Meeting Trouble

Glimmer of Hope

 

No One's POV:

It was the first day of Autumn and the leaves on the trees were already in their beautiful different tones and variety of colors from red to yellow to brown. The chill crisp light wind blew as the sky was slightly gloomy but had a cheerful air. Hana walked along the brokened down pavement up to a small, brown, moldy house with vines that crawled all over. The house stood in darkness with no source of light inside nor out. The house had windows boarded from top to bottom, temporary patches in the roof to keep rain out, and decomposed floor boards. The house was bound to fall some time soon. The only sound heard were Hana's creaky steps that echoed as she stepped up onto the porch. Silence rang throughout the neighborhood and down the empty dead street. 

Sliding her key out of her pocket, Hana pushed the key into the lock and turned it with a faint click. Hana wrapped her hand around the knob and twisted, pushing it. The door stayed in the same position. She gave another nudge with no luck. Hana groaned, and set her bag and box of cherry tomatoes gently on the floor. Tightly gripping the knob, she took a step back and a deep breath before rammed her self into the door, falling backwards on her bum. The door still wouldn't budge.

"Ouch...", Hana frowned rubbing her arm wincing in pain.

"Unnie?", the door swung open revealing a confused Chaerin.

"Oh, hi! Thank you!" Hana jumped up and dashed into the house.

"Haha, still having problems with the door?", Chaerin giggled as she helped her sister with her jacket.

"Ha. Ha. Oh, so, very funny" Hana dusted her self off as both made their way into the kitchen.

"Heh. So unnie, how was your first day of your last year?" Chaerin gave a small smile as she grabbed two cups, "Want some warm milk?"

The two sisters talked all afternoon about their first day back at school. The topics roamed from boys, classmates, queenkas, teachers, classes, and even the lunch menu. Before they knew it, night had slowly snuck up on them. 

"Omo! It's 9?! I should prepare dinner for us and the boys! Speaking of which, where are Daehyun and Junhong, Chaerin?", Hana asked as she walked towards the fridge to pull out ingredients to prepare dinner.

"Ah, Daehyun's at Youngjae's house! But...what about Junhong?" Hana slightly frowned in worry.

"Unnie, don't worry, Zelo's probably out playing with some friends. Ah, don't fret about him too much. He's 16 now. He can take care of himself" Chaerin pulled off a big smile even though she herself was worried about Zelo.

"Mm, you're right...Ah! I forgot!", Hana ran back to the front hallway and ran back with her hands behind her back.

"You'll never believe what I got Junhong!", Hana was giddy all over as she bounced up and down.

Chaerin sighed, "Unnie~ Breakfast was enough this morning for him. You didn't have to go out and--"

Hana whipped her hands from her back and a nice, clean box of cherry tomatoes reached Chaerin's view. Chaerin gasped.

"How-- Where-- When?!", Chaerin snatched the box and with one quick move, she opened the plastic box and popped one fresh tomatoe in , "Mm! They're delicious, unnie!"

Hana laughed and swiped the box back, "Hey, let's save some for the birthday boy at least!"

Chaerin shyly smiled in embarassment.

"So, unnie, how?! We can't afford this!", Chaerin slightly pouted.

"It's a funny story", Hana pondered for a while staring out at nothing before continuing, "So I was at the neighborhood market--"

"That grumpy old man's?"

"--yup, and I was asking about the price--"

"$10?"

"--actually $5, and so he started to kick me out because I couldn't afford it. I was on my way out when someone held me back. I turned back and there was this guy--"

Chaerin gasped, "AGUY?!WASHEHANDSOME?!WASHEPERFECT?!HESOUNDSLIKESPRINCECHARMING~!AREYOUTWOGOINGTOGETMARRIE--"

"CHAERIN!"

"Oops, sorry, hehe...continue"

"No, silly goose, we're not getting married. To be quite honest, I don't even know who it was...I couldn't see his face. His hair was covering his face", Hana frowned and then pouted. She went to get a knife as she begins chopping the small quantity of carrots and potatoes they had to make soup.

Suddenly, she jumped, "Actually, yeah I do! His name is--"

"BOB?! Was it Bob?! It had to be Bob!" Chaerin jumped up and down with excitement.

Hana looked at her younger sister dumbfounded, "Chaerin, really? Bob? Of all names? We live in Korea"

"Ah, right", she stopped jumping and knocked her head, "Go on"

"His name's Joe-shii---I mean L.Joe. He told me to call him L.Joe. We're..."friends"", Hana airquoted.

"Aish! Unnie! We live in Korea! Just tell me the name already!"

Hana stared at her sister confused, "...his name IS L.Joe..", Hana paused in thought, "Ah, you're right. That's an Engrish name! I wonder what his Korean name is!"

"Eng-Lish, not EnGrish, unnie", Chaerin chuckled, "So how did this lead to you having cherry tomatoes?"

"Right. He brought them for me", Hana ended with a proud smile.

"He...brought...for...you?"

"Yup! But shhh! He wants to keep it a secret. Act like no one knows about it!", Hana held her finger to her lips.

Chaerin continued her Q&A between the relationship of this L.Joe and Hana as Hana finished preparing dinner.

There was a sudden slam of a body falling onto the floor.

"Omo!"

The two rushed to the front hall to be met with a fustrated looking Daehyun and a passed out Junhong on the floor.

"Oppa! What happened?", Chaerin rushed to Zelo's body on the floor.

"That...that ungrateful kid is what happened", Daehyun growled.

"What?", Hana asked confused.

Chaerin continued to stare at Zelo's body, speechless.

*She already knows* Daehyun thought, glancing at Chaerin's pale body from the corner of his eye.

"If you want to know so badly, ask him", Daehyun snapped as he started making his way up the stairs before Hana grabbed his arm.

"Daehyun, just tell us what happened"

Daehyun pulled his arm out of her hold.

"I was on my way home from Youngjae's when I saw Zelo's figure ahead. I thought we could maybe walk home together so I tried catching up with him. Then this...gang of boys surroundered him. I thought it might turn into a fight so I ran up and blocked him from the guys. When Zelo saw me, he shrugged off my help, shoving me aside, calling them his friends and saying they were just celebrating his birthday". Daehyun took a deep, shaky breath before going on, "I knew something was wrong, so I followed him. Pfft. They turned into a club and I decided to wait outside in a nearby alley. After 2 hours, the same gang dragged out a wasted Zelo. He could barely stand. And you know, those "friends" or his, threw him on the street side, leaving him there to rot as they left laughing and cursing at him"

Hana looked guiltedly down at Zelo.

"If we're done, I'm going to bed", Daehyun mumbled continueing his way back up the stairs.

"Is it--"

"Every single word he said was true", Chaerin turned and stared at the empty space Daehyun left, "He carried him all the way back"

*She felt everything, saw everything, as if she was there. Man, I was I could at least read minds or something useful like Chaerin. I'm so useless*, Hana thought, closing her eyes and calming her tears threatening to fall.

"Come on, let's put Junhong to bed", Hana mumbled.

"Okay. I'll take the legs, you take the arms"

As the siblings moved about the house, they tried not to make  any noises. Upon entering Daehyun's and Zelo's, Daehyun was already wrapped up and had fallen asleep. They carefully laid  Zelo down and tucked him in. Soon, they made their ways into their own bedroom and got ready for bed.

"Ah", Hana ran back downstairs and cleaned the kitchen up a little bit.

"Well, Junhong can eat you tomorrow morning", she said to the box as she set it into the fridge and made her way back upstairs.

"Goodnight, unnie"
"Goodnight, Chaerin"
*Goodnight, Mom*
 
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A/N: MIANHAEYO FOR THE SUPER LATE UPDATE. I'M JUST STRESSED T~T
-NeverLookBack
A/N: Sorry for the late update. I had this chapter in mind for a while but I needed to add some stuff. I hope you enjoy it~! ^^
-iLoveChuForever
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Comments

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NeverLookBack #1
Hehe, thank you for reading and commenting!:D <3
adibah #2
Chapter 6: i love the wake up scene
ephemero
#3
Chapter 6: the chicken scene xDDDD You're getting better and better Bunbun. I keep wondering about L.joe's life and why he's in that school. Can't wait to see what is going to happen. :)