spies; a seventeen au

14

"Another one of these?"

Jihoon stared at the envelope in hand. It was again a plain white envelope, nothing special of the sort, but he recognized the handwriting spelling out his name on the front of the envelope. It was from that annoying bastard, Kwon Soonyoung, and without a second thought, he shoved it into the recycling bin in the kitchen.

He was on his way out of his apartment to head over to Smile Flower Cafe to help Seungcheol and his mother as per her request. He would've headed over there anyway because he had nothing better to do - usually he could spend hours at home in bed, but nowadays, it was driving him insane to stay longer at home than he needs to. He didn't know if it was him being on edge with all of the weird letters or Hansol being in the infirmary, but the distraction was what he needed right now.

He grabbed his keys off the hook by the door, heading out the door as it locked behind him. He decided to take a detour on the way day, visiting the Han River for a bit before he shut himself in the cafe all day. As he leaned against the railing separating the walkway from the river bed, he peered over the water watching the waves rippling across the surface. He saw the reflections of birds passing by overhead as the clouds slowly made their way across the sky, going at their own pace and not minding the time. Jihoon was jealous of those clouds; they could just drift all day, doing nothing, not caring about anything, unbothered hundreds and thousands of feet above humans, the very species Jihoon thought of as both extremely intelligent but also utterly stupid. More stupid than intelligent though.

He sighed, moving away from the railing, to head back to his car. As he walked down the path, he noticed a food cart run by an elderly man who was serving a couple of kids cones of ice cream. In his cart, Jihoon could also see bags of popular chips and assorted candies. It was the same man and the same food cart that Jihoon and Hansol often stopped by when they were younger. When they were still children, they walked to school everyday passing the Han River on the way there, and they always greeted the old man who would sometimes give them a free ice cream cone or bag of chips. Hansol used to help the man who they learned to call Mr. Jong when he had time while Jihoon worked an after-school job.

Jihoon found himself approaching the food cart, his feet taking him towards the old man, and he awkwardly waited for the children to grab their ice cream before the old man finally peered up at him. Instantly, he broke into a wide grin.

"Ah Jihoon, you've grown so much," Mr. Jong said, handing Jihoon an ice cream which he took gingerly. "I was waiting for you and little Hansol to come back and visit me."

"Sorry we didn't visit sooner," Jihoon apologized, bowing to the old man.

He waved it off. "You two must be working hard. You don't have time to see an old man like me. How are you and your younger brother doing?"

Jihoon gulped. "Uh, fine." He hesitated pondering if he should tell the old man about Hansol. But he thought it would be best not to worry him. "Hansol's doing great at university, and I have a job that pays well so..."

Mr. Jong nodded. "I'm glad you two are doing well. Would you like to take something for Hansol as well? I have his favorite sorbet ice cream."

"Maybe I'll bring him next time," Jihoon said. "Wouldn't want it to melt in the car."

Mr. Jong chuckled. "Of course. Now take care of him well."

Jihoon bowed to him again, and as he turned around to walk away, Mr. Jong added, "You've always been a good brother to him, Jihoon, but remember that he's no longer a little boy."

He didn't know why the old man would tell him such a thing, but he shrugged it off heading to the cafe where Seungcheol was waiting for him. He entered, the chimes jingling, and he was immediately greeted with Mark who took hold of his arm and dragged him to the back.