Chapter 23.
The Florist.{Edit}
He woke all fizzy and hazy.
And extremely tired too.
Sungyeol groaned loudly as he got up from bed. Resting his head on his hands, he took a few moments clearing his mind and trying to recall what had happened last night. It came back to him slowly. And he sighed when he thought back about the fighting thing that his family had been asking him to teach, his answer was still no. But Sungyeol did remember his crazed reaction from last night, it must be bad that Woohyun had to sedate him.
Which he knew was definitely an order from Sunggyu.
Woohyun could never sedate or do something like that to him.
Sunggyu would.
And Sungyeol felt no guilt in thinking bad of Sunggyu.
He knew the man well enough anyway.
Looking up, Sungyeol saw the time and realized it was already eight. He quickly got up and shower, got ready for work and head out of his room. He had hoped the cold water in Spring would wake his senses and shock his body up. It was cold as hell but refreshing in its own way. When he came out, he realized he actually hadn't care about whether Hoya was in the room or not. He couldn't even remember whether he had seen the Dancer when he went to the showers.
That must have shown how hazy his senses and mind was.
As he walked to the kitchen, he told himself he was going to take the public transport to work that day. Since only he was working today, taking the public transport would save some money for Sunggyu. As he stepped out of his room, he saw L dragging himself up from the floor that he was crawling at now. His hair was totally messed up and he was scratching the back of his head while yawning.
He smiled cheekily when he saw Sungyeol.
"Orh Yeol, you're up and ready for work already?"
"Uh-huh."
"Isn't that a little early?"
"I felt bad for leaving Mrs Lee behind yesterday."
"But the store wasn't opened no?"
"There's delivery today. And I'm not letting her do it alone."
L yawned again before nodding.
"Didn't sleep well, or not enough sleep?"
"Both. Yesterday was supposed to be a good day to sleep, since we used so much energy."
"But...?"
"But there was too much work and commotion for me to sleep. Anyway, how are you today?"
"Slightly dazed and unwell. I think I was sedated too much. I still feel tired honestly."
They reached the kitchen together where they saw Hoya cooking breakfast. His back had felt so much better from last night. And he made breakfast without feeling much pain. Right now, he was swaying left and right with his headphones on and listening to music. The two let the Dancer to it, it wasn't possibly to ask him to sit down for even five minutes, what was the point of asking him to rest more.
Sungyeol then went to help with breakfast but remembered that Woohyun didn't like his cooking. So he helped by placing the pairs of chopsticks along with scooping the rice to the table for the guys. They were having bulgogi stew using the left over meat that Sungyeol had cut yesterday. The three of them settled down and talked among themselves while waiting for Sunggyu to appear to start with breakfast.
Woohyun came before Sunggyu along with Dongwoo who was still wearing a bandage over his head. He thought he looked really cool like a karate master and tried pulling a quick and weak move on Sungyeol like the first day they had met. He failed miserably as usual and fell on the floor as Sungyeol easily dodged the incoming attack as usual. They laughed at him while Woohyun buried his face in his hands.
"He's never going to recover like this."
Sungyeol smiled as he carried the light and weak Dongwoo onto his seat. The way he did so, it looked as if Dongwoo weighed like a bouquet of flowers. Sunggyu chose to walk in that moment and asked what had happened to them both. They didn't hear him though.
"Yeollie I can walk by myself."
"I don't think so."
"I'm not a baby I can do so!"
"I'm just worried you might hurt youself from even walking."
Everyone laughed at him again.
"I don't understand why my karate moves always fail."
"That's because you're doing it wrongly."
"How so?"
"You need to stand firmly and move with force, not like a dance move."
"Is that so?"
"It is so since you always fall to the ground when you tried doing it."
Sungyeol then went on saying he was thankful that at least Hoya and Dongwoo had a week off from dancing and could concentrate on recovering and studying. It might pain the Dancers to not dance at all, but they should know better than to hurt themselves right now. He told them to stay at home, and rest well, and maybe do whatever they want other than dancing.
"Even learning fighting?"
Sungyeol looked at how Dongwoo was blinking innocent at him and rolled his eyes. He stuck his tongue out before Sunggyu announced they could begin with breakfast. Dongwoo then pouted and looked earnestly at Sungyeol, who looked as if he was going to stay mute thoroughout breakfast. The tallest then shrugged before sighing.
"Like I said, you can do whatever you want. Just don't over exert youself."
Sungyeol then began breakfast with the rest. Hoya's special breakfast was exceptionally good to Sungyeol, or maybe it was because he was hungry from all the sleep he had gotten. He made a point to tell Sunggyu to not sedate him again because he didn't like the after effects of it. Sunggyu tried looking innocently and pointed to Woohyun. He was the one who injected him and not Sunggyu.
"Right. I wasn't that out to know Woohyun wouldn't do that to me."
"And I will? That was hurtful Yeol."
"Hah. Yea you will. I know you long enough to know you will."
Sunggyu winked his small eyes at Sungyeol before going back to his breakfast.
The meal was pretty silent after that, until Woohyun had a small outburst.
"Wow Sungyeol, breakfast is really nice today!"
Hoya, L and Sungyeol looked another awkwardly before Sungyeol smiled weakly.
"I didn't make breakfast today, it was Hoya. But if you really like it Hoya can take over the cooking from now on. Fighting Lee Hoya!"
Sungyeol knew Woohyun wanted to make up for the mistake he made, but sadly, it was a wrong time wrong place kind of situation that made everyone feel awakrd. Sungyeol was surprised that Woohyun was so kind since there really wasn't anything for the Doctor to apologize or bend down for. He smiled at the Doctor, trying to tell him there wasn't a need to do such things.
But Woohyun couldn't accept that. He apologized to Hoya for getting mixed up and told the Dancer breakfast was great. It was as if he had copied and pasted his sentence from Sungyeol to Hoya. The Dancer thanked the Doctor awkwardly, and now everyone was looking at one another, giving weird looks while Woohyun slowly ate his breakfast. He was getting tired of this mind game. Or more like, mind games with himself. Also, he knew Sunggyu wouldn't forgive him until he made up with Sungyeol. It was tiring for him.
After finishing breakfast, he told L to help him wash the dishes since he was running late for work, he quickly wiped his lips and yelled a good bye to the others who his mouth still full of food. He grabbed his belongings and left home, coming back for a minute just to remind Hoya that he needed one more night of ointment before feeling completely fine.
"Don't run away!"
And Sungyeol left.
The others realized Sungyeol went to work on a Sunday, one hour earlier than usual. They thought he was still upset about last night until L told them there was an early delivery that he didn't want to burden Mrs Lee with. L felt bad for leaving them alone this weekend but everyone seemed happier with L's explaination. Looking at the time, they realized this was going to be one of the slackiest Sunday ever.
L went out an hour later to help his classmate with a photoshoot like he had promised. Thankfully, his classmate wasn't angry and understood that L had an emergency at home. At least he wasn't rejected when he asked L. Hoya and Dongwoo were supposed to rest at home, but they were already bored after washing the dishes. Dongwoo then asked Hoya if he could teach him some fighting moves since Hoya had learned taekwondo before.
Hoya was slightly reluctant honestly.
Since he thought his fighting skills were nowhere near Sungyeol's.
But Dongwoo retorted that having some fighting skills was better than not having any at all. They then went to their rooms to watch some videos on boxing, to kill them. And to also leave the two oldest brothers alone. Sunggyu was reading a book in his hand and enjoying the morning breeze from their new window whereas Woohyun spent most of his time just staring at Sunggyu. Woohyun wanted him to talk to him and not ignore him anymore. He felt so lonely when Sunggyu wasn't talking or worse, treated him as an invisible man.
"Is Yeollie more than important than me now hyung."
"Nope."
"Then is it because of him that you're not talking to me anymore."
"That's not either."
"Then what is it? You're not talking to me anymore, you didn't even ask if I was alright!"
"No reasons."
Sunggyu didn't even so much look away from his book when he replied Woohyun. And it made the Doctor hurt, and dispirited with every No Sunggyu gave. He wasn't going to cry of course, for heaven sake that was weak. But he was sick and tired of it. Just two days of not speaking to Sunggyu and Sungyeol already made his life unbearable. So he snatched the book away from Sunggyu's hands and glared at him.
"Then what's wrong, I'm sick and tired of this, tell me!"
Sunggyu removed his glasses and turned to look at Woohyun in mild disbelief.
"Do you really wish to know?"
"More than anything."
"Fine. I can see you're trying to talk to Sungyeol, and knowing the younger one well, he'll definitely forgive. But I can also see that you're connecting getting back in good relation with Sungyeol is the path and key to speaking to me. That makes me laugh honestly."
"What?!"
Sunggyu scoffed.
"I'm always here Nam. I didn't speak to you because I know you still have no idea what you've done. You don't think that you're done anything wrong at all. But I'll tell you this - You did. You made us fall apart. I've never been angry with you before regardless of what you did. And you know this better than I do. I thought we were closer as a family you seem very determinded to break that yesterday."
He snatched his book back from Woohyun.
"The problem was supposed to bring us closer to one another and united. But for some messed up reason, it drifted us apart and broke the seven of us. After suggesting to tell the kids your idea, have you ever thought about helping as well or do you just want to talk about it. I can see Hoya and Dongwoo doing something to help themselves, I can see L and Sungyeol thinking of ideas to help me. But Nam, I heard nothing from you. And what you're doing now, is what a five year old would do, trying to patch back with a small compliment. How does that look to you?"
Woohyun felt his disappointing rising every minute.
Tears were close to spilling from his eyes and he felt horrible.
"Do you even understand what you've done. The kids aren't ready for this, but you, refusing to even listen to me for five minutes, went ahead to tell them their lives were in danger, what should and could they do? And yes, I know, having a doctor in the house is God-sent. It's damn good honestly, but what else? I'm not asking you to do something, but when you told them about is, did you even realize the danger it could bring them. The Chairman might take them as hostages and I'd rather they be captured unharmed than fight to their death."
He then got off the couch and walked away, a firm and obvious dismissal that he didn't want to talk anymore.
But Sunggyu turned back and looked at Woohyun who looked as if he was close to tears.
He delievered another blow.
"You asked why didn't I ask you how you were, the reason is simple. I thought you deserved it. You deserved all of it. Happy?"
Sunggyu then slammed the door to his room, leaving the dumbfounded Woohyun sitting on the couch, digesting and disgusted with everything Sunggyu told him. And as much as Woohyun hated to admit it, everything Sunggyu said was true. He was the reason why everyone was so nervous and chaotic and broken apart right now. They were clueless from the very beginning, and Woohyun had to jump in to add more nervousness and confusion to it.
He went back to his room.
Maybe before finding what to do, he could cry his eyeballs out for a minute or two.
He reached just in time.
Sungyeol had been walking up the slope to Le Fleurs when he saw the familiar big truck driving passed him. He sort of guessed it was the delivery again and started jogging behind him. Mrs Lee was already outside spraying the flowers with water and carrying heavy amount of soils and buckets. He quickly went foward to help and she was surprised to see him.
She remembered telling him specifically that he and L didn't need to come to work today if the emergency at home wasn't fixed. But Sungyeol, as usual, refused to listen. He started telling her what happened as they took buckets of hundred of flowers into the store. He then jokingly told her that if he didn't come tow ork, he would have no money to go to school and Mrs Lee wouldn't want him anymore, causing the delivery uncle and her to laugh.
The delivery uncle likes Sungyeol a lot and had a soft spot for him. He then told Mrs Lee that the last bucket of flowers was on him so that she could pay Sungyeol more and he wouldn't be chased out. Sungyeol went red in the face and told the ahjussi that he was only making a joke. He felt bad that Mrs LEe thanked the man and increased Sungyeol's pay, along with L's as well. It was time anyway, she said. He had been working hard for a little over a year therefore a rise in pay.
Sungyeol knew a losing battle when he sees one. Therefore he just thanked the ahjussi and Mrs Lee before going back to work, counting inventory for the flowers and filling the empty displays with flowers
He thought he was at peace the moment he walked into the store and worked. Although there were some girls who would flirt and try to get his attention, he still thought that was better than the problem at home. Sungyeol was still at a loss on what was to be done. And he hated being in a loss. It was tiring to know he couldn't do anything but sit behind and wait. And he had to force himself to be patient because Sungjong told him so, he believed every word Sungjong had told him that day.
As Sungyeol was deep in thought, he hadn't realize it was close to closing time.
There weren't many customers that day sadly to keep him busy, but he was alright with it nonethless.
Customers come and go, and not every couple goes on a date on Sunday.
As he began doing the closing, the store opened. It was fifteen minutes to closing and Sungyeol turned to see who it was. Surprisingly, it was Nana. She was alone this time however, without Yvonne by her side as she smiled and greeted Sungyeol. Mrs Lee came out of the backroom then and she greeted the older lady like a mother, surprisingly Sungyeol again. He remembered when Nana came to the store, it was when L and Sungyeol was around, never Mrs Lee. So how did they meet?
Mrs Lee was elated to see Nana and told Sungyeol that Nana loved flowers as much as she did. She also said she could tell what kind of person the person was depending on how they treat a flower and Nana was one of a kind in her eyes. Mrs Lee was smiling at Nana and Sungyeol both when she received a phonecall. It was the hospital. And the nurse was telling her that her son was having a fit because his mother wans't around.
She apologized to Sungyeol again before rushing out with her things to the hospital. Sungyeol said it was fine and told her he would lock up instead, she gave a quick nod and was gone within the minute. Sungyeol was getting worried honestly, about Mrs Lee and her son's condition. He was getting well, but like Woohyun had said, at a very slow pace.
He then remembered Nana in the store and turned to look at her.
"Can I help you?"
"What? Oh. Sorry, I was bothered and worried for Mrs Lee."
"I know what you mean. She looks tired every time I see her."
Nana nodded with a pout.
"So how can I help you? Flowers for an occasion? Last minute reminders?"
"Actually no. I just came to ask if you would like to have dinner."
"Huh what?"
"Yvonne's overseas right now with her parents and I'm bored. So just as friends, would you have to have dinner with me?
Sungyeol looked startled.
It took him a good thirty second before he could calm down.
"Sorry, it's rather sudden isn't it?"
"No it's alright. You're my friend and I would love to have dinner with you."
"Awesome. I'll wait for you."
And she went outside.
Maybe she wanted to calm her heart.
Maybe she wanted to shout for joy because she finally asked him out.
But either way, she was happy like crazy. Sungyeol was surprised as well. And he totally forgot to even wonder why Nana hadn't ask where L was. He was done within ten minutes and as the two of them left the place and walked down the slope, they realized the sun was setting, it was six in the evening. Nana brought Sungyeol to a nearby eatery that she loves and said the black bean noodles and pot stickers are to die for. So as they ordered and waited for the foor, they talked about their lives like two friends who hadn't seen each other for months.
He realized Nana was into business because she love crunching numbers while Sungyeol told her about his dream of opening a cafe. He realized being with Nana and talking to her like this was very different from his brothers. They were all good friends and knew almost everything about one another. Therefore being with Nana was different in a sense that instead of him worrying for others and her, she was worrying for him like an omma. She kept saying Sungyeol was too skinny and ordered more food just for him.
She sneakily went to pay for the meal when Sungyeol was in the bathroom.
He didn't like it that she did that, but Nana said he could treat for the ice cream then.
True, what was dinner without ice cream anyway.
Sungyeol ordered two cups of double scoops for them and tubs of ice cream for Nana and his brothers who all loved ice cream with a passion. They started talking again about pretty much everything and Nana was thrilled to know Sungyeol loves cooking. She wasn't the best cook at home but at least she could still cook something. She then told him how much she love writing and planned to travel around the world when she had earned enough money.
Sungyeol smiled and said she was smiliar to L who also wanted to travel around to take photos of all the beautiful scenes/ She wanted to write, he wanted to take photos. They were quite cute honestly. Sungyeol then noticed Nana had a habit of moving about every few seconds. She couldn't sit still, couldn't stand still either. And then he realized it was because she was excited about pretty much everything on earth. She had dreams and inspirations and hope in her life. They talked about practically everything and anything.
When it was close to ten, they decided to split ways from the ice cream shop. Sungyeol offered to send her home but Nana politely rejected it, insisting that it was late enough and her home was just three blocks away. She could use a walk to lose all those fats that she'd gained from eating earlier. Later on before she left, she thanked Sungyeol for eating with her and he said he really enjoyed.
"Maybe we can meet up again soon."
"Yea that would be nice. I'll bring Yvonne and you'll bring L."
"Are you thinking of putting them together."
"I am. Is it that obvious?"
He laughed before waving good bye, rushing to the bus stop and onto his own bus. He reached home precisely at a quarter after ten that night and had expected to see everyone rushing with their homeworks and what nots. But when he entered the house, he suffered a huge shock. Sitting in the living room was the five of them, and Hoya and Dongwoo were in the center. It didn't seem out of place, until Sungyeol caught sight of Dongwoo's face.
It was badly beaten.
In fact, Hoya was beaten as well.
And so were their bodies.
Sunggyu was on the phone and when he turned around, he let out the biggest sigh of relief in the world when he saw Sungyeol. He ran towards him and Sungyeol realized he looked worried. What the hell happened?"
"Where were you? Why didn't you answer any of our calls, we were worried sick!"
Sungyeol then took out his phone and realized he had switched it off when he went to work. During the dinner with Nana, he had completely forgot to switch it back on. There was about seventeen messages and thirty four missed calls, all from them. Sungyeol asked what happened to Hoya and Dongwoo as he walked closely into the living room.
They then saw Sungyeol and everyone let out sighs of relief. Woohyun went forward to check on him before saying he was fine and harmless. Sungyeol then walked directly in front of Hoya and Dongwoo to take a better look at them. Their bodies were filled with bruises from shoulder to shoulder, neck to torse. Their legs were fine, but their face was injuried with numerous slaps and punchs. He shaking with anger and asking for the third time, what happened.
Sunggyu began telling him.
"The two of them were bored at home and said they wanted to watch a movie at the mall. I allowed them after Woohyun checked their injuries and told them to be back by dinner. They were heading home after the movie and was cornered by the chairman's men who beat them up. He told Hoya and Dongwoo to give us a message that their chairman still wanted us to work for him. They left the legs alone since he wanted them to dance. They tried fending but it was five against two, they didn't have a chance. And they got beaten badly."
Sunggyu's eyes were blazed with anger and looked outside the window.
"They had to crawl back. L saw them through the kitchen window. They were draggint themselves home when L shouted for me. We carried them in and now we're trying to fix them. We noticed you weren't home and there was no message too. I tried calling and texting you but you didn't answer. You scared the hell out of everyone man, where were you?"
Sungyeol ignored the last question.
"What did the chairman want?"
"He wanted Hoya and Dongwoo to report to work this Friday, which I'm definitely not allowing of course."
"Anything else?"
"No. Now asnwer my question, where were you?"
Sungyeol saw how Dongwoo gave a small reaction by arching his eyebrow just so slightly, as if he was staring cluelessly at Sunggyu. But Sungyeol understood that movement and know Sunggyu was hiding something from him. L's face was white and Woohyun was trembling. There was no way the chairman said nothing more.
"I was out for dinner with a friend."
"With who?"
"Nana. Now come on hyung, you can't expect me to think that was all the chairman said. What else?"
Sunggyu didn't want to say anything, but when he saw Sungyeol's eyes staring back at him, he saw worry and concern in them. He didn't want to say, but not telling Sungyeol would only lead to more problems and confusion. Hence, with a defeated sigh, he told Sungyeol everything the chairman said.
"The bastard wanted all of us to work for him. He said he'd never seen such a perfect group that was worthy to work for him. He even gave us roles. You, fighting. Me, brains. Woohyun, medicine. Hoya and Dongwoo, dancing. L, beautiful face. He said he could make big money for him and if we refused, he'll slowly torture us until we agreed. He also said he doesn't care how long it'll take, but whether or not we could stand to see another brother slowly losing his life."
Sungygyu laughed evily. Every word that came out of his mouth sounded like a joke to even himself. The chairman had zero idea of Sunggyu's real capabilty and what he could really do. Sungyeol was shaking in anger again, his fist clenched tight. He had never heard something so vile, so sickening, so disgusting and revolting. He hated the chairman, hated that he had even touched and went into a gang. Sungyeol stared accusingly at Sunggyu and his eyes, cold like ice.
"You were planning to keep something like this away from me?"
He couldn't believe they were doing this to him.
Weren't they a family?
But Sunggyu snorted and stared right back.
"I know what you're thinking even before you start thinking about it. You're planning on joining the bloody group so that they could leave us alone. I know you Yeol. But the idea has more demerits than merits. You can't fight because of Sungjong, what would they do to you when they find out. I forbid you to do anything like that, do you hear me!"
He refused to answer. And indread, walked towards the kitchen and took out some spoons. Opening the tub of strawberry ice cream, he scooped and fed Hoya and Dongwoo, telling them eating sweets would help with the pain and soreness. Throughout this whole time, his face was unreadable and expressionless. He opened another tub and gave it to L and asked him to share within the other guys. The ice cream worked. But their smiles fell when they saw Sungyeol bringing the bottle of ointment towards them.
The two Dancers hugging one another in fear.
Dongwoo could feel Hoya shaking and wondering what on earth had the man gone through last night.
Hoya tried keeping quiet as Sungyeol rubbed the ointment now on his back, arms and shoulders. He knew the pain would be worthwhile, but he couldn't help but let out a few screams. Dongwoo, on the other hand, experiencing the pain for the first time, started laughing his head off the moment Sungyeol rubbed his arms and shoulders. It was painful of course. But the genius in the house had laughed instead of screaming. The others didn't know which was worse, screaming in pain or laughing like a crazed man.
After Sungyeol was done, Dongwoo looked as if he had battled death ten minutes ago, he was laying lifelessly on the floor and begging someone to carry him instead. The dancing duo went to wash up while Sungyeol ate the bit of the strawberry ice cream until it was time to sleep. The whole time, he kept silence and had not utter a single word.
Sunggyu told Hoya and Dongwoo to stay at home tomorrow and not attend school. He say he would report sick for them and collect whatever homework there was. Before everyone went to bed, Hoya asked Sungyeol if he could them fighting. After today, he was sure Sungyeol would softened his heart and say yes. But he just stared at Hoya and Dongwoo for a while before going into his own room without another word.
The guys' hearts broke as they realized something.
'Even though we were badly beaten up, Sungyeol still refuses to do anything but treat our wounds. Were our five living lives not as important as compared to Sungjong's dead one?'
{Edit} I wrote a one-shot. Oops. Between The Shelves. It's totally unrelated to the story, but I'm advertising here shamelessly. Kekeke.
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