Equally Broken | Sunsun | Discontinued

Chapter 23. Forget Me Not

He feels the need to clear his throat before speaking, "Yeah yeah, hyung."

"Good. Just checking in."

There's a pause for a few seconds before Sunghoon speaks again.

"Love ya, Sunoo."

A sheepish smile plays on Sunoo's lips. Before he knows it, heat travels to his cheeks. He's pink and flustered. It is impeccable what the phrase does to people.

It feels new, but natural at the same time. As if it's their daily routine. In a way, it was, just not verbally.

He hums back as the line cut.

~11:35 am~

"Layla!! Come here. Arent you a good girl. Yes you are- Yeah you are-" Jake cried in a higher-pitched baby voice trying to get her attention. Layla jumped around the room, befriending everyone the three other boys there. She loves the attention, especially when Jake brings his friends home.

"Layla! Hello." Sunghoon crouched down in front of the 5-year-old dog, gladly accepting all of her kisses. Jake still thinks she's a puppy. Age is definitely just a number for the dog.

"Can I borrow Layla? Just for a day. Bisco and her would make great playmates!" Niki requested with enthusiasm, even though he was well aware Jake would not be the one to grant him his wish.

"Of course not. I'd die without her."

"You can come with! I'm not taking her away from you." He stated matter-of-factly.

"Niki-yah, you really should bring bisco here." Heeseung chimed in from behind the taller boy.

"It's harder than you think, okay? See, I would if I had the chance to. I swear!"

They bargained for a while after that. Well, to be precise, about 45 minutes. Mainly making plans on how to set up this dog date. Heeseung helped with their discussion, he always helps with everything. Probably because he feels most responsible when hanging out here.

The entire showcase-the debating part, planning part, bargaining part, calculating part, accepting part, everything- seemed to fade away with one notification. Of course, it's from Sunoo.

-

Sun <3

Hyung!
Look what I found
It reminds me of you.
I'm getting it ~ :P
[Image file]

-

He clicked on the picture.

It was a picture of Sunoo, holding up a bunch of Indigo Forget-Me-Not Flowers. It's not very common to find these flowers. And when you did, they were quite expensive.

Regardless, it made Sunghoon smile, and maybe blush. It was a kind gesture indeed. Sunghoon loved flowers. And the fact that Sunoo bought them because it reminds him of Sunghoon makes him feel soft.

He doesn't realize he was smiling so hard before-

"What are you looking at?~" Niki interrupts from over Sunghoon's shoulder. By instinct, he immediately closed the phone and turned it away from Niki.

"Nothing," he responded, turning a darker shade of pink all over his face.

"Hmm. It definitely looks like something." Now everyone has their eyes on Sunghoon.

"No, seriously it's nothing. Just Yeji." He hopes lying about his sister would help. It did not.

"Oh come on, Hoon." Heeseung said teasingly.

"Ayy... get your head out of the gutter. It's nothing." Sunghoon waved his hand as if it would help them understand that this was definitely nothing big.

~6:30 pm~

Ding dong.

Oh?

Sunghoon waddled toward the front door, knowing exactly who was behind it.

"Hello~"

"Hello Ddeonno~," He said with the biggest smile.

"Hyung! I told you not to call me that!" Sunoo whined as he invited himself in.

"But I like it"

"And I don't."

"Did you miss me?~" Sunghoon said tailing right behind the younger boy.

"Nope, I missed Hae." He is technically not lying. He did indeed miss both of them. Sunoo ran over to the couch where Hae was sitting, scooping her up into his arms.

"Oh, I see," Sunghoon sighed, plopping himself next to Sunoo on the couch, "So, you like her more than me? I understan- Ouch!" He teasingly pouted, earning a punch from Sunoo. Rightfully so.

"No silly," he looks back at Hae, "she just reminds me of an old friend. A very nice one."

"Tell me more." Sunghoon smiled, going to the kitchen to grab two glasses of orange juice or something of that sort.

Sunoo told him about his old friend. The elderly cat at the orphanage, Saem (샘), was always found hanging around near the broken fountain.

At first, it was hard to befriend the cat, but six-year-old Sunoo was determined to tame it. He would sneak out bread from the cafeteria, crouching down a few feet from him with his hand held out hoping the cat would finally accept becoming his friend.

He was a stubborn cat, but so was Sunoo. After a while, the cat did find its way into Sunoo's heart. It often snuck into his room, sneaking past the dozen other children in the room, the cat would always find its way to Sunoo, snuggling up in the corner of Sunoo's bed.

He named it Saem (샘) for no particular, just that it sounded nice and was how he found him. Saem was Sunoo's only friend at the orphanage. He would occasionally make other friends, but they get adopted or leave soon enough. But Saem did not leave, not by choice at least.

Sunoo finds it hard to recall what actually happened that gave Saem a short life. It was something related to the older, meaner kids toying with him. He was devastated when Saem left, that's all that he can say for sure happened. Hae resembled him in some way, just that she was way smaller than how Saem was.

Hearing this definitely brought sorrow into Sunghoon's eyes. He felt bad for Sunoo. Losing a friend does not feel good, let alone your only friend. He looks down at his fingers realizing he has been picking at them the entire time.

Silence falls in the room, the sound of the air conditioner was deafening in this silence. He looks up at Sunoo, whose eyes are fixated on Hae, a bit teary.

Sunghoon cups Sunoo's shoulder to catch his attention, and then just smiles. It's a reassuring smile, not a judging one or a pitiful one. It's just a smile, but it works every time.

"I was only six back then, hyung. I'm fine." He smiles back. He is truly fine, he just misses Saem sometimes. He knows he's fine 'cause Sunghoon is here. Sunghoon makes him feel fine. He wouldn't be fine without Sunghoon.

"Okay. So... what do you want for dinner?" He says, placing his empty glass alongside Sunoo's full one.

"Hmm... Are you paying?"

"When have I not paid?"

"Ah right." He giggles.

-

-

(hello, it's been a while... haha sorry.ㅋㅋㅋ

thank you sooo much for 220 rates and 4k reads!

it's truly embarrassing how many mistakes I found in the previous chapters ㅠㅠ I fixed them tho ㅋㅋㅋ

:)