Chapter 28

"Hyung, is it true?" Hongbin asked the moment his call had been picked up. His hands were shaking from nervousness as he waited Leo's answer from the other end of the line. He had to confirm what he just learned earlier on because he very well knew that Leo would give him an immediate, straightforward answer rather than beating around the bush like what his brother might do. Hongbin even threw away his promise to himself of not bothering Leo especially when it was already so late at night. Still, in order for him to be at peace or at least get some beauty sleep, Hongbin forced himself to just get it over with and hear the truth from Leo himself –

"What?" He heard Leo panting on the other end of line. 

"S-Sanghyuk..." Hongbin stuttered, "A-About Sanghyuk. Is it true? About the red thread connecting us. Wonsik told me about it today – vaguely – And I... I wanted to know if it's true or not..." He explained to the best of his abilities. Hongbin even heard his loud heartbeats because Leo was taking his time with responding with a simple question –

"Yes," Leo said out of the blue, breaking the former out of his thoughts. "You two are connected. Why?"

"Why?" Hongbin returned the question back at him. "Why him...? These red strings... They can change, right? It's... It's not permanent so that means that it could still change and –"

"No," Leo told him firmly. "You're bound to see him again even if you two are to stay away from each other now. Wonsik didn't explain...?" And then there was chattering in the background. Hongbin heard someone else talking coming from Leo's side. The person even said something along the lines of, 'You're jogging at this time of the night? And happened to come here? No, that's not it. You came here to speak to me.' What intrigued Hongbin the most was the fact that the speaker was a woman. He was curious, wanted to listen in to find out what kind of women his Leo-hyung would go for, but all that was invading his mind were thoughts of Sanghyuk. Sanghyuk. And Sanghyuk – "I have to go," Leo said to him all of a sudden.

"Wait! Where are you going, hyung? Are you not at home?" Hongbin asked worriedly even when he clearly heard just moments ago that Leo was in the middle of his evening jog. "Are you with your friends or...?" Hongbin trailed off, listening intently to the conversation that Leo was having. He was not the kind to eavesdrop but he could not help himself from wanting to know. And it was exactly why Hongbin was having problems worrying about things that he should not even know to begin with. It was also precisely the reason why he called in the first place and yet again, he was eager to know more –

"What did you hear about Hakyeon?" Hongbin heard Leo say loud and clear out of the blue. Leo must have thought that he already dropped the call.

"Sanghyuk and Hongbin had been looking into his case but it seems that they haven't found anything new. Why don't you just ask them yourself...?" Hongbin's eyes widened when he finally recognised the other speaker – It was Sanghyuk's sister! Even if he could barely hear their conversation and that they were barely audible, he was certain that it was Sanghyuk's sister that Leo was speaking to. "You're really worried about him, huh? I can assure you that you will meet him again. Just you wait and Hakyeon will come back looking for you! I know that boy. If he promised something, then he wouldn't stop until he's fulfilled it!"

"How are you definite?" Leo had cut her off, sighing, "It's been years..."

"Sanghyuk told me that Hakyeon said he promised you something, am I right? Do you know what he promised Sanghyuk? He promised that the bullying would stop if Sanghyuk stays with him." Sanghyuk's sister giggled. "I could still remember little Hyukkie complaining to me that he didn't like how clingy Hakyeon was... But! He grew to like him in the end. You see... Sanghyuk didn't tell us that a lot of bullies were going after him until I heard those two talk about it!" Hongbin took his phone away from his ear for a while. 'Sanghyuk was bullied? But... How could he be –'

"It's one of the reasons why he begged our parents to move him into a 'normal' middle school and would wear those ridiculous glasses around now that he's in high school. It's his way to protect himself from being cornered. And Hakyeon... He would make sure that I pick him up so that he's safe. I don't know what Hakyeon did or said to those bullies. But when he came around, Sanghyuk had been better. Look at him now! He's all grown up and sooo handsome!" Hongbin nearly choked when he heard those words. But it was a good thing that he managed to press a hand on his lips just in time to avoid any sound coming out of his mouth.

"With that, you think Hakyeon would come back?" Leo told her and Hongbin was sure that there was at least a tinge of impatience in the former's voice. "What if you are wrong?"

"You know that I'm not wrong!" Sanghyuk's sister exclaimed. "You know it yourself, right? The things that are happening to us are not coincidences, Leo. They are predetermined before you were even born."

"I don't believe in superstitions," Leo hissed.

"Doesn't matter if you don't," Sanghyuk's sister told him, wearing an eyesmile quite like Sanghyuk's, "Just believe in Hakyeon. When he comes back, it would be as if years didn't pass. I promise you! If I am wrong then I will give you thousands!"

"I am not betting," Leo told her when suddenly, Hongbin heard him fishing for his phone (or something else) in his pocket. This forced him to immediately end the call. If Leo were to find out that he had been listening in to their conversation, Hongbin would be dead for sure – There would be no more tomorrow for him.

Having been refused by the security, N waited by himself outside Jaehwan's dorm building. It had been so long since he had been to the city and he admitted that he missed a lot of things that were not available back at Jaehwan's parents' house. His visit was meant to be a surprise, therefore the idol did not really had an idea that he would be waiting to begin with. N only heard from some fans earlier on that Jaehwan had an interview scheduled in the afternoon so he would most likely be coming back to his dorm at a later time.

N rubbed his hands together to keep them warm. He arrived in the city last 6 hours ago and he still had not eaten lunch. He was afraid that Jaehwan would come back when he decided to fetch himself something. It would mean that all of the waiting that he did