granny

15// hard fall

some more minho in the red pants bc i love a london boy minho concept

minho ran into the house, slammed the flour and sugar on the garden table and sprinted up the stairs where jisung was, calmly rubbing his hair with a towel to dry it.

the intruder slammed the room door shut and ran up to the boy, grabbing onto his waist very harshly. jisung was startled and smiled, starting to say something.

"mi-"

"i met an old friend," minho blurted out fast, "he thought you were dead."

jisung was taken aback and his hands trembled as he threw his towel on the bed, "w-what?"

"yes. he presented condolences and when i asked why, he said that. granny told people here that you died, jisung," the older shook the boy in his arms involuntarily as he whimpered.

"n-no.. i.. is that.. what she meant..," the shorter stuttered and put his hands to his lips, "s-she didn't want me t-to g-go out.."

"oh my god," minho whispered and finally released the other but his hands were still shaking, "we need to leave as soon as possible."

"w-why would she want people to think that..? wha-what does s-s-she get f-from it?"

"listen to me, it doesn't matter," the older interrupted, "we should leave tomorrow. the village with the shop has a bus that comes every day and stops at daegu. we'll get something to incheon after," he thought aloud. this plan had been at the back of his head since he first went to that faraway shop.

jisung nodded but couldn't make out any words. minho took his waist again, this time more tenderly, and tried to crack a smile of comfort, though it was clear he was also distressed.

"hey, don't worry. we'll just wake up tomorrow, get our things and tell them that we're leaving. we just have to sleep here tonight, okay?"

the younger nodded again and tears started streaming down his cheeks.

*

"you know, jungwoo said something about grandpa," minho whispered as they were lying down in bed, their stuff all packed and ready to go. it was still early, about 8 am, and the bus wasn't leaving until the afternoon.

jisung lifted his face inquisitively.

"he said he was suspected of setting houses on fire, including mum's family's house from when she was a maiden."

"wait, really? is that where he got the burns from?"

"apparently he had them before. but jungwoo said he's ill-tempered. the hammer thing confirms it."

"do you think he'd really burn his own daughter-in-law's house down?"

"well, she wasn't his daughter-in-law yet back then," minho clicked his tongue.

"you know, i remembered something i heard the other day, when you were locked out. it's not really related but they argued about having two of something here. maybe it was about us, i couldn't really tell at the time," jisung admitted after they fell into silence.

"but they said, 'we can say the other one didn't arrive at all, since nobody's seen him'," the boy started tearing up.

"why didn't you tell me?," minho patted his head gently, "we should've left earlier."

jisung shrugged, "it's fine. just go shower and let's go."

"it's too early though," the older chuckled, "we'd have to wait for hours.."

"so what? the weather is nice."

minho giggled and lifted himself off the bed, going to the bathroom to take his last shower in this house.

*

minho took a while to shower, more than jisung thought he would if he would be washing his hair. the younger was staying in his room, in bed, lying on minho's side, head buried in his pillow, almost falling asleep.

when he thought it was taking too long though, jisung decided to go check on the other and rolled out of bed, walking slowly towards the bathroom. the door was closed but the water wasn't running and jisung knocked on the door gently.

there was no reply and he decided to enter, since there was nothing that minho could possibly be doing in total silence that would make him not respond. he pushed down the handle and pulled open the door to reveal minho, lying on the floor, with his eyes closed.

"oh my god," jisung mumbled and looked around. as expected, nobody was in sight so he ran to his room to grab his phone as he shouted, "granny!"

he didn't know why he did that but his first reflex when an emergency was occurring, was to call an adult.

"granny!"

finally, the woman peeked from the corridor, "what is it?," she asked in annoyance but her jaw dropped when she caught sight of minho on the floor, "what did you do?"

jisung bit his lip and shouted out, "nothing, i just found him," though the lady seemed to be exclaiming that more towards herself than him, "what do i do? help me wake him up!"

"hit him," she replied, "hard. it will get him to his senses."

jisung eyed her doubtfully but put one hand to his mouth and used the other one to slap minho's cheek. it was gentle but still made his head move, "like that?"

"harder. hit him to the ground," granny advised and fixed her grey eyes on the unconscious body in an almost blood-thirsty manner, and jisung realised that he probably shouldn't trust anything she says.

"i'm calling an ambulance," the boy stated and dialled the number on his phone, then stood up to reach service better.

"no, he'll wake up. there's no need for that," the old woman sharply stated and tried to take the phone but it was already ringing and jisung was faster, "come on, he only fell down. emergency? don't be ridiculous!"

but the boy was already on the phone and someone picked up. he gave the address and waited together with a very displeased and grumpy-looking granny.

soon enough, the medics came and took minho in, as well as jisung since the patient was unconscious. granny insisted on him staying but the personnel told her that it was jisung's right to be an attendant and left her at the house. grandpa was nowhere to be seen.