"are you sure you're up for this?"
taeyong questioned, looking beside him to catch his brother's eyes. jeno could only nod in response, feeling the anxiety bubbling up inside him like a vulcano just waiting to errupt and send them all straight to hell.
the last few days have been a total wreckage inside his mind— from yeeun being alive and well all this time to him confessing his love to a couple of guys all the way down to the fact that he'd finally made up with mark.
it just seemed so surreal to him.
finding his brother was just the icing on the cake, the reunited siblings sticking together like never before.
how did his life undergo such a massive change— a positive change— in the span of a couple days? what had he done in his past life to deserve such kindness from the strings of destiny?
a million questions floated around in lee jeno's mind as he sat next to his brother in the passanger's seat, parked right outside his house.
a home he shared with just his mother.
a home that hadn't really been a home in a long, long time.
taeyong felt himself grow sentimental as he looked at his childhood home, the place where he made the best memories with his younger siblings. life was simpler back then, with just him, jeno and yeeun playing together in the garden.
enjoying the greens and the flowers and the blue sky until life decided to say 'fuck you' and took that all away.
"i should head inside." jeno voiced out, bringing him back from his little trance. he fought back a smile as he noticed taeyong's longing gaze, wishing he could go back, too.
"i'll wait for you."
taeyong spoke, earning a nod in return before jeno exited the car and made his way towards the house.
"hey."
he called out, watching the younger as he turned around to see what the leader hat to say.
"just tell her i said, hi, okay? don't tell her i'm here though."
"yeah, okay."
jeno responded, sending the older a small wave before finally stepping into the house.
"who the hell do you think you are stepping into my house like tha—"
the woman's rough voice ceased once she stepped into the doorway, praying to God her eyes were not decieving her.
"hi, mom."
── 💧 ──
"do you wanna eat anything? i can ask ms. kang to make you some pizza if you'd like. ooh, or maybe you should try—"
"it's okay, mom. thank you."
jeno stopped her as she rambled on, tears spilling down her worn out face as she looked back at her son with immense ammounts of relief and love.
truth be told, she was a mess. the poor woman already lost two of her children and to now lose the only one she had left... it took a toll on both her mental and physical health.
after at least fifteen minutes she spent crying and hugging him to death, jeno could now clearly see just how exhausted she was. prominent bags under her eyes showcased her fatigue.
her once black hair already had streaks of gray running through it, probably due to stress and lack of will to actually dye her hair as she'd been doing for the past two years.
her youthful face had adorned a few wrinkles here and there, though she aged as gracefully as one could given the circumstances of her cruel life. she married young, fell in love, had kids, got her heart broken and then lost all her kids but one.
the strength of his mother was unbelivable.
"where have you been the past few months, jeno?"
the woman questioned, tearing up at the mere thought of the horror she'd been going through for such a long time.
has it really been that long?
jeno wondered as he just now began to realise how long he had been away. two months at the very least... how the hell did that time fly by so past.
and as he looked at his mother, seconds away from sobbing into her palms, jeno felt the guilt gnawing at his heart. as he was indulging with the mafia, finding out secrets about himself sland his life, his mother was home. alone.
rotting away in her pain of losing yet another child while he was too busy figuring out who he was.
"i can't even begin to tell you how sorry i am, mom. and i promise i'll explain everything but i need more time. i need you to trust me."
he pleaded, taking her hand into his.
"i don't know if i can handle one more heartbreak, jeno, i really don't." her heart clenched as she voiced those words, unaware of her son's heart breaking in sync with her own.
"hey, look at me."
he started, grabbing her attention by squeezing her hand tighter.
"i promise you, that i will be back."
she wanted him to stay. she wanted to scream and yell at him for making her worry and then showing up just to say he was gonna leave her again.
but all that came out was a fragile, barely coherent
"okay."
── 💧 ──
"come on, jeno."
taeyong grumbled as he tapped his fingers against the dashboard in sync with the faint beats coming from his radio. he had been waiting for the younger for the past twenty five minutes and to say that he was impatient would be an understatement.
and as he was growing more and more frustrated by the second, the shrill sound of his phone ringing nearly made his heart jump.
"what."
he spat, utterly annoyed by the interruption.
"taeyong..."
the person on the other line spoke in a broken voice, muffling sniffles in an obvious attempt to appear calm but taeyong saw right through it.
"yangyang? what's wrong, why are you crying?"
"w-we, we were fighting the LUX assholes... and the bullets... god, there was blood everywhere..."
"yangyang, calm down. i need you to tell me what happened."
"she- she... oh my god..."
"YANGYANG!" taeyong roared into the phone, trying to knock some sense into the boy.
"bomb. they dropped a b-bomb and i wasn't able to warn her in time-"
"yangyang, who are you talking about?" taeyong asked, anxiety through the roof as he dreaded his response.
"...i couldn't save her. i'm so s-sorry..." taeyong could hear the boy sob through the phone, wailing and sniffling as he let out his heartwrenching sobs.
"who did you fail to save, yang?"
"..."
"come on, talk to me..."
"taeyong, it's yeeun. she lost a lot of blood and... i'm so sorry."
taeyong couldn't make out whose voice said it.
the line went dead immediatly after.
i reunited them just so i can separate them again 😍
watch our for the next one...