The doorknob stopped, stuck by the lock, and Wonho looked back over at the boy, who hesitated before waving his arms at Wonho, gesturing for him to crawl beneath the table.
Wonho hurriedly knelt and crawled beneath the table, letting the tablecloth fall back down to hide him. Then the boy flicked the lock and opened the door.
"What the hell did you lock it for?" came an unfamiliar voice, followed by a short chuckle from the boy.
"Sorry, my mind must have been on autopilot. Come on in."
"I'm not staying long, just grabbing my lunch from the fridge." There were footsteps, followed by shuffling, followed by the sound of the refrigerator door being yanked open. Then more footsteps, a few murmurs, and then the sound of the door opening and shutting.
A pause.
"You can come out now," the boy said, and Wonho cautiously crawled out from under the table, stopping as he saw an upturned hand in his field of vision, and his eyes traced up the arm to find the boy looking down at him with unreadable eyes.
Wonho took the hand, standing up and nodding. "Thanks," he said before looking back over at the boy. When the boy said nothing, Wonho sighed. "I'm sorry. I knew you wouldn't just believe some kid but I thought I needed to try-"
"Tomorrow," the boy interrupted. "I need to get word to Hyungwon about this."
"Could you tell Changkyun?" Wonho asked, scratching his chin and wincing slightly. "Hyungwon trusts him the most right now. And I was thinking maybe we could pull a two-for-one. Get them both out. Changkyun is good at taking care of Hyungwon, and we need him to stick around." Wonho decided it best to leave out the part about Hyungwon hating him right now.
The boy sighed. "Fine. I'll try. But don't get me wrong, I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing it for Hyungwon." He paused. "I don't think he'll ever get out out of here on his own. He hasn't been getting better, he's been getting worse. I don't think whatever they're doing is working."
"It's not," Wonho quickly agreed. "But we can help him."
"We?" the boy asked, sensing that Wonho wasn't talking about him. "You're not taking him back to his family, are you?"
"No. Well...not that family," Wonho said, looking down at his fingers as they curled into his palms. "They can't help him either."
"Then who?"
Wonho's lips curled upward at the edges. "Our family. M-wing."
The boy was quiet before he nodded. "Not every wing is that close once they're out. Most kids never look back."
"Hyungwon changed that for all of us," Wonho said, looking at the door. He wished he could see Hyungwon, talk to him, tell him that he was here and that he hadn't abandoned him or betrayed him.
Tomorrow, he told himself. I can tell him tomorrow. And if this goes according to plan, hopefully I won't have to say anything at all. Hopefully he'll just know.
If it goes according to plan.
If.
