[M] Chapter 25 (1/1)

“Where’s Seunghyun-ssi?” Junhyung whispered to Hyunseung as they slowly slackened down their work pace due to the lack of supervision. Hyunseung frowned a little, looking so cute that Junhyung really couldn’t hold his cheeks back from flushing.“I’m not too sure.” He replied finally, nudging Yoseob who looked as if he was dropping to sleep right there on his pile of rope. He jumped as if just waking up and looked at his best friend with scared puppy eyes.“Hmm? What’s going on?” he mumbled sleepily, having been overworked for too long. Hyunseung smiled fondly and ran his fingers through his hair devotedly, feeling sorry for him.“We were just wondering where Seunghyun-ssi is.. It’s strange for him to be so late.” He explained. Yoseob nodded, yawning.“He’s probably busy with paperwork or something.” He suggested, too tired to really give it too much thought. Junhyung and Hyunseung nodded, though they didn’t agree.Gikwang made his way into the work room, shivering at the mixture of the cold temperature and memories of how crippling the work was all those years ago. He smiled at seeing all the meek little faces and coughed loudly to get their attention, successfully earning what felt like hundreds of pairs of wide, bright eyes staring at him. Yoseob seemingly forgot his fatigue and jumped to his feet, abandoning his ropes to run up to Gikwang and embrace him in a tight hug. Hyunseung and Junhyung looked at each other in shock before following exactly what Yoseob had done, pressing their faces into Gikwang and beginning to cry though they were sure they had no tears left by now. Changsun, Cheolyong and Cheondoong piled onto the group hug and countless other children stared in awe as they too got up to envelope their last hope.“You came back..” Yoseob whispered when the hug had ended and the children had spread out a little. Gikwang nodded.“Of course I did. Like I said, I’m never letting you down again. In fact, I have some big news.”“You’ve worked out how to get us out?” Changsun piped up hopefully.“Well, not exactly-“ the children sighed and stared at their feet. “No, no! It’s just as good as that.” He said quickly, realising his previous statement didn’t sound too promising. The children looked interested again. “You remember Dongwoonie?” he asked softly, not wanting to seem as if he had forgotten Doojoon. The children nodded. “Well, his father has bought the orphanage! We got the letter of official approval earlier today and we are free to do whatever we want with the place!” he announced finally, excitement ringing through his voice.Yoseob blinked, dumbfounded. “This isn’t a dream?” he asked doubtfully, voicing what every other child was thinking. Gikwang shook his head. “You really.. own.. this place?” Gikwang nodded. “What about Seunghyun-ssi?”“He’s gone, Yoseobie. The first thing we did was fire him. He can’t hurt any of you or force you to work anymore. Things are going to seriously change around here-“ Gikwang had barely finished his sentence before Hyunseung flew at him again, giving him the strongest hug he had ever had.  He buried his pretty face into his hyung’s shoulder, using his shirt as a mop as he cried.“I’m s-sorry I-I was so horrible when y-you came back l-last time.” He sobbed, shaking in Gikwang’s arms. The young man held him close, rubbing his back.“It’s ok, Hyunnie. I didn’t blame you for one second.” He whispered back, his own eyes welling up. Hyunseung finally let him go, giving him one last tight hug and walking back next to Junhyung, taking his small hand in his own and squeezing it. Yoseob felt lightheaded, not sure how to even react to what was going on.“Kiki hyung..” he faltered. Gikwang wiped his eyes and smiled, holding his arms out.“Come here, little one.” He teased. A smile spread across Yoseob’s small face as he threw his arms around his hyung for the second time that day. When they pulled away, Gikwang put his arm around the boy’s shoulders and turned to face the crowd of overwhelmed children, some of whom were still crying.“So, starting from now there will be no more work! No more disgusting food! Plenty of rest, no physical punishment and you can go outside whenever you want!” He shouted into the room, grabbing Yoseob’s hand and waving their arms around. The children giggled and cheered, pinching themselves and each other to make sure it was real. “Plus, me and Mr. Son have already gotten rid of all the maids we didn’t see as fit to work here. Me, Narsha and eventually Seungho will be the new staff, alongside the maids Seungho told me were nice!”“Hyuna’s gone?” Cheondoong asked, grinning. Gikwang nodded. The children cheered again. Changsun paused for a moment at the mention of Seungho.“Kiki hyung? Where is Seungho?”  The young man wavered slightly, losing some of the confidence and excitement he had built up. He smiled gently and coughed to clear his throat.“Ahh.. well that was another thing I had to tell you all. When Seungho was sick, he lived with us in our house and we had our local doctor and family friend Doctor Yang looking after him. She visited him every day and made him better and they got on really well, too. They formed such a good relationship, like a family bond, and she and her husband decided to adopt him.” He explained, trying to put it in a way that wouldn’t be too hard on them. Cheolyong and a few of the other children hung their heads slightly.“S-so we’ll never see him again?” Cheolyong asked, his bottom lip quivering anxiously.“No! Of course you’ll see him! I’m sure he’ll visit whenever he has time- besides, he might even work here in the future if he wants. You’ll see him soon, I promise.” Gikwang reassured.“He hasn’t forgotten us, has he?” Junhyung squeaked.“There is no way he would ever forget any of you. Whenever he talks to me, he’s talking about you and how much he’s worried about you and how much he misses you. Him being adopted doesn’t mean he will leave you behind. And me and Narsha are going to make sure this place is so nice and homely so that all of you feel safe and like you have people you can confide in. I want to get rid of the orphanage feel in here.. Mr. Son buying the place is basically a way that we can properly look after all of you, so really, it’s not just Seungho being adopted.”The children looked at each other, happy with his explanation. They chatted excitedly amongst each other. Yoseob squeezed Gikwang’s hand hard to get his attention. “I can’t thank you enough.. none of us can. There are no words to describe what I’m feeling right now- and it’s all because of you, hyung. It feels like.. It feels like everything is just so.. right. You know?”“Oh, I know.” The young man replied, his eyes scanning around the room at all the playful and happy children, who had begun to start playing with the ropes they had been tirelessly picking apart just minutes before. “This is pretty much exactly what I would count as perfect.” He added. When Gikwang had talked, laughed, played and hugged all the children for over an hour, he decided that he had better go and meet Mr. Son again and help him sort the files. He peeled himself from the children he loved so much, telling them that they should have some rest and some food, before waving goodbye for the moment and running back down the corridor to Seunghyun’s old office. He hurtled past all the doors in the hallway, smiling and feeling freer than he ever had done in the building as he did something he was never permitted to do once upon a time. The young man didn’t bother knocking on the office door. Mr. Son was sat at the desk in the room, a neat pile of documents and paperwork to his left. He looked up when Gikwang entered.“How did they take it?” he asked, referring to the children. Gikwang eye-smiled.“They’re so happy! It’s nice to see them smile and play for a change, like other children. You’d be surprised how little there is to smile about in a place like this; I was just lucky I had Doojoonie and Narsha.”“Ah, I’m glad! Institutions like this one really are abominable. I’ve always wondered if there was anything serious going on at the one we adopted Dongwoon from. He never has been able to let go of living there, the poor boy..” Mr. Son said, sighing and furrowing his eyebrows. He and his wife had always been easily stressed out by anything negative concerning Dongwoon. Gikwang looked at his feet, remembering the day his lover had explained all the things he went through at his orphanage. Mr. Son shook his head, as if trying to shake off his worries. He smiled. “But today isn’t for worrying about that. Dongwoonie would tell me if he wanted me to know. Today is a happy day!”“It is indeed.” Gikwang chirped. The older man pointed to the filing cabinet.“I haven’t made a start on the files- I thought you would want to do that part. I’ve just been going through Seunghyun’s old documents to get a better financial view of this place and how to run its facilities etcetera. Boring stuff, really. You go through the files. We’re going to need a basic understanding of things such as special medical problems or allergies and I think there is some information on each one about what the child is like. That might make it easier for us to look after them properly, suited to their individual needs.” He instructed.Gikwang nodded and walked over to the cabinet in the corner, pulling out the top draw completely and setting it down on the floor before sitting cross-legged in front of it. He yanked the first few files out, almost immediately faced with Hyunseung’s file. He smiled at the pictures of the young boy, remembering meeting him for the first time when he was brought to the orphanage as an eighteen-month-old baby. A few tears leaked from his wide eyes as he read the reasons why each child had been brought there. For him and Doojoon and most of the other children, it was because their parents had died; they never knew them and it wasn’t so hard to let go. But for some children, it had been the case that their families couldn’t cope or simply didn’t want them. Gikwang stopped reading the reasons after he reached the fifteenth file, unable to cope with the knowledge. He just looked through the photographs and checked the basic health requirements and personality notes.Towards the back of the pile, he found Seungho’s file. Once he had looked through the photos, he reached the health and personality notes at the back. His eyes fell on an early and rather strange piece of information he hadn’t known before. He frowned, double-checking what he had just read to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.“’Yang Seungho, aged four, is very over-protective of his younger brother, Yang Yoseob, aged one. The two should not share the same room in order for this problem to go away. Yoseob shall be placed with other young infants of the same age and Lee Gikwang. Seungho shall be placed with children younger than himself and Yoon Doojoon. Neither shall be told of their relation.’” He whispered, reading aloud. He clamped his hand over his mouth and re-read it several times over.“Gikwang? Are you alright?” Mr. Son asked, having watched the young man mumbling to himself for a few minutes. Gikwang shook his head miserably.“All this time..” he murmured.“Huh?”“It turns out Seungho has a brother that he doesn’t know has been living with him here all this time. One of his close younger friends actually. One of the children I looked after.. I can’t believe this.. Yoseob..” Gikwang nibbled his lower lip in confusion.“How can they not know they’re brothers? I don’t understand; they’ve lived in this place together the whole time.” Mr. Son said cynically. Gikwang shook his head.“Seungho was only just four years old when they were brought here and Yoseob a one-year-old baby. They were split up and the bastards never told them they were related. Now that I think about it, I rarely saw them together at all. Yoseob had Hyunseung and Seungho had Cheondoong, Cheolyong and Changsun to look out for. This is so wrong..”“Didn’t you say Seungho was beaten because he was sticking up for another child? Was that child Yoseob?” the older man asked. Gikwang nodded.“He’s always stuck up for the children. So did me and Doojoonie when we were the eldest here. After a while your life just melts away and all you can think about is the cold, bleak present. From then you fall into one of two categories; the ones who want to leave and the ones who are too scared and institutionalised to even think of trying. Once the first few years have gone by, everyone else here becomes family by default. Even if Seungho remembered he had a brother once, he might’ve completely forgotten which child that was. Yang is a common name, too, so that wouldn’t help much. It’s horrible, but it’s true.” He tried to explain, feeling miserable. He thought of all the years the brothers had been separated, not even knowing they had each other. Of course they both had other people and they weren’t alone, but knowing you have real family around is completely different.“That’s awful, truly awful. I just don’t understand how people can be so evil- especially to young defenceless children.” Mr. Son said angrily. He took a deep breath to calm down. “So, what do you think we should do next? Should we tell them, or would that disturb too much?”“I say we tell them. I can’t keep this information from them, I just can’t. When you live here for years and years, no matter how many other children are in the same situation, you feel alone. If all these years I had a sibling living with me that I didn’t know I was related to, I would want to know.” Gikwang said, resting his forehead in his hands. He felt guilty that he had unknowingly been a big part of keeping the brothers apart and he felt nervous about having to tell Yoseob and Seungho what was going on. All he knew was that he had to.“I agree with you, but I don’t think we should tell Yoseob just yet. Seungho would be our better option, because he might actually remember more than we assume. Yoseob has been through an emotional torrent today and I don’t think it’s a good idea to upset him further. This is extremely big news for him, remember. Seungho is older and I really think he would deal with the news better.” Mr. Son said, stopping Gikwang before he did something too hasty. The young man looked torn, but nodded in agreement, sighing.“You’re right,” he murmured. “I’m getting too far ahead of myself..” Mr. Son gave him a smile.“Don’t worry about it, Gikwanggie. Let’s just calm down before we rush into something, ok? You finish sorting the files and I will make Seungho’s adoption official. We’ll go straight to the Yangs’ from here and try and sort this out.” He instructed assertively, trying to calm the young man down. Gikwang smiled weakly and replied with one understanding nod of the head before returning to his work, though slightly distracted by thoughts of Yoseob and Seungho.           A/N: have another update today because why not~ :P <3