I say in advance, it's just angst and comfort is possible. Also a small lore of one of our main characters. Enjoy reading. (Here Kim and Conrad are already adopted and are 10.)
------------------------------------------------------------
For Conrad, it is the norm not to sleep, rather to fall asleep later than the others at the station. And it always made him feel a little lonely. And for the most part because of this feeling, he went out of the station for night walks, and he started doing it when he was an orphan, but this night was important for the boy. He dressed quietly, also taking a jetpack. He wrote a note and put it on his pillow so that others would know where he was. The boy left the station and flew to a place that is not suitable for children. He flew up to the gates of the town cemetery, the gates to which Conrad flew up were spare, the boy did not dare to go through the main ones, because he was afraid that he would be seen. Landing on the ground, he turned off the jetpack and carefully opened the gates. Going inside the cemetery, he closed the gates and began to look for the right tombstone. The night vision mode in his glasses helped him see better, so the search would take less time than the boy feared. After passing several hillocks, he saw a tombstone with the name and surname of the person he was looking for. He turned off the night vision mode of his glasses and smiled weakly but sadly.
"Hi...dad." Conrad said softly and with a slight sadness. There was no answer but Conrad did not expect an answer. He knew there would be no answer. But Conrad continued:
"I know I visited you recently but today is a special date. It may be unpleasant to some extent but it's still special. Heh, it's been 4 years since your death. I didn't even think I'd live this long without you. Don't get me wrong, my days aren't shrouded in just one sadness. In fact, the days are going well. Soon Kim and I will be officially announced as rescues assistants. Yes, after a year of living with rescuers, we will be declared assistants. In fact, I'm even a little nervous. After all, they have never announced me, so it will be an experience for me." Conrad continued, his voice was quiet and full of slight sadness. Again, there is only silence in response. Conrad knew that silence would always be the answer. And this made Conrad a little uncomfortable, the boy continued talking anyway.
"You know, I sometimes wondered why you always took only me on night walks. And honestly, the rest (rescuers with Kim) are also asking this question. I guess you didn't want to tell me. But....I more or less know why, but maybe I'm wrong. I just don't understand why my mother was jealous of you because of me. Sometimes when I think about it...I get more questions than answers." Conrad said and it's really confusing, he learned this information from his father's acquaintances. The boy looked at the tombstone, but nothing happened. The sky was without clouds, the moon shone with a bright white light and the light of the moon fell on Conrad. The boy felt the pressure of silence, because of which any child might not have been able to stand it. Conrad himself began to laugh involuntarily but not with joy. It was the laugh of knowing that his father would never answer. The boy did not notice how tears began to accumulate in his eyes. A small tear started falling from his left eye and his body was shaking, not much but it was noticeable. Despite the tears, the boy smiled weakly and sadly.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have cried tonight. After all, tonight...just another night and day without you...." Conrad said it quietly so that he wouldn't be heard. Even if there was no one else in the cemetery but him. He looked at the tombstone with sympathy.
".....I hope you're in a better place now." Conrad said with a trembling voice, his voice was full of sadness but the boy wasn't completely sad. He took off his glasses and wiped away the tears that had accumulated in him. After he wiped away his tears, he put on his glasses and cautiously approached the headstone. He placed his right hand on the headstone.
"Sleep well, let nothing disturb you." Conrad quietly said goodbye. He went to the emergency gatess and opened them. When he stepped outside the cemetery and closed the gates, he looked at them for the last time.
"Bye, dad." Conrad whispered. He was about to fly out when he heard a voice:
"Have you visited anyone?" A male voice said from Conrad's right side. He turned sharply and saw a car with round headlights, the body of the car was white. The car, judging by the voice, was not young, but at the same time not quite old, the eyes were purple and there were shadows under the eyes. The boy was more surprised by the appearance of this car, which the car noticed.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Looks like you didn't expect to see anyone here." The car apologized to Conrad. The boy came to his senses and found speech.
"It's okay, but .... are you ... a tourist?" Conrad asked the car. The car chuckled slightly at this.
"Something like that. My wife and I travel when we have the opportunity." The car answered the boy's question. Conrad nodded at this, confirming that he had heard the answer. The car looked at the boy, then at the gates.
"So...why are you here at night?" The car asked the boy. Conrad looked at the gates, then at the car. Sighing, the boy answered:
"I was visiting my dad. During the day...I wouldn't have time, so I came at night." The boy replied, the car didn't gasp much in surprise.
"You don't.... have a dad?" the car asked bluntly but with a hint of interest. Conrad nodded.
"No dad, no mom. I was adopted recently, but the new family is not so bad. In fact, my new parent is good. But I asked people who my biological parents are and I sometimes visit them." Conrad replied to question. The car just nodded at that and looked at the boy with sympathy.
"Oh, you have my condolences." The car said with sympathy, the boy did not know how to react to this.
"Thank you." Conrad replied. He didn't expect anyone to sympathize with him. Still, a lot of time has passed since the death of his parents.
"Do you live far away from here? I mean while you're in town." Conrad asked the car.
"Not very far. I just decided to look around for now. But I don't know this town very well yet." The car answered the boy. The boy nodded, indicating that he had heard the answer.
"May I ask what's on your back? It looks heavy." The car asked Conrad. Conrad realized that he needed to get out of this.
"Just an unusual briefcase." Conrad answered the car's question. Conrad sometimes has to lie, even if he doesn't want to.
"Is that rhombus on your cheek?" the car asked Conrad.
"I just drew it on myself, still can't wash it off." Conrad replied with a tone like he really can't wash off the rhombus.
"I see." The car replied to Conrad's answer. The car saw that the boy had a rescue symbol on his right sleeve.
"And this symbol..?" The car asked with mild surprise. Conrad saw the symbol and began to make excuses.
"Ah, that's... It's an individual award for passing one quiz." Conrad answered the car's question. The car was surprised by this but then calmed down. The car nodded.
"I see. I thought you might know my son." The car said, surprising Conrad. The car noticed this surprise and began to explain.
"My wife and I have not seen our son for more than 5 years. He rarely writes letters, and even then only to my wife. Sometimes he asks about me, but this is rare." the car explained this moment to the boy. The boy was surprised by this. He didn't know how to react to this.
"W...why don't you communicate? I don't mean through letters." Conrad asked the car. The car looked sadly at the road before answering the boy's question.
"Let's just say....Something happened in the past and I caused it. Then he moved and didn't come." The car replied to Conrad's question. Conrad was surprised by this. He didn't know what to say to that. He was overcome with curiosity but he did not want to pick someone else's wound. He did not ask further about this case. The car remembered something.
"You know, because of the colors on your sweater, you remind me a little of him." Car noted this moment. Conrad glanced at the sweater he was wearing, it was almost all blue. Conrad was surprised by this.
"My son would probably like your style." The car said.
"Um...Thank you?" Conrad thanked him uncertainly. He didn't know if that was a compliment.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you." The car apologized to the boy.
"It's okay, um..." Conrad couldn't say the name of the car, which the car noticed.
"Dan." The car called his name. Conrad will be a little easier with that.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Dan." Conrad said. Dan was surprised at Conrad's polite manner of speech but still did not comment on it.
"You can just call me Dan." Dan clarified, Conrad, although he received permission from the car, just call him by his name, but out of politeness decided to add Mr.
"Conrad, nice to meet you." The boy introduced himself.
"Unusual name, in a good way. My wife would love your name." Dan said. Conrad took it as a compliment.
"Thank you." Conrad said, Dan smiled faintly.
"Forgive me for asking, but does your parent know you're here?" Dan asked Conrad.
"Well, I left a note so she knows." Conrad replied. Dan was surprised.
"Looks like you're one of those who trust the new parent. It's just that I don't see people like you very often." Dan said.
"Well, not all new parents are bad. She's really good." Conrad said, he deliberately did not talk about Kim, after all, some points need to be omitted.
"I partly agree with you on this. After all, there are children who do not want to be in a foster family." Dan said
"Maybe but I'm not one of those kids." Conrad explained his position.
"Well, judging by the fact that you're not complaining about your new family. You're right about that." Dan said. Conrad smiled faintly.
"Where do you live?" Conrad asked Dan.
"Across the ocean. We don't travel very often, so we're not much of a traveller." Dan answered the question.
"I see. How long are you here?" Conrad said. He felt that one of the rescuers approached but for some reason did not show themself. The boy pretended that nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
"For 1 week." Dan replied. Conrad nodded and noticed Dan looking down the road. Dan continued:
"Judging from the address where my son sent letters from, he lives here and... that's part of my reason why I chose this town." Dan explained to Conrad his choice of travel destination. Conrad began to put the puzzle together and had one plausible guess.
"Do you want to see your son?" Conrad asked Dan.
"Yes. As I said, a lot of time has passed since then." Dan answered the question, confirming Conrad's guess.
"And if he doesn't want to see you?" Conrad asked without thinking, he understood this and wanted to apologize for the stupid question but he didn't have time and heard the answer:
"I won't blame him for that. If I was him, I would act like him. Only, unlike him, I would completely tear myself away from the family. And he still communicates with us, more precisely with my wife. So we are different in this regard." Dan answered Conrad's question. Conrad felt slightly ill at the answer he heard. He wanted to give Dan hope, a little hope but some hope.
"Maybe all is not lost. I mean, if he sees that you've changed since then, maybe he'll let you talk." Conrad tried to explain to Dan what he meant. Dan smiled sadly.
"I want to believe it but given what I've done....he probably won't want to talk to me." Dan said with sadness and resignation. Conrad was puzzled.
"What have you done that he won't want to talk to you?" Conrad asked Dan cautiously.
"I've done a lot of bad things, my boy." Dan replied with sadness, Conrad did not know how to react to this tone in Dan's voice
"Although....." Dan began to speak, which attracted the attention of the boy. Dan continued, "Perhaps Poli really tried to talk but I rejected him. Which I can't forgive myself." Dan finished his thought. Conrad went into shock, he decided to
"Is your son's name.... is Poli?" Conrad asked Dan uncertainly, to which Dan nodded. Conrad could not utter a word. Dan saw the shock in the boy's eyes and was surprised by it.
"Why did you ask?" Dan asked Conrad, Conrad realized that he needed to come up with something, and quickly.
"Ah ... It's just an unusual name and I decided to clarify whether I heard it right, otherwise it happens that I make mistakes with names by ear." Conrad answered Dan's question. Dan was surprised but he believed it.
"I see." Dan said. Conrad was grateful in his heart that Dan believed him. Dan looked back at the road.
"I think it's time for both of us to go. After all, it's better for both of us not to make our people worry." Dan said. Conrad nodded in agreement.
"Good night." Conrad said.
"Good night." Dan said and drove straight ahead, leaving Conrad alone. Conrad watched Dan until he disappeared. Conrad understood that he was waiting for a conversation with the rescuer, who saw part of this conversation. As he mentally prepared for this conversation, he heard a familiar voice:
"You know, when I was your age, I didn't have the courage to lie to my father." Conrad recognized that voice. He turned and saw Poli, who was not angry, which surprised Conrad.
"Are you...are you not angry?" Conrad asked Poli.
"Actually, I didn't tell my parents about you and Kim, so you kind of did the right thing by not telling him you knew me." Poli explained to Conrad what he meant. Conrad was surprised. It was a small surprise for him to hear something like that.
"So...is he alone?" Poli asked Conrad. Conrad didn't understand what Poli meant at first, when he did, he replied.
"No, he's here with his wife." Conrad replied. Poli breathed a sigh of relief. Conrad smiled slightly.
"Looks like this week isn't going to be that bad for you, is it?" Conrad asked Poli.
"Okay, you got me here. I can still talk to my mom but I'm not sure about my father." Poli said. Conrad noticed a change in Poli's voice. He didn't know if he should ask Poli about the incidents that had affected Poli's relationship with his father but he didn't want to pressure the police car.
"Let's go home, I'll more or less explain what happened there." Poli said, Conrad nodded and activated the jetpack. Together with Poli, they headed to the rescue station. After some time they returned to the station, but did not go inside. They decided to talk outside.
"I suppose you checked our room this time?" Conrad asked Poli.
"Yes..." Poli answered Conrad's question, knowing the reason why Conrad wasn't at home. "How did you visit him? If you don't count the conversation with..my father." Poli asked Conrad.
"Not bad, there were no incidents." Conrad replied, which pleased Poli.
"Glad to hear it." Poli said, Conrad smiled faintly at that.
"Do the others know that I was in the cemetery?" Conrad asked Poli.
"No, I didn't wake up the others and went after you myself." Poli replied.
"I see." Conrad said.
"So....what did I miss in your conversation?" Poli asked Conrad.
"Well... He asked who I was visiting why I have this jetpack on my back and a rhombus on my cheek. He was also surprised because of the sweater and said that because of the colors on my sweater, it reminds him a little of you." Conrad explained some points from the conversation. Poli didn't comment on it, he just nodded.
"*Sigh* I guess you're wondering why I'm not talking to him." Poli began to speak, Conrad began to listen intently. "As my father told you earlier, he did not exactly good things, I fought with him more than once. The last straw was that he kicked me out of the house." Poli said, Conrad was surprised at this.
"... Why did he kick you out?" Conrad asked, first he heard a mirthless chuckle from Poli, then he heard the following:
"For wanting to become who I am now." Poli explained. Conrad froze, trying to process what he had heard. But he was surprised by the answer and one puzzle clicked in his head.
"He..... he didn't want.. you to be the rescuer?" Conrad asked Poli, who nodded.
"Honestly, I don't know why he didn't want it. He didn't normally tell me why." Poli said, Conrad was slightly surprised. It was too much to digest so quickly.
"Oh...sorry to bring up the wounds of the past." Conrad apologized to Poli.
"It's okay, sooner or later I have to explain to all of you what happened between us. And a lot of time has passed since then." Poli said, accepting the boy's apology.
"Wait, does anyone know why you don't communicate with your father? Well, if you don't take into account the fact that we recently visited you." Conrad asked Poli.
"Well..they only know that my father and I have a little bit of trouble communicating with each other. I told them about the reasons in a nutshell but they don't know the full picture." Poli explained. Conrad nodded to indicate that he had heard it.
"I think it's time for both of us to sleep. And you have a lot of work tomorrow." Conrad said, Poli nodded. Indeed, it was quite late. Conrad understood the importance of sleep for others, which is why he didn't go out often, or rather, he had since he and Kim started living with rescuers. For the rest to sleep peacefully. Conrad was about to go inside when he heard Poli's voice:
"Hey." Conrad looked at Poli in surprise. "Thank you for not saying I was there...and pretending you didn't know me." Poli said, Conrad understood what he was talking about and smiled faintly.
"You're welcome. It's just...I thought maybe he shouldn't know some of the details." Conrad said, Poli looked at the boy in surprise, then giggled a little.
"He and Mom would definitely go crazy if they found out what's going on with us. Especially Mom." Poli said this, realizing that he would have to omit some moments from his life.
"Is she scary when she's angry?" Conrad asked Poli, remembering how Jin is when she's angry.
"She doesn't know how to get angry but she knows how to give lectures that really scared me when I was 7 or 8 years old." Poli explained what he meant.
"Ahh, I was already afraid that she beat you like me-" Conrad abruptly covered his mouth with both hands. He stopped himself too late and Poli heard what the boy said. The boy saw the confusion in Poli's eyes.
"Repeat that part." Poli said it with a tone of bewilderment and a desire to understand what he had just heard. Conrad sighed with resignation and reluctance at the same time.
"Do you remember I had a scar here instead of a rhombus?" Conrad asked and pointed to his right cheek. Poli nodded, to which Conrad continued, "I told you, the rest of the rescuers and the doctors at the hospital, that I accidentally cut myself. But....that was a lie. Actually it was because of my mother." Conrad said this with shame in his voice.
"How did this happen?" Poli asked Conrad, who didn't look at the police car out of shame.
"Out of ignorance, I told her that I was at yours with the guys additional lectures that you conducted. And she was already under the influence of bad substances and for the first few minutes after my words she looked at me as if I had done something bad. Then in an instant she took hammer and broke the bottle, which was already empty. I don't know where she got it from, maybe this hammer lay next to her before I came or something else but that's not the point. Then, staggering, she walked towards me, I tried to explain to her what was happening. But ... she did not listen to me. As a result, she swung hard and hit the sharp ends of the bottle in my right cheek. She then said that if I even mentioned you one more time, she would kill me." Conrad explained what really happened. For Poli, this was not what he expected to hear.
"She was afraid that I would betray her at your lectures. Or maybe she just didn't like you. I don't know, but she was one of the reasons I had to learn to lie. I don't know if she was telling the truth or lied .... I decided to go to your classes secretly... so she wouldn't know." Conrad added to himself, Poli was silent so as not to miss the details. When Conrad finished, Poli looked at Conrad with a sympathetic look. There was a slight sense of guilt in his eyes. Conrad said this with a slight fear, which Poli noticed.
"Conrad, she won't touch you now. And besides, she's not here anymore. You're with us now." Poli tried to calm Conrad down, which helped a little.
"Let's talk about it tomorrow afternoon, if we can. If you want, it will be just between us. I won't tell anyone if you don't want others to know." Poli offered Conrad a condition. Conrad smiled faintly and nodded.
"Same for you." Conrad said, Poli smiled weakly in response.
"Deal. Good night, Conrad." Poli said and went to his room.
"Good night, Poli." Conrad said and also went to his room. When Conrad entered the room, Kim was still asleep, but it looks like he will wake up soon. Therefore, Conrad quickly and silently, as best he could, changed his clothes and went to bed.