『19』

Lost Piece II: Refitting
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It was probably already past midnight. The nightingales had started to sing their heart out, challenging the immense quietness the night presented. Not many cars were on the street, adding the gloom he or they were in right now. 

And there he was, slumping in front of the closed gate of the graveyard, curling his body. He knew Kibum was probably there hugging his brother and cursing whatever caused Heechul to be in pain. No one dared to come closer to him; no one seemed to even notice his presence. But if all, Jungsoo did. He had been watching Heechul from his place, unable to move an inch away from where he was standing. All he could hear was Heechul's heart-rending sobs that he had no right to soothe. Ashamed was an understatement; he wanted to vanish from the world if he could. Heechul had trusted him—

 

"Is it— is it my fault that my parents never taught me manners? Bum-ah, Hyungie— I wanna see you. I have— I have no one here."

 

—but he failed him.

And for the first time, he admitted how pathetic he was, witnessing his husband breaking down in front of him without having the courage to approach him.

 

 

 

«────── « ⋅♥⋅ » ──────»

 

 

 

"You're spacing out."

Heechul snapped to his right when someone tapped his shoulder. He smirked at his coworker and sobered himself, continuing to wipe the glasses. 

"I'm so darn tired, Wookie. Got no sleep last night."

"Why? The kids were fussy?" 

He wished—Heechul dropped his stare—he wished it was just his kids being fussy like what Ryeowook said. But even after he came to the orphanage this morning, he had no idea how his kids were doing. 

"Where's Boss?" 

Ryeowook, who was busy with the cashier, did not realize that Heechul dodged the question; that it was a gentle warning. 

"Oh, Boss won't come today. He's sick."

Heechul smiled, a little relieved that Ryeowook did not question him further about his issue. He put the glasses nicely in the bar station and was about to go tending the other tables when someone entered the entrance, ringing the small bell in the door frame. 

 

He was ready to grab his small note and welcomed the new guest when he realized, it was not any guest. He beamed and so did the person, ambling to the bar. 

"Am I supposed to be surprised that you're here?" Heechul said, simpering. 

"You should be 'cause I am. I don't know I'll meet my former employee here," Hangeng replied, smiling handsomely. He sat on one of the bar stools and motioned Ryeowook to make him a mocktail. 

"You look tired. Told ya, just work for me."

Heechul should have known that Hangeng would never peel his eyes off him even when he purposely busied himself tending the cashier. He gave the customers in front of him their change and turned back to Hangeng. 

"No, you're worse."

Heechul thought he made a good banter here that would keep Hangeng satisfied for a minute. But his former boss always surprised him. 

 

"You've been crying," Hangeng said simply, sipping his drink. 

"Are you saying I'm looking bad right now?" Heechul tried to avoid giving the response Hangeng wanted. It was no use telling his problem to anyone let alone Hangeng, someone whom he knew used to have feelings for him. 

"Why were you crying?" 

But Hangeng was not a quitter, Heechul learned. The latter seemed not to give a damn about it but he knew Hangeng did.

"Same old, same old."

Hangeng smiled bitterly at the vague answer. Heechul had never looked at him; he was just a tiny part of his story that would soon be forgotten. There was no way Heechul would trust him to know about what made him hurt or even as simple as how the latter's day went by. But strangely, he did not mind being the shadow. 

 

He was about to get up and pay for his drink when something caught his attention. From his vision, someone he, or actually Heechul too, knew so much showed up, seemingly hesitant to go in the bar and only stood still by the big glass window. What was interesting was that someone—Mr. Husband—was looking at them. The corner of his lips rose a little. He wondered what happened with them and if Nara—he recalled that she came to his restaurant—was responsible for making Jungsoo reluctant to stop him from making a move on his dear husband like what the professor always did. 

And he would not let this chance slip away. 

 

"Cheer up, will you? Everything's gonna be okay."

Hangeng ruffled Heechul's hair lovingly and he thanked Heaven that Heechul was too busy with the cashier than with his small gesture, or even with the person behind the window. He made sure Jungsoo see what he did and he knew his plan worked when Jungsoo suddenly got in his car and drove away. 

 

 

 

«────── « ⋅♥⋅ » ──────»

 

 

 

It was the third glass and he began to feel that his nerves started to loosen; only his grip around the rim of the glass tightened. All he hoped was the booze to work its magical way to make him forget and to numb his pain like it always did. But tonight, his best friend seemed not to be in his favor because even after he chugged down almost a bottle of vodka, the nightmare he saw this afternoon was still vivid haunting him even when he shut his eyes. 

 

"Don't to

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sleepyhead1399
Henlooo! Thank you for reading. ♡

Comments

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cutieheebum #1
I hope you continue this story 🥺💙
jyuu_25
#2
Chapter 39: rereading this story for the nth time and it always gives me same feelings when I first read it. 🥺 hope you're doing fine Yuuki. I miss seeing you at X (twitter) 🥺💙💙
iam_me00
26 streak #3
Chapter 39: Author please come back and finish this story
Iellemira
#4
Chapter 39: Yuuki I am missing your updates. Are you still going to finish this? I hope you will. 😭
iam_me00
26 streak #5
Chapter 39: Why is this the last one???? 😭😭😭
iam_me00
26 streak #6
Chapter 36: Who did he come back for?
iam_me00
26 streak #7
Chapter 35: ???
iam_me00
26 streak #8
Chapter 34: Enlightenment
iam_me00
26 streak #9
Chapter 33: 😭😭😭😭
iam_me00
26 streak #10
Chapter 31: Gosh! What a woman she is