❦ ɪɴғᴇʀɴᴏ ;; 【ᴀᴛᴇᴇᴢ】

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♪ Boy In The Bubble - Alec Benjamin

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Sophie's pov:

"Do you remember your first encounter with the enemy in the movie theatre?" I nodded my head quickly. How could I forget? That was the first time I experienced an actual fight like they do in movies. The night that I will never forget.

"Well, the big guy who stalked you and tried to harm you was my real older brother. His name is Chanyeol. That bastard." My jaw dropped yet again as Seonghwa finished speaking. I didn't know how exactly I should even react. Seonghwa had a real brother, he is alive, and on top of that he works for Seonghwa's biggest enemy who even tried to hurt me? I looked at Seonghwa who looked unnerved but angry at the same time.

"How did he-" "Long story short, we were orphans, and we ran out of the orphanage when we were quite young. We had to live on streets and tried to survive by any means. That's when my older brother started feeling the need to do something else just than begging for food every single day, so he started stealing. First food, then money and slowly he got popular among local robbers and started hanging out with the runaway fam. I hated the work he was doing but it still filled our stomachs, and he was my older brother who was doing this for me after all, so I just ignored his ways.... until one day he came running excitedly how he met some real gangster and that the gangster wanted to recruit him in his gang because of his good physique and raw street fighting skills. I was initially happy at first because that meant we had a fixed income now and didn't have to worry about starving anymore but when I learned about the things that gang did to innocent people...I lost it. He was completely enjoying that lifestyle and had no intention of quitting after I talked to him so I just ran away the next day, trying to live by own sticking to stealing food from shops." He paused and I tried to process his story. That was a lot. He had suffered so much but he must be so daring to do all this at such a young age.

"What did the gang do? Cause you were stealing too so...." "At least we did not kill people before he joined the gang." His answer made me chuckle that I had to suppress. Hypocrisy at its finest. I wanted to ask him – "So you don't kill now?" but I kept the question to myself. Afterall, he really looked too sad and for a moment, I forgot that he was the same scary eldest one of the house. I just felt like giving him a tight hug for some reason.

"So, you and your brother separated ways and you later found out that the Costras recruited him? That must've angered you so much." I spoke again as he nodded, taking in the cool air and silent atmosphere. He pulled out a small bottle from his pocket and started pouring it down his throat.

Oh. That's not coffee.

"What the hell do you think you're doing drinking liquor in this state and at the top of the roof at that!?" I lunged tried to take the bottle away from him carefully trying not to fall but of course I failed. Even while sitting, he was too tall for me my hands barely could reach his as he held the bottle far away from him. I gave up immediately.

"Ah my head and heart feels lighter now that I spoke to somebody about this. Thank you for listening to me Sophie...you really are a good listener. It's always Hongjoong every year on this day listening to me talk about my brother but I wanted him to rest right now so everything was bottled up." He rested his head on his knees once again looking towards me as he gave me a very innocent smile. The alcohol surely was taking effect, but this was my first time seeing someone actually look red from drinking. He really was too good looking.

"Give me some, I need to drink my sadness away too." I extended my arm and Seonghwa passed me his bottle. I could barely read the brand but I chugged a lot of it anyways.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked passing the bottle back to Seonghwa. "Yes?"

"Does Yunho really love me?" I finally let out the question I never found the courage to ask myself either. Did I really want to know? What would Seonghwa even know about it anyway?

Seonghwa paused before he decided to open his mouth, trying to study my face. "I'm not sure what do you expect to hear right now but..." He looked at me again, his face frowning even more now as he took a deep breath "...he likes you, but he doesn't love you. I can say that for sure. He just thinks he loves you. He's in love with the idea of being in love with you but he is someone who probably won't ever be able to love you." He sighed.

My already fast-beating heart seemed to have suddenly stopped as he finished speaking. A part of me had a rough idea about this but most of my heart wished for Yunho. I was so sure he really loved me, and I really had started loving him too. I nodded at his answer calmly and muttered "Okay, thanks for telling me" under my breath.

I clenched my chest hard without realizing as tears started rolling down my face out of nowhere. Seonghwa immediately pulled closer into a hug holding my head onto his shoulder as I sobbed like a little child hugging him back.

"It's okay, I'm always here for you." He spoke softly patting my head as we stayed like that for a long time before going back.

"You should talk to him too just to clear all your doubts. I'm not sure why you asked me about Yunho but I just answered from what I had observed and because I know him for all these years." Seonghwa gave me a weak smile as if that would be so easy now. I was avoiding Yunho already but confronting him and asking what we really meant to each other? It was a bad idea and I absolutely did not want to do it but maybe I really needed to face Yunho and clear things as soon as possible.

"I will think about it. Thank you for...being so nice today, I genuinely enjoyed your company." I gave Seonghwa another little hug before we parted ways to our own bedrooms. Just one peaceful late night conversation with the scariest guy of the house and now he doesn't feel scary at all, it truly amazes me.