[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Lost Puppies

I want to know who you think came to the cafe with Jaehyun <.<

Jaehyun listened to Mark and YangYang talk about their days even though they had seen each other twice already. The oldest of the three just listened and made the occasional comment, wanting nothing more than to collapse onto Johnny's bed as soon as they got in the cafe.

The crowd of people in there said otherwise.

"Perfect timing! I need you boys to wash up and help with these cupcakes and the register." Mrs. Suh called out to them when she looked up from her work, and the youngest two gladly ran over, threw their stuff by the basement door, and started helping.

"Jaehyun, you know where the store is, right?" Mr. Suh asked, and he nodded. "I need you to go get milk, and if they have eggs we need that too. If they don't that's fine, they're usually out." Jaehyun was then handed money and sent out of the cafe, the ten year old desperately trying to remember if the direction he was going was the right one.

Finding the store was very quickly determined to be the easiest of the tasks. For reasons unknown people were crowded into the tiny store, making finding milk a lot more difficult than he wanted. He didn't even bother with trying to see if they had eggs, inserting himself in the checkout line.

"I just want some milk." He muttered to himself, watching the woman in front of him argue with the cashier over something stupid.

He was out of the store in fifteen minutes and trying to find his way back to the cafe when he got distracted. Some kids were playing a basketball game and he stopped for a minute to watch, but then he got distracted again. A kid who looked to be around his age was sitting on a bench, crying.

"Hey, you okay?" Jaehyun put his hand lightly on the kid's shoulder, and he shot up in surprise.

"Stop. Hands." He moved away from Jaehyun, unclipping a bottle of hand sanitizer from his belt loop and motioning for him to hold out his hands. Not knowing what else to do, he let the kid put the sanitizer in his outstretched palms.

"Why?"

"I'm sick."

"And?" He'd been around sick people and had gone to school sick before. That didn't mean he carried around hand sanitizer though.

"Mom and Dad say I can't be in the house because I'm sick."

"That's bull. How will they take care of you then? Where will you sleep?" The kid paused, thinking about it.

"They don't touch me if I'm not sick. They say kids are gross and con- con- tamed?"

"Contaminated?"

"Yeah. That." Jaehyun frowned. None of what he was saying sounded right, but he hoped it was his accent and the fact that he sounded stuffy that was hindering his words. Though he wasn't sure how they'd get messed up that bad.

"What's your name?"

"Dong Sicheng. What's yours?"

"Jung Jaehyun. Do you want to stay with my cousins and I? I'm sure my aunt won't mind." Sicheng froze, contemplating his options and wiping his tears.

"But I'll get you sick."

"You'll get even more sick if you stay here for the night. And I don't think it's safe." He looked around the park that was only getting busier as kids got out of school and headed over to play.

"I've done this before." Jaehyun was about to start going off about how wrong that was when some random kid came and stood next to him, sitting down at his feet and just looking at them.

"Hi?" The kid waved, but that was it. Jaehyun looked to Sicheng for an explanation, but he shrugged.

"Sometimes when I come here he just sits and watches me. I don't know him."

"What's your name?"

"He never answers." The kid's bangs hung into his eyes slightly, making him appear like a lost puppy.

"So will you come with me and let me take care of you?" Sicheng was about to protest, but he then went into a coughing fit. Jaehyun grabbed his hand when he was done, helping him off the bench. 

"Don't you dare try and sanitize me. You're coming with me until your parents let you go home." Sicheng could barely stop himself from being taken to the cafe, but he did take his hand away from Jaehyun.

Touch was just not something he felt. Except on his birthday, the one day a year he got a hug, but they all sanitized before and after. Both his parents worked in a nursing home, and they claimed their child came in contact with too many germs at school. They just didn't want to put the elderly at risk.

"Is that kid still following us?" Sicheng looked behind them, and the kid was directly behind Jaehyun.

"Yup."

And he followed them into the cafe, smiling to Jaehyun's Aunt and Uncle before following the other two into the basement.