Make you Smile (A Cha Eunwoo Fanfiction)

Thirteen

Minji ^^^^

"Five days?!" My bag dropped from my hand as I faced my uncle wide eyed.
Only five days we had to choose whether to let our father visit us or not. My gaze shifted to my twin.
Jangmin was sitting on the sofa on his phone, the wounds on his face colored a dark purplish blue. I bit my lip and sat down next to him.

"Since he's your closest blood relative he won the case for custody." My uncle continued.

"Does that mean we have to live with him?" I asked incredulously. My uncle sighed and sat back on the chair, fingering the porcelain cup of coffee in his hand.

"Your father told me he wanted you to have a choice. He can lawfully take you; but he says he wants you to choose."

A breath of relief slipped from my lips. I turned to look at Jangmin again. He made no reaction to the conversation. I fought back a sigh. It hurt to see him like this. My stomach churned with anger at the guys who did this to him.

"I'm sorry kids, I'm sure your mother never wanted this." Uncle Dong's words did not make it better. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Its not like it matters now." Jangmin said, standing up to leave. I could hear the unhappiness in his voice, and it pained me.

"To be honest, your father and I never got along." Jangmin turned around as Uncle Dong spoke,

"He's done things I can't forgive him for, I thought I'd seen the last of him." He set his cup down and rested his chin on his fists, a mix of emotions apparent on his face.

"But I want you to make your own choice." He looked between me and Jangmin. I nodded and dropped my gaze.
If I were to be honest, I didn't want to choose. I knew almost nothing about my father. All I knew was that he left us when we were little. There were little feelings to explain how I felt. Lost, worried, maybe.
I had finally been able to feel happy. Now; it was as if everything came back and hit me in the face. I'd been pushing it aside, telling myself it was okay. Now; I just wanted mother beside me to tell me it would be okay.
I missed her so much.

"Come on Soohyun, we have homework." I broke away from my thoughts at Jangmin's heavy voice. I smiled half-heartedly and picked up my bag.
The mood had dropped so suddenly.

My phone buzzed.

Baeksoon(4:37): Wanna meet up at the cafe to study?

I glanced at where Jangmin was sinking into a chair and opening his textbooks. I couldn't leave him to study alone.

Me(4:38) Can Jangmin come along?

—

Twenty minutes later both of us showed up at the little cafe in town. It wasn't much, just a coffee and pastry shop with a few places to sit and study. I spotted Eunwoo, Sanha, MJ, Jinwoo, and Moonbin who was sitting next to Baeksoon. I called her name and her eyes lit up as she waved us over. Eunwoo smiled from over his laptop screen. Moonbin was half asleep on Baeksoon's shoulder. I smiled at how cute he looked.

"Wow Moonbin dropped out fast." Commented Jangmin, sitting down on one of the sofas. Baeksoon chuckled and smiled over at the boy snoozing against her. I sat down next to my brother and opened a textbook. Maybe studying would get rid of all the troublesome thoughts.

"Are you feeling better Jangmin?" Sanha asked hesitantly, peering at the wounds on my brother's face. He hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Yes, I'll be okay." I could tell it was a flat out lie. I knew my brother wasn't okay, yet I felt every time I tried to help him, he drifted further from my reach. In a way I felt I had lost more than just my mother. Was this part of growing up? Maybe we both were just growing up and figuring life out. Still, it hurt that we couldn't talk like we had been able to. Secrets kept us apart.
Catching the tears in my eyes, I turned back to my textbook.

"Guys, look." Sanha giggled as he attempted to balance a pencil on Moonbin's nose. The sleeping boy grunted but didn't wake up. Eunwoo looked away from his laptop to watch in amusement.

"Wow he's sleeping so well." Jinwoo shook his head with a laugh. Sanha leaned over and blew in Moonbin's ear, making him whine in his sleep and try to push him away. In response, MJ laughed out loud and went to balance the pencil on the sleeping boy's lips.

"Heyy~" Moonbin attempted to slap MJ and snuggled closer to Baeksoon as if she would keep him safe. Just watching them made me feel happier, and the worries seemed to have become less of a burden.

"Wow, look who it is." I immediately recognized the voice and looked up. It took a moment to realize the boy standing there was Park Minhyuk. He looked different without his normal school attire. He was dressed in a blue leather jacket over a white collared shirt and bandana necktie. Beside him stood Minji, dressed in a cute blue and white outfit. Rocky set a tray of drinks onto the coffee table.

"You came!" MJ jumped up and man-hugged him, smiling from ear to ear as usual. Minhyuk looked around at all of us, earning a glare from Eunwoo. He took a drink from the tray on the table, handing it out to me.

"Americano?"

"Huh? Oh, thank you.." I took the drink from his hands and he smiled at me, making me avert my gaze immediately as my heartbeat started to speed up.

"Are you here to study?" Eunwoo said in a guarded voice. I noticed that Minji was looking down at the ground with an upset expression on her small face. I guessed she felt this way around Eunwoo.

"Is that a problem?" Rocky was glaring back at Eunwoo.

"Nope! Not by me." Sanha scooted over to offer a seat for the two.

"I'm going home." Jangmin suddenly shut his textbook and I looked over at him in alarm.

"Why?"

"Just... I have some things to do." He avoided my eyes as he spoke. Was he lying to me again? I fought back a sigh,

"Okay.."

"Stay safe Soohyun, don't come home late." He reached out and patted my head, making me frown and push his hand away.

"Seriously Jangmin? I'll be fine." I felt so embarrassed by his childish treatment of me. Yet I wasn't mad at him, I could never be. I watched him leave with a sinking heart. I knew something was going on, and he chose not to tell me.

I'm sorry Jangmin...

I wish I could do something to help...

I caught the tears again before they fell, sitting back. Raising my eyes I saw Minhyuk watching me, his gentle brown eyes on me. When we met  gazes he looked back down at his textbook quickly. I blinked, had he seen me crying?

An awkward moment went by and I found it hard to concentrate on my studies. I needed to clear my head, but I didn't know how.

"Okay, who wants chicken? I'll buy." Minhyuk jumped to his feet suddenly.

"Chicken?" Moonbin woke and opened his eyes suddenly, a smile spreading across his face. Everyone laughed,

"Looks like someone's hungry." Minhyuk smiled.

"I'm not." Eunwoo said without even looking up from his laptop. I gave him an incredulous look,

"Yah Eunwoo! Stop being so petty."

"I'm not!" He argued. I shook my head at him with a sigh. He sure was stubborn sometimes.

"Well, your loss." MJ said, jumping up from his seat.

"Come on Eunwoo, don't be such a downer." Sanha pouted. Eunwoo gave him a long look,

"Fine. But just this once. We have midterms to study for you know."

Minhyuk smirked and gathered his stuff. I sighed and tried to push away the lingering thoughts. I just needed to live by each day, then perhaps things would work out by themselves. Maybe this heavy feeling would eventually disappear, over time. Maybe it would always be there, in the back of my mind. Constantly bothering me, making tears fall. Either way, at least I was here with friends that I could trust. No matter what was in the past, these people were my future.

"Are you okay?" Eunwoo's gentle voice made me glance up, meeting his eyes. I smiled up at him, feeling a bit lighter.

"Yeah."

I will be.