love•hate || minsung

18

it didn't take long before everyone was seated in the lee family's living room.

"remember baby, your father was our employee. one of our top. i need you to honestly tell us everything. please don't withhold any information." choonhee smiled gently at jisung and he just nodded.

jisung was sandwiched between minho and felix, minhos parents sitting across from them, and everyone else around the couches.

"u-uh well..i was getting bullied at my old school. i started getting bullied when i was 13 and i came out as gay. i would always come home and cry to my mom, she was always my comfort place. her and my dad would always try their best to cheer me up. i used to be a really bright, happy person. until one night, my dad told me we had to go to the hospital. he didn't tell me why. when we got there, we found out my mom died. she drowned herself in the han river. when we got home, there were two letters on the table. one for my dad and one for me. to this day, i haven't read the letter. not because i didn't want to, because he won't let me. he got abusive. it didn't matter if he was drunk, high, or sober. he would beat me over little things, belittle me, and call me slurs. this along with the bullying from so so many people led to me beginning to self harm. i-i knew it wasn't good, but it distracted me. it made me feel the pain i felt i deserve. we ended up moving here. i thought this was a new beginning but no. my dad was still abusive, he got worse. i'm still getting bullied. i've tried to kill myself on multiple different occasions but i never had the balls to do it. i'm a coward. i'm gonna be honest, minho hyung wasn't always the best to me...he used to say really really mean things to me and about me. after our sleepover when he apologized, we got really close and it's so scary to me. all of you, it scares me. i feel like you'll all leave me at any moment. and then i'd really be alone. now, obviously, i know minho hyung didn't mean anything he said. not gonna lie, it hurt me so so much. but now he's become a source of happiness in my life. what you saw tonight was not nearly as bad as it is when we're at home. i don't know when it started, but i have trouble eating. that's why felix was eating with me like that." jisung was crying, everyone was crying.

minho wrapped his arms around jisungs waist and buried his face in his neck. "i'm sorry. i'm so so sorry."

jisung grabbed minhos face. he cupped it and used his thumbs to wipe the olders tears. "hyung. you already apologized. i told you i forgive you." he smiled weakly and minho just nodded.

"jisung baby i'm so sorry. i would've never guessed sangook was that kind of person. but i'm glad we found out tonight. we will send our movers to your house tonight, and you and minho can go get your stuff. you'll be living with us from now on okay? and minho, i won't punish you because all has already forgiven, but i'll tell you this. i raised you better than that. be the good that this world needs." choonhee said, her voice now stern.

"jisung...can you do me a favor?" felix asked softly.

"yeah lix?"

"can you talk about your mom again? w-when you were talking about her, that was the happiest i've ever seen you."

"w-well...she was a lot like choonhee. she was very youthful and beautiful. she really was the sweetest person ever. she always had that soft gaze, yet she was very strong. she was so full of life, and so giving. she always treated everyone equally, no matter what. she always made me my favorite treats to cheer me up. she would make dumpling for dinner every time i had a really tough day. she always did her best to keep everyone happy. my mother was genuinely such a beautiful person inside and out."

"jisung baby...come here." choonhee stood up and so did jisung. she pulled him in for a hug, hugging him tight. "please always remember you can come to me okay? i'll always help you, yeah? you're so precious to me already. now, before you go get your stuff, come with me."

jisung nodded and she led him to her bathroom upstairs. "can you take your clothes off for me?" she asked gently.

"uhhhhh..w-what?"

"OH! jesus i'm sorry, you said you self harm? i just want to make sure they get properly treated. i don't want your cuts getting infected."

"o-oh, okay." jisung slowly took off his suit. he felt so vulnerable but he felt he could trust choonhee. she began filling the sink with warm water, grabbing a washcloth and rubbing alcohol.

she gently washed his arms, stomach, and thighs with warm water. she grabbed another wash cloth and put some rubbing alcohol on it.

"this is going to sting a little bit okay?" jisung nodded and she began gently dabbing the rubbing alcohol on his cuts. "so, any boys you're interested in?" she asked, trying to distract him from the stinging.

"n-no."

"hmm i see." she said as she grabbed neosporin. she rubbed the neosporin all over his cuts, and finished up by covering them with gauze wrap. "stay here for a sec."

she came back with a big black hoodie and black sweatpants along with black fuzzy socks. "these are minho's i hope that's okay."

"y-yeah that's fine..." he felt his face heating up. the sweats fit fine but the hoodie was really big on him.

"here let's go downstairs, we can just go get your stuff to move in tomorrow after we talk to the police, okay?"

"thank you choonhee."

"ji, you can call me mom. i'm not trying to replace your mom! the other boys call me mom too."

jisung started tearing up as choonhee pulled him in for a hug. she rubbed his back comfortingly as he cried. "aw sweetie, how about we make you some of those dumplings, yeah? you've been through a lot tonight."

she smiled as he nodded. jisung found her extremely comforting, and he felt relieved. he felt like this was his new beginning.

a/n: ahhh guess who decided she's updating again later tonight? that's right, me. i feel like i need to spoil you guys. i love and appreciate every single one of you. i love reading your comments and interacting with you guys, it really makes my day so much better. thank you all, i love you guys 💗