"For us, Changkyun is like glue. He's quiet, but he's there. And if he isn't, then what's the fucking point?"
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Yugyeom stares quietly down at his plate. He wasn't really hungry, but he didn't want to be rude. After all, Mrs. Chae had gone out of her way to make such a nice dinner. Still, he practically had to force himself to eat. It was hard to focus on hunger when you were sitting in such an awkward silence. Mrs. Chae's smile is slightly forced when he peeks his head up and catches her gaze.
"Hyungwon, honey, aren't you going to eat?" She inquires timidly towards her son then, and Yugyeom spares a glance at Hyungwon, only to frown at what he sees. The older boy is simply staring off blankly ahead. He eyes are puffy from crying but his expression is stoic as he looks at nothing in particular. Simply put, he looked how everyone felt - drained, nothing.
"I'm not hungry." He mutters finally and it's so quiet that Mrs. Chae actually had to strain to hear it. Once she does, she opens her mouth to reply but Hyungwon is already pushing his chair away from the table and leaving before she can even so much as blink.
When he's gone, she buries her face in her hands in defeat.
"Sorry" Yugyeom blurts out because she looks so tired and sad. It reminded him of his mom after another failed therapy session.
"It's not your fault, dear." Mrs. Chae assures him quietly. She drags her fork across her plate momentarily before looking up at him with a sad smile, "Seventeen years ago, I gave birth to one boy. Just one, but one day my son showed up with another little boy with chubby cheeks and chocolate smeared at the corner of his mouth. I thought, 'Oh no, not another one'. God help me, it feels like I have fifty already just with Hyungwon by himself."
Yugyeom smiles in amusement at the older woman's words. He liked listening to memories like these - they made him feel calm.
"I watched them eat their way through three boxes of pizza rolls. The whole time I thought 'We'll, that's what's wrong with your son right there Sooyoung - too much microwave food. That's why he thinks he's this lip syncing white woman.'"
A giggle escapes Yugyeom's mouth as he listens Mrs. Chae. It wasn't hard to see where Hyungwon got the majority of his personality from.
"Then they played Karaoke to Britney Spears first album and the whole time I was texting Hyungwon's dad asking him why he thought it was such a good idea to buy such a God awful thing. They did this the entire day. And usually, when Hyungwon had friends over, they'd always complain about not wanting to do such silly things. And Hyungwon was always disappointed in the end." Mrs. Chae continues, a small smile on her lips as she talks about her son, "My Hyungwon is a little crazy, isn't he? He likes to do strange things. And not everyone understands that. He gets judged a lot, sometimes by his own father. And I just have to remind him that our son is a little different, not less lovable."
