A Damp Night

The ride home was as silent as ever. Danbi was aware of Luhan glancing at her warily once in a while, but she decided to ignore him. She her lips and winced, accidentally touching the cut on her lip.
It was a while before Danbi realised they were not heading for home. “Where are we going?”
Luhan did not answer, but pressed his lips together and accelerated.
They stopped by a deserted roadside stall selling alcohol and late-night snacks for whoever was in the mood to drink. Danbi raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as she followed Luhan out of the car and into the tent.
They took a table by the corner. Danbi could hear the light rain softly pattering against the plastic cover as Luhan shouted orders in a friendly voice to the old lady tending the stall.
The soju arrived, and Luhan poured Danbi a glass. After seeing Luhan down his own without hesitation, she too raised the glass to her lips and gulped down the liquid.
And so they continued emptying bottles. By the fourth bottle, Danbi asked, “Shouldn’t you be at least woozy by now?”
Luhan gave a tight-lipped smile. “Speak for yourself.”
Danbi felt her heart twitch guiltily. “Well, you’re supposed to be stopping me, aren’t you?” Danbi said, finishing another glass.
There was silence for a while. “Well, you’re out of my league,” Luhan finally admitted. “I can’t rein you in.”
Danbi set her glass on the table. “Then why do you care? Just let me live my life.”
“What, and let you get into trouble? That would damage my reputation badly,” Luhan chuckled, making an attempt to liven up the atmosphere. When Danbi did not laugh, he let out a heavy sigh. 
“It’s my job, Danbi. I have to care for adolescents like you. When I first started, it was obligatory, but I gradually realised I was feeling for all those kids they brought to me, like you. You all have horrible parents, you know?” he gave a hollow laugh. “I make myself promise I would try my best to raise all of you, give you the love you never had.”
Luhan swallowed. Danbi could see his eyes glimmer under the dim light, and her heart took a stab.
“Love develops over time, and I have developed feelings for each and every single one of you. I smile whenever I see your eyes light up and my heart breaks whenever I see tears falling from your eyes, or when you sit there, looking stoic and expressionless, pretending everything’s fine when it’s not, really. When you go through everything no child should go through.”
Tears were slowly flowing down his beautiful face. Danbi took another stab in the heart.
“I feel so sorry for my parents,” Luhan continued, forcing himself to down another glass. “I finally know what it feels like, what it must have felt like when I ran away. I was such a bad son.”
“You can make it up to them now,” Danbi whispered, not daring to look into his eyes. She was afraid of those eyes, that those pure, innocent eyes would consume her. That they would tear her apart, dissect her, dig up the skeletons buried deep in her closet.
Luhan looked up, inhaling slowly as if he was savouring the air. He wiped his face with the back of his palm and took another breath.
“They’re not here anymore,” Luhan said calmly. “They’re somewhere above, rejoicing that they have finally ridden themselves of a burden.”
“Stop, don’t say any more. Just stop,” Danbi begged. She would feel her own tears cascading down her cheeks. She was in terrible pain – how many stabs was that? A thousand? A million? More?
“They were looking for me,” Luhan plodded on without skipping a beat. “It was a damp night, like this very night. I could hear them calling for me, but I kept on running. I didn’t stop. It was a rather isolated place, a rarely used alleyway road. I was further ahead. I was hiding behind a building when I heard the crash.”
Danbi let out a strangled noise. She knew what was coming.
They sat in silence for a moment. Luhan suddenly stood up. Danbi followed, feeling slightly confused. He paid for another bottle and walked out of the tent.
They walked all the way to a grassy patch not far from the car and sat down. Luhan uncapped the bottle and took a swig.
Danbi’s mind was reeling. So Luhan had had a horrible past too. She felt a sudden rush of regret for mocking him in the past, saying that he would never know how she felt. The truth was that she had never known how he felt. 
She was ridden with remorse. She should have known better. It was awfully immature of her, she realised. Really, she wasn’t the only one who had troubles. She was just one in a million, maybe more. She felt a sudden urge to shake herself. How could she have never seen the bigger picture from the start? Perhaps, she thought stingingly to herself, if she stopped wallowing in her own sorrows, she would be able to wake up.
Finally, Luhan spoke. “Danbi,” he started. “Can you promise me to not get arrested from now on?”
Danbi pounced on him, engulfing him in a gigantic hug. She felt the waterworks starting anew, and before long, she was sobbing on his shoulder. She knew her answer.
“Yes,” she whispered. That was all that was needed, and Luhan burst into tears as well, wrapping his arms around her.

Name: Sei Lin Xiu
Country: Singapore
Age: 12 (Turning thirteen on the third day of 2014! ^-^)
Title of oneshot: A Damp Night