ATEEZ l The story of a friendship #3

-Prologue-

01:39 pm

The two boys entered the house laughing at some joke San had made while they took out their stuff from the car. Yeosang opened the door to his house as the laughing died down, San looked around before looking at his friend.

"Dude, doesn't your house look kind of empty?" San asked, his voice betraying his confusion. Yeosang's head fell down, he didn't speak, he didn't move. After some time, the boy took a step forward and went to drop his things on the floor, followed by his friend.

"What happened? Are you understanding any of this? Where are all of your picture frames? And paintings? How about the vases your mom loves? Where is everything?"

"They're gone, she took them with her"

"With her where?"

"Wherever she went" Yeosang answered in a quiet voice.

"Wherever she what?" San looked left and right, back and forth.

"She left, look a bit and I bet you'll find a note"

 San didn't know what hurt him more, Yeosang's tired and shaking voice or the fact that his friend seemed to take this situation way too naturally. He went into the kitchen and indeed found a note, without reading it, he grabbed the piece of paper and brought it to Yeosang.

Yeosangie, Hyun-sik asked me to move in with him in Seoul, I love him and I can't let him go. You have everything you need, I left some money for groceries and the fridge is stocked.

Love you,

Mom.

Yeosang finished reading the note out loud and handed it to his friend who crumbled the paper between his fist. What the hell?

"See, I knew it..."

"Yeo, how did you know this would happen? Has she done this before?" The other asked as he sat down next to his friend.

"About six times already, she meets a guy and thinks it's love. They move away or something and then she gets kicked out and comes back"

"How long has she known this one?"

"Three months" 

San opened his eyes wide, he wanted to scream and say what he thought about Yeosang's mother but he knew that wouldn't change anything.

"She left money for groceries?? You're going to need more than grocery money, what was she thinking??"

"She'll be back don't worry, it's always the same..."

"No, this time is different" San said  and sat down next to his friend.

"How so?"

"This time I'm here" The boy placed his hand on top of the brunette's and gently squeezed it. "You sound tired, you should sleep. I can put away our stuff and make us some food don't worry "

"Alright, I'll be upstairs then" 

San nodded and watched the boy get up the stairs before exhaling loudly, what a mess. He looked around the empty room, it was depressing, all the was left from the once cozy living room was a couch, a TV and a coffee table. No more flowers, rug, decoration or candles. Nothing.

02:10 pm

San took out two tomatoes, an avocado, tore a few leaves of lettuce as well as cut some cucumber. It took the boy half an hour to finish cutting all of the vegetables for the salad, he decided to add some olives as well as feta cheese and finish seasoning it with a mixture of olive oil, mayo, sugar, vinegar and wasabi. 

Since they had eaten on the bus not so long ago, he had decided to make something light after finding all the ingredients for a salad in the fridge. He had also found bread in the freezer to go with.

Yeosang had been sleeping for about two hours when San got into his room and woke him up.

"I'm going to go take a shower real quick okay? Then we can eat?" Yeosang asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Sure, I'll be downstairs" 

Yeosang nodded and sighed as his friend went down. Without much energy, the boy got up, grabbed a clean towel and closed the bathroom door.

 Stepping inside the shower, Yeosang waited for the temperature of the water to get warmer before stepping under the stream. The hot water and force of the stream massaged the boy's back as he closed his eyes and focused on the sensation on his skin.

As soon as his eyes closed, an image of Seonghwa's lips on that other boy's came into his mind and just like each time he thought of it, his heart sank. 

The boy hated the fact that he cared so much, he hated that he had gotten attached and hurt, he knew better then to fall in love with the beautiful, popular boy. Why did he do it anyway?

He shut off the water and stepped out, all of his mother's beauty products were gone, there was only his shampoo, conditioner and body soap now, only one toothbrush and no more girly stuff around. 

Taking a deep breath, the boy dried himself before putting on clean, comfortable clothes and heading downstairs where San was waiting for him at the dinner table.

"Hey, lunch is ready" The ravenette said with a smile as he handed a plate to his friend.

"Thank you for making me lunch, San. I'm not used to having someone in times like these"

"How do you usually handle it, Yeosang? This is terrible, I mean your mother left and you're okay with it?" The elder didn't understand how his friend could be so strong, he knew he would have broken down the first time around.

"I'm used to it I guess, it only lasts a couple of weeks each time. I eat less, I don't go out and I'm careful with the bills. It's easier than it sounds"

"Nothing about this sounds easy and nothing is okay. But I'm here this time, I'm not going anywhere, I promise you" 

Yeosang raised his head and met his friend's gaze, he looked into his eyes and smiled.

"I know"