strings & bullets┃hajeongwoo (under revision)

〚 ch: twenty-three 〛

haruka on the other hand, just laughed at the officer's remark and shook his head in amusement. it was the first time he actually had a nice conversation with someone his age, they're always scared of him.

as they reached the top of the stairs, haruka looked back at the officer with a smile as he motioned to the side. jeongwoo nodded and walked beside the man.

"you were very different from the picture" jeongwoo told him

haruka glanced at the officer with his brows furrowed, "what picture?"

"the one where you had a cut on your lips and brows, plus your hair was a complete mess. i wondered if you were talking a mug shot and was ready to sleep in a cell"

jeongwoo pursed his lips while the man laughed at his remark

"ah, that one? that was when my father beat the hell out of me because i said no to one of his orders." haruka looked down with a faint smile as he told the officer.

and jeongwoo felt the need to apologise, he felt sad for the man. just because he said no he was beaten up, why is hiro so cruel? damn that man.

"so- "

"nah, you don't have to. i'm cool with it jeongwoo, it's fine" haruka told him and beamed a smile.

the two stopped in front of two big black doors with a lion symbol engraved on the solid gold door handles. haruka opened the door and made his way to the table, the officer followed and stood in front of haruka's table as his eyes wandered around the room.

haruka sat on his chair, a black royalty chair with gold linings and buttons. his frame leaning on the left side of the chair, his legs crossed, his left hand against his chin as his right arm was placed on the armchair.

"please take a seat, officer" his tone hard unlike earlier as he motioned jeongwoo to sit on the chair in front of his table.

he chuckled deeply, "we have a lot to talk about."

"should we call papa?" haruto asked the baby for the nth time as they sat outside the house waiting for jeongwoo.

the baby sighed as he stood up and made his way to haruto, he sat on his haruto's lap and stared at him with his boba eyes looking so innocent.

"you, you asked me that earlier daddy. i said yes, right?" he told him with his please-stop-asking-me-the-same-question voice.

haruto laughed as he ruffled jio's hair and pulled him closer. the officer left the house at five in the evening and it's already eight, he's just worried for him. also, he couldn't bring himself to call because he might disturb whatever business the officer is doing right now.

"let's go eat jio, you're probably hungry." he whispered to the baby and carried him in his arms as he made his way inside the house.

the baby stared at him, "what about papa?" he asked.

"don't worry, we'll leave some food for papa. you need to eat now so you'll grow taller like daddy" he showered him with light kisses that made the baby giggle and nod his head in agreement.

haruto stared at the clock, it's already ten in the evening and jeongwoo is not home yet. jio is fast asleep on jeongwoo's room, haruto took care of him after they ate dinner. the baby wanted to stay up to wait for his papa but haruto said no, saying jio needs to sleep because he's still a baby.

he sighed, "where are you woo?"

haruto slumped his body on the sofa, fighting the urge to sleep. his eyes failed him as it slowly closed, pulling him into oblivion.

"haruto."

jeongwoo's hard voice startled haruto awake, he jolted up from the sofa and squinted his eyes. the officer was standing in front of him with a cold gaze

what's wrong? haruto's brows furrowed

"you're ho- "

his words was cut off with jeongwoo's stern voice as he turned around and made his way to the stairs, "go sleep inside your room."

haruto cleared his throat and stood up, following jeongwoo to the stairs.

"did you eat? we left some foo- " he tried to ask as he hurriedly catched up with him but was once again cut off with the officer's words.

"yes."

he stopped in his tracks, staring at the officer's back with anxious eyes. something's definitely off, why is the officer acting like that?

"jeongwoo.." he called him softly and went to the officer's side, "what's wrong?"

the officer stared at him, "do you have secrets you want to tell?"

silence.

a lump formed in his throat, his heart beating rapidly inside his chest as the officer's question replayed in his mind. the air was tight, he feels suffocated and small under jeongwoo's hard stare. his eyes piercing through his soul, it held emotions. anger, confusion, dismay. he doesn't know what to do, he don't want to answer the question.

"i don't have any secrets." he managaed to answer without his voice shaking.

jeongwoo cocked an eyebrow and smiled, but he knew it wasn't genuine.

"oh? then sleep tight haruto."

haruto nodded and let jeongwoo leave, he heard the door closed with a loud shut. he shook his head and gripped his chest as he huffed a heavy sigh, he knew it was a mistake to lie. but he's afraid with all the what ifs in his mind, he will lose him.

i'm sorry woo, i'll tell you everything soon. i promise..

━━━━┅━━━┅━━━━

i just wanna ask, is it too early for jeongwoo to know?

cc.