- Third Person POV -
"Y-You two..." Seungcheol let out a shaky breath of relief. "I can't believe I finally found you."
"Cheol!" Tears surfaced in Jeonghan's eyes at the site of Seungcheol.
"Papa!" Chan cried running into Seungcheol's arms. "Waa!! Papa, you found us!"
"Chan, are you okay?" Are you hurt anywhere?" Seungcheol hugged Chan back caressing his back.
"P-Papa, we fell... And... And it started raining..." Chan hiccupped with tears trying to explain. "T-The thunder was so scary..."
"Yes, don't worry. Papa's here now..." Seungcheol cupped Chan's face and kissed his forehead. "...I've got you."
"Cheol..." Jeonghan lips quivered, and his body trembled. He clenched his clothes getting ready to get yelled at. "I... I am so sorry."
Seungcheol looked at Jeonghan angrily. "Yeah, what the hell were you thinking!?"
"I... Didn't think it would turn out like t-this..." Jeonghan looked down too afraid to look Seungcheol's eyes. "...It's because of me that Chan was put in danger. I'm so sorry."
"No, Papa! Chanie ran off even though Uncle told me not to!" Chan grabbed Seungcheol's arms tightly. "Uncle even got hurt trying to protect me!"
"Huh? Is that true?" Seungcheol's head snapped towards Chan and his face was quickly painted with regret. He immediately looked back at Jeonghan who was beginning to curl into himself. He reached out his hand and cupped his face. "You're injured? Where?"
"Y-You probably won't trust me ever again..." Jeonghan's mind was too clouded to recognize Seungcheol. "...Let alone forgive me."
"Please let me see." Seungcheol clenched his teeth trying his best to not cry himself seeing that Jeonghan was in pain. It hurt him.
"We shouldn't have left..." Jeonghan cried.
"Han...
"N-No, why do you always have to see me like this?" Jeonghan covered his mouth to control his sobs, but Seungcheol only pulled away his hands to look at Jeonghan.
Seungcheol wanted to see Jeonghan even if he was in his broken state.
"W-Why do I always mess everything up? I just wanted to help you out... To fill in while you're gone. You've been looking after me ever since I moved in. I wanted to do the same for you and Chan... But instead, I..."
Seungcheol couldn't take it any longer. To think that Jeonghan thought so much about him made him feel...
Loved...
Seungcheol pulled Jeonghan into his embrace. "Shh... It's alright. I under, you're both safe and that's all that matters. I'm not mad or anything, okay? Besides, I'm at fault too... Thank you for trying your best to keep Chan safe."
"B-But..." Jeonghan cried like a baby and hugged Seungcheol back wanting to be in his comfort.
"No more, it's over now." Seungcheol assured running circles on Jeonghan's back to calm him down. "We need to get you both home so I can tend to your injuries."
"Uncle crying is making Chanie cry!" Chan sniffed and then ran to them. "I wanna join the hug too!"
"Come her kiddo." Seungcheol smiled making some space between him and Jeonghan for Chan to fit into.
><><><><
Step!
"Huh?" Wonwoo snapped his head around at the sound of footsteps.
"You guys!" Jisoo ran to them.
"HAN! CHAN!" Seokmin followed.
The friends had gathered together safely.
They made their way down the mountain together carefully hand in hand in order to not get lost.
Jeonghan took a seat in Seungcheol's car with Chan in the back as he stared out the window at him.
"Don't worry about Han. I'll patch him up at home, he'll be fine." Seungcheol assured the worried Officer Wonwoo.
"Alright, drive safely." Wonwoo waved goodbye making his way home.
"Thanks. You too." Seungcheol waved back and walked yawning. "I can't wait to dry up and change."
"Cheol!" Seokmin ran to Seungcheol. "Hey about what happened earlier. I admit we took it too far."
"We're sorry." Minghao peeked from behind Seokmin.
"No up guys just didn't want to waste any more time. It's understandable. Sorry for going off on you." Seungcheol chuckled patting Seokmin's head. "And about what you said... I didn't realize that I've been making it so hard for you all these years. I'll try not to trouble you anymore. I'll see you tomorrow at work. You too Ming, see you around."
"Cheol..." Seokmin mumbled seeing Seungcheol walk back to his car as if he was drifting away from them.
><><><><
Seungcheol drove through the night carefully.
"You should have taken all the toys. No one's going to be playing with those in that old fort." Jeonghan chuckled watching Chan play around with the male doll in his hands.
"We can come back to get them." Chan smiled.
"Sure, but we're definitely not taking your cliff shortcut next time! There's actually a safe route if you follow the signs." Seungcheol looked at Jeonghan through the rearview mirror.
"Oh yeah, you even put-up clues and windchimes! Quite the creative kid you were, huh?" Jeonghan looked back at Seungcheol.
"And the fort was super cool! Did you make it by yourself, Papa?" Chan asked with stars in his eyes.
"Nah, someone made it fort for me. I was just 10 back then, I couldn't do much with a saw and hammer." Seungcheol smiled as he remembered the past looking back ahead at the road.
"Oh? Who?"
"It was my father..." Seungcheol began telling his tale. "I remember him asking me what gift I wanted. I told him I've always wanted an awesome fort where my friends and I could play. He started making it that very same day...
"I was thrilled but at the same time confused because it wasn't my birthday or anything like that. He wasn't the type who spoiled me either. I soon found out that it was a goodbye gift. My parents separated the next month. I barely saw him after that, but I still waited for him in that fort every day...
"I thought maybe if I disappeared in the forest, he'd come home worried and help look for me. The clues and signs scattered in the forest were all for him y'know. In case he forgot the way. I'd stay in that fort even after dark waiting for him...
"He never did come though, in the end. It would be Mr. Lui and other neighbors coming to get me before Mom came from work. Eventually, I accepted the fact that he wouldn't be coming home and stopped going back to that place for good. And the... I just forgot about it, I guess...
"Honestly, everything is a blur. If I didn't see the chimes and the actual fort it wouldn't even cross my mind. What sticks is the feeling of sitting there in the darkness alone thinking... ...Man, wouldn't it be great to be found?"
"You say you forgot about it, but you never really got over it did you?" Jeonghan wore a sad smile.
"I wouldn't say that it was such a long time ago..." Seungcheol chuckled.
"By the way, half of your audience is asleep." Jeonghan chuckled pointing at Chan who was deep in sleep beside him.
"Oh! Is he now? He must be really tired after such a long day." Seungcheol glanced at Chan through the rear-view mirror.
"Yeah, and he probably would've cried again if he heard the whole story."
"Sorry! I didn't mean to make it sound so awful! I got too carried away with the reminiscing."
"Nah, we all have a story, it's what makes us, us. Besides, the ending is quite nice." Jeonghan looked out the window.
"What do you mean?" Seungcheol raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"You can't say you've never been found. Mr. Lui and the neighbors, they all found you. Even your son, after almost two decades, found your fort. Sometimes we focus too much on the people who leave us instead of the ones who actually matter. Yes, it hurts but we can't dwell too much on that. We have to keep moving forward."
"Oh wow. Look at you, Mr. Expert-at-moving-on now?" Seungcheol chuckled happy to see Jeonghan breaking out of his shell.
"All those break-up books are finally paying off!" Jeonghan smiled feeling proud of himself. "People leave all the time. But at the same time, we'll meet new ones who will eventually become a big part of our lives. When that happens, we want to be smart enough to treat them better or at least not make the same mistakes as the ones who left us."
"Easier said than done..." Seungcheol scoffed remembering a certain event that haunted him.
"By the way... Cheol, my house is over there. You don't expect me to walk do you?" Jeonghan blinked with a smirk.
"Nope, we're fixing your foot first then you're sleeping over."
"Wait, why?" Jeonghan blushed. He did not expect the sudden invite.
"Well, I'm too tired to drag you up your second-floor room. Besides, the old lady is probably already asleep. We don't need to wake her up."
"O-Oh..."
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I wanted to ask if you guys would be interested in checking out my JeongCheol one-shot.
You can find it on my page in the first reading list I have under my published stories.
😊 I hope you find it interesting!
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Blau, THE DOCTORS ARE OUT EP 37
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If you have a second then please do ⭐️ Vote and Comment!
It truly means a lot to me. 😊
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Word Count: 1579
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PIRATING CONTENT IS ILLEGAL!
Ask for permission before translating!
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~ ALRIGHT752