A Child’s Lens

For itscold

Couple: Alljong

Prompt: Sungjong can't sleep. So his hyungs decided to tell him a bedtime story.

Summary: Rather than spending the Christmas season with his family like most people, Sungjong is stuck with what he thinks are terrible story tellers with the exception of one or two people.

---

The first time it snowed, people were overwhelmed and enjoyed the fact that winter was well on its way and the holiday season was about to begin. Decorations were hung everywhere with colorful, sparkling lights and almost everyone was in a good mood. Almost.

Sungjong hated the fact that it was winter. In fact, he dreaded the snow and all that dazzling nonsense as it only reminded him of his ill fate. He was going to get separated from his family after his mother passed away ten months ago. His father did not have enough funds to take care of him as he struggled to find a stable job.

Despite his hard work, a bunch of well-dressed people came in and informed him that his child is not to be taken care of in such a dangerous situation. They stated that the environment in which Sungjong was living in could potentially harm his future and thus, took his father’s only son away. The two were given until winter to stay together and share their last moments.

 

“Don’t you worry, as soon as Daddy gets more money, you can come home alright?”

Those were the last words his dad gave him before reluctantly putting him in some sort of foster care that he was going to live in for who knows how long. He would only pray that it was a couple of weeks before he could return to where he belonged.

Unfortunately, Sungjong stayed for an entire year. His dad could only afford a trip to visit him few times a month and even so, his appearance looked just tired and so stressed to the point where Sungjong had to tell him that he should visit him after things got better. Until then, he would wait patiently.

During that time, he managed to isolate himself and focus on his studies only instead of making friends. He barely talked whenever his guardian tried to strike up a conversation and he didn’t even put in the effort to remember their names. All he knew was that he wanted to see his family. His mood worsened after he found out that he was to be transferred away to another foster home. It was going to be in Seoul and that was a long distance compared to where his father resided.

 

“Sungjong, why don’t you introduce yourself? These are your new brothers starting today. They’ll be taking good care of you and it will be great!” A woman in her late thirties tried to convince the younger with that annoying voice that adults used when talking to a child.

The small kid only gripped onto his belongings tighter as he glared at the six figures right in front of him. A few of them was smiling with a huge grin on his face while two others looked completely disinterested in life. Sungjong looked back at the woman before shaking his head from side to side; trying to find a place to hide from all the stares he was receiving.

“I don’t have brothers. Jongie is an only child,” Sungjong stated in his petite voice without any wavering thoughts.

“O-Oh! Well of course they’re not blood related–”

“Noona, I don’t think you need to explain. He’s just a kid,” One of the guys standing there laughed with a slight blush on his face. Sungjong mentally rolled his eyes, not enjoying these first impressions already. The words that came out of his mouth angered Sungjong greatly as he was reminded of his young age.

“I’m not a kid!” Sungjong defended himself, preparing for an argument with the person who said he was. He glared up towards his enemy while the other chuckled, crouching down so that he was at eye level with the younger.

“Hey there little guy,” The person mused as he ruffled Sungjong’s silk-like hair with his hands. “Sorry about that. Hyung didn’t mean it, forgive me?”

Sungjong thought about how he could turn this war into his favor as the others in the back just observed quietly. He cleared his throat a few times before saying, “On one condition only…”

“Hmm? Do you want something?” It was that stupid kiddy voice that Sungjong recognized from the past again. “A new toy? What is it?”

Suddenly, another person from the crowd spoke out in a small voice. “Woohyun, we don’t have the–“

“Since it’s your first day here, we should celebrate! I don’t mind paying out of my own pocket once or twice for an occasion like this. Now what was it that you wanted?”

The sudden kindness that was shown startled Sungjong a bit as he stuttered, “A-Are you sure I can ask for a-anything?”

“Anything’s fine,” He laughed in his deep voice as he ruffled the younger’s head again. Sungjong looked back down at his own shoes as he turned reluctant whether to tell the latter or not. But if there was someone who could just grant his wish, he would be willing to do anything.

There was a brief moment of silence before Sungjong decided to speak up. He had clenched his fists together and with determination in his eyes, he said, “A…a job.”

A long moment of silence surrounded the entire atmosphere as a heavy tension began to set in. All the adults in the room gave him some pitiful glances while some of the kids in the playing room starred at the commotion that was going on through the doorway.

“Sungjong… you’re too young for that. Your father will come very soon okay? You just need to be patient.”

Someone always said those same words again. He was tired of just waiting, always waiting… The words of encouragement never helped. They were always the same; Sungjong grew up to be immune to them already.

“That’s not fair!” He refuted with tears welled up into his eyes, “Papa is currently suffering and I need to help him! Standing here and doing nothing all day isn’t going to benefit either of us.”

“I-I’m going to explain his situation to his new guardians. Someone, quick! Please take him away f-f-first!”

That only ticked Sungjong off even more. Was he some sort of monster?

“You said anything was okay! Everyone is just a liar!” Sungjong shouted angrily as he thrashed around whoever picked his entire body up and carried him away. He kicked as hard as he could but proved to be no use. The last thing he remembered was the pained expression on the faces of the newly introduced males before being forced to calm down in his room.

---

In the middle of the night, Sunggyu went to the room he shared with the others and called for one of the people in an authoritative voice, “Sungyeol!”

“WHAT?” The latter screamed back in an annoyed voice, he was currently gaming with Hoya and winning for once as well.

“YOU’RE GOOD WITH KIDS, RIGHT? GO MAKE SUNGJONG SLEEP. He’s the only one who still has his lights on and that kid doesn’t want to turn it off. It’s late, for god’s sake.”

“But I–“

“Now!”

 

A head suddenly poked out of the doorway and caught Sungjong off by surprise. “Sooooooo…I’ve heard that there was a bad kid here who’s still not sleeping?”

“Not being able to sleep is not a crime.” Sungjong pouted and looked away from his new care taker. He held onto his stuffed teddy bear tighter beneath the blanket.

“Well then,” Sungyeol suddenly had a mischievous grin on his face and sat himself down close to the younger. He suggested with a sly voice, “How about I tell you a story?”

“…What is it about?”

The older shook his head and stopped him from questioning further as he held one of his hands up. “Of course, you’ll have to find out on your own. But don’t worry, you’ll like it. Just make sure you don’t get scared or else there will be nightmares tonight!”

“You’re going to tell me a scary story?” Sungjong’s eyes lit up as soon as he saw the older pull out a flashlight from behind with some other weird props. He had always loved horror movies, despite his young age. Although he had stopped watching them after being unable to find anyone else who could share the same interest in common as him.

“Oh? It sounds like you actually like them.”

Sungjong blushed a deep red and tried to deny as much as he could, “N-No! I’m terrified of t-t-them. Now tell me!”

“I guess I’ll just have to tell you a scarier one that I had in mind originally.” Sungyeol smiled. He went over to turn off the lights and instead of using the flashlight he had, he lighted up a match and placed the small fire onto an eerie looking candle beside Sungjong’s bed.

“It was the year 2011 when this happened… There was a rumor that had started around in a quiet town. They say that when a person looks at a TV when it is off at midnight when there is heavy fog outside…they will see their soul mate appear. Apparently, a group of high school teenagers decided to try it out to fulfill their curiosity. When they tried it, they saw some sort of blurry figure that had actually appeared on a foggy night. The group found out that they had seen the same person and became confused as they all had the same ‘soul mate’.

Things started to get weird after they headed to school the next day. They had decided to try out the rumor once again as the town got foggier each day. Only this time, at the of midnight, the figure was clearer. It was the recent news reporter involved in a love affair with an unidentified person. After a few seconds, the figure was gone and the kids went to bed to discuss about their findings the next day.

The following day, the fog had covered the entire town completely. Sirens could be heard in a distance as the students walking home became curious as to what happened. Much to their surprise, the reporter was found up high in the utility pole, tangled with the lines and hung upside down. Her eyes were wide open but they could tell that she was dead.

The police never found out what the cause of death was even after countless takings of an autopsy. However, the kids were spooked out as they remembered seeing the reporter on TV before dying. They concluded that whoever showed up in the TV at midnight during the foggy nights were to be killed and hung just like the murder that had been witnessed.”

“What time is it right now?!” Sungjong almost fell out of his seat as he looked up to Sungyeol with sparkling eyes.

“It’s past midnight, kiddo. You lucked out.” Sungyeol laughed and patted his head lightly as he watched the other groan and fell back to his bed.

“That’s not fair. I wanted to try it out.” He frowned and crossed his arms.

“How about we try that tomorrow? It’s been pretty foggy lately. But! You must go sleep first or else you will pass out and miss the whole thing while everyone gets to see who is next in line tomorrow!”

“Oh… Okay. Thank you for the story, Yeollie-hyung. I’ll go sleep then.”

Sungyeol beamed when he heard Sungjong utter those words to him with a tired voice. It was the first time he had heard the younger address him after he had been transferred here. He squealed mentally and pinched his cheeks (receiving a smack in return) before covering the boy up in his own blankets.

“Good night Sungjong! Hyung will tell you more scary stories next time!”

And he slept peacefully that night.

---

“He called you WHAT?!” Sunggyu shouted in a shocked voice as he realized that it was still the middle of the night and tried to contain himself by smacking his hand to cover his mouth once he blurted out his words on accident.

“Shhhhh!” The oldest male only gave an obedient nod and spoke not a word.

“That’s right, guys. I am the first one. Get on my level.” Sungyeol bragged and felt his ego shot up the roof. He was never usually the first within their group, whether it’d be certain hobbies or activities. The fact that Sungjong had called him hyung first made him feel special.

“I think a certain someone is bitter about this surprising turn of event,” Woohyun laughed and received a glare from the elder in return, which made him smile back.

Someone sitting on the couch with the remote in his hand joined in on the conversation and stated, “He doesn’t even like you to begin with.”

“Oh, you just had to go there didn’t you, Hoya.” The said person gave a thumbs up and even said a ‘you’re welcome’ as if he did him some kind of favor.

“I’ll a-admit… we started on the wrong foot.”

Dongwoo just laughed and patted the younger on the back. He gave him an encouraging smile and said, “Don’t worry! He’ll definitely like you soon and see how awesome you are. Sungjong won’t even know what he’d been missing out on.”

Woohyun smiled back sheepishly, “Thanks man.”

---

“Hello Sungjong!” Woohyun popped into Sungjong’s room as soon as he heard that he was once again, the only one left with his lights on. He had rushed out the door faster before anyone else and raced down the hall to make sure that today will be the day that kid will see him in a new light.

“Hello, Wooyeon-sshi.” Sungjong replied meekly as he looked up to see who was interrupting him and his alone time again.

The older one frowned and whined, “It’s Woohyun, kiddo. That’s my name, don’t forget it.”

He quickly went ahead and invited himself into the younger’s room, seating himself where Sungyeol had been a couple of days ago. Sungjong immediately covered himself with his blankets and shifted his body to the other side in order to avoid the other with a small puff in his cheeks.

“I don’t feel like remembering it,” Sungjong’s muffled voice came out quietly with a bit of irritation.

“…S-Story time?”

“Um…” Sungjong thought for a moment before deciding what to say. He felt like he was being a bit too mean to the latter and the guilt started to creep up his skin. Even though he could sleep perfectly fine on his own today, he didn’t have the heart to say no since he had become close with Sungyeol the other night. “Sure.”

Woohyun clasped his hands together in excitement and smiled at him. “Do you believe in a destined love?”

The younger child winced and did not like where this was conversation was going already. Nevertheless, he answered anyways, “No.”

“Prepare yourself! Hyung here will change your mindset and then you’ll soon thank me when you get a wife or a husband, whatever you prefer.”

“Have you heard of the red string of fate? It is usually tied around your fingers, linking you to another person that is also known as your soul mate. No one can truly see it but it exists–“

“If you can’t see it,” Sungjong interrupted impatiently, “Then what’s the point?”

The elder’s mouth ran dry and cleared his throat a few times before replying, “Just…let me continue first…”

“Okay.” He nodded and anticipated to what the other had wanted to say.

“Because the two are destined together by the string, they will be brought together by fate. It may tangle or get stretched but it will never break. So! Now that the background information is told, I’ll now begin a story I read when I was a kid.

A seventeen year old girl wakes up one day and sees her finger tied to a red string. She doesn’t understand why she can see it but she knows that it will lead her destined ‘lover’. At first, she is confused and asks her family members how to get rid of it. But they only tell her answers that are vague, as they cannot see the red thread on her. When she goes to school, she sees the other end of the string leading her to a person.

It’s a classmate of hers that she’s known for a while. He went to elementary school with her and is still in her class up until now. Feeling obligated to follow the legend and believing that the boy can also see the thread, she dates him. At school, everyone praises to them how good they look together and wondered why they have never seen that before. She assumes it is because of the string that such reaction surfaced between the two.

The girl gets closer to the boy and falls in love with him, thinking that fate is truly wonderful. When she gets invited out on a date, she sees the guy talking to another girl with a smile at the other end of the street. She gets jealous when suddenly, a truck goes by and she feels her finger being pulled. After a few seconds, she looks back at her own finger to find that the thread had disappeared.

As she crossed back, she cries and tells the boy that she had cut the string, apologizing for the last time before walking away. However, the misunderstanding gets cleared up when the boy tells her that the lady was asking for directions and asked her about what she had meant from earlier about a string. The girl realizes that he had never seen what she had in the first place and was generally interested in her instead. Afterwards, the stranger from before comes up to them and apologizes for the confusion, pointing out that the red string between them is very cute.”

Woohyun let out a huge sigh after completing his story. He was almost out of breath by the time he was over and wondered what time it was. But none of that mattered right now, he needed to listen for Sungjong’s reaction and–

“Sungjong? How was that? Was it better than Yeollie-hyung’s? I bet it was huh.”

“…”

“Are you speechless because–“

When he took a closer look at the younger, it seemed like he had fallen asleep for a long time. He didn’t even notice that the kid had been sleeping softly with steady breaths and the fact that he might have slept through the whole thing slowly sunk in his head. As he tried to stand up, he saw something pulling him back down. His eyes widened when he saw Sungjong gripping to the edge of his long sleeves shirt with his tiny thumb and index finger. The sight brightened his mood immediately and he ruffled that soft, fluffy head again before tucking the figure in for the night.

The next day, Sungjong decided not to mention the fact that he had slept through the entire story. He didn’t see any harm in keeping it a secret, as it would probably hurt the other’s feelings and waste the efforts he had put in last night.

---

“Dongwoo-hyung?”

“Sungjong!” The said male waved cheerfully and got even more excited when the other waved back with a sincere smile. “Are you having trouble sleeping?”

“Not really,” Sungjong shrugged. “Just thinking about things.”

“Mind telling me what it is? If it’ll help you get it off your mind, I can listen. I’m a great listener!” He encouraged and persisted, he knew that even as the oldest out of all the kids, Sungjong had gone through more troubled experiences and hardships. When he had first seen the younger along with the other guys, he wasn’t so sure about getting along with him. But after he heard of what happened, he couldn’t help but sympathize which; much to Sungjong’s dislike, made him somewhat distant from the second oldest.

“You ever wonder why the hare fell asleep during the race?”

Sungjong snapped back to reality after hearing the voice of the black-haired male. He assumed that he was talking about the traditional story and frowned as he remembered those unrealistic fairytales he had read when he was younger. “No, not really. I knew it didn’t stand a chance against the turtle or else the story would have been boring and predictable.”

“Well…sometimes, things are really what they seem like,” Dongwoo said with a wide grin on his face. The younger can practically feel the excitement in the air after he had said those words and decided to listen to what he had to say. “Let’s see, here’s another one. The grasshopper and the ant, have you heard of that?”

“I read about it when I was little,” Sungjong replied.

“What did you think of it?”

He looked down on his blankets and held on to his soft plush as he tried to recall the moral of the story. “It was…pretty straightforward. You work hard and you will see the fruits of your labor soon enough. Meanwhile, if you just go out and have fun, your life will be a mess one day.”

Dongwoo nodded in understanding and then he asked another question, “Have you ever thought about the story in the grasshopper’s point of view?”

“Huh?” A look of confusion began to appear on Sungjong’s face.

“Even if the grasshopper died, it had fun. Playing his violin and singing all day, the complete opposite what the ant was doing. He spent his life doing what he wanted.”

The small child bit his lip anxiously as he was still unsure of what the male wanted to say. He felt as if he needed to defend the original story that his father had told him a long time ago, “But so did the ant…”

“Since this is from another point of view, it’s different you see. From the grasshopper’s eyes, the ant was only working and working through its life. Yes, it may have survived winter but when spring comes again, the ant will once again go and work hard. But for what purpose? The story never continued and it can be assumed that it was a spontaneous cycle for the ant. All those years of saving will do him nothing good but survive and with the concern about food always lingering in its head.”

Sungjong pondered at those words and accidentally voiced his thoughts out loud without realizing, “…I think it’s nice to just have fun sometimes.”

“It’s also important for you to do what you want to do in life! Do it for yourself and not for the sake of living. Keep hyung’s words in mine, alright?” Dongwoo patted his head and gave him another friendly smile towards his direction. And that was when Sungjong started to notice something that he hadn’t before. As the lamp beside his bed began to brighten, it allowed his eyes to find traces of wet spots that ran down. He knew exactly what they were. There were dried tears on the older male’s face that had not quite disappeared yet.

Sungjong felt as if a little part of him died as soon as he saw it. He starred at the now confused care taker in front of him for a moment.

“D-Dongwoo-hyung?”

“Yes?” He received another smile.

The younger leaned towards him with open arms and soon wrapped his small arms around Dongwoo’s waist, burying his fluffy head into his stomach. Sungjong knew this wouldn’t help much but he wanted to just give a little comfort to whatever hardships his “hyung” was facing right now.

“Goodnight.”

---

The week before Christmas, the foster care hosts decided to plan a special event for each of the kids that were staying there since they had nowhere else to go. They wanted to make them feel as if they are part of a family instead feeling isolated because they are unlike others. Sungjong was forced to participate but his introverted self wanted to stray as far away as possible. Ever since Dongwoo talked to him that night, he had begun to see certain things that he had not before and recalled different moments where he had experienced the same feeling as well.

Later that night, Sungjong was reading with his lights still on when a stuffed animal is shoved in to his face. Since the object blocked his view, he looked up with an annoyed expression.

“What is this?”

“It’s for you. Because your original plush was ruined the other day because of me,” Myungsoo rubbed the back of his neck shyly and glanced away from Sungjong’s eyes. The two of them have never really exchanged words before so this was definitely a first.

A couple of days ago, the clumsy male’s carelessness spilled a beverage on Sungjong’s favorite doll. At first, he had gotten extremely angry and ran back to his room. Afterwards, his head cooled off and he made the decision to accept what happened and deal with it as his father would have told him to if he was there.

“Umm…” Sungjong turned speechless as he held the plush in his hands. The fabric used to create it was incredibly soft. It looked like a rabbit pig from a certain drama except some of the parts was altered. There was a cute smile that caught Sungjong’s interest and he was in awe for a long while. He quickly turned his attention back to Myungsoo and saw his fidgety hands.

“I’m really sorry about the other day. I know this can’t ever replace what you had but I hope that you–“

“I-I like it!” Myungsoo widened his eyes at the sight of a flustered Sungjong as he interrupted his apologize-to-Sungjong-and-hope-that-he-does-not-get-killed speech. He was hugging the plush he had made for him closely with a big grin plastered on his face.

“It’s okay… I really like this one. Thank you…Myungsoo-hyung?”

The said male sent him a genuine smile in return and kindly replied, “You’re welcome. You can go sleep now, right?”

“Yeah…and I’m sorry for overreacting the other day.” He spoke as he tried to hide his face into the doll in embarrassment. Sungjong never liked admitting his mistakes, but he felt that it was truly necessary in this situation.

“Don’t worry about it,” Myungsoo’s hand patted his head like what the others had done multiple times again. “Sleep well.”

“You too.” Sungjong replied in a quiet whisper. He took one last look of those once perfect, smooth hands that have now been tainted by countless bandages wrapped around each finger tightly. Even in his sleep, he could not help but feel the guilt silently gnawing his head at how painful the process must’ve been to create the gift by hand with such detailed features.

The next morning came by and Sungjong woke up in tears, not knowing why he was even crying in the first place.

---

“…”

“Sorry, the other hyungs were worried so they sent me here to make you sleep.”

“Oh. Um, I’ll go to sleep eventually. I just stay up a lot on some days.”

“I know that feel,” Hoya agreed with a small nod, “I’ve have those kind of moments when I was around your age. I mean, I still have them now every once in a while. So… what do you think about life around here? You have it rough.”

“…” Sungjong didn’t want to reply that sort of comment. Something was tugging at his heartstrings when he said that and he wasn’t sure why. His mouth opened but no word came out.

“How about a few short stories?”

“Sure,” He smiled at the suggestion. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. He needed to get his mind off of something anyways.

“This is a story of five people. The group consisted of a guinea pig, a teddy bear, a plant, a giant, and a small turtle.”

Sungjong’s ears perked up at the sound of the strange objects that were grouped together. Even though he was unsure of where the story was going, he caught on to what each of the strange beings represented and became interested on what Hoya was planning to do.

“The guinea pig was a kind yet harsh animal. Even though he was strict and might be scary at times, he was able to round everyone together and bring them happiness. You see, when the guinea pig was smaller, it was unable to find food to survive as it was not caged. It had to go out and venture into dangerous places in order to search for them and he was never guaranteed tomorrow. Conditions were harsh but nevertheless, he managed to pull through and found a great pile of food. During his adventures, he figured out that he never wanted other to suffer the same way he had. So in the end, he shared that food with others and looked out for them, protecting them with a strong determination in his heart.

In the teddy bear’s story, it is very different. The teddy bear loved being hugged and cooed, as it was told to be always soft and unique. Each time the bear was hugged, it beamed happily with a big smile. Unfortunately, the bear was thrown out by different owners a couple of times. Even through rough times, the bear still remained soft and incredibly cuddly so that when its owners hugged him, they could still be comforted.

As for the plant, it shone and glowered in the rising sun each morning. The water droplets slipping through each leaf creates a calming effect and the plant was raised with care during its first few years. However, as it grew to be bigger, the leaves that grew so prettily were cut. People started to rip them apart and took it for their own selfish needs. It found out itself that the leaves had a special power to heal others. From that day on, the plant decided to grow to the best of its abilities in order to help the others out–despite it getting weaker each day.

The giant of the story was friendly and a cheerful man. But he always had trouble because nobody wanted to be friends with him because he looked very scary on the outside. The giant became devastated and locked himself up to wonder what he had done wrong. As time passed, he found a small turtle that was able to become his first friend despite the fact that it wasn’t human. It turns out that the turtle was casted away from its kind and it had walked until it fainted around the giant’s house. When the turtle woke up, it was terrified but it later found out that the giant was a better friend than the other turtles had been.”

Before Hoya even finished the rest of his story, Sungjong suddenly broke down in tears and startled the older male. His cries were heard across the hall and the rest of the group rushed in, standing at the doorway to find out what was wrong.

Woohyun called out in shock, “Hoya, what the hell did you do?!”

“Why is Sungjong crying?” Dongwoo frowned as the sight reminded him of the first day he arrived into the foster care.

“I told you to put him to sleep, not… this,” Sunggyu rubbed his temples in frustration as he glared down at the person sitting right in front of the child.

Hoya just smiled and leaned in to whisper to Sungjong with an amused voice, “See? They care about you a lot. Why don’t you give them a chance? Those idiots over there might not seem like it but they really work hard despite some hard times in their own personal life.”

Sungjong only nodded as he was handed down tissues from the former.

“But I bet you already knew that,” He smiled down at Sungjong and whispered him a soft good night along with some comforting words before standing up to leave. Sungjong ended up falling asleep by hugging his pig rabbit a little closer that night.

---

On one of the weekdays where Sungjong had gone to school, the entire crew glanced at the time back and forth. The student had not arrived home yet, which was unusual as he would always be the first to come home to finish his homework before doing anything else. When the rest of the kids came back, Sunggyu asked them whether they walked home together as a group or not.

And that was when one of the smaller ones admitted that Sungjong told them to go home first, as he had some errands to run.

“We should call the school, just in case anything happened,” Dongwoo suggested and Sunggyu quickly ran to dial a phone number while trying to keep the rest of the kids calm.

“The school officials said that he’s not in the building and left after his cleaning duty.” The others gulped and tried to think of other methods if contacting the younger as he had no phone. “Let’s go check his room to see if he left anything.”

Sungyeol eventually found a note that had slipped onto the cracks between the bed and the table.

Hello,

I’ll be gone for a few days, sorry for the abrupt leave. Don’t worry; I think I’ll be back within a few days. And just for reassurance, you can call this number if you guys are still freaking out about my missing presence. (xxx-xxx-xxxx)

• SJ

When they called the number, Sungjong insisted that he is in a safe place and told them to stop worry and start preparing for the upcoming events because it was going to be Christmas soon. They dialed the same number the next day to find out that Sungjong had stayed at a flower shop and had left the next day. The owner reassured them and asked that they trust his words despite the fact that he is still a kid.

On the third day that Sungjong had been away, one big package arrived that was for Hoya. The listed male opened it in his own room only to be surprised of the contents inside. A small note with a familiar handwriting was attached at the top and it read:

Below are the presents for everyone. Please pass them out on Christmas day.

 

To: Plant

I’m sorry I yelled at you on the first day. I hope your leaves won’t get cut anymore.

 

“Hoya, why am I a plant and since when did my leave fall off?” Woohyun asked as he starred at the pot of flower that had elegant pastel colors adorning each part of the blossoms with a shade of white. “I’m very confused, someone please explain this to me…Leaves? …What?”

 

To: Giant

Please tell me more scary stories in the future!

 

“Santa, you’re the best!” Sungyeol screamed in joy as he ran around his room, hands tightly grasped on a new action figure that he was obsessed with in his earlier childhood days. He smiled to himself as he knew exactly who the sender was and ran to annoy Sunggyu with his present.

 

To: Turtle

I hope your hands get better soon.

Myungsoo starred at the box of band-aids and disinfectants in utter silence. There was even a big first-aid kit included along with some medicines.

 

To: Teddy Bear

Don’t cry anymore or I will be very heart broken.

Dongwoo beamed at the sight of his present. He had gotten a couple of hats and loose t-shirts that was comfortable to wear during dance practice. “Hoya, is this your indirect way of confessing to me?”

 

To: Hoya

Can I call you purple-hyung?

Hoya almost fainted himself when he saw a signed album of his favorite American hip hop artist.

To: Guinea Pig

Please just wait a little longer.

Sunggyu thought the kid had a great sense of humor as he had received a bunch of coupons for groceries and there was even one where it offered free massage.

“Hoya, you have a lot of explaining to do.”

 

The other kids played happily and ate an enormous amount of food that Woohyun and Sungyeol had prepared ahead of them. There were lots of presents going around and there was a lot of laughter in the air until later at night. By nine o’clock, the smaller ones had almost passed out and had to be carried into bed while the others crawled their way to the shower before falling asleep due to fatigue. Sunggyu was still cleaning up the trash on the floor in the living room when he heard the door bell ring two times. He opened the door and was surprised at who it was.

“Sup,” Sungjong called out nonchalantly as he looked exactly the same he did when he left. He tried to go upstairs when he felt a rough hand tug of his arm, stopping him from moving any further.

Sunggyu was not amused at all. “Living room. Now. And this better be good.”

 

 

“I went home,” Sungjong revealed as he crossed his arms and frowned. “Well… not just home but that’s where I stayed at least.”

 

He received a long lecture from the eldest anyways despite Dongwoo trying to calm the latter down. The youngest could obviously hear the anger in his tone as he tried to control his voice from spilling all over the place. When Sungjong had enough of being scolded, he stood up and placed a mysterious bag on the coffee table before going upstairs, slamming his door closed in the process. A quiet sniffle escaped from him and he buried himself within the comforts of the warm blanket that he had missed.

Sunggyu sighed as he received numerous words of encouragement from Dongwoo while the others looked at what the younger had left behind. Hoya reached ahead for the bag and was surprised by the weight of the item. As he lifted up the object to see what it was, the gift had caught everyone off. It was a huge snow globe that had six mini figures that resembled them along with a small house that was a mini version of the foster care. At the bottom, there was a tag that said ‘To: Grandpa and everyone else’.

Hoya shook it a few times to see sparkles decorating the globe as it floated back down. He stood up and said, “I’m going to hang this up where the kids won’t be able to touch it but at least they can admire it from afar.”

---

“Woohyun, it’s 3 in the morning. I really doubt anyone would still be up at this time,” Sunggyu leaned against the locked door as he whined pathetically.

“You’re not coming in until you apologize!” The sound from inside echoed as he continued to hear blankets shuffling behind the door.

Sunggyu groaned in frustration. “I’ll do it tomorrow early in the morning when I wake him up. Now let me in.”

“Then I’ll let you in tomorrow morning,” Woohyun retorted in a childish voice.

“Ugh, where are the keys? You’re so dead once you get out of there.”

“They are right here with me.”

“I’m going to kick the door open when I get back. Please enlighten me on why you are not living with your girlfriend yet?”

“Uh, because you’ll scare all the kids away without me?”

“I already do that even with you here,” Sunggyu gritted through his teeth as he walked away to get a drink and check up on the kids.

---

“Sungjong?” Sunggyu opened the door without knocking as he thought the younger had slept without turning his lights off again. But the bundle of blanket was still moving and he could clearly make out the amount of used tissues that were next to the bed.

He briefly wondered for a moment if Sungjong was still crying. “Are you okay?”

“…” Sunggyu was about to turn the lights off and walk away until he heard a small sniffle in the blankets. He quickly stood the edge of the bed and pulled off the covers to see Sungjong crumpled up into a ball with his knees to his chest as his arms wrapped around them. There were several tissues in both of his hands and he trembled in fear as the wave of coldness arrived.

The elder was able to use his strength and hold the very reluctant boy up before giving him a hug as he tried to comfort him. One of his hand rubbed his back as he cooed him with words that Dongwoo usually gave when the kids cried.

“I’m sorry. We were just worried about you running off. That wasn’t nice of me to do that,” Sunggyu said as he felt a small nod on his shoulders as his shirt was getting wet from the tears.

“You know how you’ve said that you wanted to help your dad?”

He felt another nod.

“He contacted me the other day before you left and told me that his career might get stable really soon. You might be able to go back to your papa again.”

Sungjong’s eyes widened as he heard the news. He never heard those words when he visited but his father had always given him a knowing smile that he didn’t quite understand while he was there. Sunggyu just chuckled softly as his reaction and patted his head.

“I’ll talk to you in the morning to sort this out. It’s really late, why don’t you go back to sleep first?”

Sungjong nodded obediently but then he sniffed again as he whimpered, “I can’t sleep…”

“Then,” Sunggyu smiled sincerely at him as he spoke, “How about a story?”

---

StarlightSpirit: This is the cutest thing! Poor little orphan Jongie! I love how he grows closer to them all and they all show their love in a different way! Itscold is very lucky because she got 2 fantastically written fics for her! Thank you <3