Frost

if my wings could fly

"Where the fuck is it?"

Yeonjun sighed, slumping against the cool brick wall. "I just transferred it."

"I just checked! It's not there."

"Well then I don't know what to tell you. Check again." His patience was dwindling.

"Don't get smart with me, boy." He could almost imagine her eyes narrowing as she refreshed the page.

Running a hand through his hair, he waits for her to check again, seconds away from hanging up. The fear of them tracking him down keeps him obedient, and so he stays on the line, listening to the woman's even breathing on the phone.

"I see it." She grunts begrudgingly. "Same amount, next week, Choi."

The line goes dead.

As he's about to head back in, he hears footsteps behind him. Instinct urges him into a sprint, and it's only Soobin's familiar voice that keeps him from fleeing.

His cousin's eyes are stormy as he glares at him. "Yeonjun."

The pink-haired boy has the thought to at least look guilty. "Fancy seeing you here...?"

Soobin stares back, unimpressed. "This is a bank."

"Oh." He cranes his head up, studying the marble sign for a few seconds. "Cool."

"Hyung." Soobin's voice is softer, quieter. "I thought you paid them back? Oh my god, are you running from loan sharks again?!"

Rolling his eyes, Yeonjun pushes off from the wall he was leaning against. "Say that louder, will you?"

"Oh my god, you are."

"Shuttup."

"How much do you owe?"

"Enough."

He leaves Soobin gaping after him, walking in the direction of his dorm.

"Hey." Beomgyu catches up to him on their little hike, watching him kick pebbles for a while.

"Hey." He plasters a smile across his face, and hopes it looks genuine.

"You look like your grandma just died." the younger boy calls his bullshit.

Yeonjun swats at him, kicking another pebble. A polaroid camera in his hands, he stops to take a picture of the nearby flower bush, focusing on a trembling butterfly.

He feels like that butterfly – broken wings, lost in a forest with less and less light, no energy to move, to fly and leave.

They're far ahead of the other boys now, walking back to the car quietly after a long day out.

"It's Kai's birthday, you know."

Yeonjun looks up. "Huh?"

"August 14th." Beomgyu smiles fondly. "A summer kid through and through."

Yeonjun falls into step with him, listening.

"Soobin told us when we were in that flower field earlier. Remember? The one Taehyun insisted was private property?"

Yeonjun could feel the corners of his mouth curling up. "Was it?"

"Who knows?" Beomgyu shrugs, pulling his jacket tighter around his shoulders. "Probably."

They walk for a while more.

"Sometimes I wonder if he knows more than us."

"Hm?"