Alone {𝕄𝕀ℕ𝕊𝕌ℕ𝔾}

Chapter Fifty-Eight

FELIX STOOD IN FRONT OF THE HAN HOUSEHOLD, BITING HIS LIP NERVOUSLY. JISUNG HAD LEFT HIS phone on the small table next to Minho's bed when he'd left, and Felix had only realized late into the night. So, even though they weren't exactly on speaking terms, he decided he'd just give him the phone at school the next day.

His confusion was immense when no one had seen Jisung at school that day, because it was very unlike him to skip. Maybe he's sick? Was Felix's next thought, and he made up his mind that he'd bring the phone to him after school instead.

He'd been standing around the front lawn of Jisung's house for thirty minutes now, and he was inexplicably nervous. The strawberry-blonde wasn't one to get angry easily, and Felix knew he'd royally messed up for what he'd done, but he wanted to make up for it, but he had no idea where to start.

He sucked in a tight, deep breath, and knocked on the door before he could think himself out of it again. He waited for several moments before the door quietly creaked open, revealing Jisung's mother. She had this icy look in her eyes that unnerved the boy.

"U-Uh, hi, Ms. Han, Jisung forgot his phone at... at my house yesterday, and he wasn't at school for me to give it to him. Would it be okay if I came in for a moment?" Her eyes hardened, and he felt himself break into a cold sweat. From Jisung had told him, she was excellent at sniffing out lies, and Felix could only hope it was subtle enough not to give anything away.

He hadn't had many encounters with Jisung's mother before, and now he realized why.

"I'll take that." Her voice was colder than his room when he left the window open in the winter, and he hesitantly handed her the phone; something about this felt strange. "Can I see–" Before he could even manage to finish his sentence, the woman cut him off.

"He's not seeing anyone at the moment. Goodbye." He stood there as the door slammed in his face, and he blinked. What the hell? He sighed, and decided that Jisung must've told his mother to shoo him away if ever he came knocking.

Even though he'd come to a rather reasonable conclusion, he couldn't shake the awful feeling that had grown in the pit of his stomach. Sliding his phone out from his back pocket as he walked along the sidewalk, farther and farther away from Jisung's house, he clicked on his friend's contact.

"SUNGIE":

[I know you don't want to talk to me, but...

Are you ok?]

He waited with bated breath until his phone vibrated with a response; it came faster than he'd anticipated.

[Yes.]

With furrowed brows, he closed his phone and placed it back in his pocket, but his small – virtually meaningless – text exchange only left him more unsettled than before. In all the time he'd known him, Jisung had never responded with a "yes."

~#~#~#~#~#~

Jisung had heard Felix's voice through the door, and he'd had a sliver of hope, that maybe he'd noticed that something was wrong. Until... he heard the door slam shut. He sighed and pulled his knees closer to his chest.

The food his mother had brought down for him that morning still laid untouched on the ground several feet away from him, and the words she'd spoken to him then still haunted him.

"Why?" He'd asked. "Why did you lock me down here?" His words were but mere whispers, his voice too raw from crying his night away. "Because we realized that we did something wrong the first time. What we did to fix your sister didn't work. So we're trying something different for you. We don't want to lose another child."

His eyebrows had furrowed, because although she was speaking his language, he could barely understand a word that pushed past her lips. "We were hoping that one day, when it finally got through to her that what she was doing was wrong, and that she'd been purged of all her sins, she'd come back home."

"But every time she called, she never apologized. She only ever asked to speak to you." Her voice grew steadily in volume until it had reached a level of hostility that made him flinch back. "Take this time to think about your actions. Maybe one day you'll finally come to your senses." She hadn't left a single place for discussion afterwards, walking back up the stairs and locking the door behind her.

He sighed and slowly reached out, pulling the tray of food closer to himself. He gently nibbled on the cold piece of toast, and tried to avoid the crushing reality of his situation. The only way he would be able to get out of that basement was if he pretended to be something he wasn't.

Strangely, he wasn't so tempted to bend to his parents' will anymore, nor did he have the intention to justify his every move to them. It had taken him so long to break free from their control, and now that he knew what it was like to be free, he didn't think he could ever go back.

But he had to get out, somehow. He didn't know what he'd do if Minho awoke while he was trapped in that basement, unable to care for him in the way he needed.

~#~#~#~#~#~

The first thing Minho noticed was that everything around him was quiet – unlike the raging river he'd last heard. His eyes snapped open as his mind registered what had happened. The last thing he remembered was falling, and when his bleary eyes landed on all the white surrounding him, he felt his breath quiver.

Am I dead?

He hoped that wasn't the case. Beep, beep... The startling sound of his quickening heart monitor reminded him of where he truly was, and he slowly started to calm down. A doctor and a few nurses burst into his room, and they all began to dote on him, checking his pulse and flashing a light in his eye.

He was numb to it all, partly because his brain was still trying to wake up from what felt like a year-long slumber, and partly because he was just waiting for one specific person to walk through that door, but that person never came.

A/N: I'm sorry, but like I'm also not really sorry :p

Q: What book genre do you think suits Minsung the most? (courtesy of OCT0617)

A: Oooh, good question... I feel like the best genre for them is real-world-but-not. Like... example werewolves, but still in the modern world, or a dystopian AU that takes place in the "real world" so to speak? Get what I mean??

Lots of love,

~Junnie