Little Ba Reum AU - The roads not taken

Chapter 3

The road towards Ba Reum was filled with apprehension, and Chi Kook barely could sit still in his seat.

"Can't you go a bit faster?" he asked his father, feeling his caregiver instincts clawing on his mind.

"Speed limits," Chi kook's father muttered, also feeling concern for his son's friend, but not wanting to risk their lives. Dong Koo was shifting nervously on the back seat, worried but for Chi Kook it took a whole other lever.

It was the caregiver in him that made it difficult to breath in situations like this. There was this extra need in him, to make sure that everyone around him was taken care of, but no one was around to take care off, leaving the need unfulfilled.

Of course, he knew his friend wasn't a little, but he did have to admit that Ba Reum caused his caregiver instincts to rear its head a little more often than his other peers did. It was easy to see that Ba Reum didn't have the best of childhoods, the way he was surprised over little things that others took for granted.

And even though the man had a tendency, a bit like Chi Kook, to see that everyone was taken care off before his own needs were met, it had a different feel to it than Chi Kook's mother hen behaviour.

By they time they arrived, Chi Kook's anxiety was going full throttle, and he almost tripped while getting out of the car.

"His aunt's car is gone," Dong Koo said, looking around the vicinity, but not seeing the vehicle.

"You think she might have gone somewhere with him, for his birthday?" Chi Kook's dad offered, "perhaps he forgot to tell us, or it was a surprise?"

It would have sounded as something plausible, if it hadn't been Ba Reum. Both Chi Kook and Dong Koo knew that Ba Reum's aunt would never do something like that, and even if she did, Ba Reum would not have forgotten to warn them.

"I don't think so, dad," Chi Kook said, "she couldn't even be bothered to get him from school when he was feeling bad and pooped himself during gym,"

"Right. Mom went," Chi Kook's dad said, frowning, "she did say that she felt bad about leaving him home alone, but he insisted,"

"Well, uhm, let's just check it out," Chi kook said, approaching the house and glad that Ba Reum had bothered to give them spare keys to the front door a while ago.

It had been another red flag moment, Dong Koo telling him that Ba Reum had been locked out a few times before for one reason or the other.

"Yeah, he asked to borrow some money from me and all," Dong Koo had said, something Ba Reum was always loathe to do unless really necessary. It didn't make sense for him to pay for extra keys, nor to not have any extra money even though he worked after school.

Whatever the reason was back then for the extra key right now, he was happy he got it, especially when no one answered the door after ringing the bell or knocking.

His hands shook when he tried to get the door open, and Dong Koo needed to push him to the side to take it over from him. Opening the door, they were immediate met with the sound of muffled sobs, clearly coming from inside the house.

"See, something's wrong," Chi Kook said, his face pale while he immediately rushed off towards the source of the noise, Dong Koo only a step behind, and his father following the two youngers, worry clear on his face.

"Ba Reum?" Chi Kook called out, alarmed, finally having found the source of the crying. Opening Ba Reum's bedroom door, he saw his friend lying in bed, sobbing openly.

"Ba Reum? What's wrong?" Chi Kook asked, hurrying to his friend and kneeling beside him. The figure shot up in surprise, and looked at Chi Kook with wide-eyes, tears staining his cheeks and snot coating the underside of his face.