Blueberry Pie

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Fourteen years ago

“Jongdae! Jongdae, come here this instant!” one of the kid's nunnies shouted, chasing the boy down the stairs.

“No! I don’t wanna go! You won’t make me wear these ridiculous things! No!” young Jongdae shouted back, hiding behind a sofa.

“Master Kim, please, come out, your parents will get angry if we keep them waiting,” the woman pleaded.

“Tell mummy I am not going! No!” he curled in a ball, and sat in the middle of the sofa’s length, so no one could reach him from neither side.

“Mia,” a woman’s voice rang in the room, “is there any issues, here?”

“Oh, lady Miyoung,” she whispered, quickly getting up, “everything’s fine, Jongdae is just playing hide and seek, he’ll be ready in no time.”

“No!” the boy yelled, “I don’t wanna go, mama! I wanna stay home! I don’t like these people, they are mean to me!”

“Jongdae, honey,” Miyoung knelt down by the sofa and looked at her son, “why would you say that?”

“They always make fun of me, of how small I am. I don’t like them, and they don’t like me. Mammy, I don’t wanna go there.”

The woman sighed, but took a good look at her son.

“If I let you stay, will you promise to be good?”

The child's eyes shone, and a massive smile made its way on his face, “yes! Of course!”

“Mia has a lot to do, so you cannot bother her, okay?”

“Of course! Mia, I won’t be a bother, I will stay in my room, I promise!” he snuggled out from behind the sofa and look at his nanny, “please, let me stay,” he plastered his best smile on, and put his hands together in a pleading manner.

Mia smiled softly, and nodded her head, “if your mum agrees, I will let you, of course.”

“Thank you! Thank you, mammy! I promise, I will take you for a walk tomorrow, and I will get you a massive bouquet of your favorite flowers!”

The women laughed, and Miyoung took her son in her arms, “okay, Jongdae, I will be looking forward to it.”

“Make it quick, okay? I will be waiting for you to read me a story,” he pointed a finger at his mother, taking on a very serious tone.

“Of course, I will be back just in time for a bedtime story, I promise,” she giggled, giving her son a kiss on a cheek, “now go and give your father a hug. We have to go out in a bit.”

“Okay!” he cheered, running down the hall to his father’s office, “daddy! I’m not going! Mummy said to give you a hug! Have fun, but come back home quickly, okay? I won’t go to sleep until you are back! So, make it quick, dad!”

The man laughed, and hugged his son tightly, “I don’t like these people, as well, Jongdae,” he whispered, and the kid giggled, “so, I will try to make it as quick as possible.”

“Okay!”

“Daesuk! We have to go!” Miyoung announced, and after a few moments Jongdae’s parents were gone.

“Mia!” little Jongdae yelled, “let’s make blueberry pies!”

♕ ♚

“Master Kim, it’s already very late, you should go to bed,” Mia entered Jongdae’s room, just to find the kid sitting by the window, looking outside into a dark night.

“Mammy promised to read me a book,” he mumbled, barely staying alive.

“Maybe I can read you a story?” the nanny suggested.

“That’s what mammy does, Mia.”

“Jongdae, your parents went to a very important diplomatic meeting, they may not be back for quite some time.”

“I want mama, Mia,” the kid sobbed.

“Oh, come her –“

The woman didn’t get to end, as Jongdae spotted some lights in the distance making their way up the hill, and after a few moments they stopped by the gate.

“Mama is here!” he jumped excitedly, forgetting about the exhaustion. But his excitement stopped the moment he heard blood freezing sounds of shotguns. Both Mia and him paled, and as the gate opened and the lights started making their way up to the house, Jongdae’s eyes teared up. “What was it, Mia?” he sobbed, shaking.

“We have to hide, master,” the nanny whispered, grabbing the boy tightly by the hand.

“Where is papa?”

“Your parents are safe, Jongdae, we gotta do the same. We gotta be safe, so come on, quickly, befor—“ but once again, Mia’s words were cut short, this time by a loud banging on the door. “Quickly! And be quiet, honey, you gotta be brave, okay?”

Jongdae nodded his head, holding back his tears, and following his nanny. As they left his room, they heard a few screams of other people working in the mansion. Whoever shot the gun, made it inside. Jongdae heard them again. The gun shots.

“Hide in here, quickly!” Mia pushed Jongdae towards one of the smaller rooms, “there are double doors in the closet, hide behind the second ones, no one will find you there!”

“Mia!” Jongdae yelled, terrified, but the woman pushed him inside and closed the door behind him.

It was dark, and Jongdae had always been afraid of darkness. But as he heard another gunshot, more screams and rushed running on the stairs, he himself ran towards the closet and hid himself inside.

It felt like light years. The screams, yells, the gunshots, running, begging. Jongdae did his best to keep as quiet as possible, barely breathing, so as not to make any sounds.

Never before had he been so terrified.

Everything stopped just as sudden as it started. One moment Jongdae thought the nightmare would last forever, the other it seemed as if it never happened. At least in the petit space of his closet.

He took his time before leaving the closet, then before leaving the room, but as he finally stepped onto the corridor, he realized everything was the same. Dead silent.

Jongdae slowly made his way down the hall, and just as he stood at the top of the stairs, he saw his parents ran down inside the house.

“Mammy!” he screamed, and the moment he was about to take a step down to ran down into his mother’s already opened arms, two more shots were given.

Miyoung’s pears were stained with ruby blood, and his father’s face froze in terror.

“Mama! Daddy!” Jongdae yelled, and then he saw them. Two figures coming out of the shadows below the stairs, in their hands big bags already filled with his parents’ money, jewelry and treasures.

“Get the kid,” one said, as he ripped the pears from the dead woman’s neck.

Jongdae saw it all. Every step the man took that brought him closer towards himself, but at the same time he was so paralyzed by fear, terror, horror and sorrow, that he could not move. The man grabbed him, his lips opened and a terrible scream left his lungs.

The rest is blurred.

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Jongdae looked at the boy sitting next to him, and reconsidered his request.

“I will not tell you anything,” he said finally.

“Why?” Minseok asked, “why don’t you want to tell me anything about yourself?”

Jongdae chuckled, “have you ever told me anything about yourself?”

The other furrowed his eyebrows, but then smiled, “do you want to discuss it over a blueberry pie?”

Jongdae swallowed hard, bitter memory make its way to the surface of his mind.

“Why did you bring me blueberry ones?”

“Huh?” Minseok rised an eyebrow, “don’t you like blueberries? They’re my favorite, and the ones I know how to properly prepare,” he chuckled, smiling widely.

“Oh,” the thief gasped, “you made them yourself?”

“With a little help, but yeah.”

“I like blueberries,” Jongdae mumbled, looking at the pie, “they’re actually used to be my favorite ones.”

“Used to be?”

“They bring back memories I’d rather forget,” he whispered, pushing the pie away. “So,” he started again, “if you wanna know anything about me, it’s only fair to tell me something about yourself in return.”

Minseok bit his lower lip, “there isn’t much I can tell, to be honest…”

“Oh, come on. Everyone has a story to tell,” Jongdae pointed.

“I’m just really not in a position to tell a lot of mine, not here,” he whispered slowly, wondering how much he can actually tell or hint on.

“Tell me something real about yourself. You’re a ghost to me. You show up out of nowhere, you’re not to be found anywhere, no one in town knows you –“

“How would you know?” Minseok asked, as the information caught his attention.

Jongdae’s cheeks turned a slight shade of pink as he coughed, “did you really think I wouldn’t try to find you? After you bring me food, take care of me after I got hurt, and then leave on me in the middle of the night? You’re not as smooth as you might think.”

Minseok smiled softly, looking at the boy in front of him, “ask me anything you want, and I'll see how much I can tell you.”

Jongdae’s shoulders dropped down a bit, as if tension left his body. The atmosphere between the two boys shifted into a more comfortable one, as Jongdae tilted his head to the side, thinking of a question.

“Do you live in the city?”

“I live outside.”

“Do you often come here?”

“That days we first met was my first time.”

“How did you end up there then?”

Minseok chuckled, “I ran away from a friend who was supposed to look after me.”

Jongdae raised an eyebrow, “look after you? How old are you?”

“Ah,” the prince sighed, “I’m twenty-three.”

The thief looked shocked, “twenty-three?! And you need someone to look after you?!”

“It’s not in a way of taking care of me. More like… to make sure I don’t ran away.”

“Where would you run away?”

“As far from home as I could,” Minseok mumbled, his eyes widened. He hadn’t said those words out loud ever before, and the weight they carried reached him just now.

“Why would you wanna run away from home?”

“You see, where I come from, where I grew up, I was never the one to make decisions for myself. Can I tell you a secret?” the prince whispered the last part, feeling as if he was putting his heart into someone else’s hands.

Jongdae smiled softly, “of course. It’s not like I’m gonna tell anyone,” he reassured.

“I feel like I’m betraying my parents by saying it out loud, however…”

“What is it, Xiumin?”

Minseok bit his tongue very hard to stop himself from correcting Jongdae about his name.

“I wish I was the one deciding about myself and my life, you know,” he mumbled quietly.

“What do you mean?” the thief asked, intrigued, but the conversation about the prince was lost.

“How old are you?” Minseok asked, trying to get himself out of the chaotic well of guilt that was swallowing him.

“I’m twenty.”

“How long have you been here for?”

“Ten years,” the other mumbled.

“What would you do, if you could do anything?” Minseok asked, looking the boy straight in the eyes.

Jongdae felt intimidated under the other’s stern and expectant gaze. He swallowed hard, feeling the pressure on his shoulders. The boy in front of the thief expected an honest answer, but that was not something Jongdae was used to. He was not giving honest answers. Even to himself.

“I –“ he mumbled, thinking deeply, “I guess I would run away,” he said quietly, and the elder only smiled sadly.

“I wish running away was an option.”

“Running away is a privilege only few people have,” Jongdae chuckled.

“I guess you’re right.”

“Why won’t you be able to come back?”

“Because I let others rule over my life. I don’t think their plans involve me running away to the city ever again,” he smiled, as if it all was just a joke, but his eyes were sad.

“You grew on me, Xiumin,” Jongdae stated, “if you were happen get a chance to run away, let’s meet by the harbor.”

Minseok looked at the younger boy, and his heart ached.

“Let’s do this, sure.”

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How are you all feeling? I hope you didn't forget about this fic haha I promise at one point it's gonna be only sunflowers, cakes and rainbows.