“This is Hwansang Orphanage. May I help you?”

Jongup’s fingers tighten around his phone, before speaking clearly into it.

“I would like to find out if it is possible to check on a child’s particulars...? One who left the orphanage already?”

“It has to depend on how long the kid has left us?”

“Um,” Jongup closes his eyes, making mental calculations in his head. “About ten years...?”

“I think we may still have the particulars. May I know the name of the child you are referring to...?”

He in a deep breath.

“Moon Jongup.”

 

__________________

Jongup doesn’t know why, but the moment he leaves the house after shouting at Kyumi, he heads straight for the orphanage.

He rests his head on the windows of the bus, ignoring how the glass will hit against his head everytime the bus hits an uneven road. The orphanage that he was in isn’t that far; it is just only at the last stop of the entire bus route.

And on that hour long bus ride, he stops to think about what he has been doing.

And there is that bitter, sick feeling when he realises that he has been doing nothing. Nothing at all.

He sighs as he wraps his arms tightly around himself, trying to spread the warmth to the rest of his body. Jongup decides to apologise to Kyumi. After all, what has he been doing?

Nothing.

That very thought sickens himself.

 

__________________

“Hey.”

Sohyun stands at the door, her expression light. “What are you waiting for? Come in.”

“I have no idea why I still remember the way to your house,” Kyumi tries to joke, but ends up choking on her own sobs. Sohyun’s expression softens as she pulls the other girl in, and closing the door as softly as possible, she leads the other girl up the stairs to her room.

Sohyun leaves the room for a moment, before coming back with two toilet rolls.

“I couldn’t find the tissue box,” she explains apologetically as she sets them in front of Kyumi.

They both sit in silence as Jang Kyumi grabs an entire toilet roll and starts unrolling it.

“So... is it...?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I just go and kick all the fatherhood out of him?” Sohyun’s expression darkens, and Kyumi laughs bitterly.

“No, no you can’t.”

“I’ll get Daehyun oppa to do it.”

“That guy has no strength.”

“Youngjae...?” There is an evil glint in Sohyun’s eyes, and anyone can see that she is up to no good.

“I’m going to stay here tonight,” Kyumi suddenly declares, trying to change the topic.

“You’re not used to sleeping with another person, right? I’ll get Youngjae to go to Dae oppa’s room,” Sohyun slides off the bed, and is almost halfway to the door when she stops and clarifies, “you’re gonna sleep here anyway. Yoo Youngjae’s room is inappropriate for girls.”

“Aren’t you a girl?”

“Yes, but I’ve already seen whatever can be seen,” Sohyun’s trademark evil smirk appears.

“And I want to see Dae oppa sleeping with Youngjae. It’ll make the best drama of the year.”

 

__________________

Sohyun is right.

Daehyun glares at Youngjae as he aims a kick at the younger male. “If you don’t get off the bed now...” he starts to threaten, but Youngjae cuts him short.

“What are you going to do? Tickle me with your feet?”

“No, I’m going to kick you, you idiot!”

“Like you can even kick anyone, please. You’re so weak I wonder how you even carry those cameras.”

“Don’t remind me of my baby!”

“Where’s your baby, locked in a small drawer and sad and suffoca― YAH!”

“GET OFF THIS BED!” Daehyun screams as he yanks more blanket towards himself, while adamantly trying to push his younger sibling off the bed.

“You get off!”

“It’s my bed!”

“Does it have your name written on it? No! So―”

The door flings open, and both boys freeze as they stare at the figure at the door, only slightly illumated by the corridor lights.

“I’m glad that you boys are trying to bond, but please, this is not the time. Daehyun, you’re older so you have to make concessions to the younger ones.”

Daehyun’s expression turns dark while Youngjae’s changes into a gleeful one, and said happy man sticks his tongue out at the fuming man beside him.

“Youngjae, I saw that.”

Youngjae’s expression falls.

“Now go to sleep, boys. Now.”

“Yes mom,” both of them chorus bitterly but once the door is closed―

“It was your fault!” Daehyun hisses, trying to keep his volume low.

“Who was the one screaming like a sissy about his baby?”

 

__________________

Jongup opens the door to a seemingly quiet house, immersing in his own thoughts as he remembers his encounter with the people at the orphanage.

“Moon Jongup... when we first heard about him, it was the hospital. They had called about a little boy who was involved in a minor accident, who said that he was lost but cannot remember his family members...”

He wasn’t abandoned. He was lost.

“There might be a possibility that Jongup’s parents have tried looking for him, but there is no records of any Jongup living in Seoul...”

So he was probably from another district, another part of Korea all along.

He stops in front of Kyumi’s room door, pausing for a few seconds before he pushes the door open gently.

What he is expecting to see is a girl, upset, angry or anything else but Kyumi in her bed, sleeping.

What he doesn’t expect is a completely empty room.

Jongup doesn’t even realise that he’s shouting for Kyumi as he runs out of the house, into the darkened streets.

It’s so late. It’s so dark.

Where has she gone? What could have happened to her?

He trips over an abandoned beer bottle, and feeling something sharp pierce through his thigh, and he staggers to a stop, holding on to a nearby lamppost for support.

“,” Jongup curses, wincing as the pain courses up his leg. He doesn’t have to see it to know that he’s bleeding, and bleeding real bad.

He decides to take a look anyway.

“,” Jongup whines as he turns the other direction, “it looks as though I’m having a period or something.”

With every step he takes, he feels something sharp pressing into the wound, which Jongup can only guess are more glass shards. His face contorts into a mask of pain and frustration as Jongup just freezes in his position in the middle of the road.

“And it hurts.”

Just where... where is she?

 

________________________________________________

The next day, Kyumi doesn’t appear at home either.

 

________________________________________________

“Woah man, Jongup!”

“What happened?”

“Fell,” Jongup smiles weakly, trying to hide the wince in his expression as he drags his footsteps along the corridor, having conveniently forgotten his crutches at home.

“Be careful, man,” one of the boys in his dance class pats Jongup’s back, “we’ll see you in class, okay?”

“Kay. See ya Minwoo.”

He walks; or rather, hops his way to his locker, trying to let his injured thigh avoid contact with almost anything, lifting it at least five centimetres above the ground and hopping his way through, grabbing the lockers for balance.

Jongup sighs in relief when he reaches his locker, and starts twisting the combination lock when he spots a very familiar beanie round the corner.

He pauses, one hand on his locker, pushing himself away from those shelves of metal to get a good look.

It is her, alright.

He rushes to Jang Kyumi, ignoring the sharp and pressing pain of his leg before he stops a good one metre from her. The girl is still backfacing him, taking her things out from her own locker.

“Jang Kyumi.”

She turns around, a surprised look on her face which quickly turns into a dark scowl.

“Where did you go? Yesterday and the day before? Did you know how worried I was―”

“Oh, so you decide to start worrying now?”

Kyumi’s voice is laced with venom and slight distaste while Jongup’s face only mirrors something of confusion, until he remembers what he has done.

“I’m sorry, okay, I wasn’t in a good mood―” He tries to reach out for her, but Kyumi scoffs.

“Well then, I’m not in a good mood today too, so I’m sorry, okay?”

And she pushes his arm away, and Jongup, unable to balance on one leg, falls.

He cries out as he falls, one hand instinctively grabbing at his injured leg, as though he can squeeze out all the pain. Jongup tries to get up, but he can’t, and he knows he can’t when all that happens from his efforts is that he is still on the ground.

Kyumi takes a step back, her expression still distrustful, but when she spots the greyish white bandage poking out from the edge of Jongup’s jeans, her eyes widen.

“What happened?”

“Oh, so you decide to start worrying now!” Jongup mutters, glaring at her.

“Moon Jongup.”

“I fell, okay!”

“At home?”

“No? I was ing looking for you?” Jongup phrases it as a question, before attempting to get up again.

Kyumi frowns before she bends down and grabs Jongup’s arm, trying to pull him up.

“Where are we going?”

 

__________________

“You should have changed the bandages. There is already a slight infection in the wound,” the school nurse chides, before raising a wad of cotton wool, dabbing it in antiseptic.

“I was lazy...” Jongup mutters, earning glares from both the nurse and Kyumi.

“Ready?” The nurse asks, raising the wet cotton wool, and Jongup nods, albeit wincing in reluctance.

He hisses when the cool, yet burning liquid makes contact with his burning, exposed cut. Kyumi offers her hand for support, and unknowingly, Jongup grabs it.

“There’s still more,” the nurse informs, and Kyumi feels the pressure on her hand growing.

She looks down, and can’t help smiling a little when she spots their tightly intertwined fingers.

 

__________________

It is awkward.

It is awkward like asdfghjkl awkward.

Someone in her class scoffs before pointing at Daehyun, “That guy said he couldn’t sing! What’s he doing here!”

“Er…” Daehyun’s mouth hangs open, possibly trying to find a reason to defend himself. The teacher hits the whiteboard with her metal ruler, and the class quietens down.

“So, everyone’s here. Let’s start.”

Soyeon can’t help but notice that there is someone’s voice that is standing out of the blend of voices as they are singing their scales— it stands out, not in a bad way, but in a good way. She can’t help but wonder if that is how Daehyun sounds like when he’s singing.

It can’t be. He can’t sing, remember? He said so himself.

“Soyeon! Yah, Soyeon!”

“Hmm?” She blinks, shaking her head a little as her deskmate nudges her.

“Did you see? Did you hear? You got in!”

“Got in? What?” Soyeon’s confused, but her deskmate shoves her through the crowd, so that both of them are in front of the noticeboard. There is only one notice on the entire board, and the black, crisp words printed on it contrasting the stark white background.

Kirin High Student Exchange Programme 2012.

In partnership with our China counterparts, both schools have decided to organise a student exchange programme that will occur this following month. Two students from each faculty will be chosen to guide a student from the other school of the same age and faculty…

However, Soyeon isn’t reading the description anymore.

Her eyes widen at that one particular sentence that catches her attention.

Vocals: Kim Soyeon, Jung Daehyun.

___________________________________

a/n;