My little Youngjae

Flip Flop, There Goes My Life

Daehyun pondered how he'd ended up on the dining table one morning as if he was magically teleported there from the comfort of his bed and covers.
There were two questions that lingered in his mind in the moment he sat there.
One was how and when exactly was he seated in front of a plate full of pancakes and two was, why'd he have to wake up so early in the morning?
It wasn't like him at all so his mom most probably carried him there. Yeah, that must've been the case.

He's still very much bugged about Youngjae's disappearance, especially since there wasn't an ounce of progress in finding his beloved bestfriend but
his mom  had given him nightly talks about how he had a life to live too and that maybe if he'd waited patiently enough, Youngjae might just come back. Truth to say, he believed his mother and trusted in her words about Youngjae coming back but it didn't mean he'd be any less sad about it. Up til now, he's still a mourning mess.

The crying had reduced thankfully, but the feeling of longing and emptiness was still very much present in his heart and he was very well aware of that.

Lazily picking up his fork with half opened eyes, he brought a piece of his once favorite breakfast meal that strangely almost felt like nothing to him now into his mouth. It's so weird that the things he once really liked, almost felt like he'd never liked them at all.

"Daehyun! My goodness! I thought you'd already finish that by now! Hurry up or you'll be late!"

Hearing his mother's frantic voice, her words slowly registering, he effortlessly looked to her direction, confused to see her carrying an ample of his stuff. His Donald duck backpack loosely hanging from her arm, his favorite t-shirt which had a Mickey and Donald print on it that painfully reminding him of his best friend on her shoulder, together with his baby blue shorts, his rubber shoes tightly secured in her hands and his cute little hat, sitting on her head.

"Late? Late for what? What are you holding those out for, mom?"

Sunhwa neared him, smiling lightly before setting all his stuff down one of the chairs.

"School, silly. Did you forget? You're starting second grade today. Now hurry up or you'll miss the bus."
Daehyun visibly stills at her words. There it is again, that sick nauseating  feeling in his gut. It happened to him very often now, ever since Youngjae went missing he'd have these nasty feelings in his gut occur to him from time to time.

"No... I'm not going to school without Youngjae... I promised him we'd always go to school together. I don't want to break another one of our promises."

Sunhwa frowned deeply.
When was any of this going to stop?
Don't get her wrong, she loved and treated Youngjae like he was her own son but it was deeply unhealthy for Daehyun to keep on thinking like he couldn't live without the latter. She understood he loved him very much, even more than himself but things just couldn't go on like this. They tried. And they're still trying. Searching endlessly for the lost child, but what can she do about it? Not much really.

"What do you suppose we do then? I can't just let you skip school."

He released an audible groan, slightly put off the edge that she'd ask such a dumb question.

"Wait til Youngjae comes back of course."

She closed her eyes tiredly and let out a sigh of exasperation. How many times do they have to go through this? It feels like an endless loop of tunnels that no matter how many talks she gives him, it just won't go through his head and they'll still go back to square one.

" Daehyun, we don't know when that'll be.." She muttered, amused to see him stare straight at her as if it was a warning of sorts.

"I don't care how long I'll be waiting. He will come back."