Life is C between B and D [A Hyungwonho/2won Story] *Editing in progress*

Chapter 14: The Lost Child

There was one thing Halmeoni didn't understand these days.

That thing being

her grandson.

She was worried sick about Hoseok.

It had been 8 days; 8 days he had been locking himself in his room, and would only come out once in a while to eat only one meal per day...or not. 

He looked unwell, paler than ever. In short, he was like a walking corpse.

She wondered why he was acting this way. It all had started when she came back from the grocery store the other day, the day Hoseok had invited his new friends. The pension was dead quiet when she got in. She found no one in the house except for her grandchild that was fast asleep in his bed. He had puffy eyes as if he had been crying a lot before she came back and a chagrin expression on his sleeping face. 

What could possibly have happened while I was out?

The other kid, Changkyun, was also acting strange these days. He would usually show up almost every day, but he had not yet presented his face at their door since that day either. How strange. Could it be that they had a fight? Impossible. 

These two, whenever they would make a fuss over something, they would always cry in each others'arms the next day.

She had tried to call Changkyun for him to come and lift her grandson's spirit as he would always do, but he strangely replied that he would be very busy for the upcoming days and that what Hoseok needed the most, for now, was some time alone. 

She didn't let him go off that easily, not without making him promised to pass by and look over her grandchild, a condition to which he had agreed to -after severe forms of verbal intimidation.

They had made the promise 5 days ago, he never came. 

That brat.

She sighed deeply as she thought of her grandson.

Hoseok had always been a complicated child in a way that he would hardly openly reveal his feelings to anyone. He was always shy and aimed for a quiet, erased existence. He didn't want to become a burden for anyone; that would be the worst kind of feeling for him. He had always tried his best to become someone others could rely on.

He would always pretend to be strong, even when he was weak. He thought he was doing well in hiding his true feelings from everyone, but Halmeoni knew him too well to be fooled by his fake smiles.

She remembered a time when he broke his finger while helping moving out a neighbour. His hand got caught between the piece of furniture he was moving and the frame of the door. As he tried to make the wooded shelf pass the door, one of his fingers got stuck in between and twisted the wrong way. Instead of going to the hospital like any sensed person would do, he decided to ignore the pain and did simply nothing about it.

For three days, he managed to hide it from her and even went training like usual. He wouldn't complain at all during the day, but she would find him crying silently in his bed at night.

He was 12 back then, but this habit of his never changed.

He was a responsible person when it came to everything but himself. He would stay until very late if work wasn't fully and properly done to the point that he would even skip eating and sleeping for days if he had to. He felt a duty to do things right...to the point of neglecting his own person.

Hoseok was the exact definition of a dark hole, he was collapsing under his own weight, the weight he would always carry on his shoulders.

"Oh, no! There is no more tofu left!" She exclaimed as she explored the fridge. It was a shame. She needed some for the new recipe she had wanted to cook for Hoseok.