Time || YeonGyu AU✔

chapter 7

July 21, 2023, Seoul, South Korea

          Spending time with close friends was something Yeonjun loved to do on his post-birthday days. They would always leave Seoul and travel very far, renting a little hut in the mountains, near the forests and caves since they loved going on different adventures together. Then they would go back to their homes and keep spending their holidays in their houses or abroad with their families before their university and lectures could start. But this year was different because they had already graduated and had received their diplomas, so after that, they would either start searching for a job or continue studying for a master's degree.

          Yeonjun was driving his car to his house after dropping his friends off at their homes. He couldn't help smiling at their crazy memories in the mountains, he and Soobin even shared a kiss, but of course, while they were drunk because you would never see Yeonjun getting that close to anyone if he was sober and could think rationally. He had never had an interest in anything besides studying, but that fatal day seemed to turn everything upside down.

          His elbow was propped on the door armrest and his fingers played with the big clock necklace his father gave him on his birthday. He was gripping the steering wheel with his other hand as excitement brewed beneath his chest, knowing his parents were waiting for him at home. He parked his car in front of his house and got outside. He grabbed his bag and threw it over his shoulder before slamming the front door shut. He locked the car and sauntered to the door, a little confusion rising into his mind since his parents always used to greet him outside.

          He never knew it would be so terrifying to open the door of his house and take a step inside. Some traces of blood were visible even on the white floor of the hall, and Yeonjun could feel his heart skipping beats as he followed the path towards the living room with extremely heavy steps and heart. It felt like blood had drained completely from his body and there was not even one drop left to provide him with a little hint of warmth. His face was pale and his bones were frozen when he was glancing at the dead bodies of his parents who were swimming in blood. His world had shattered down and the pain was slipping down his cheeks in the form of tears while heartbreaking sobs and cries kept scattering in the depressing atmosphere. It was something extremely hard to believe for someone who had spent their entire lives with parents by their sides and standing on knees in front of their bloody bodies now, Yeonjun could feel a big piece of his heart being absorbed in the dark.

          He called them, shouted, and cried, but neither of them managed to wake up when he was begging them to open their eyes. His life changed in a matter of seconds and his brain was too engulfed in a fog of agony to even realise that. He didn't know how it happened and he didn't know who was at fault, but he knew very well that there was something strange about the photograph that was resting subtly beside his father's bleeding body.

          He sniffled and hesitantly picked the picture from the ground as if he was afraid it would burn his hand. His puffy and scared eyes were glued to it, causing endless gushes of confusion to penetrate his heart.

          It was a photograph of some young boy who had very light brown hair, his wavy locks sprawled over his small forehead while wrinkles of happiness were drawn around his brown eyes. He was smiling widely at the camera with pure happiness as if he had never been sad in his life and Yeonjun couldn't help but feel some annoyance assailing him, because he had never seen that boy in his life before and he was sure it belonged to the person who had put his parents in that condition, or maybe it was that boy himself on the photograph who had killed them, even though the boy looked too young for that.

2025, Seoul, South Korea

          Beomgyu was sweeping his eyes across Yeonjun's room, while the yellow-haired male still stood at his window, staring down at the mysterious photograph with hesitant and enchanted eyes, his heart skipping a beat at the thought of finally getting the answer from the male behind him.