Chapter 6

“How did you know where I lived?” I asked him with the utmost respect because everything was really surprising.

Siwon looked at me as if I was crazy. “Uh, you jotted it down on a piece of sticky note. It was on the door of the fridge.”

Right?

“Oh.” I did that. I was so out of it tonight that I completely forgot but why did he come again? “Sir—I mean—uh—hyung, I don’t really mean to sound condescending but can I ask what you’re doing here?”

Siwon turned to look at Shi Hoo who was still asleep on my old bed. Yep, my parents invited him to stay at our house on the second floor of our ramen shop. It’s really amazing how they managed to change the course of our conversation in just a snap. It’s a Cho family talent, really.

“Well, once you left, he woke up at around the time you got out of the building because he wanted to go to your room but when he got there, it was empty and he kept of saying….” Siwon had the same look on his face again, just like the morning when he heard his son call me mama.

“He kept on saying mama.” Siwon continued. “So, I decided to follow you here because he’s just crying non-stop looking for you.”

I looked down.

“I’m sorry if I my arrival added to your pressure.” He paused, probably collecting his thoughts. “I hadn’t realize that your family problem was that big. I didn’t mean to put the pressure on you by coming all the way here just for my son to see you.”

I shook my head. “No, hyung, seeing you and Shi Hoo was actually refreshing because what you witnessed earlier, it was really something that I don’t want to deal with so on that note, I should be the one to thank you for coming all the way here.”

Siwon nodded. “I don’t really mean to pry but when I got to your shop, you’ve been yelling. Is it okay if I ask why?”

I was afraid that he was going to ask that. My family had always been like that and I love my parents and even my annoying little brother to death but sometimes, they can get really annoying and it irks me.

“Well, to start off, my mom and my dad is in a huge debt from the loan sharks just to build our little shop, so, now, we have a big amount to pay…” I trailed off feeling embarrassed at  my dire situation. Cash strapped, my family will possibly go homeless and jobless and I may have to stop studying to help make ends meet. “Oh, and my brother is being a lazy .”

Siwon just stayed quiet. Have I said too much already? Maybe he’s thinking that I am such a loser.

“Aren’t all family’s dysfunctional?” He said with a shrug. “Mine is also, you know?”

“Well, not as chaotic as mine, right?” I said grinning sarcastically and it made him laugh. I looked at him incredulously and he shrugged.

“You should just try to understand them better. There is not much more you can do. You have only one family and you need to somehow be there for them.”

I know that what he said was true but part of me is still a bit concerned because of that huge debt. If we lose or small restaurant, then it’ll be another hard fought battle and I don’t know if I will be able to take it.

The next day I woke up next to Shi Hoo. I looked to my right and Siwon was not on the mat that I laid out for him last night. He was near the foot of the bed, frantically looking for something. I sat up and looked at him with a confused expression on my face. “What are you doing there?”

He looked up from what he was doing and bit his bottom lip. “I’m looking for my wallet.”

I nodded. “Where did you last put it?” Getting off the bed carefully as not to wake Shi Hoo up, I crouched next to him to help him look for it.

“I’m pretty sure I placed it inside my travel bag but now, It’s gone.”

I suddenly felt something sour and distasteful build up inside the pit of my stomach. Last night, I was half asleep when I saw someone entering my old bedroom. Now, I wasn’t sure as to who it was but I saw the person creep inside the room as I was about to speak, I felt my eyelids getting heavier as I succumbed to sleep.

I gulped a little hoping that what I was thinking wasn’t the truth. “How—how much money was in it?”

Siwon shrugged. “About ₩ 250,000, not including the money in my ATM card.”

Crap.

His ATM card was in there as well? That amount of money plus the ATM? I really hope that I’m thinking wrong here because if what I was thinking was the truth then I would have no more face to show Siwon.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll be able to find it. I must’ve misplaced it.”

A few minutes after that, the feeling of suspicion was still welling in the pit of my stomach it even intensified when I caught up with my little brother down the stairs. He couldn’t look at me in the eyes properly. I know that being suspicious of him will not bode well for our relationship but he’s giving me the reason to do so.

So, after breakfast, when my brother went out to run some errands—I presume—I decided to pay a little visit to his room. When I opened the door, I took in a deep breath feeling like a ty older brother for even thinking that my brother would the audacity to steal. I looked around and tried to find something incriminating but I sighed in heavy relief when I found nothing.

I thought that it was over already, that my brother wouldn’t resort into stealing but as soon as I was about to leave his room, something caught the corner of my eye. It was on his window pane. I walked up to it and felt my heart beat increase.

It was a leather Armani Long Wallet.

How could my brother whom, I’m forcing to take the college entrance exams even afford this wallet that costs more than three times the allowance that he has? I opened it and saw something that made me feel so bad.

It was Siwon’s ID.

No.

I looked at the contents and there was no more cash. Suddenly, I remembered Siwon telling me that he had an ATM card in his wallet so I checked all of the compartments but it didn’t show up.

“Hyon Woo, what did you do?”

I slowly went out of his room and closed the door. Siwon walked up to me and tugged at my hand. I whipped around hoping that I wouldn’t look too nervous.

“C—Can I help you?” I asked with a noticeable tremble in  my voice.

“Someone just withdrew a large amount in my ATM.”

End of Chapter