Eric was tired after he arrived home from the office of his family’s company. He felt numb and blue like he did for the past months.

Surely, life in the US was not easy even if he lived with his family. Even though there were many people around him at the same time he felt alone, lonely, empty.

Something was missing. He met many people, he had many friends and his family was always with him but none could replace the presence of that one person whom he wished was there, whom he thirsted so much it hurt.

None could replace him and it felt lonely and miserable.

He wished he had more power. He wished he could support himself so he would not need to lean on his family, he wished he could do well on his own so none would have happened that caused everything to come to this point.

He would not have to separate from him, he would not have been dragged to the US and would not need to suffer from his absence.

He wanted to see him. He wanted to see him so much every day it was painful. He thought it would be easier if he just carved his heart out, that would be less hurtful than suffering from this longing.

He wished he could go back. He wanted to be there with him as it should have been originally and not dragged away by his furious family. He should have been there with his love, hold his hand and support each other that way.

He shouldn’t have been a coward not being able to go against his family.

But he could not help it. He felt powerless and every day now he worked to strengthen himself so he can separate and go back to him as a man he can lean on.

He wanted to become someone worthy of him. He wanted to go back without being ashamed for leaving him in the first place.

However, he had no idea how long that would take and so, he was suffering missing him.

Eric could not wait to arrive home, close the door of his bedroom at himself and get his phone. He searched for his number and called him as he did at least once a week though he would have preferred every day.

No, he would have preferred talking to him personally. Then he could just pull him among his arms and hug him for long minutes and there would not be need for any kind of useless words.

His heart a skipped a beat as always when he heard Hyesung’s voice from the other side of the line, unintentionally his breathing started to shake like his hand holding his phone.
 

“Hyesung-ah…” He could say anything else, the happiness of hearing him put a knot on his tongue.

“How have you been? Are you alright?”

Eric couldn’t not notice that weird tone to his voice and he grew worried.

“I am.” He replied. “What about you? Are you alright? You voice is weird… are you sick?”

“I might be coming down with something.”

Eric grew even more worried. He did not want Hyesung to be sick and even if he did he wished he could be there to nurse him. But obviously, he couldn’t.

“Take care of yourself!” He felt useless, these were only words but he could not be there to properly protect him, “It’s getting chilly. Make sure to dress properly.”

“Don’t worry.”

A cold silence had fallen onto them and Eric felt weird. This silence was dark, worrisome… it gave a weird, tingling feeling to him and he just knew something was off, something wasn’t right, his gut feeling told him.

He just knew something was wrong so he asked worried:

 “Are you there? Are you really okay?”

Instead of an answer he heard a weird, whine-like sound in the phone and he felt like as if a knife was stabbed into his heart. A cold, icy feeling struck through his chest and ran down his whole body. His breathing was shaking, his eyes went wide from the shock and fear.

“Hyesung-ah?!” He called out to him again, louder, even more worried, “Are you… are you crying?!”

He heard sobbing bursting out of him and he could not help but jump to his legs desperate as if he could just step through the whole world to be with him, to pull him among his arms and wipe off his tears.

“Hyesung!”

His voice was trembling, millions of thoughts were running through his head and he felt helpless. He was panicking about what to do but he had no idea. He was just listening to Hyesung sobbing and he felt miserable.

“Eric…” He heard how hard it was for Hyesung to talk, how he was panting into the phone but Eric could not let him stay quiet, he needed him to speak.

“Hyesung talk to me, what’s going on?!”

“Eric-ah” He sobbed and a painful shiver ran down Eric’s spine hearing how much he was suffering, “I want to see you…”

“Hyesung…”

“I want to see you so much… I… want to see you… again… so much…”

Eric felt like as if his heart was being carved out of its place. A painful cramp had appeared in his stomach and instead of breathing properly he was panting.

He was desperate, he was panicking hearing Hyesung’s sobbing, feeling his heart being in so much pain that was hard to bear.

That was the moment when he came to the decision. He abruptly said goodbye to Hyesung whom not understanding called out to him on a hurt tone, still, Eric cut the call. He packed his clothes, his everything and on his laptop he booked a ticket to the earliest flight.

He stopped thinking that moment. He stopped dealing with everything that was going on around him, he stopped caring what will happen. He did not care what kind of a man is going to return to Hyesung or what his family was going to say or how they going to punish him.

What he knew was he wanted to return, he had to return and his cowardice won’t stop him from doing so ever again.

No matter what it takes… he was going to return to him. To his rightful place. He was going to be there for him and won’t leave again – something he should have done to begin with, he finally realized.
 

His family stared at him shocked when they saw him appearing in the living room with a suitcase. They just watched him till his mother stood up, walked up to him and with widened eyes she asked:

“Where are you going?!”

“To Korea.” Eric mumbled. “I’m going back to Korea.”

Her eyes widened even more then the very familiar sparks of anger had appeared in them, “To that boy right? No, you can’t go!”

Eric only shook his head, “No, mom, I can go and I will go.”

His mother grabbed his arm, her voice was pleading, “Son, I know you like him but look, it will pass away soon so just hang in there till then, okay? Do this for your mother…”

Eric stepped back ripping his arm out of his mother’s grip, “No. It won’t pass away, I don’t want it to pass away. I’m going back to him, I never should have left in the first place.

“If you” His mother pointed at him threatening, “if you step through that door, you can’t come back ever again.”

Eric only smiled faintly, waved at them, turned his back to the wide eyed family members and left through the entrance…

He felt tired and numb after the long hours of flying, still, he could not spare not even a moment for resting. He will have more than enough time to rest after he saw Hyesung.

He was hurriedly walking to his apartment door with the hope he did not move out. He never mentioned such things, still, he still kind of feared that possibility.

After a few minutes of walking he let out a relieved sigh seeing his name on the door. He knocked, he rang the doorbell and for a moment he got scared: what if he isn’t home?

But soon he heard noise behind the door and once it opened he was both so happy there were no words and shocked by the sight of his red, puffy eyes and dark circles and in whole, his terrible complexion.

Without saying a word he reached out to him, grabbed his arm and pulled him in among his arms for a tight hug – something he wanted to do for months now.
 

“E… Eri… Eric?” Hyesung’s whole body stiffened then started trembling, his voice sounded thin and he needed a few moments to realize what’s going on before putting his arms around him as well, “Am I dreaming? This is a dream, right?”

Eric only shook his head and tightened his grip around him even more then he added on a pained tone, “You lost so much weight.”

Hyesung buried his face into his neck, his hands were holding onto him like a vulnerable child, “Eric… are you really here…”

“I am.” He whispered and kissed his hair, “And I will be. I’ll be here for you always, I won’t go anywhere.”

Hyesung lifted his head to look at him, his eyes were filled with tears, “Really?”

Eric nodded smiling then he lifted his hand to his cheek and caressing it with his thumb he said, “Really. I won’t ever leave you again. I’m here for you.”
 

He slowly leant to him and gently pushed his lips against Hyesung’s, something he wanted to do for such a long time now, something he thirsted so much.

And that moment, having Hyesung among his arms and kissing him, Eric finally felt…

… he had arrived home, to his very rightful place.

A/N:

And with this I've made everything right haha In the end their place is next to each other >_<
Hopefully you'll like this chapter as well and finally, this ficlet is fully completed with this.
 

See you next time with other stories or updates