[M] Chapter 17 (1/1)

So, it was decided. Gikwang woke his partner up early the next morning, a worried smile on his face. Dongwoon laced their hands together and gave him a quick reassuring kiss, before getting up to shower and get dressed. The two of them wore their smartest clothes, knowing that whoever in charge of the orphanage was not going to want to give the files away to any old stranger. Gikwang told Narsha to look after Haneul for the day and make sure she socialised with the others for at least an hour instead of just holing up on her own for the whole day. Narsha smiled and nodded, giving her dongsaeng a cuddle for good luck before they set off.After about an hour of travelling, the two stood hand-in-hand at the entrance of the orphanage, taking in the huge murky building that loomed before them. It was by no means a welcoming sight. Gikwang shuddered, feeling a knot tighten in his stomach at being back. Dongwoon was shivering too, despite the weather having stayed sunny and bright from yesterday. They looked at each other nervously and shared a small kiss before opening the door and stepping inside.In short, it was exactly the same as Gikwang remembered it to be, if a little worse. The paint on the walls was peeling off from lack of care and attention and one of the lights was flickering slightly, giving the elongated corridor an even eerier appearance than before.The whole building was colder, too, making Dongwoon’s teeth chatter as he pulled Gikwang close to him to keep him warm. The pair looked around them to find the office where the head of the orphanage would be and soon found it due to Gikwang’s memory. They each took a deep breath as Dongwoon knocked hard on the door.“Come in.” came the calm, deep voice from within the room. Dongwoon pushed open the door, thinking nothing of it, but Gikwang stopped still in his tracks. That voice.. He would recognise that voice from anywhere. Dongwoon tilted his head as he looked back at Gikwang, obviously confused. “I said ‘come in’.” The head of the orphanage demanded, sounding irritated. Gikwang straightened up and entered the room, feeling nauseous.“Seunghyun-ssi..” the young man whispered, starting to tremble. Dongwoon’s eyes widened and he put his arm protectively around his lover. Seunghyun looked up from his desk and squinted at Gikwang as if he was trying to remember who it was. Suddenly his face stiffened and his mouth turned down into an intimidating snarl.“Ah, Mister Lee Gikwang. The famous runaway.” He sneered, fists-balling aggressively. “What a surprise to see you back here after all these years.” He said it mockingly, as if trying to provoke some sort of reaction from the young male. “And I see you’ve brought your next love affair with you. Do take a seat, both of you.”Dongwoon angrily pulled the two seats opposite Seunghyun from underneath the desk and sat down, challenging the head of the orphanage with his glare. Seunghyun just sniggered and pushed his paperwork to the side.“So, Lee Gikwang, as you can see, your little escapade has really done nothing to harm my career. As it stands, you just helped me to earn this promotion, as the board decided the orphanage was going downhill under its previous management- thus, I became head.” He boasted, leaning back on his seat and clasping his hands together on the desk. “Of course, it’s not been easy, especially when I first started. Those children were crying and screaming and acting up over you every single night for at least three years. The stupid things were convinced you were coming back to ‘save’ them. Though of course I knew you would never have the nerve to come back. Rather touching, really, how they took all their punishments without a sound for your sake..” Gikwang ripped the skin from his lip with his teeth and held onto Dongwoon’s hand to stop the tears dribbling down his face.Satisfied with the look on Gikwang’s face, Seunghyun continued. “But anyway, this isn’t about me. How selfish of me. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” Gikwang collected himself and cleared his throat, blinking back the guilty tears.“I want Doojoonie’s file.” He said firmly, looking Seunghyun in the eyes. Seunghyun looked mildly amused.“Whatever for?” he drawled, vaguely interested in the answer.“I want the file for personal reasons. It’s none of your business and I don’t have to explain myself to you. Seeing as you have no use for the file now, I would like to have it.” Gikwang explained fiercely, trying to seem as calm as possible. Seunghyun looked at him for a moment, obviously trying to register if he should take such an answer.The youngest male in the room started to worry. Seunghyun may seem calm, but Gikwang knew all too well just how quickly his moods could turn. That’s why when Seunghyun picked up his paperweight, Gikwang grabbed onto Dongwoon and pushed them both out of the way as the paperweight proceeded to be hurled across the room, smashing the window at the end. The headmaster stood up and flung his chair to the side.“You fucking want the files? You get your bitch to attack me and fucking run away, don’t come back for eight years, then expect me to hand over the fucking files?” he spat, nearing closer to the two. “I don’t give a shit about you or whatever you want with the file. Yoon Doojoon was scum anyway. You know what else is scum, Lee Gikwang? Hm? You-“ Dongwoon stepped up, putting his hand threateningly on Seunghyun’s chest and shoving him backwards.“If anything is scum here, it’s you.” He hissed, not raising his voice. “And don’t you dare talk to Gikwang like that. If you so much as move an inch closer to him, Seunghyun, I will do a lot more than just shove you. Got that?”Seunghyun smirked, obviously not feeling threatened by this clearly very well-off young man. He lunged for Gikwang, reaching to grab his throat. Before his fingers even touched Gikwang’s skin, Dongwoon’s fist collided with his face, the sheer force sending him reeling backwards until he hit the wall and slid down it, groaning, blood pouring down his hand as he nursed his nose and mouth.Dongwoon looked at his fist, dazed. He had never punched anyone before and was astonished at his own strength. Gikwang, who had been cowering against the opposite wall from Seunghyun, had his mouth open in amazement. He felt a warm feeling in his chest that Dongwoon had just stuck up for him like that, despite him being so scared of things usually. He gave his partner’s hand a proud and appreciative squeeze.“Now, I believe my boyfriend requested Yoon Doojoon’s file?” Dongwoon reiterated to Seunghyun. The headmaster was too close to being knocked out to put up any more of a fight and nodded, whimpering slightly as he pointed to the filing cabinet. Gikwang opened up the cabinet and flicked through the files, skipping the letters until he found ‘Y’.  Yang YoSeob, Yang Seung Ho, Yong Jun Hyung.. And there, right at the end of the pile was the one he was looking for. Yoon Doo Joon. He slipped it out of the cabinet and tucked it under his arm.“Seunghyun, I want to see the children.” He ordered. “I’m an adult now and I’m most certainly not under your ‘care’ anymore. You can’t stop me.” Seunghyun laughed mirthlessly, in spite of his pain.“Do what you like, Lee Gikwang. Just don’t expect them to be happy to see you. It seems you couldn’t have come at a worse time.”  There was obvious enjoyment in his cruel words as he spoke them, the man having to have one up on Gikwang no matter what. Dongwoon and Gikwang shared a confused look before leaving the room in search of the children.Just as the pair walked back into the corridor, the familiar bell signalling lunch-time rang and rows upon rows of boys trudged out of their work-rooms. It had become much worse than Gikwang had thought. Compared to the energy he used to have by lunch-time when he worked here, these boys had none. These boys were like a hoard of ghosts, their skin whiter than anything Gikwang or Dongwoon had ever seen. The purple bags under their eyes made each boy look like he was going to collapse at any point, too. Gikwang felt like he was going to cry.Suddenly, a tall, very skinny boy with huge doe-eyes and a small pouty mouth spotted Gikwang. Their eyes connected for a few seconds before the boy’s jaw dropped and he recognised who was standing there. He nudged the smaller boy next to him, who had an equally bony face but a chubby nose and lifeless puppy eyes. The smaller boy gasped upon seeing Gikwang, his eyes filling with tears.“Yoseob.. Hyunseung..” Gikwang whispered sadly, seeing how overworked and underfed they both were, compared to the tiny children who had bounced around endlessly beforehand. Hyunseung gave him a scathing look and Yoseob frowned. Dongwoon fastened his arm around his lover’s waist, noticing how the children were looking at him.Gikwang’s gaze then locked on the boy directly behind Yoseob and Hyunseung, who was a little younger than those two and was staring at his feet, looking shy. Gikwang instantly recognised the heart-shaped lips and identified the child as Junhyung. Something about the way Gikwang was looking at the boy made him look up from his feet to meet his eyes. Junhyung’s eyes widened and his hand flew over his mouth in disbelief. Gikwang smiled though the tears were running down his face continuously at this point. Junhyung waved shyly, a small smile playing on his own lips. The boys behind Junhyung, who Gikwang remembered as Cheondoong and Cheolyong, scowled at Gikwang and whispered something to Junhyung that wiped the smile off his face and made him resume staring at his feet.“They really do hate me..” Gikwang sobbed. Dongwoon brought their laced fingers up to his lips and kissed them.“We’ve come this far, baby. It can’t do any more damage to just talk to them. Those boys used to depend on you, the only reason they would be angry is because they wouldn’t have known what to do without you. They might not want to talk to you right now, but they will respect you a whole lot more than if you leave them a second time. Just give it a try. I’m right here.” He reasoned. Gikwang took a deep breath and nodded.Lunch-time altogether lasted forty minutes, with ten minutes used up eating. Gikwang waited by the door of the dining room for the full ten minutes and as the boys filed out, he took Yoseob and Junhyung by the hands, knowing Hyunseung would go wherever Yoseob did. He took them into a spare room while Dongwoon waited outside.“Get off me.” Yoseob demanded, scratching Gikwang’s hand to get him off. The young man let the boy go but closed the door, standing in front of it so nobody could leave.“I’m not moving until we have talked.” He said, trying hard not to cry again.“Then you’ll be standing for the rest of your life, because we don’t want to talk, do we Hyunnie?” Yoseob hissed, unable to look Gikwang in the eyes. Hyunseung shook his head.“No, we most certainly do not. You had eight years to come back and put this right, Gikwang, but you never did. You never spared us a thought all that time you were all nice and cosy with your new family.” The tall boy said through gritted teeth.“You had your favourite with you, so what did we matter? At least precious little Taecyeon found a home. Pity you didn’t show any care for the rest of us. Just a bit too much hassle, weren’t we?” Yoseob snapped. “I mean, it’s not like you promised us you would look after us or anything.” He added sarcastically.“For people who don’t want to talk to me, you two are really saying a lot.” Gikwang noted. “I know how this looks to you, to all of you-““Like you’re a selfish pig?” Hyunseung interrupted.“Yes. That I’m selfish and ignorant and didn’t care at all about any of you. Despite how it looks, that couldn’t be more wrong. I have never forgotten about any of you and I’ve never stopped caring. Every day of my new life I have thought about how you are doing here, beating myself up for just leaving you like that-““Thenwhy did you?!” Yoseob exploded, his whole body shaking in anger. “We needed you, Gikwang. We needed you more than ever. After Doojoonie hyung died, we had nobody else but you. You kept us going and we tried to help lessen your work load so it wouldn’t damage your baby. We did everything we could to try and make you happy again, but as soon as Seunghyun-ssi raised his hand to you, you were out.”“Yoseob, I couldn’t have stayed. He was going to kill me and my baby. Narsha did what she had to do to save our lives. I didn’t choose for Taecyeon to follow us either. It all happened so fast and by the time I was out, I became sick and confused and didn’t know where I was. The years that followed didn’t seem like the right time to visit either. You’ve got to believe me, you guys are like family to me. Leaving you behind broke my heart.” Gikwang tried to sound as earnest as possible, though he was on the verge of tears. “And if this is your way of making me feel bad, don’t worry, I already hate myself for this more than you ever could.”“You know Seunghyun-ssi is the headmaster now, right?” Hyunseung chimed in. “He became head straight after you left and he took all of his anger out on us. He changed the rules. We now wake up at three in the morning and don’t get to go to bed until eleven. Even then we don’t really sleep because of how hard the punishments are now. Because of you, our lives are hell.”“Hyunseung..” Gikwang attempted, starting to cry.“We’re scared. All the time. You know, people keep getting s-sick from all of the work and punishments. Dangerously sick. D-Doojoon sick.” Yoseob stammered. Hyunseung put his arms around his best friend.Junhyung walked up to Gikwang and held his hand, needing something to hold onto. He had never stopped missing his hyung and was more relieved than angry to have him back. He also knew exactly what Yoseob was about to tell Gikwang and knew that the young man wouldn’t react well. Gikwang’s eyes widened at Yoseob’s words.“Yoseob.. who’s sick?” he barely dared ask. Yoseob choked on his breath.“ You must remember Seungho..”    A/N: i'm so sorry this is late! I hope you enjoyyyy~~~~ things are getting angsty again