The Star of My Wishes

✾2✾

Young Hongjoong started to gain back his consciousness as he slowly woke up. Lifting his eyelids open, he managed to looked around his surroundings. White walls all around the room, a window that had no barricades on it on the left, a door that was half closed to the right, and the unfamiliar bed that he was laying in.

Becoming more aware of the situation, he instantly sat up but that became a mistake as he felt a sharp pain on the side of his head, causing him to wince and groan in pain. And cause the owner of the place to come in the room holding a tray. The man had black hair that reached a part of his nape, he wore a white long sleeve shirt with a brown vest over it, and brown pants flowing over his black shoes. If Hongjoong didn't know any better, the man might have some kind of status based off on what he was wearing.

“I see your awake, how's your head?” The man asked, as he placed the tray on the bedside table and sat down on the chair next to the bed.

“S-still a b-bit painful but... W-who are you?” Hongjoong wanted to trust the man, but at the same time he was scared. Scared that what if this person in front of him would become just like his parents.

“Ah right, how rude of me. My name is Maddox and I work at the castle, what's your name?” This 'Maddox' man introduced himself. To the eleven year-old Maddox actually looked quite harmless, but the boy was still keeping his guard up.

“H-Hongjoong... Where am I? How did I get here?” All Hongjoong could remember was him running and he suddenly fell. He must have hit his head pretty badly when he fell and blacked out.

“Well you're in my house in the Park kingdom. And as to how you got here. I was on my way home from visiting my parents home last night when I heard  something close by, so I looked around and I saw you laying on the ground with your stuff-” “My stuff! Where is it?” Hongjoong darted his eyes everywhere in the room desperately in search of his belongings.

“Hey hey, calm down, calm down Hongjoong. I stored your belongings in that closet”

Maddox then pointed out to a closet that Hongjoong just noticed. It was a fairly big closet and was way more nicer than what the boy had at his old room, he only had crate to put his clothes in. Walking over to the wardrobe, the eleven year-old opened the doors to find his clothes neatly folded and separated according to what they were, shirts in one stack and pants in another while his only two coats were hanged.

“Of course I took out the food, most of it was already covered in dirt when I saw it so I didn't bother bringing it...”

Silence fell upon them as Hongjoong thought of the things on what he would do next. He doesn't know if Maddox would let him stay or not, and if he would how long will that be? What would anyone do if they just ran away from their home, more specifically, what would a kid do of they just ran away from their home to escape from their parents abusive ways?

While Hongjoong was spacing out and was having an inner conflict with himself, Maddox needed to know how the kid ended up in the woods.

“Uhm... Hongjoong?” He started. “I hope you don't mind me asking, but uh... How did you end up in the woods that late in the night?”

Snapping from his thoughts, Hongjoong turned his head towards Maddox and scanned his face, the elder had this curious and expecting look on himself. Hongjoong pursed his lips and sighed, he thought that if Maddox were let him live in his home, he might as well have some knowledge of Hongjoong's background, and that they needed to get to know each other better. Plus, the boy already felt comfortable with Maddox. So Hongjoong got comfortable on the bed and told Maddox his story.

“I... I ran away from my home” Memories started to come through his mind. The snarky words, the painful beatings, the excruciating long hours (even days) of getting locked up. Hongjoong released a shaky sighed as he continued.

“My parents were not the caring and nurturing kind, they would order me around and if I did anything wrong they would beat me up or lock me up in my room. They treated me like their personal slave instead of their son... So I make wishes to the stars since they help me cope with everything. But none of them came true, until last night”

When he finished, he felt a fresh tear fall from his eye, and as the first one fell others followed right after. Hongjoong finally let it all out; all the emotion, pain, and fear that he kept so deep within himself finally reached  the surface. And Maddox, he came closer to the crying boy and wrapped him in his arms, which cause Hongjoong to break down even more. Just the feeling of someone being there and comforting him was all to new to him, and that he was just overwhelmed with it.

“Shh... Calm down Hongjoong, I got you. Shh, it's okay, I'm here to help to you from now own okay?” Maddox did his best in calming the boy down. “You know, if you want, you could live here with me. You could use this room and that I'll take care of you” Hongjoong was by now just sniffling and letting the last drops of tears fall, as he broke their hug and looked at the older.

“R-really? I-I could?”

“Of course”

“Permanently?”

“Permanently”

Hongjoong wiped the last tear off his face and smile softly at Maddox. He could finally live his life more freely, and that was another of his wishes coming true.

“Now, how about something to eat?”