Chapter 5

The three of them sat down to watch a movie after a late dinner, which had been courteously made by Dae. She was feeling a little guilty about barging in on her brother's life, and so was helping out wherever she could. The movie was nearly over when the doorbell rung. Ewon frowned, it was a little late for visitors, but got up to answer the door anyway…and froze in shock as he came face to face with his parents.

"Where's our baby girl?" the woman demanded, trying to sound firm and demanding but not quite able to keep the hysteria out of her voice.

Ewon just stared, still unable to speak. He wasn't sure if he wanted to scream at them or break down into tears or simply slam the door in their face.

"Well? We had a tipoff that she was here, now what have you done with her?"

Atipoff? he thought, whowouldpossibletipthem…Mookyul. Anger flooded his system, momentarily clearing his head, and opened the door wider so their parents could see Dae and Mookyul sitting on the couch, Dae looking like a deer caught in headlights whilst Mookyul looked…slightly guilty.

The couple rushed over to her, holding her close.

"Are you alright, are you hurt?" her mother asked, eyes glistening with tears of relief.

"I'm fine," she sighed, leaning into the hug. She was still angry at her parents, but had missed them all the same. "I chose to come here, it's not like I was kidnapped or something."

"What?" exclaimed her mother, "you came all this way and asked to stay in a stranger's apartment? Do you know how dangerous that it?"

Dae frowned. "Well, it's not like he's a complete random," she reasoned. Surely her mum recognised her own son.

"Do you know him?" her mum asked in confusion, looking back at the blonde haired young man. Something niggled at the very back of her mind as she looked at his face, but she couldn't for the life of her say what it was.

"I do now, and so do you," Dae said exasperatedly.

Her mum shook her head sadly, "Sorry honey, you must have got him mixed up with someone else."

That was the breaking point for Ewon. The sight of her had dragged up every bad memory, every tear, every hurt, every lonely night, every nightmare, and to know that the sight of him, her own son, had brought back nothing for her, that she didn't even recognise her child's face was too much for him to bear. He stormed out the room, unwilling to show this woman any of the pain she was responsible for, and a moment later everyone heard the bedroom door slam with an with an almighty bang.

Mookyul stared at the door for a moment before giving the older couple a glare so fierce they physically recoiled.

"You bitch," he spat, "How dare you?" Her husband went to speak, to defend his wife, but another pointed glare quickly silenced him. "That is your son, though how such an amazing man was born from scum like you two I'll never understand." With that he turned to follow after Ewon.

He found the man sitting on the bed in the dark, knees up to his chest. The light from the open door provided was just enough to reflect off the tears tracks down his cheeks. Mookyul shut the door behind him and crawled across the bed to gather his lover in his arms. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Ewon letting Mookyul's presence comfort and calm him. He was still annoyed that his lover had tipped them off, but he couldn't stay mad at him for long. The older man hardly ever listened to him and could be a gigantic pain, but moments like this made Ewon sure he could never live without him.

Ewon waited until he knew his voice would be steady before he spoke.

"They didn't even recognise me," he whispered. "I knew she didn't regret leaving me, but I didn't think she'd completely forget me. All those years trying so hard, pushing myself to show them I could be something even without them…and they don't even recognise me. It comes to nothing."

"Don't say that," Mookyul replied fiercely, "It has not been for nothing. You've become an amazing person, are becoming even more so, and if they're too dumb to appreciate that it's their loss. You can't give up just because of their stupidity, you should be moving forward for yourself. And if you can't do it for yourself then do it for me, not for them, they don't deserve it. They don't deserve you."

Ewon's only response was to hug Mookyul even tighter, breathing in his scent.

"Say it," Mookyul whispered in his ear, "say you'll keep doing your best for me."

Though Mookyul couldn't see it, a ghost of a smile flickered across Ewon's face. "I'll keep doing my best for you," he breathed, "Promise."

Mookyul pressed his lips against Ewon's, and for once the kiss was sweet and tender, as oppose to the usual fierce and dominating.

When they eventually pulled away for air, Mookyul ran his fingers through Ewon's hair and pressed a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Go have a shower and freshen up," he said, "then we'll tackle the pests in the living room."

Ewon nodded, no longer feeling like his emotions were overwhelming him, and headed out towards the bathroom.

He walked past the spare room on the way and was surprised to find his sister in there sitting on the bed.

"Are you okay?" he asked, pausing in the doorway.

She looked up at him in surprise, noting the read around his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine, I just didn't want to sit there and listen to the lecture I have coming. I am so sorry about everything, I didn't realise me leaving would lead to so much drama for you."

"Don't worry about it, it's not your fault," he reassured her, "I'm just going to hop in the shower and then I'll speak to them."

Five minutes later Ewon was under a hot shower, the heat helping to further calm him. However, in his stressed state, he forgot to lock the door; after all, it wasn't something he usually had to worry about, with just him and Mookyul in the house. He'll never be sure if he regrets that moment or not…