[M] Chapter 21 (1/1)

Whether it was down to Haneul or not, Seungho’s recovery truly was miraculous. With Doctor Yang’s daily visits and constant love and attention from everyone in the family, Seungho managed to fully recover within a month. By this time, the teenager’s anger towards Gikwang had almost fully diminished, having been replaced with respect and affection. His friendship with Haneul had only gotten stronger, too, as the little girl gave up her room for Seungho to get better in, and had gone to see him every single day for as long as she could. He had even formed a brotherly relationship with Dongwoon, who he had found to be one of the kindest and most caring people he had ever had the pleasure to meet. As far as things were going, life for Seungho looked good.Although, Gikwang still had the orphanage on his mind. In the mid-morning of a cool autumn Wednesday, the young man sat at his desk and attempted to put pen to paper and write to the children. The basket beside the desk was overflowing with scrunched up drafts and the man himself sighed, resting his face in his hands and staring blankly at the clean sheet of paper in front of him.“Damn it all..” he cursed, frowning. Dongwoon, who had been curled up on a chair reading, put his book down and walked over to his perplexed lover, beginning to massage his shoulders.“What is my baby damning?” he whispered against his ear, playfully nibbling the outer shell. Gikwang scowled and swatted him away, folding his arms. Dongwoon chuckled. “No need to get feisty, sweetheart, I just want to help.” Gikwang sighed.“It’s this letter.. I can’t seem to get my ideas out. I’ve never been good at writing or reading and I’m really not sure what to put. I keep spelling things wrong, too!” he complained, feeling severely fed-up. Dongwoon thought about it momentarily.“Why don’t we ask Seungho to help? I’m sure he’d be pleased to know you want to keep the children updated with what’s going on. He’s only in Haneul’s room playing with her dolls, I can go and get him if you’d like?” he suggested, his hands still resting on his lover’s shoulders. Gikwang smiled warmly at Dongwoon.“I knew there was a reason I fell in love with you.” He teased, reaching up to Dongwoon’s face and pulling him into a grateful kiss.“There are many reasons, baby.” The older man mumbled against his lips, before pulling away and smirking. “I’ll be down in a second then; don’t miss me too much.” Gikwang rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling.“Oh I won’t.”After promising his pouting daughter that Seungho would be back up to play in twenty minutes or so, Dongwoon returned downstairs with the teenager, supporting his back down the stairs even though he was better- purely out of habit. Seungho had been very happy to hear That Gikwang was trying to write a letter to the children and agreed instantly, already planning out in his head how his hyung should structure it. He pulled out a chair for himself next to Gikwang while Dongwoon silently returned to his novel.“You have no idea how happy they’re going to be when they receive this letter, hyung.” Seungho said, smiling.“The problem is what to actually write..”“Well, what do you want to include?”“First things first, that you’re better. I need them to know that they don’t have to worry anymore and that you’re completely ok. I also wanted to say something about working on a way to get them out of there, because I’ve been desperately planning and thinking about that recently.” Gikwang ticked everything off, lightly chewing on the end of his fountain pen. Seungho nodded.“That’s good. Remember not to go into too much detail about that last thing, though, because we still have a lot of work to do on that. Concentrate on only the most positive things. Those kids need a break from all this hurt.” He reminded his hyung. Gikwang nodded slowly, taking it in.“Ok, let’s write this! Dongwoonie can check it over for spelling and grammar afterwards.”The two spent a very long forty-five minutes writing out the letter, though it only amounted to one small page in the end. Despite there not being an overly huge amount of content, they were pleased with the result and were very much looking forward to sending it. Gikwang felt a sense of relief wash over him, some of the guilt he had been carrying around for years lifting off of him as he finally completed something he should’ve done a long time ago. Seungho couldn’t have been prouder of his hyung for taking the initiative to start making a difference to the children. Suddenly, something dawned on Gikwang.“How are we going to send it? The headmasters always read and censored our mail. I’m guessing Seunghyun hasn’t been lenient on that one.” Seungho shook his head glumly, but then his face lit up.“He doesn’t censor the maids’ mail, though! I’m sure if we addressed it to Yubin and attached a note telling her to give it to Seobie or one of the others that she would do it.” Gikwang looked confused.“Yubin?” he asked.“Ah, she was Narsha’s replacement. Luckily she’s almost just as lovely. She doesn’t get along well with the other maids either, which is a good thing, because I know for a fact if Hyuna or Sojin got hold of that letter, it would be straight to Seunghyun’s office.” Seungho explained.“Then this is perfect! We can package it now and put some sweets in there for the kids and then I’ll go out and post it.”“No, no, I’ll post it. I haven’t been outside for a whole month and pretty much never before that either. I’m craving the fresh air.. Maybe I can take Hannie and Taec for a walk while I’m out? I promise I wouldn’t let anything happen to them.” The teenager pleaded. The older man beamed.“Of course you can! Haneul’s really taken a liking to you, besides I know you’ll be careful. Just make sure posting the parcel is your top priority, ok?” he agreed cheerfully. Seungho grinned and nodded, before getting up from the seat and going back upstairs to cheer up a bored and probably lonely Haneul.Gikwang looked at the letter and smiled, knowing he was doing the right thing. He was going to get the children out of that place if it was the last thing he did. He sat down on the comfy armchair beside Dongwoon and cuddled up, able to relax. His lover paused reading and pecked him on the head, his arm resting around the smaller man’s waist.“You can do it, Kiki.” He murmured into Gikwang’s soft hair. Haneul, Taecyeon and Seungho strolled to the post office in the village, glad to get out of the house for a while. Seungho couldn’t stop smiling at how free he felt after all those years cooped up inside. For once he had no schedule, no excruciatingly difficult work to do, no looking after countless crying children. For once, he could do whatever the hell he liked- and boy, did that feel good. Taecyeon grinned, swinging his and Haneul’s hands and looking sideways at his hyung. He knew exactly what Seungho was feeling, because he had felt the same when he first moved in. In fact, he had felt that way for nearly a year. Haneul skipped blissfully by his side, not fully understanding why they were both so happy, but pleased all the same.Seungho pushed open the door to the post office, the package tucked under his right arm, a neat ‘Yubin’ carefully printed on the front. Taecyeon and Haneul waited outside while Seungho dealt with the parcel- he had wanted to do it alone to prove to himself he could do normal things after Dongwoon had taught him how to do it. He fumbled around with his words a few times, but was done within two minutes, smiling at his success as he rejoined the children outside.“Hey, hyung? Have you ever been to a park?” Taecyeon asked as they made their way down the path. Seungho shot him a death glare.“Yah, some of us haven’t grown up in some huge mansion house, you know.” He snapped. Taecyeon blushed, feeling guilty. Haneul squeezed his hand, frowning at Seungho, despite being practically half his size. The oldest boy saw her annoyed expression and sighed. “I’m sorry, Taec. It was just hard growing up in that place. I’m not really angry.” He said softly, nudging the younger boy. Taecyeon’s face lit up.“I understand, hyung. I should’ve put it less.. bluntly. I really didn’t mean to rub it in.”“No, no. I shouldn’t have blown up like that. And no.. I haven’t been to a park before.. Care to show me?” Seungho suggested apologetically. Taecyeon nodded excitedly and ran on ahead, gesturing for the other two to follow him.It was a short walk to the park, and most definitely worth it. Seungho had never seen something so beautiful before. For someone who could only remember seeing grass on pictures or from windows, it was incredible. He felt breathless as he stared at the vast green hills, dotted with brightly coloured flowers and illuminated by the light from the setting sun. He hadn’t even noticed the children running off as he stood and ogled it, wondering what else he had missed out on.“Hyung! Come play with us!” Taecyeon yelled from about a hundred metres away. Seungho blinked at him for a second, still distracted by how pretty the park was.“R-right, yes..” he mumbled. He shook his head, bringing himself back to his senses.Then he grinned at Taecyeon and Haneul and immediately gave chase, running as fast as his legs would let him. He caught up with Haneul first, as her legs were too small for her to really run very fast. He snatched her up and twirled her around, tickling her as she squealed and hit at him. He laughed and put her down. “You going to help me get Taec?” he whispered, taking her hand. She nodded decisively and they ran off together, chasing after a very hyper Taecyeon.They managed to make it back home before it got too dark, each red in the face and grinning from all the running around. Narsha fussed over them when they walked through the door, brushing Haneul’s dress down and checking over Seungho’s health to make sure he hadn’t got sick again so soon after recovering. Gikwang rolled his eyes and pulled her away from them.“Narsha, they’re children for god’s sake. The fresh air would have done them more good than anything.” He reasoned, trying to calm her down.“Kiki, they’re all over mud! What happens if they get sick? Especially as Seungho’s still weak..” she fretted, looking pained. Seungho coughed.“You know, I’m really not weak.” He argued.“W-well no, of course not darling, I just meant health-wise.” She corrected herself. Gikwang closed the door behind the children and beckoned for them to come into the dining room for dinner.“Narsh, they’re home now. Stop worrying.” He said, smiling and ignoring everything she had just said.  She folded her arms and  followed him, mumbling under her breath about men not taking anything seriously. He stifled his laughter at hearing her and flopped down onto his seat next to Dongwoon’s.Mr. Son fetched Seungho a stool from the living room because there weren’t enough seats while the teenager waited, standing awkwardly by the side of the table as the rest of the family politely held off eating their food until he could sit down and join them.“You know, you didn’t have to wait for me before you started eating..” he mumbled to Gikwang, who was next to him. The young man eye-smiled, not catching on to how uncomfortable the boy had felt.“Oh, it’s really no problem. Family waits, right?” Gikwang answered before shovelling more rice into his mouth and slurping on his beer. Seungho shuffled around on his seat. That was the problem. He didn’t want them to wait. He didn’t want them to go out of their way for him. He didn’t want to be an inconvenience.  A/N: sorry it's a bit late! i've been quite busy with tests and things :(