_Chapter 26_

_Author’s POV_

Aiden was awoken by the Eunhae couple when the plane landed; the teen stretched his stiff limbs “Man that flight felt short…”

“True, but we we’re sleeping…” Eunhyuk stated as he stood and grabbed the bags above them

“What time is it?”

“Uhhh….three in the afternoon….”

“Perfect, JJ is getting off of school; should take him long” Aiden said as he walked ahead of the couple

“Hey tell us about this JJ kid” Donghae said, slugging his arm over the teen shoulders

“He’d my child hood friend…he got me into dance, before I met him I was always beaten up by the older kids. One day he knocked one of the bullies off his feet and scared the others, he’s always been there for me” the couple nodded

“Is he your ex?” Hyuk asked

“Ew no!” Aiden’s face scrunched up in disgust “Okay that is just wrong man!” the couple laughed while Aiden pouted

“You two are mean”

“We’re just protecting you Aid” Hae said before ruffling the younger’s hair.

After waiting an hour Aiden waved a familiar red Chevy truck down and smiled, Eunhyuk and Donghae looked at each other than smirked

“Shall we tease?”

“We shall”

JJ came out of the truck and hugged Aiden “It’s been a while kid!”

“Hey watch it, I can kick your easily” JJ laughed at the true statement

“Yeah, yeah whatever” he ruffles the others hair and turned to the Eunhae couple “You must be Donghae and Eunhyuk, the famous Eunhae couple. Hey there I’m James, but you can call me JJ if yeah want” the boy held out his hand and Hae took it

“Hey JJ, I’m Lee Donghae; but call me Hae”

“And I’m Lee Hyukjae; but call me Hyuk”

The three shook hands and such while Aiden packed the back and shivers slightly feeling eyes on him; he looks around and sees a shadow near the bus stop, from where Aiden stood he could see a shadowed face look at him.

“Yo JJ let’s go! I want to get settled in before seeing my dad”

“Sure”

“Shot gun!” Hyuk yells getting into the passenger seat

“I’ll sit in the back with Hae hyung…”

“Hae appa” the other corrected

“Fine, Hae ‘appa’”

When they pulled away Aiden looked for the figure but found no one there anymore, “Odd…” he mumbles.

Halfway to the house Hyuk suddenly says “So you’re the guy who would talk to our little Aiden huh?”

“Yes sir, I am always all ears for the kid”

“Watch it buster” Aiden threatened, JJ just laughs

“Yes leader” he replies

“Okay, so I have a question for you when we get to your house JJ” Hyuk said, looking at Aiden in the rear view mirror then towards the road.

“I’ll show Hae your guys’ room and come back down, I promised to visit dad after I arrive”

“Alright!” Hyuk yells while the two bubbly teens left the room

“Want a drink?” JJ offer the other

“Not yet”

“Alright, so” the teen sat at the table and gestured Eunhyuk to sit “Have a seat and tell me what your question is” the latter nods and sits

“It’s about Aiden’s dad, do you think he will be okay?” JJ’s face scrunches up and he leans back in his chair,

“As of right now, I’m not sure; I’ve visited mister K twice…he seems okay right now…I have a feeling something bad is gonna happen”

“Define bad…”

“Like Aiden and…his mom meeting” Hyuk noticed the younger pause before continuing, as if to correct himself for saying the wrong thing.

“Why? What will happen?” JJ sat up straight and looked at Hyuk in the eyes

“Aiden didn’t tell you about…his mom?” the latter shook his head “Aiden hates...his mom; even before the divorce, Aiden’s mom would make him do whatever she said” Hyuk stayed quiet as the other continued

“I don’t think anyone else knows about that but me and his dad…His mom forced him into whatever she found interesting and made Aiden do it…”

“After every week Aiden would come here and would spill everything….he told me how much he hated his mom….how he didn’t want to be who she wanted him to be…just everything…and to take his anger out…well I should just show you” he stood and led Eunhyuk to a room where there was martial arts gear, Eunhyuk examined the single wall with multiple holes

“Aiden….he would punch the wall…all his anger….was taken out in this room…” JJ said softly, Hyuk looked at the latter

“What happened after the divorce?”

“Well…his mom took him with her and it was even worse…counting that…his ex was cheating multiple times….” JJ said, continuing “Then the incident with his mom getting drunk off her with another guy she brought home…I wanted to hit her for it….”

“Aiden left just because his mother got drunk again?”

“Did you see Aiden’s scars?”

“Scars?”

“His mom hit him…with a glass bottle head on…he had cuts, all along the side of his face…”

Eunhyuk stayed silent, taking it all in; he then realized that Aiden had been through a lot.

“But now, I’m glad the kid is happy again; he’s smiling, laughing, and mostly enjoying life. And I thank you guys for that” Hyuk looks at the boy “And I hope you stay with...him no matter what happens”

The latter smiled nodding,

“HYUK! JJ LET”S GO!!” they heard Aiden’s voice boom throughout the house

“Coming! Go ahead and get in the car!!” JJ called back “Come on, time for you to meet Mr. K” Eunhyuk nodded, taking one last look around the room before following the boy out.

The ride to the hospital was silent, Aiden felt his stomach churn; he felt sick, every so often Hae would give him a sideway hug and poke him; cracking a smile from the younger.

When JJ parked Aiden stared at the ten plus story hospital, he took a shaky breathe and headed into the building first, Hae looked at Hyuk and placed his arm on his lovers shoulder and leaned in close “What’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you later” he quickly pecked the other and let JJ lead them inside

“Hey guys, keep the ‘we’re a couple’ on the down low, there are kids here” the two nodded and walked on either side of JJ

They saw Aiden in the elevator and caught it before it closed

“What room?”

“964…” Aiden whispered, the three looked at each other knowing the teen was nervous, maybe even scared

Donghae hugged the boy and laid his head with the teens and said “Everything will be alright, appa says so”

“So does umma” Hyuk said doing the same action as his lover on the other side of Aiden

“And so does this dude” JJ said and ruffled the small boy’s hair; Aiden smiled

“Thanks guys” he says and hugs his ‘parents’ and his friend, “I feel a bit stronger now”

Aiden took both Hae and Hyuk’s hands when the elevator opened; the four walked down to the room marked ‘964 – Kim, Anthony’

The couple looked at the teen “Ready?”

“Ne, fighting…” he whispered the last part and walked into the room after knocking.

Aiden looked at the man on the bed, IV attached to his arm; the man wore a blue V-neck t-shirt

The teen swallowed the lump in his throat and said the one word he hasn’t said in years “Daddy…” he let go of Eunhae’s hands and rushed to his dad’s bed, holding his hand

His father’s eyes open slightly; he blinks a few times before smiling “My little Aiden…” he whispers, he uses the other hand to softly ruffle his hair

“I’m here now…Eli should be here soon…maybe tomorrow”

“That’s fine with me…did you bring your friends?”

“I did” the teen turns to the couple and JJ “Guys come over here” they did so and the father looks at JJ

“Good to see you again son…”

“You too Mr. K” the man chuckles then turns to the couple

“It’s nice to meet you two, Aid; put the bed up a bit” the teen nods and pushes the button and stops when he’s upright

“I am Anthony, Aiden’s dad” Eunhae smiled and bowed

“It’s nice to finally met you sir, we’ve heard a lot about you”

“I hope they were good things” Anthony jokes

“They were” Aiden smiled at them

“And I too have heard a lot from you two and the rest; I thank you for watching over Aiden. I’m glad he has such wonderful friends”

“It’s no trouble, we treat Aiden like a brother” Hyuk says

“Aiden is an awesome kid, I’m glad he became our friend”

“You guys are so cheesy” Aiden says but smiles and hugs them.

“Hey Aid, I’m gonna take the two out and get something to eat; you two okay with that?”

“Yeah!” Hae yells heading out, Hyuk rolls his eyes and follows his boyfriend

“Yah fishy! Slow down no running!” Eunhyuk yelled and JJ follows giving Aiden a thumb up and closes the door.

Aiden pulls up a chair and sits with his dad and grabs his hand “How you feeling dad?”

“I’m fine; what about you?”

“…Scared…good but scared…”

“Adrian…”

“Dad…”

“Sorry, Aiden…you shouldn’t be scared, the surgery will go and I will still be living”

“I know that….I was talking about a different matter…”

“Ahh that…well, if they are truly your friends you need to trust they will understand…”

Aiden nodded slightly, then looked at his dad “I wish this didn’t happen…if it didn’t…you’d be alright, you’ be walking…” Aiden felt tears welling up in his eyes, blurring his vision, “It’s all her fault….I hate her so much”

“Aiden…” the teen looked up, tears threatening to fall “You cannot hate her, she is your mother…”

“All she did was tried to change me….force me to do all those things….she wouldn’t let me be me…”

“Maybe so…but she is still your mother…”

“Dad-”

“Listen…it was my choice to pick your mother up from the bar…it was my decision to take her home…”

Aiden remained silent

“Whatever happens between your mom and me…you shouldn’t hate her for that. I understand that what she did to you, you hate her for that…but as time goes by, it gets better….or worse” Aiden cracked a smile at his father’s attempt to make everything better

“You’re a great father…I hope you never leave…” Aiden says and takes a deep breathe, Anthony smiled

“I’ll be here for as long as you need me”

Aiden hugs his dad and sits again “You should rest…”

Anthony nods and gestures to Aiden to set the bed down, he does so and places the blanket high enough and smiles when his father closes his eyes “I love you dad…always will” he whispers.

The four boys eat in the hospitals cafeteria and chat for a while,

“So Aid, you staying overnight?”

“Yeah, so can you bring me a change of clothes; my red t-shirt, Blue skinny jeans, black hat, and my red and black high tops please?”

“Sure, so you’ll be fine being here by yourself?”

“Yeah, and after school you and pick up Eunhae and bring them here, unless I call telling to pick Eli, Kevin, and Dongho up”

“Roger that captain” JJ says and salutes making everyone laugh loudly, Aiden looks over to see a nurse walk up to them

“Excuse me, which one of you is Kim, Aiden?”

“I am, how may I help you?”

“I would just like to inform you that there is a guest bed in the same room as your father, so feel free to use it tonight while you stay”

“Ahh, thank you miss” the nurse smiles and walks away.

“So I’ll get the clothes, and come back to pick these two up” JJ says pointing to the couple whom at the moment were feeding each other; Aiden laughs

“Going to be eventful eh JJ?”

“Don’t remind me” Aiden laughed again as JJ gives the couple a ‘Can-you-stop-now?’ look.

After JJ left the three boys decided to hang out in Aiden’s father’s room and talk, they would laugh at the jokes Mr. Kim would tell and the three did a dance or two to entertain the man.

“You guys are better than TV” the father says clapping again as the boys finished

“Thanks, I bet the shows here are awful”

“They are…no comedy”

Aiden rolled his eyes and soon the door opened to JJ “Alright I got your clothes; Hae, Hyuk time to go”

“Fine” the two moaned and gave the teen a hug and kissed his head

“Guys!” Aiden yells making the couple laugh

“Love ya too Aid” they smiled and followed JJ out after he give Aiden a hug.

The teen looks at the clock and reads ‘8:45 pm’

“Time for bed Aid, have to get up early and get checked again”

“Ne…” the teen lies on the bed after turning off the lights, “Good night dad”

“Good night Aiden”

The teen watched the moon for a while before falling asleep to his dads soft snore.