CHAPTER SIX

Little boy, why are you hesitating? You should never hesitate. Don’t you want to get acknowledged? Then if you want to get acknowledged then you have to do this; you have to listen to me. Until then, you will be nothing but a shadow. Do you want to stay a shadow forever? You don’t, right? Then all you have to do is listen to me, do you understand, little fool? Just listen to everything I say and you will get acknowledged.

Taekwoon wordlessly enters his room and sighs as he sits on his bed. His conversation with Wonshik earlier enters his mind again and his frown deepens. The younger boy was right about one thing though; Taekwoon did know about Hakyeon and he did know, or at least, he knew something about the experiment years ago.

Taekwoon was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice someone entering his room, which is why he almost jumped when he saw a face in front of him, almost. The boy frowned at the older boy in front of him. “What do you want, Cha Hakyeon-ssi,” Taekwoon was expecting Hakyeon to frown at the formal speech that when Hakyeon didn’t show any of the expected reaction, Taekwoon was very surprised.

Instead of pouting and whining like how Taekwoon had expected, Hakyeon just stood in front of him, his lips a thin straight line and his face void of any emotion. Taekwoon was surprised when he realized that he was half-expecting the boy to suddenly break out into a huge grin and joke around – but he didn’t.

Hakyeon pulled up a chair and sat across Taekwoon, his back facing the wall. He didn’t really know why he had decided to pay the younger a visit but he knew that he had to do it; that he had to talk to the boy. Now that he was in front of the boy, however, he was unable to start the conversation without having to be straightforward about it.

Fortunately, Taekwoon noticed this and decided to save the boy the trouble of having to ask him. “It was around a year ago, when I started noticing the effects. But you,” Taekwoon pointed at Hakyeon. “You knew about it way earlier than I did, didn’t you? The same goes for that Wonshik and that Hongbin, am I right?”

The older boy’s frown deepened and his eyes showed sadness. It was then that Taekwoon knew he had hit the target. The elder’s response, however, was something even Taekwoon himself never anticipated. “Wonshik was 2 when he was sent here, although he did stay out for a year when he was 4 and went back when he turned 5. As for Hongbin and I, we actually never left,” Hakyeon explained a small, sad smile on his face.

Taekwoon immediately regretted the tone he had used on the older boy. “Don’t pity us though, it actually isn’t that bad. We did, use to see our families on holidays, although that was such a long time ago I even forgot what holiday that was,” Hakyeon tried to joke but Taekwoon couldn’t move his eyes from the older boy’s own brown orbs. He could feel the sadness oozing from them; something he didn’t see on the other the day before.

Taekwoon felt guilty and wanted to apologize for making the boy remember such bad memories but he couldn’t find the right words to say and decided to just listen as the boy told his story. “After the experiment, after finding out the truth about what had happened to us, the scientists decided to close down the project for good and decided to keep an eye on all of us. Your parents brought you home for you to lead normal lives, at least, until your symptoms start appearing. For Hongbin and me, they said that the Association found our parents unfit to take care of us. Honestly though, I think they were scared of what might become of us,”

Taekwoon didn’t know what to tell the elder. He knew no words can comfort the years of pain and disappointment he might have experienced, and Taekwoon didn’t know if he was fit to say the words to the boy so the two of them just sat in silence, both staring at everywhere except on each other when the door bursts open and Wonshik appears.

“The kid’s back,”

Author's Note: Omigad, another update. I should be updating VOID, but no, I ended up writing a chapter for BP instead. As you can see, this is mostly centered on Hakyeon and Taekwoon, although it started out as Taekwoon-centric. I realized I haven't written a Hakyeon-Taekwoon exchange so here it is. This time, I have explored Hakyeon's more serious side as he tells Leo his and Hongbin's story. Questions: Is what Hakyeon told Taekwoon 100% true? Who do you think was the "kid" Ravi was talking about? I want you to go back a few chapters to see why I had asked if Hakyeon was telling the truth, 100%. On a good note, I want you to watch this. It's the 'hyde' mv, but it's a different (and actually, better) version. It has more expressions and solo shots.