end of the day | seongjoong

chapter five

the boys woke up the next morning a little later than they typically woke up during sleepovers. they decided to stay up until one am the night before, which was later than they've ever stayed up at a sleepover. they were told to go to sleep at eleven thirty, but they thought it would be more fun to tell scary ghost stories until they passed out.

once they rubbed the sleep out of their eyes, the three boys sprinted down the stairs, excited for breakfast.

"wow boys, you woke up really late today! don't tell me you didn't obey my bedtime rules." hongjoong's mom made a stern face, pointing a finger at the three boys.

"um... we would never ms. kim! no, oh no. we definitely didn't stay up until one. no! why would we ever do that? especially to tell ghost stories. who said anything about ghost stories? they're so silly! we would never do anything like that." wooyoung rambled out and hongjoong hit his arm lightly, afraid that his mom would believe what wooyoung was saying.

"well, it's a good thing you boys didn't do that last night!" she pretended to not know anything and heard the three boys let out deep breaths as she turned around to get the pancakes she made, "breakfast is ready! i made all your favorites; chocolate for yeosang, blueberry for wooyoung, and strawberry for my joongie!" hongjoong's mom said as she rubbed her son's head.

the three boys jumped in excitement and ran to the table. they all dug in, eating more than twenty pancakes all together.

"wow, you were hungry alright! no words spoken!" hongjoong's mom said as she walked into the room after a few minutes of hearing no talking from the boys.

"they were so good mommy! thank you thank you thank you so much!" hongjoong said as he ran up to give his mother a big hug. his friends, wooyoung and yeosang, also joined in the hug.

after about an hour, yeosang's mom came to pick up yeosang and wooyoung from hongjoong's house.

"no! why do we have to leave already!" wooyoung pouted at the sight of yeosang's mom, sad that he had to leave his friends so soon.

"i know it's sad, but think of the bright side! we can see each other in just two days! and obviously we can text like we always do." hongjoong smiled and yeosang nodded in agreement, making wooyoung frown turn upside down.

"goodbye boys, i hope you had a great time!" hongjoong's mom said as the two boys and yeosang's mom walked out the door.

"bye sangie! bye woo!" hongjoong called out to the boys as they got into the car, giving them both a big wave.

once the boys drove away, hongjoong smiled at his mom. "mommy, i had so much fun with the boys last night! but do you think we can hangout tonight?" hongjoong asked, hopeful that his mother would be home.

"baby, i'm so sorry... i can't today. i have work in an hour, the flight is all the way to india. i won't be back for about a day." hongjoong's mom pouted, feeling horrible about her situation.

since their father wasn't in the picture anymore, the only way of income in hongjoong's family was his mother. for years, she couldn't keep a steady job. it was extremely hard to get by, living on things such as food stamps and moving between different family member's homes. once she was offered a job as a flight attendant, hongjoong's mother couldn't pass up the opportunity. it made good money and didn't require a high college degree.

the downside to her job was leaving her kids for big periods of time. there were times she had to leave for days or weeks. she knew how hard it was on her sons, especially hongjoong, but she did what she had to do to get by.

"it's ok," hongjoong looked down and pouted, "but i hope we can hang out once you get back!" hongjoong chirped up and gave his mother a huge hug.

"of course, my love. i'm going to get ready for work, so you go have some fun!" she told hongjoong who ran upstairs to his room, excited to play with his stuffed animals.

before heading to her room, the boy's mother walked to jongho's room. "so, your friend seonghwa is for sure coming tonight? you have to make sure he doesn't bail last minute, otherwise you'll have to cancel your date."

"he won't. i reminded him a few minutes ago and he said he'll be here at six thirty. i'm leaving right after i explain to him what he should do with hongjoong." jongho smiled at his mother, reassuring her.

"ok good. i'm just nervous, is all. i know he's not a stranger, but i've never let anyone besides you or other family members watch hongjoong when i was out at work. he better be respectful and treat my boy right." she pointed at jongho, who held his hands up in defense.

"don't worry, he's a really nice guy. he wouldn't do anything to joong." jongho said, more trying to convince himself than his mother.

"ok good. i have to get ready now. you, clean your room." she ordered her oldest son after looking at all the dirty clothes on his floor. jongho just rolled his eyes and listened to his mother's orders as she closed his door and walked to her own bedroom.

i honestly have no idea if being a flight attendant requires a college degree or not so let's just pretend, ok!? lol 🗿

-vic