Heartworm
Epidemic Heartbreak
“Are you leaving?” Jongup looked at me with half-lidded eyes.
I turned my attention from cleaning up to the little boy lying on his side on the couch. “Hmm.” I hummed as I took the DVD out from the player and put it back into the box.
“Don't…” He groaned as he sat up. “Don't go yet, hyung.”
I walked towards him and bent down to his eye level after putting the box back into the big box where it belonged. “What's wrong, Moon Jongup?” He shook his head and shifted to his left, patting the seat he occupied a moment ago, signalling me to sit down. I did as he wished and looked at him. “Now tell me what's wrong.”
“Everything's right…”
"You are afraid to be alone here, aren't you?" I babied him.
“No…”
“Then I’m leaving. I’ve got to work tomorrow…” I replied somehow flatly. He murmured something I couldn’t comprehend but I stood up and stepped away from him anyway, heading towards the door. Before I opened the door, I looked over my shoulders to see Jongup’s pouting face. He waved from the couch and I did the same thing with a smile. “See you later?”
He nodded softly and put on a smile I knew wasn’t genuine. I gently closed the door and went back to my apartment opposite to his. Entering the apartment, I glanced at the wall clock to check the time. 10pm. I put down my belongings onto the messy coffee table and tossed the beer can into the rubbish bin several feet across the living room. Despite my tired body, my self-discipline brought me to the working room.
Sitting down at the desk I took out my checklists and documents from the drawer. As I filled the paper with neat writing, I made a mental note to get myself a diary so that I can record things happened each day. I was relieved when I found out that I’d actually done things I was asked to without realising.
Make friends, finding out more about them…
A sense of guilt hit me when I read those tasks. I was being true when I did all these, but it turned out to be my tasks, as if I was acting in front of Jongup, and pretend to befriend him. I ignored that point and finished my work as quickly as I could. In half an hour, I finished filing, scanning and sending my work, then searched in the closet for pyjamas, getting ready to end the long day. ‘Thank goodness they require detailed reports only once a week.’
I chose my pyjamas and carried them along as I proceeded to the bathroom. That was when the doorbell rang. I immediately tensed up and the relaxing atmosphere in the apartment flew out of the window. I placed my pyjamas besides the sink and hurried to the door. Before opening the door, I checked my appearance and looked through the peephole. ‘Jongup?’ Without hesitation, I opened the door widely.
“Yes?” I blurted out. “No, I mean, what’s the matter…?”
“I just wanted to thank you… for making everything right…” He stuttered and blinked innocently, trying to open his heavy eyes. “Thank you…” He said shyly, followed by the sheepish signature smile of his.
“It’s noth-“
“I-it means a lot to me…” Words slipped out of his mouth and he looked shocked that they did.
“O-okay…” I didn’t know how to respond to his sudden ‘thank you’, him neither. We both turned down our gaze for an awkward 30 seconds, before I told him it was getting late and he should return.
In a few moments, the showerhead was washing away the soap all over my body with warm running water. ‘Making everything right…’ Jongup’s words echoed in my mind, and I was still surprised at how much I meant to this almost stranger I knew literally a few hours ago. ‘I mean a lot?’ I felt weird to mean ‘a lot’ to a person. Suddenly, I tried to think of somebody meaningful to me in my life. If someone asked me, I would answer ‘my parents’ but then, when was the last time I met them? After two years of underground life they probably thought I was dead. ‘Where are they?’ I asked myself before turning off the tap and trying to grab my towel from the stand.
‘Where are they…’ I thought again while I slid open the curtains and stepped out of the bathtub.
I dried my body and changed into my pyjamas, then flung my towel onto my shoulders, absorbing the dripping water from my wet hair. After that, I went into the working room and looked for a notebook appropriate to be a diary. Unfortunately, there weren’t any. I made another mental note to stop by a stationary shop tomorrow. ‘It’s only 11pm,’ I checked the time again, ‘Maybe I should go now?’ I thought about it for a moment and decided not to. I wasn’t familiar of the area I was living in so I didn’t want to get lost in the dark, considering I have night blindness…
-
I woke forgetting how I ended up sleeping on the couch, but certainly it wasn’t what I expected and wanted on the first day here. ‘Did I just passed out here or something?’ I couldn’t find the answer no matter how hard I tried and ended up having a headache. Searching everywhere, I found no painkiller pills and sighs escaped from my mouth. Everything hurt. My neck was so sore I thought it wasn’t going to support my head. Hopelessly, I returned to the couch and lied down, staring at the ceiling.
Nobody would understand how much I miss my parents now.
Where are they?
“Aigoo Daehyun-ah… Why is your knee bleeding?” she said in a gentle, beautiful voice. I shook my head and kept silent because I promised her I won’t go play soccer with the ‘naughty boys’ in the park. She stood up to grab the first aid box from the cupboard beside her and lifted me up to sit on the table with my legs dangling down. I swung my legs for a little, insecure because of the height from the ground.“Sit still, it’ll hurt a lot! That’s the pay back of not listening to mummy, okay?” I closed my eyes shut and prepared for the pain. But nothing came. I felt only some cold liquid flowing down my knees, dripping off to the floor, tickling my soft, tender skin. “Ah the floor is wet!” she murmured while stepping back to avoid stepping on the liquid. She took a band aid and stuck it gently on my little knee and lifted me up before placing me down on the floor. Afterwards, she hurried to get some tissue to dry the floor. I just stood there looking at her graceful movements… Everything she does was so beautiful in my eyes.I startled when I heard the door open behind me, but immediately ran towards it as I knew who was coming in – Father.“Daddy!” I squealed in my high-pitched, baby voice. As usual, he’ll lift me up and carry me in his strong, warm arms before placing a peck on my cheeks. “Daehyunnie have you been a good boy today?” I shook my head slowly and guiltily. “It’s good to be honest! Good boy now go get your toys out, daddy wants to play with you okay?” I nodded happily as response. He placed me back onto the floor and walked towards my mother, hugging her from the back.
The memories seemed to have cured my headache and before I knew, tears dripped off my face.
‘They are the reason why I’m working for this stupid organisation.’ I remind myself. A wave of nostalgia hit my heart and my hands automatically reached for the phone besides me. My fingers subconsciously typed the phone number I’ve called so many times in my ‘former’ life. Hesitating for a while, I made up my mind to press the green button on the screen, and shut my eyes when I held the phone close to my ears.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Hello! This is the Jung’s place.” The voice. That familiar voice. That beautiful voice… I could hear that the person grew older even it has only been 2 years. But still…
“M-mum…”
i think i'm going off track ahhhhh
am i going too slow? it's like... 3 chapters and yet only 1.5 days in the story... i'll speed the story up soon ><
also, sorry for the slow update again :x
starting from the next or next next chapter i'll include daehyun's diary where he'll be keeping track of his mission and life c: but at the moment we'll have to wait for him to buy his diary lol sorry
anyway, THANK YOU ALL OF YOUUUUUUU ^^
comment and subscribe for cheesecake! :3
Comments