mingi hugged himself and looked out the window. he was soon going to carry out his risky escape plan.
he was going to tie a rope he had in the attic the parents had locked him in to a board on the ceiling, pick or maybe even break the lock on the window, hang the rope out the window, drop his stuff down, then climb down the three stories he was above.
it was really risky, but the child was determined to leave that place as soon as possible.
mingi shakily stood on a stool, reaching up to the board and tying the rope around it tightly. once he got down, he took out a spare paper clip from his bad, and began trying to pick the lock. he was doing slowly, trying his best despite not fully knowing how to do it.
while he was working on it, he heard footsteps in the room below him.
at the slight sound of someone being awake, he sprang into his bed and threw the blanket over him. he'd also prepared for if this happened by looping the rest of the top loosely over the board, hiding it from view, because he had a feeling someone may come in.
the person opened the attic door, making the ladder to go up into it come down and giving themselves a way up to check on mingi.
he held his breath and closed his eyes tightly shut as the person climbed the ladder.
there was a long pause, before they finally left.
mingi waited for five whole minutes before even moving an inch. he then sat up slowly, very carefully getting out of beg and going right back to picking the lock.
he tried and tried, taking him twenty minutes of lock picking before he gave up on it.
the only other option was to break the lock or the window, and the window was made of bulletproof glass, so mingi figured that was out of the picture, meaning he had to break the lock to get out.
he looked around for something to break the lock with, close to giving up and accepting he was stuck.
that was until he noticed a hammer.
it was sitting on top of a box across some of floorboards. mingi knew that was basically all he could use, there was nothing else strong enough.
the thought of why there was a hammer and other dangerous weapons there went right over his head.
without even thinking twice about it, mingi hopped onto one of the supporting wooden boards and began to tip toe across the narrow pathway, all the way to the boxes. he finally grabbed the hammer, then finally making his way back to the main part of the attic.
he let out a sigh of relief, also finding that the lock was already positioned in a good place and angle, which made mingi's job just a tiny bit easier.
there was one big problem, though.
he had to break this lock as quietly as possible, because otherwise, he'd be caught and would never escape.
but how could anyone smash a lock quietly?
mingi thought about it for a moment, before saying screw it, deciding to go as fast as possible, then striking the lock aggressively and repeatedly until it finally came off, and fell to the ground.
instead of pretending to be asleep, he simply opened the window, threw his bag down, threw the rope down, and began climbing out the window.
he heard footsteps running out of the room below him, which made him panic.
he made his way down the rope as quickly as possible, as he heard the attic door being opened and his mom yelling his name angrily. when she came up and looked out the window and saw mingi climbing down, she became so filled with rage that she didn't even think twice before untying the rope, screaming for her husband to go down and get mingi back.
the rope went loose, and the child fell under two stories before hitting the ground.
he had the wind knocked right out of him, and his legs and hips were stinging, but the adrenaline rush that began made him able to stand up and sprint away, even faster than he knew he could run.
he ran downhill towards a much more populated part of the city, as his father, who was chasing behind him, started to catch up with him.
the people walking on nearby sidewalks saw what was happening, and heard mingi screaming for help.
but before the people could do anything, they reached the end of the downhill segment, and his father had finally caught up with him, not even holding back and angrily tackling the boy in an effort to stop him.
eventually, a lot of people had run up and were trying their best to get him off of mingi.
the police were called, and, right before they showed up, mingi's mother had also shown up, trying to act innocent and pretending she was confused.
but, the people kept mingi separate from his parents, as the police finally showed up.
while both parents were arrested right there, they also called an ambulance, since mingi had just experienced not only a two story fall, but also over a mile of running after it, and even getting tackled into concrete.
they called hongjoong and seonghwa, as well.
"so, your son, mingi, managed to escape his kidnapers, which, even though they are his biological parents, still have no right to take him away illegally like that. we'll tell you his escape process later, but it lead him to having to climb out a window. his mother was so enraged that she untied the rope he was on, leading him to falling two stories. remarkably, he only twisted his ankle, and will just be very sore for a while. but, we believe that, when his father caught him and tackled him very aggressively, all of what had happened just had everything sensitive and he may've fractured a rib. you may come in and see him now." the doctor said.
hongjoong and seonghwa rushed inside the room as soon as the door was open, and finally got to see mingi again after nearly four weeks of his absence.
they knelt by his hospital bed and began to cry, as he smiled and held their hands.
eventually, hongjoong went and picked up the kids to come and see mingi while seonghwa stayed with the child to keep him company.
and so, all the kids got to have alone time with their brother while the parents waited outside.
"so, what happened while i was gone? first of all, why is wooyoung in crutches, and second of all, probably most importantly, where's jongho?" mingi asked.
"well... at school, jongho's gym teacher noticed something and so he called mom to check on him and when mom talked to him, jongho confessed that.. he was self harming... and so mom and dad talked to him but even after they tried to help him, he kept doing it... so they took him to a mental institution to keep him away from it." wooyoung said.
"oh yeah, and i broke my ankle at dance. i would complain, but, you kind of... fell two stories... and ran over a mile... and got tackled... so i don't really think i have the right to complain." he laughed awkwardly.
mingi smiled and nodded.
"so, yeosang, what's new with you?" he asked.
'well, beomseok's brother and his friends did the same thing to me as they did to yunho. but i'm okay. i got helped before they could do anything serious. and his brother got busted and now he's been buying me all these cool things because his mom made him.' yeosang giggled as he signed.
ok ik that was a lazy ending of the chapter but whatever,,, n e ways i love you all thank you for all the support on this book i appreciate it <3
