Chapter 8: Guilty

Oh Sehun pushed open the large oak doors to the mansion. The carpets were blood red and the walls, a warm beige. The flowers were fresh and everything shined with the help of sunlight.

“Sehun,” said his mother greeting her son with open arms. They enveloped each other in a warm embrace.

“Sehun, where have you been? I called you for days. Don’t you know your fiancee is pregnant?” His mother sighed and rubbed her temples. “Come, come. Aeri is waiting for you.”

He slowly walked behind his mother; her click clacks of the studded heeled shoes were suspenseful and her nails traced along the beautifully painted walls. Sehun hated being here. He knew he owed a lot to his family, but  he had never considered his mother and father as someone who was close to him.

“Sehun!” squealed Aeri immediately dropping the remote control of the television set. She ran to Sehun, “I missed you so much.” Aeri said pouting as she hugged her fiancee. “Where were you this morning? You can’t just leave me alone and go out. I’m pregnant with your baby.”

Sehun sighed, he hated the fact that both his mother and Aeri used the fact that Aeri was carrying his baby to keep him on a leash.  “I was with a friend.”

Aeri stomped her foot down. “You were cheating on me weren’t you?”

Sehun groaned and pushed her to the side, “No.”

Aeri screamed, alerting Sehun’s mother of their argument. “Sehun! How many times have I told you to not anger Aeri? The poor girl is pregnant with your heir, mister.”

His mother Aeri’s back as tears belted out of her eyes in big fat drops.

“Why did you call me here, mother? You know I have to run the company.”

His mother continued the crying whale, “You will be getting married next month. We can’t afford to wait another year; it would be an awful scandal if Aeri was found to be pregnant without your marriage to her. You know that,” she said.

Sehun glared at the two of them. Ever since Aeri was introduced to the modeling world she was like a completely different person. The once sweet girl with the voice of honey was a monster, crying at every single moment. His mother and Aeri had gotten along quite well as the pregnant woman would visit her mother in law every day for a cup of tea and a small chat. No doubt about Sehun.

Sehun knew his mother was right. If the reporters found out that Aeri was indeed pregnant, then the company would fall into dishonorable places. It would ruin the Oh’s reputation.

“Sehun, stay for a little talk would you? I baked some cookies.” said his mother smiling and lying through her teeth. Sehun knew that his mother would only argue with his beliefs and choices and those cookies that she had ‘baked’ were from the cook.

“Sorry, mother. I have a meeting this afternoon. If that is all you need to say, then I best get going.” 

His mother nodded and grabbed a cookie off the platter, handing it to Aeri as she watched her son walk away. 

“I’m sorry, Aeri. I didn’t know Sehun would be like this.”

Aeri nodded and sniffled again, a slight smirk on her lips. “It’s alright, Mrs. Oh.”

Sehun walked along the cool streets, a coffee in his hand and a slice of garlic bread in the other. He did not have a meeting this afternoon, but Sehun hated the way Aeri and his mother would beat down on his back. He escaped like this quite often, strolling along the streets of Seoul.

Screams filled the once quiet air as Sehun strolled past an elementary school. The students were out, waiting for their parents while chatting and teasing each other.

Two small figures stood out from the crowd. They stood far away from the rest of the crowd and knelt down on the ground, tracing their small fingers on the harsh cement. 

The smaller of the two boys raised his head, dark brown eyes stared straight at Sehun. It was the small boy from this morning.

The other boy also looked up with the tap from the smaller. Sehun couldn’t control himself. He walked forward to the two. They seemed so lonely, without any friends and shabby clothes.

“Mister!” gasped Ziyu jumping up as he clung to Sehun’s legs. The older of the twins only stared at the tall man in front of him, tugging on Ziyu’s hand to let go of the man.

“Shouldn’t your father be here?” asked Sehun. Ziyu pouted up at him, “Baba has work today, so he will be late.” He let go of Sehun’s pant leg. “We stay here until Baba gets back..” the sweet faced boy whispered.

Sehun felt his chest being pained, his heart strings were pulled. “How.. How about I take you to dinner? I’ll drop you off at Luhan’s later.”

Haowen blinked his eyes and smirked, “Chicken?” 

Sehun laughed into the cold air, the small boy reminded him so much of himself. “Anything you would like.”

Ziyu clapped his hands and jumped into Haowen’s arms, “Did you hear that, hyung? Mister offered us chicken.” Haowen laughed as well.

Sehun could feel a soft smile tugging on his lips, making an attempt to appear.

Ziyu and Haowen practically skipped behind him, both holding hands as they happily bounced.

“Mister is so nice.” whispered Ziyu to his brother.

Sehun froze for a second before pulling his scarf tighter. Why was he doing a favor to Luhan’s kids? Has he been eaten away by all the guilt that has manifested him these days?

...

Luhan zipped up his jacket as he ran to pick up the two boys. He was late, yet again.

The boys were no where in sight. “Sir?” asked a teacher, her purse in hand as she was about to open the school doors. 

Luhan panted, “Do you happen to know where Ziyu and Haowen are?”

The teacher blinked innocently and smiled, “Your husband came to pick them up. You are a very lucky man, sir. Have a good day.”

Luhan froze in the same spot. “Husband..” he said to himself.

Authors Note: I am very sorry about the slow/late update. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please feel free to tell me what you think~