empire | park sunghoon

10] Sunghoon

That evening Sunghoon felt no regrets. He broke his usual routine for Hana and it felt better than ever. He knew that his regrets would suddenly grow on him later on, probably as soon as he sees his mother, but helping Hana out felt better than ever. He had dropped her off outside of her house, making sure that she got in so that nothing happened as soon as he turned his back. On the inside, he was still worried to death about her and those worries would never leave him. 

"I'm home!" he shouted as he hung off his bucket hat and walked into the kitchen. His mother turned to him with a bright smile as she moved the boiling pasta from the stove. 

"Hi honey! Where have you been? You're usually home all the time. Did you hang out with Jay?" Since Jay lived next door and they often walked in between his mother was more familiar with Jay, even if she had met Niki too. 

"Actually" he started, making himself flustered at what he was gonna say. He knew that as soon as he dropped the word 'girl' she would tease him about it. "I hung out with a girl from school" as soon as he said it her face rose up in happiness. Which made Sunghoon smile brightly to himself. 

She turned everything off just to make sure that nothing would start a fire. Sunghoon continued watching her and as she had set everything aside, she hugged him. It felt warm and safe, he could feel how the excitement was flowing through her. 

"My Hoonie is growing up!" the nickname only made him blush. He was only comfortable with it when it came from her. She could call him anything and he would obviously still love her. Even if it was something bad. "Please Sunghoon, I know how you feel... But please don't be afraid this time. If she's a good one, let her in" his mother continued against his shoulder, which made the mood switch immediately. All he could do was nod. Hana felt like a trustworthy person, sooner or later she would know. But would she stay for him? 

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The next day in school Sunghoon entered with Jay and Niki. Hana notified them that she was gonna come later today, but they didn't know why. He made sure to remember to ask her later on, if she was okay with answering it. Niki as usual parted with them and promised to meet them by lunch. When they entered class everyone was looking at them curiously, mostly wondering where Hana is. The new girl hanging out with them got pretty well known in class. Mostly because Jay is a very popular guy. 

"What is everyone so curious about?" Sunghoon asked Jay, making sure everyone heard so they could get back into their senses and stop being curious of their lives. As an answer Jay had just shrugged and sat down, leaning onto the wall. 

Sunghoon kept looking around, feeling weird that Hana's seat was empty. Her seat in this class was beside him, which made him feel empty without her presence. Just as the teacher came into class, Sunghoon heard loud fast steps in the hall. Before the teacher could even say something, a tired girl ran into class. That girl being Hana, taking everyone by surprise that her hair was wet from the rain outside. 

"I'm sorry to startle everyone, I hope I didn't miss anything" Hana said in a low voice, walking towards her seat. As she walked towards Sunghoon and Jay, Sunghoon could hear whispers coming from the girls around her. 

Why is she dressed liked that? There was nothing wrong with her clothes, Sunghoon found her beautiful in anything. She was wearing a grey hoodie and blue jeans. The hoodie was slightly bigger, making her look really cute and... cuddly? Is she after them? There were no signs of it and if someone happened to date it wasn't their thing to care about. She was still a new girl here, they hadn't known each other for long but Sunghoon would make sure to step out of his quiet zone if he had to, for her only. 

"Did something happened? Why couldn't you walk with us?" Sunghoon leaned over and whispered to Hana. She didn't answer, she just put her arms on the table and buried her face in them. "Are you okay?" he tried whispering but she wasn't reachable at all. Maybe lunch would be a better time to talk... 

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"Niki could you help me?" Sunghoon ran up to Niki at lunch, not caring about the line that would get longer and longer. He had to know what was wrong. Niki looked up, startled at the sudden raise of voice but nodded quickly. 

"Hana has been acting down since she came in today, she didn't walk to school with us as you know too. I'm worried but she won't tell me anything, could you maybe... talk to her?" Sunghoon started talking faster because of all the worry, but him talking about Hana only made Niki smile. "What are you smiling at?" 

Niki only shook his head as he stood up. He gave Sunghoon a pat on the shoulder and just smiled as he did a minute before. Which left Sunghoon confused. He tried to quick go back into his senses and turned around to see Niki already take Hana out of the lunch line. Hopefully Sunghoon could make it up by buying her food later on. 

He walked out of the cafeteria to find Hana. On the way out Jay looked at him with confused eyes. When is he not confused these days? All of this must be too much for him as Sunghoon suddenly was talking to someone else than him. He promised himself to spend more time with Jay. 

As he strolled down the halls he heard voices as he was about to turn left into another corridor. He stopped and tried guessing the voice, only to find out it belonged to Niki. 

"He is worried about you. I won't tell him if it's too personal, but I'm here to listen to you"  he heard Niki's voice say, he could also hear the worry in his voice. 

"I- ugh" Hana said trying to get something out but her breaths only got quicker together with her tears trying to get out. Sunghoon still stopped himself from walking to them, since eavesdropping made him feel bad already. He took a few steps back, hoping that Niki could tell him later if Hana wanted to, but Hana's words stopped him. 

"Mom is in the hospital"