Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. If I did, Hyun Joongie would have been my boyfriend and Min Hyukkie, my little brother :D

A/N: Although I'm a long time reader, THIS is my first time posting as an author here. I would love to know your thoughts regarding the story. Please please do tell me if it was good or a total waste of your time. Thank you in advance from the bottom of my heart! xx

ALWAYS AND FOREVER

Hyun Joong turned in his sleep and blinked sleepily. He didn’t know what woke him up but somehow he felt like something was wrong. Usually he was a very heavy sleeper and it's a huge hardship to wake him up before time but sometimes, like times like that, he felt like he needed to be up.

Blinking his eyes blearily he tried to adjust to the darkness in the room. Everything seemed normal at first sight but then his eyes fell on the bed next to him and he found the bed minus his sleeping baby brother.

Closing his eyes Hyun Joong tried to make his sleepy brain work. Min Hyuk was already asleep when Hyun Joong came home. It was late when he got home and he was too tired to wake his brother up to let him know that he was home. But last thing he remembered before sleeping was his dong saeng sleeping peacefully on the bed next to him. But now the kid was nowhere in sight and the bathroom was dark too. That meant he wasn’t in the bathroom either.

‘He must have gotten hungry’ thought Hyun Joong, since if there was one thing that Min Hyuk could do anytime, that was eating. The kid was always hungry and always eating and yet he was too skinny.

Hyun Joong was about to go and check the kitchen when he heard a little sound coming from the balcony of their room.

Getting out of bed, he soundlessly went to the balcony and there he was – his object of search.

Min Hyuk was sitting on the floor, leaning on the wall and was gazing up at the star filled night sky. His hair was sleep mussed and he was not wearing his glasses. He was completely unaware that his older brother was standing at the door. He was engrossed in his own thoughts.

“Omma” Min Hyuk said in a soft choked voice and sniffed, biting his lower lip.

Hyun Joong’s eyes teared up at the sight. His brother must have been missing his mother, missing enough to wake him up from sleep. Hyun Joong sighed. Min Hyuk was just a kid. He might only be his half brother but to Hyun Joong he was his own brother and nothing else. The kid had a rough childhood only because of their father’s mistake and if Hyun Joong could, he would happily trade places with his baby brother. While the older boy grew up with every luxury known to mankind, the younger brother grew up with only his mother as his parent. And then he lost her to a freak accident. It wasn’t fair at all to him. Though the kid always smiled and acted normally, he was still a kid – a high school freshman who had lost his mother and his only known family and he was bound to miss her.

Hyun Joong went back to the room and grabbed a chocolate bar from the mini freezer. With Min Hyuk’s hunger tendencies, he had learnt to stock up for all emergencies. And if anything could cheer the kid up, it was definitely food.

 He went back to the balcony and quietly slid down to sit beside the weeping boy. The younger boy didn’t move at all. He sat like that – with his knees drawn up to his chest and head bowed down, resting his forehead on his knees. The only movement was the slight shake of his shoulders, a sign that he was crying.

The sight made Hyun Joong’s heart hurt. He hated to see his dong saeng crying or even upset and would do anything to make the kid go back to his usual happy and smiling self. But this was something even he couldn’t help with. He wouldn’t be able to bring the kid’s mother back and at that moment only that could probably make the kid smile again. Hyun Joong wrapped his arm around Min Hyuk’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze to show that he was there for him. The kid gave a sob and cried harder. Feeling utterly helpless, Hyun Joong rubbed his little brother’s back to comfort him. After a while, the kid sat up straight and wiped his tears and snot and sniffed miserably.

“Mi-mianhe Hyeung. You must have been so tired but I woke you up” he apologized, looking down.

Hyun Joong rolled his eyes at his little brother and sighed looking up at the stars in the sky.

“Annyeong haseyo Omoni” he said softly. Min Hyuk’s head snapped to his big brother, eyes wide in wonder.

“I have never seen you and it's my bad luck that I never got the chance to know you, because I know you must be a wonderful person. I can see that when I see Min Hyuk.” Hyun Joong ruffled his little brother’s hair.

Min Hyuk blinked at him as tears ran down his chubby round cheeks. “Hyeung” he said softly and laid his head on his brother’s shoulder, looking up at the sky.

“Yes he can be annoying and nagging most of the times” Hyun Joong continued, chuckling, when Min Hyuk gave him a glare with pouty lips, “but I would not trade him for anything in this world. Ever since childhood, I always wanted a dong saeng. And you gave him to me, Omoni. Kamsahamnida.”

“But tell me something Omoni, was he a babo since childhood or did he hurt his head and become like this?” Hyun Joong joked, making Min Hyuk glare more at his hyeung and punch him on his arm softly.

“Don’t listen to him Omma, he is a bully” Min Hyuk complained, pouting.

“Oh yeah? Omoni, ask him who protects him at school, at home from Abeoji when he does something wrong and finally from his own klutzy manners? If I leave him alone even for a minute, he’ll either end up breaking something or worse breaking himself!” Hyun Joong countered back.

Min Hyuk pouted more looking down, “That’s not always true. I’m trying and learning to be responsible” he mumbled quietly.

Hyun Joong snorted, “Yeah responsible. He creeps out of the room in the middle of the night to cry in the balcony without saying a word to me and almost gives me a heart attack when I couldn’t find him in bed, that’s him being responsible. And then he apologizes for waking me up even when I woke up on my own. That’s his responsibility. Now you tell me Omoni, was I wrong in assuming that he is a babo? He is really slow in getting simple things. How hard is it to believe that he is not alone? That I would forever stay by his side. This hard-headed babo apologizes for no reason at all”, saying Hyun Joong lightly hit Min Hyuk’s head, playfully, “Omoni, I am tired of telling him that I hate to see him sad. You make him understand, jebal.”

Min Hyuk sniffed and gave grateful watery smile to his hyeung. When Hyun Joong flicked his nose fondly, he gave out a heart wrenching sob and broke down crying on his older brother’s chest. Hyun Joong pulled the kid in a tight embrace and rubbed his back soothingly.

“I miss her hyeung, I miss her so much” Min Hyuk cried and hiccupped like a baby.

Hyun Joong closed his eyes to keep his own tears from falling down, “I know kiddo. I know you miss her. I can’t even begin to imagine how you must be feeling but I am here okay? I am here for you, always and forever. You can always turn to your hyeung anytime you want. Arasso?”

Min Hyuk nodded his head obediently, “Khumawo hyeung. You are the best” he said smiling at his big brother.

Hyun Joong smiled back and ruffled the kid’s hair, “Hungry?” he asked knowing the answer already and smiled again when Min Hyuk’s eyes got big as he heard about food.

Giving the chocolate bar to the now happy kid, Hyun Joong mused, “I really wonder where all the food goes in your body?”

“I have good metabolism hyeung, even better than you” said the happy boy devouring on his snack. After finishing the chocolate, he looked up again and smiled, “See Omma, I told you, hyeung takes great care of me. He is the best hyeung in the whole wide universe” he declared happily.

Hyun Joong smiled looking at his little brother, “Yah dong saeng-ah, promise Omoni that you will never make her worry again by crying like this. Do it now”

Min Hyuk promised his mother, happily.

Hyun Joong wrapped his arm around his dong saeng’s shoulder and pulled him closer to his side, “Gokjonghajimaseyo Omoni. I will take care of him with the last breath of my life. I will never let anything happen to him, I give you my word.”

Min Hyuk once again blinked back tears at his Hyeung's honest and sincere promise, “Khumawo hyeung” he whispered softly as Hyun Joong placed an affectionate kiss on his dong saeng’s head.

The end. xoxo

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