[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Expected News

Jisung was a little peeved when he was told his Dad was upstairs and wanted to talk with him, but he sucked it up. It would mean missing the trip to the old church with YangYang he was looking forward to and that wasn't something he wanted to give up.

When he saw his Dad's red rimmed eyes and his messy state, he knew he wasn't coming back for a bit.

"Is everything okay?"

Jisung looked behind the counter at Kun who just shrugged before turning his attention back to his Dad. He looked more disheveled than Jisung had ever seen him look, and he'd seen him be pretty disheveled.

"Can we take a walk? Let's take a walk."

Jisung gave Kun another nervous glance before following his Dad out of the Limitless Cafe. He hesitated slightly when his Dad went into a different cafe a street away to get a coffee. Even going into another cafe that they could even be seen as in competition with was decided upon by the group as a big no. That had been a rule the parent Suhs had made to keep themselves from comparing their business to another one.

So Jisung awkwardly waited outside for his Dad to come out. Yeah, he could've gone in, he just didn't think he could deal with breaking that rule and hearing whatever his Dad was going to say right now.

It wasn't until they got to his Dad's house when he finally said something. They were both seated on the couch next to each other, but his Dad wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Do you," he paused, rotating the coffee cup in his hand, "Do you remember your Mom?"

Jisung, out of habit, looked at the picture on the wall above the TV. It had all three of them in it, and he was pretty sure it was the last picture they had taken together.

"A little."

That was a lie. He remembered nothing about his Mom. But for his Dad to look this upset, he figured he needed to hear that.

"Her commanding officer came over today. Said she was on a top secret assignment and she couldn't come home or contact us." His voice broke and a tear splashed onto the plastic lid of his cup. "She was killed last week."

Jisung froze. Part of him had already prepared for her to never come back. He had already expected her to be found dead somewhere.

Hearing it was a different feeling.

Yet at the same time, it wasn't. He didn't remember who he was supposed to be missing. He stopped missing her years ago when he forgot who he was missing. She'd been replaced by Mrs. Suh in all of his memories and he was never too upset about that. Now he felt plain rude.

"Oh."

That was all he knew to say. Other than "I'm sorry for your loss," of course, but that didn't feel right in this situation.

"They don't actually have her body for us to have a proper funeral, but I was thinking we could have a memorial. Maybe just us and your friends."

Jisung placed his hand on his Dad's shoulder.

"That sounds really nice."

His Dad broke down crying until he fell asleep on the couch. Jisung sat there the entire time, spacing out.

He got up from the couch once he knew his Dad was fast asleep, put a blanket over him, and got out his phone. It was a good thing he actually remembered to bring it with him today. He texted Kun first to let him know he was staying at his Dad's tonight before getting up and going into his room.

Shutting his door, he called the one person he knew would understand what he was feeling right now. Xiaojun answered the second time he tried him, and came over without being asked.

"I hope you don't mind that I told everyone. Haechan was already trying to call Mark, so he'll mention it to him." Xiaojun reported once he had been directed to Jisung's room.

"It's fine. Thanks."

Jisung laid down on his bed, keeping to the side closest to the wall so Xiaojun could have room. Taking the hint, Xiaojun laid next to him, both of them staring at the ceiling.

"You want to talk about it?" He whispered.

"I don't know what I would talk about. I'm supposed to be mourning a woman I don't know."

So Xiaojun took Jisung's hand in his own and laid there with him. Neither moved until morning when they heard Jisung's Dad getting up.