts his hand against his forehead as he let out a shuddering breath. “Thank you for this. But never do that again.” Sehun opens his eyes and gives a stern look at the child who jumps back from the intensity of his eyes. “Do you hear me?”

The child quickly nods their head as they squeeze their eyes close. Sehun looks at them with soft eyes before looking at the metal rod in his hand. He gently shakes it and listens to the sound of small pellets hitting metal. He sighs and looks at the pensive child.

“I don’t want you to ever do that again. We don’t know what could have happened if you didn’t run into me . We don’t know what that man could have done to you, understand?” The child nods as the wipe at their cheeks. Sehun feels a weight in his chest as he wipes away a tear from their cheek. “I don’t want you getting hurt. If I need something, I will get it myself. There’s no need for you to do so.”

“Okay…” The child shifts their feet as they keep their gaze on the ground. They don’t move when Sehun stands to get his abandoned bag that was, thankfully, not stolen.

Sehun struggled to get the large baguette out of the bag without crushing it too much. When he does, he taps the kid’s head with the bread to get their attention. They look up with wide eyes as they hold their head. Sehun smiles and hands the bread to them. “Come on. You look hungry. Take it.”

The child breaks out into a smile and hugs the bread as if it were a stuffed toy. “Thank you hyung!” They look up at him before they run off. Sehun smiles at the size difference between the child and the bread.

He takes another look at the rod in his hand and rolls it around in his palm, sunlight catching onto the metal and shining into his eyes. He blinks away the brightness and slides the rod into his bag, mentally reminding himself to take it out before Jongin or Kris sees it.
 

A/N: I have dead week this week. And finals next week. The next update might take some time. I hope you guys can understand! And I hope you all are enjoying the story so far!!! ><