Chapter 105 (1/2)

The kids make it to head count.  Minghao looked at the others and nodded inwardly.  He knew his emotional state wasn't good to drive in.  Even though the drive wasn't too long, he learned from Joshua that it is never wise to drive any length of time while being mad or incredibly shaken. "Mingyu,"  He looked at the taller, "I need you to drive."  He handed the keys to the said child. Mingyu looked at him with concern.  "Are you okay?"  He asked. "I'm fine,"  He lied, "I just had a long day and my eyes are tired."  It wasn't a full lie.  His eyes were tired from crying and the work in the gallery wasn't exactly a walk in the park.  Especially since fancy people came to ask about the history of the school. Mingyu went into the driver's seat and looked at Jun.  The Chinese male looked at Minghao with a concerned eye before watching the road.  "You know, our class is supposed to be going to a temple this weekend."  He said.  "You can come if you'd like, Minghao."  He invited. Minghao looked down.  "I rather just stay home.. I have some things I need to do.."  He said, closing his eyes. Wonwoo raised an eyebrow.  He then looked at Seungkwan.  "So, you find any dirt on Shownu?"  He asked. "Can we stop talking about Shownu?"  Minghao almost shouted. The van went quiet for a moment, looking at Minghao's upset eyes.  "Okay.."  Seokmin put his hand up.  "Well I got a text from Sungjae between classes."  He mentioned. "What was it about?"  Dino asked. "He said that he's going to have to move back here to work on a case.."  Seokmin said.  "It has to do with his tunnel, so he has to be at his residence."  He scratched his neck, knowing that it's sort of bringing up the topic of Shownu. Jun held his chin.  "Did he invite you to stay with him."  He smirked a touch. Seokmin blushed and looked down.  "Well..  He said he'd come by to visit.  But he also said he's going to have to question some of us.."  His smile went down. Mingyu put his turn signal on.  "Like he must?"  He asked. "Yeah, something about his boss said it was mandatory for him to be questioned and for him to question us."  Seokmin replied.  "I'm sure he texted Jeonghan well in advance about it.”  He continued.

Minghao held his ears as they continued talking.  “Surely there must be something else to talk about?”  He asked with a small whimper in his voice.  “How was tutoring, Wonwoo?”  Wonwoo frowned.  “Minghao, what’s wrong?”  He asked. “Nothing is wrong!  I just want to move onto another fricken topic other than Shownu or the kidnapping, okay!?”  Minghao scream-begged at them. Mingyu turned off the engine.  “We’re home.”  He said. Minghao pushed past Wonwoo to get out first.  He opened the front door and ran upstairs.

Jeonghan makes eye contact with Mingyu before seeing the keys in his hands.  “What happened?”  He asked, brushing his hair from being out all day. “Minghao’s acting really sensitive right now.”  Jun replied.  “I think he just needs some silence for a while.”  He continued as he took his shoes off. Mingyu leaves to start dinner while the others leave to do their homework.  Not too long later, Woozi and Yeosang show up followed by Joshua. “How was your day at work, Jeonghan?”  Joshua asked, taking his shoes off. “Pretty good, a little kid dropped a jar of jelly though..”  Jeonghan sighed.  “Well maybe threw a jar.. Anyway, the glass shattered.”  He waved his hand. Joshua chuckled.  “Yeah, Jae would tell me how some kids would just come by and knock things off the shelf.”  He said.  “He couldn’t do anything about it because they were like five and they left before he could catch them.”

Jeonghan chuckled and shook his head.  “I can only give that boy more work than he needs,”  He said with a devious smile. “So what’s this I heard about you kissing Jae?”  Joshua asked.  “You don’t have enough man upstairs?”  “I kiss you goodbye, don’t I?”  Jeonghan asked.  Joshua thought for a moment.  “No.”  He replied. “When you went on school field trips?”  Jeonghan tried to remind. Joshua laughed.  “That was when I was like ten, of course you kissed your child goodbye.”  He shook his head.  “Jae’s an adult, you know.” “Pft,”  Jeonghan folded his arms, “anyway, no.  Seungcheol’s all I need in the romance and intimate sense.”  He said. Joshua hummed.  “I saw you and Yeosang tickle fighting this morning.”  He commented. “So?”  Jeonghan raised an eyebrow.  “It’s not like I did these things in secret, you know.”  Joshua shook his head and continued to walk upstairs.  “Anyway, did you hear about Sungjae coming over?”  He asked.

“Oh yeah, he texted me saying that he’s going to have to question me and you kids.”  Jeonghan replied.  “I thought this whole kidnapping thing was going to be over.”  He sighed. Joshua hummed and walked into Jeonghan’s room.  “Apparently Seungkwan’s play went further than what he expected.”  He said, sitting down on a chair.

“Grant it, I want to know who stole my babies,”  Jeonghan started, “but I don’t want you guys hurt in the process.”  He said seriously. “Well Sungjae shouldn’t have to ask so personal of questions this time around,”  Joshua mentioned, “so it should be smooth sailing for that.”  He said.

Jeonghan nodded and picked up his clothes.  “I’m going to shower now.  See you downstairs for dinner.”  He waved. Joshua waved back and went downstairs.  Hoshi and Seungcheol had just gotten home.  The looks on their faces told him that they already knew what was up.

“How’s Jeonghan?”  Seungcheol asked. “He’s fine.”  Joshua replied.

Jun walked up to Seungcheol.  “It’s not Jeong-dad you need to be worried about,”  Jun said, “I think it’s Minghao and Dino that we need to watch.” “Minghao?  He wasn’t even kidnapped.”  Seungcheol said in disbelief.

Jun shrugged and walked Seungcheol away from the stairs.  “Minghao must have been really shook today,”  He started, earning interested glares from Seungcheol, Joshua, and Hoshi.  “He was shaking the whole ride home.”

Seungcheol furrowed his eyebrows.  “Well..” “There’s not much we can do for him,”  Wonwoo said, “I think it’s best if we just leave him be and tell his teacher he needs to stay at home until this is all done.”  He suggested. “Will his teacher let that happen?”  Seungkwan asked.

Jun cleared his throat.  “It’s proper protocol to let the student be on leave if they are hurt on an emotional level.”  He said.  “If a student is showing signs of fear or depression, the student can be held back until they recover.”  He recited the rules he learned while training to be a teacher.

“Please message his teacher then,”  Seungcheol requested, “he would probably listen better to another teacher that also saw Minghao’s condition.”  He reasoned with himself aloud.

Jun nodded.  “I’ll send a message to him now, but he’s been busy all day with his son.”  He said.  “He randomly started suffocating while the boy was at the park..”  Dino widened his eyes.  “Suffocate..?”  He muttered.