House of Runaways. | The Boyz

10: Synétairoi.

— Lee Jaehyun

It was the day after Juyeon's funeral when the model was contacted by the police department for further investigation. Everyone in the house already had different, busy schedules both day and night. — Even Sunwoo, who never attended school once after running away from home, had no time left for it as he kept on thinking about assisting Jaehyun while being in fear of getting taken away from the house.

But today was different for him as he stayed at home, doing leftover work in his shared room with Jaehyun. His roommate found him similar to Sangyeon as he knew he didn't make a mistake in hiring Sunwoo as his personal assistant.

And now, that same model was sitting in the cold room with grey walls, ready to answer all of the questions waiting to be asked.

Well, you could say that Jaehyun never expressed his sorrow but in reality – he just couldn't. He was used to being so energetic, a bit teasing at some point and he just never thought of this happening.

Knowing that his friend was murdered in that way.
It was a nightmare that he couldn't run away from.

Jaehyun always used his energetic personality to cover up the sadness he felt in that room. He felt as empty – unfilled as the room was. Dull and cold. He didn't know how to feel.

He couldn't cry, he couldn't speak about him, and he couldn't look at that framed photograph in their living room. That framed picture from his college graduation... He never thought that it was going to be Juyeon's last school photo.

A few minutes later, he hears footsteps from the outside of the room and sees Inspector Hwang once again. "Good morning.", she surprisingly greets, taking a look at her wristwatch as she sits on the chair that faces the model. The detective observes him for a while before opening the folder she had in her hands the moment she walked in. "Lee Jaehyun, right? Please state your name for the record."

"My name is Lee Jaehyun."

As soon as he stated his name, Yeji proceeded to read the texts in the folder. "Alright, Jaehyun. Do you have somewhat of a close bond with Lee?", she asked with a stern tone as the model began to see the past with his own eyes, the image of Yeji staring into him suddenly disappearing.

The grey walls turned into the dark corners of the kitchen as Jaehyun's eyes saw himself and the boy leaning on the counter, drinking a few shots of beer.

"Do you really have to work night shifts?", Jaehyun asked, rolling up the left sleeve of his shirt as he stared at Juyeon. It was the moment the model found out about Juyeon's... lostness.

It's been years since Juyeon was working at the same pizzeria – delivering and making pizzas, doing the same thing every single day.

Sometimes, he even skips classes, the failed marks becoming part of the reason why his grandparents despised him. "I don't have a choice, do I?", Juyeon shrugged before drinking another shot, causing Jaehyun to let out a sigh.

"You seem like you can't sleep every night, Ju. You need to get a new job."

Jaehyun was worried about him, knowing the sleepless nights Juyeon had tried to fix by drinking. The pizza boy only looked away, refusing to accept it. He thought of himself as someone who never had a place. A nomad who kept on looking for a home – for comfort. That was until Jaehyun had an idea in his head after a long minute of staring at Juyeon.

"Why don't you try modeling?", the suggestion made Juyeon chuckle, not taking it seriously until he saw how Jaehyun didn't smile at him. "Modeling? You sure about that?", he snapped out of it, feeling how the conversation suddenly turned serious again.