Mission Wall-E || Jakehoon

Six: Butterfly

When Sunghoon finally worked up the courage to ask his parents if he could travel with the boys he met in the gas station, he got the fastest 'no' he's ever heard. He hadn't even got a chance to explain the whole plan before he was denied. And honestly, it was his breaking point.

All the years of telling himself he was fine with constantly obeying his parents fell down the trash. Every tiny thing he had asked for and been denied of filled his bloodstream. He was angry and overwhelmed.

He didn't like feeling big emotions like this. Ones that made him feel like he was stumbling down the cliff of a mountain, or falling under big salty waves on the beach. He didn't even like crying. And he didn't like wishing he had snuck out his window to hang out with Sunoo that one time, instead of being so caught up on the idea of being perfect. Or not dying his hair as he had always wanted to, just because he was afraid his dad would get mad at him like how he got mad at his brother.

His brother was off the charts. He was fourteen but was already sneaking alcohol from the fridge in the basement, climbing onto their roof to vape, and sneaking out with his little girlfriend who was a terrible influence. And he was incredibly stupid. If he was going to do all these bad things he should at least be smarter about hiding them. That's what Sunghoon had told him last week when he came upstairs after another fight over how he was 'falling down the wrong path'. He also told him that he was even stressing him out, with as much he was getting grounded. The more his parents got mad at him the more Sunghoon felt on edge, and the more they'd get mad at him for the very tiny things he'd do wrong himself.

Recently they'd scold him for missing skating practice or going to bed too late, and not applying for colleges or getting a job after he quit his last one. And they'd leave those things alone, but with the irritation that came with his brother came the irritation of their other kid that did basically nothing wrong. Sunghoon had never drank, failed a class, did drugs, snuck out, got detentions, or dated someone they didn't like. He was perfect and nice but they still didn't let him do the things he wanted to. He couldn't hang out with Jungwon often because he lived in a "shady" neighborhood and used to have a drug problem, not even caring that he had helped Sunghoon so much over the past couple of weeks of them being friends. And he couldn't go to the movies by himself, or wear revealing clothing. Which had only been something he pushed to the side up until they rejected his biggest want of going to Arizona.

Every fiber of his being wanted to go there. And they knew that. He had been talking about it for the last three years now. But they still told him no without even having a discussion.

But while he was sulking in his room he decided he no longer cared about what they said. He was nineteen and could make his own decisions now. Just as long as he didn't live under their roof.

He needed to get out.

He couldn't go to Sunoo's, he'd loose his mind and his parents freak him out. He couldn't go Jungwon's, he already was having trouble feeding himself, he didn't need another mouth to feed. And he didn't really know anyone else.

Expect for his cousin. Who he hadn't talk to years. His cousin was nice, and his parents had claimed him as their favorite neighphew once so it wasn't that too far of a thing to ask.

"Sunghoon?"

"I need a place to stay. Like now. I know it's a lot to ask, but do you think Auntie will let me stay at yours for a month or so?"

"Um, I live on my own now, but you can probably stay at mine for a bit. But why? Did something happen?

"I just can't live with Mom and Dad anymore. And I'm taking a trip to America for a few months soon so It won't be long I promise."