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starlit-serenade · 3 years

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Along the Red Thread | Chapter 5

🧣 Summary: It is said that a red thread connects people who are soulmates and destined to be lovers, regardless of place and circumstances. What makes this difficult is that you stopped believing in love a long time ago. OR. You go to Korea to visit your father after several years. There, a mysterious red thread that seemingly only you can see shows up when you least expect it, and you meet a childhood friend you’d never thought you would see again.

🧣 Chapter 5: 2,552 words

🧣 Pairing: Reader x Kim Geonhak (Leedo) / Characters: GenderNeutral!Reader; Kim Geonhak (Leedo); Kim Youngjo (Ravn); Lee Seoho (Seoho); Lee Keonhee (Keonhee); Yeo Hwanwoong (Hwanwoong); Son Dongju/Xion; a couple of OCs;

🧣 Rated: T / Warnings: Mentions of divorce (Y/N’s parents); Mentions of abuse (physical); Instances of abuse (non-physical); Mentions of child abuse; Swearing / Genre: Angst; Fluff; Soulmate!AU (Red Thread of Fate); ChildhoodBestFriends!AU; Happy Ending;

《 Boy Group Masterlist // ONEUS Masterlist // Series Masterlist 》

It's been about a week and a half since Geonhak first joined you to take Sunho to school. Since then, Geonhak has been accompanying you both almost every school day, waking up early to meet you outside of the apartment and ride the bus with you and Sunho. Sunho loves it. He tells Geonhak about the games he plays, the books he's read, the stuff he's learning in class.

Some days, after dropping off Sunho with you, Geonhak will head to his dorm or to his practice. But on those days where you didn't want to return to your father's apartment, Geonhak would take you wherever you wanted to go, for as long as you wanted to be out. Whether it was just for some drinks, or to hang out at his dorm with him and his members. Seoho has, indeed, told you many embarrassing stories about Geonhak. Which provoked Geonhak to chase him around. Sometimes, you even get to watch them practice at their studio.

You and Sunho sit next to each other at the dinner table. Your father sits across from you, and Sooyeon sits across from Sunho. All of your plates are mostly empty from a filling dinner made by Sooyeon.

"Today, we practiced multiplication," Sunho says to you. "Areum helped me with it. She's better at it than me."

"Really?" you ask, grinning. "You can ask me if you need help. I know a bit about multiplication."

Sunho taps his feet excitedly. "Does Mr. Kim know multiplication?"

You pretend to think about it. "Hm. He should. Do you want him to help you practice?" Sunho nods, and you grin. "If you ask me, it seems like you like Mr. Kim more than you like me," you say, tickling him. He giggles.

"No! You're the one who reads to me every night."

"Who's Mr. Kim?" your father asks, interrupting. You look at him, and he asks again. "Who's Mr. Kim?"

"Oh, uh . . ."

You hesitate. You don't know why you don't want to tell him. Maybe it's because you want to separate your life at home from your time with Geonhak. Maybe it's because after all of this time you've spent with Geonhak and his group members, they've become almost a second family, your home, a safe place. And when you're with them, your father and Sooyeon vanish. Just for a moment. And you want to keep that safe. You don't want your father asking Geonhak to join a family dinner, and make you face the reality that you only really have one family.

"No one," you say. "Just a friend."

Your father tilts his head curiously. He looks at Sooyeon. "Clean the dishes, won't you?" he asks her. Sooyeon nods, standing up, and takes all of the dishes from the table. You hear the sound of the running water of the sink, as your father leans forward over the table.

Besides. You're an adult, and haven't seen your father properly in years. It's not like you owe him an explanation for anything.

"He's just a friend," you say.

"And how did you meet this friend here? You've only been here for a month and a half."

You shake your head. You don't have the energy to explain it. And you don't need to explain it to him.

"I need some space." You get up from the table and head for your room, and you can hear the sound of your father's chair being pushed backward as he stands up to follow you.

"Y/N, you're supposed to be able to tell me everything. I'm your father."

If you weren't so busy trying to get some distance between you and your father, you'd roll your eyes. Ideally, you'd be able to tell your father everything and everything. But you haven't spent real quality time with him since the start of high school. And he isn't exactly close to you fatherly-wise.

You push open your door and try to slam it shut behind you. But just before the door closes, the door swings back twice as hard, the handle hitting you right in the hip and the edge of the door itself slamming into your lower arm and knocking you back, and you wince in pain, holding onto your arm.

"Fuck," you mumble.

That's gonna bruise.

You step back and place your hand on the bed to maintain balance. You glare at your father. He's staring at you in a way that makes you feel so small. You don't speak a word, as his eyes fall onto your arm. His expression changes.

"Ah, shit. Y/N, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--"

"Just go," you say. You move to sit on your bed before lying down, not looking at him. "I'm tired. Please just go."

There's silence. Then, you hear the door close, and you relax, shutting your eyes tight. You just want to fall asleep. Maybe in the morning, you'll wake up and realize that it was you who was being unreasonable, or you overreacting.

Today, you and Geonhak are sitting at a table at the back of the library, after having taken Sunho to school. You two are pouring over a comic book together, snickering at the funny parts between sips of the cold drinks before you.

You two have been sitting there for the past three hours already. Time really flies when you spend time with him. He makes you so happy. Even when you two are walking in silence, not talking, you feel satisfied.

You know that you don't see him as just a friend now. He makes you so happy. Whenever you see him at the beginning of the day, when he shows up to take Sunho to school with you, you feel the butterflies burst in your stomach. You've never felt as safe with anyone as you do with Geonhak.

As your book comes to an end, you place it aside and check your phone. It's about 11:30AM.

"We should get ready to go," you say. "I have some readings to finish before I go back home."

"Maybe you could come over to the dorm?" Geonhak suggests. "I could make you some lunch. And you could do your studies at my dorm. If you want."

You grin. "Sure. I'd like that."

Geonhak sits next to you as you work on your computer on the couch. Two windows are open on your screen, one with your reading and one to take notes on. Your sandwich lays half eaten on a plate on the table in front of you.

"Sunho was talking, yesterday, about wanting you to help him with subtraction," you say to Geonhak.

"Oh, really? I'd love to."

"I know." You glance at Geonhak. While you've been looking at your computer screen, you've been somewhat aware of Geonhak's eyes on you the entire time. You don't know why he's been watching you this whole time,and you don't want to ask.

You reach over your computer for your sandwich, and your arm bumps the top of the screen, right where the door had hit you last night after your father threw it open. It did end up bruising, as did the spot on your hip. But the one on your hip wasn't as bad.

You wince and lift your arm a bit, and instead reach around your computer instead of over. You don't want to worry Geonhak, and pray that he didn't see or notice. But you weren't so lucky.

"Huh?" Geonhak looks at you. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah. I just . . . I hurt my arm yesterday is all."

Geonhak carefully takes your hand in his, watching you to make sure you're okay with it. When you don't stop him, he slides your sleeve up your arm and inspects the purple bruise carefully.

"You did this to yourself?" he asks, looking up at you with concern, his fingers gently tracing the outline of the bruise. You can't lie to him. You don't want to. And, to be honest, you don't think your brain or mouth will let you.

"Well . . . no, not exactly," you say, shaking your head.

"Who did this?"

You hesitate.

You don't want Geonhak to think you're friends with him just because you still need help coping with your family problems. And you definitely don't want to be a burden.

Your mouth doesn't let you lie.

"My dad hit me with the door yesterday," you admit.

Geonhak looks furious. "He did what? Y/N, I thought--"

"I don't think he meant to do it," you blurt out. "I mean--I don't think he meant to hurt me. He was just mad."

"That's the case every time," Geonhak says, staring into your eyes. "It's always that 'he was just mad.' But that's not an excuse for him to hurt you."

You stare back at Geonhak, and nod. You know he's right. That your father is hurting you, and at this point, it doesn't matter if he means to or not.

"You're right."

After a second, he takes your hands in his reassuringly, and looks you right in the eyes. "Hey. Y/Nie. Do you want to stay here tonight? I don't want you going back there, if you aren't going to be safe."

You look up at him. You almost want to say yes. But you also don't want to. On one hand, you want to spend more time with him. He makes you happy. You trust Geonhak more than anyone else.

But on the other hand, you don't trust him completely. Or anyone. You've given up on that. When the person you were supposed to trust most, your own parent, broke your trust, how can you trust anyone else like that?

You smile, pulling your hands away from him, and you shake your head.

"It's alright," you say. "Thank you for the offer, Hak, really. But like I said earlier, I'd like to give him one more chance. And I don't want to be a bother to you or your members, so if something happens, I'll just get a hotel room someplace," you say.

He tilts his head curiously and frowns. "You won't be a bother, Y/N. The members love you, trust me. Seoho definitely loves telling you about my embarrassing moments," he says grinning.

You smile, but shake your head. "Thank you, Geonhak. But really, I think I'll stay at a hotel if something happens."

Geonhak sighs, then nods, pulling his hand away from yours, and you feel yourself deflate a bit. "I'm always here if you need me, okay Y/Nie?"

"Of course."

You two continue to hang out a bit longer, until it's time for you to pick up Sunho from his school and for Geonhak to head to his work. You wish him a good day of practice, and leave to walk to Sunho's school on your own.

You have no idea where your mind is as you walk. It seems to be wandering everywhere, so much that you're barely aware of where you're going. You're on autopilot as you walk to Sunho's school. It's a wonder you don't accidentally walk into a lamp post

You know that you like Geonhak. You know that you have romantic feelings for him, however small. But right now, the last thing you want to do is act on them.

Growing up as a small kid, you had looked up to your parents. At first, you'd thought they were the best couple ever--seeing that parents are supposed to be their kids' role model.

But naturally, as your parents' marriage fell apart, so did your idea of love. How could you trust anyone with your heart when one of the people you were supposed to trust the most--your own father--already had broken your trust? You don't know if you're able to trust anyone like that. At least, for now. For you, you're happier just being friends with someone who you want to be more with.

But you also don't want to spend so much time close to Geonhak that you fall deeper in your feelings. Spending another night with him will make you want to spend another, and another. And you're too worried that that'll lead to you two being more than friends. Which you're not ready for.

You look up and realize you're at your destination. The gates leading to the school are there before you, standing a little taller than you are.

You stand, waiting outside of the gates in front of Sunho's school, like a parent waiting for their kid. You're a couple minutes early, so you're waiting, listening to your music while staring in the direction of the school while you think about how you like Geonhak but don't want to like Geonhak.

Your thoughts are interrupted by a small ring! from your phone. You look down, frowning, and you see that you just received a text from Geonhak. You click the message to see what he said.

Geonhak 🐥: The members were asking about you. They say hi and they hope you're doing well!

Above the text is a selfie Geonhak took. You can see Youngjo, Seoho and Dongju beside him, as well as Keonhee and Hwanwoong reflected in the mirror behind him. They're all smiling brightly, waving, making peace signs or hearts and silly faces. You can't help but smile. He and his members are all so sweet, and you can't help but smile dumbly as you type a text back.

You: Aww! Tell them thank you for me! 💕

You: And thank you for spending time with me today.

Just after you send the second text, you can hear the bell ring in the distance, signaling the end of Sunho's school day. A couple minutes pass as some students start exiting. They run to their waiting older parents or siblings. As you continue looking over the kids, you spot him.

Sunho is talking to two friends next to him. One little girl, who you recognize as his best friend Areum, and another kid who you don't know the name of. Sunho sees you, waves goodbye to his friend, and runs over to you.

"Hi Y/Nie!" he says, running over to grab your hand. "I can't wait to tell you about what I learned today! And Mr. Kim!"

You smile as you lead him to the bus stop. "I can't wait to hear it. And I'm sure Mr. Kim will be happy to hear it tomorrow before school, too!"

"Yeah!" He grins widely. "Can I show you at home?"

You grin. "Of course. Sunho," you say. You look up at the sky. The sun is bearing down on you. It's hot as hell today. You look down at Sunho. "How about we go and get you some ice cream. Does that sound good?"

"Yes please!"

You smile, leading the way toward the ice cream place you've gone once with Geonhak and Sunho.

You don't know what it is, but you find so much joy in pampering and treating Sunho. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you didn't get enough affection from your father, and you've seen that your father doesn't give Sunho any attention either. You want to give Sunho everything you lacked as a child.

You smile softly down at Sunho.

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starlit-serenade · 4 years

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Along the Red Thread | Chapter 4

🧣 Chapter 4: 3,500 words

《 Boy Group Masterlist // ONEUS Masterlist // Series Masterlist 》

You wake up early in the morning to the sun in your eyes. This room isn't familiar. It isn't your bedroom at home. And it isn't the bedroom at your father's apartment.

It takes you a moment to remember that this is Kim Geonhak's dorm with his group members, and that, after getting in an argument with your father, Geonhak allowed you to sleep on their couch.

You sit up and rub your eyes. You're still wearing the white T-shirt that Geonhak lent you. It's several sizes too big for you, and is very comfortable.

You hear the door open, and suddenly someone emerges from the bedroom door next to the couch. Kim Youngjo, the brown haired man you had met last night, comes out from the bedroom. He's wearing sweatpants and a white T-shirt with a design on the front.

"Oh, good morning," he says. He smiles his warm smile as he moves across the room toward the kitchen. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, I did, thank you," you say.

"Would you like breakfast?" he asks. "I don't make the best eggs out of the group--that's Geonhak--but I'm a close second."

You shake your head. "No thank you. I should probably head home, I don't want to be a bother and overstay my welcome."

"Oh, don't worry," Youngjo says. "We're all happy to have you here. Any friend of Geonhak is a friend of ours. Besides, he really likes you. You must have been really good friends when you were kids."

"He was there for me when no one else was," you say. "From when my father would scream at me and my mother for getting in his way. When my parents would fight and I couldn't stand it. When my parents finally got divorced after years of fighting. He was there for me, as a shoulder to cry on, a second home to stay at. He was my best friend. He was my home," you explain.

"That's sweet of him. I would tell you that he's a warm, sweet and kind person beneath his intimidating appearance, but it seems you already know that," Youngjo says. "And I don't know you well, but if you need any help, I am always open to talk to."

"Thank you. Like I said, though, I should get going. My father might be worried about me," you say. You've already gathered your clothes and put on your coat. "Thank you for letting me stay."

"Thank you for blessing us with your presence," he jokes. He walks over to the front door and holds the door open for you as you leave. "Stay safe on your way home."

"Thank you, Youngjo."

You exit and wave goodbye as Youngjo closes the door behind you. Then you sigh and walk down and out, bracing yourself for whatever you might encounter when you get back to your father's apartment.

The door creaks open and you push into the living room. Besides your light, careful footsteps, there isn't a single sound. Which isn't too much of a surprise. It's the weekend, so Sunho doesn't have school and neither of his parents, your father nor Sooyeon, have work today.

You head to your bedroom, close the door behind you, and plug in your phone to charge. There, you see several texts and calls from your father that you'd ignored from last night, begging you to return.

Last night, you had not felt safe at all. You'd wanted to stay at a hotel, but none were open. Perhaps you should stay at a hotel for the rest of your stay here in Korea. Maybe you would be--or at least feel--safer at a hotel.

As you start packing your stuff, suitcase on your bed with clothes folded inside, you don't hear the footsteps in the hallway. What you do hear is the door opening behind you. You turn around again and see your father, dressed in his work clothes, standing in the doorway.

"Y/N, where have you been all night? Your Eomma and I were up until midnight waiting for you last night," he says. His eyes drift over behind you, and settle on your suitcase. "Where are you going?

"I was thinking I might get a room at a hotel and stay there until I go home," you say, turning back to the suitcase, intentionally not meeting his eyes.

"What? Why?" he asks. You don't respond, not trusting your own voice. You're a little afraid that if you try to speak, your voice will break and you'll collapse from the inside out.

"Because of our argument last night?" your father asks, and you're already feeling bad for even thinking about staying elsewhere. "Y/N, are you kidding? It was an argument, leaving last night wasn't necessary--wanting to stay at a hotel isn't necessary!" He pauses. "Look. Y/N. I know that things have been difficult between us for the past few years. But I haven't seen you properly for so long, akd now you want to leave in the middle of your visit? Y/N, be reasonable. Please, I won't yell anymore. I just wanted you to try with your Eomma . . ."

There's a long silence, and you're left to respond to him. You feel so bad for leaving last night. It was unreasonable. It is unreasonable for you to want to leave . . .

You turn around, head hanging. You still can't look him in the eyes, but now it's much more because of shame.

"I'm . . . I'm sorry. You're right," you mumble, barely recognizing your own voice. You feel so small, sounds so small.

"It's alright," you hear your father say. "I have to finish getting ready for work, but how about you finish packing and relax. I'll take you, Eomma and Sunho out to a nice dinner tonight. How does that sound?"

You nod, but you really don't know what you think. Your brain is lagging behind a bit, you almost feel like you aren't in control of your body and mind. You feel lost.

"Perfect. And, do you think you could take Sunho to school today? He was asking about you all night after you left, I think he would want you to take him," your father says. Deep down, you know that this is your father manipulating you to stay through your little, five year old half brother. But on the other hand, you do care about Sunho.

"Sure," you say.

"Great."

Your father leaves the bedroom, and once you hear the door close, you blink and look up. You're back in control, but now you're just confused.

"I guess I'm staying," you mumble to yourself.

You remove everything from the suitcase and put them back where they were before. Really, you're confused about the past few minutes. You walked into this apartment this morning, expecting to leave with your things and get a room at a hotel where you'd feel so much physically and mentally safer. Instead, you have spoken to your father and somehow agreed to stay here.

After you finish folding your clothes again, you sit on your bed and lean with your back against the headboard and grab your phone. You can see several texts from 'Geonhak 🐥'. You click to see what he wrote.

Geonhak 🐥: Hey, where are you?

Geonhak 🐥: Are you okay? Are you safe?

Geonhak 🐥: Youngjo said you went home. I hope you're okay and safe. Please let me know.

Geonhak 🐥: Call me if you can? Let me know if you're ok.

You realize that you’re smiling stupidly at your phone. You're not only happy to have someone to listen to you, but you're also just happy to have a friend back.

You think back to when you two were kids. You would read together. You would play video games together, play on the playset together, despite being too old for it. You would spend hours talking, playing, and just hanging out.

You click the call button, and he picks up the phone almost right away. You wonder if he was waiting by the phone for your call.

"Y/N? Hey, are you okay?" he asks, his voice slightly muffled by the phone, but your heart flutters a bit at the sound of his voice still. "You weren't here when I woke up. I was hoping to maybe make you breakfast or something?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," you say, purposefully ignoring the fact that he wanted to make you breakfast. It's sweet of him. Really sweet.

"Do you need any help getting a hotel? Or do you have that figured out?"

You pause. "I'm staying at my father's apartment."

"But what about yesterday? Didn't something happen? Isn't that why you needed a place to stay?"

"Yeah . . . I talked to my dad and . . . well, he apologized," you say. "He said he wouldn't be like that again."

"But . . ." Geonhak sighs. "Alright. If anything happens again . . . if you need a place to stay, the dorm is always available."

"Thanks, Geonhak."

There's a long pause. You can feel him wanting to speak on the other end of the phone. And you also want to tell him that you can't find the words for.

That while you've agreed to stay here at your father's apartment, you actually would so much rather stay at ONEUS's dorm. You hate it here, and you have no idea why you agreed to stay when you had come back planning to leave and stay at a hotel instead.

"Y/N, I'm worried about you," Geonhak says.

Now would be the perfect time to tell him exactly what you're thinking.

"You don't have to worry," you say. "I'm an adult. I can get a hotel if I need to. And I can call you if I ever need help."

Geonhak sighs. "Alright."

You nod, and are about to wish him goodbye when he speaks again.

"Hey . . . would you like to hang out today? Or tomorrow? Maybe go to the library or something?"

You smile, and almost giggle into your phone. Your cheeks are warm. "Yeah. Sure. I'm busy today, my father wants me to take Sunho to school and then I have some reading to do. But tomorrow works."

"Alright. Who's Sunho?"

"Oh. My dad's kid. My half brother. He's six."

"Oh, cute!" Geonhak exclaims. "Would you like me to come with you to take him to school? I'm good with kids, I swear."

"Aren't you busy?"

"No. My schedule today is flexible."

You smile. "Alright. I can text you my father's address and we'll take Sunho to school. See you soon."

Sunho is clinging on tightly to your hand as you leave the apartment building together. When he saw you after he finished brushing his teeth, he almost burst into tears. You apologized to him for not reading to him last night, until he calmed down and finished getting ready for school.

As you exit the building, you see Geonhak standing further down the sidewalk. His clothes are plain--jeans, a black T-shirt and white overshirt and glasses--so he doesn't stand out too much, but you recognize him right away.

He sees you at the same time and smiles, walking over to you and Sunho. You blink, surprised by how handsome he looks now that it's the daytime. Not that he wasn't handsome last night when you stayed over.

Geonhak bends down in front of Sunho, so that their faces are at around the same height.

"Hi," Geonhak says in such a sweet and gentle voice that catches you by surprise. He holds up his hand for Sunho to hi-five. Sunho does, indeed, hi-five him, and you watch Geonhak's smile widen. "I'm Kim Geonhak," he says softly. "You must be Sunho."

Sunho looks up at you, and you nod. He nods back at Geonhak.

"I'm friends with your sibling Y/N," Geonhak says. "How old are you, Sunho?"

Sunho raises his hands.

"Six? Woah! You're so tall for a six year old. Are you the tallest in your class?" Geonhak asks. Sunho nods. "Cool. I'm going to be coming with Y/N to take you to school. Is that alright with you?"

Sunho nods.

"Great." Geonhak looks up at you with the most adorable smile you've ever seen on his face as he stands up straight.

"I see that you wanted to say hello to Sunho before saying hello to me," you joke. You gently tug at Sunho's hand and he follows you and Geonhak down the sidewalk, toward the bus stop you use to get to Sunho's school.

"I wanted to be friendly with him first," Geonhak explains. "Didn't want him to think I was just some stranger."

You nod.

"Are you alright? Last night was a lot, I think, for you," Geonhak says.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Can we talk about it after?" you ask. You glance at Sunho, trying to signal to Geonhak, not in front of Sunho. He seems to get the message, and nods.

"Right. Sorry." He looks at Sunho and smiles. "Sunho, is it okay if I hold your hand while we walk?"

Sunho nods his head while smiles widely and holds his hand out to Geonhak, who takes it and smiles at you.

"So, Sunho," Geonhak says. His voice is soft and gentle, shocking now that you're used to his deep voice. "What do you like to do for fun?"

Sunho thinks for a second. "I like reading. Y/N reads an English book to me at night!"

"Oh? Do they?" Geonhak smiles over at you, and you swear your heart starts to beat a bit faster. His smile is really . . . lovely. "What books?"

"Y/N reads me 'The Kiss . . .'" Sunho frowns, scrunching up his face while trying to remember. "'The Kissing Hand'! It's in English."

"Oh? I've never read it. Is it good? Do you like it?" Geonhak asks. Sunho nods. Watching the way Geonhak smiles at Sunho is adorable. He's so good with kids, and you can tell he's having a lot of fun.

"Yeah! It's my favorite English book!"

"Oh, I should read it sometime then."

You laugh a bit and Geonhak looks at you curiously. "Geonhak, it's a kids book."

"I'd love to read a kids book," Geonhak says. "Sunho, would you want me to read you a book sometime?"

Sunho nods.

You, Sunho and Geonhak board the semi-crowded bus. You stand, one hand holding Sunho's while the other grips the pole for stability as the bus starts to move. Geonhak stands behind you, his hand holding the pole above yours.

"Did you know Y/N disappeared last night?" Sunho asks. "I got really scared. It was night time and I was scared they were gonna get lost. But they came back this morning."

"Right," Geonhak says, looking at you. "You don't have to worry. Y/N was with me! I made sure that they were safe, and protected them."

Sunho's face lights up brightly. "Really? Thank you for protecting Y/N, Mr. Kim! I was scared Y/N wasn't going to be able to take me to school today."

"Do you like school, Sunho?" Geonhak asks. Sunho nods quickly with the biggest smile on his face. "Do you have friends at school?"

"Yeah!" Sunho says, grinning. "I have my best friend Areum. Areum likes reading too! And also my other friends."

You smile down at Sunho, then over at Geonhak. Geonhak's smiling down at Sunho with the most precious smile you've ever seen. He's got little tiny dimples, you notice. And his eyes are like little crescents because he's smiling so hard.

You shake your head and look back at Sunho.

The bus comes to a halt at the bus stop outside of Sunho's school. You and Geonhak dismount with him, and walk over to the sidewalk. You kneel in front of him and fix his shirt.

"You're gonna have a good day, right?" you ask. He nods, and you hold up your hand for a high five. "Good. Have a good day at school, okay Sunho?" you say.

"Okay!" He nods and high fives you.

"Give Geonhak one too," you say. He walks over to Geonhak, who raises both of his hands and gives him two high fives. Sunho lets out a giggle, and you can tell from the way he's grinning that he likes Geonhak.

You and Geonhak wave Sunho off as he walks the rest of the way to school, joining his friends. You both watch as he walks with them toward the school building, laughing and talking.

"He really likes you," you say, eyes still on Sunho. You can see Geonhak look at you out of the corner of your eye. "I can tell. You made him really happy."

"That's nice to hear." There's a pause. "Do you want to go to get drinks with me?" he asks "Coffee or tea or smoothies?"

You nod. "Smoothies sound nice."

"I know a place we can walk to from here," he says. He reaches for your hand, but stops himself and smiles.

"This way," he says, nodding his head down the road. You follow him as he starts walking, considering what flavor of smoothie you want to get.

"Is Sunho your half brother, then?" he asks, after a minute of silence. You nod.

"Yeah. We have the same father. But his mother is Sooyeon," you explain. "I actually never met Sunho before I visited. He's a sweet kid. I hope that my father treats them better than he treated me and my mom."

Geonhak nods. "About this morning . . . are you okay?"

You nod. "Yeah."

"I thought you were planning to stay at a hotel tonight? But you said you aren't? What happened with that?" he asks. "I don't want to be invasive, so if you don't want to tell me, that's alright."

"No, it's okay. When I went to my father's apartment to pack my stuff, my father confronted me. He apologized, I think. And asked me to give him another chance. He promised not to do anything threatening or aggressive anymore."

Geonhak nods. "He said that a lot when we were kids, too. 'I won't do it again.' 'I'll do better next time.' Forgiving is alright, but if you keep doing it every time, he'll only do it more."

"I know," you murmur. "But I guess I want to believe that now that he has this new family, he's changed."

Geonhak sighs. "That makes sense. Just remember, you can always call me for help, Y/N."

You smile. "Thank you, Geonhak. I . . . really appreciate you letting me stay over last night. Your members were very nice to meet."

"You think so?" Geonhak asks, laughing a bit. "They liked you. I think Seoho would have spent time intentionally telling you every embarrassing thing I've ever done if he could."

"Oh?" You raise an eyebrow at him, grinning evilly. "Well, then I guess Seoho and I have some catching up to do."

He sighs and rolls his eyes. "Whatever. It's not like you haven't seen my embarrassing self when I was in school with you."

You grin. "You were pretty embarrassing back then."

"So were you! There's the smoothie stand."

You both line up for the smoothies, and he helps you decide on which flavor to get and helps you order. You grin at him as he hands you your smoothie.

"You know," you start, "besides last night, you and I haven't really hung out yet. Which is a shame, since we haven't hung out in years."

"True. I'd love to walk Sunho to school with you more, if you'd allow me," he chuckles, sipping from his own drink.

"You're really good with kids," you note. "Or, at least, with Sunho."

"Right. I'm studying early childhood education, so it's only natural that I've learned a bit about how to work with kids."

"That's cute," you blurt out. Geonhak gives you a shy, smiley look, similar to the adoring look he gave Sunho.

"Cute?"

You roll your eyes and nudge him. "Yeah, sure. Cute. Don't let it get to your head, though. Sunho is still cuter than you."

Geonhak gasps, feigning shock, and places his hand in surprise in mock offense. "Really? I'm offended." He chuckles a bit.

You can feel your face heating up from the way he looks at you. You clear your throat and look away. "Uh, yeah. I'd love it if you could join me and Sunho in the mornings, whenever you can. But that's not what I meant."

"Oh?" He tilts his head curiously.

"What I meant was actually hanging out. As friends. Maybe we could go to the library or park or something," you say. "Maybe see a movie."

He grins. "Sure. Have you been sightseeing yet?"

You shake your head. Your father hasn't really taken you anywhere since you arrived. If anything, you've spent most of your time here as Sunho's babysitter and a shopper for Sooyeon.

"No? Maybe I could . . . take you sightseeing?" he offers. You nod.

"I'd like that."

#kdiarynet #oneus #kim geonhak #kim gunhak #leedo #oneus fanfic #oneus fanfiction #leedo fanfic #leedo fanfiction #kim geonhak fanfic #kim geonhak fanfiction #kim gunhak fanfic #kim gunhak fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #myfic

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starlit-serenade · 4 years

Text

Along the Red Thread | Chapter 1

🧣 Chapter 1: 1,991 words

《 Boy Group Masterlist // ONEUS Masterlist // Series Masterlist 》

You see your father waiting at the entrance of the airport as you exit baggage claim. You haven't seen him in a long time, especially not alone, but he looks almost the same as he did when he moved here to Korea with his wife, who now stands beside him, waiting for you. She looks to be almost half your father's age, but you don't say anything.

Several years ago, two years before you entered high school, your parents divorced, and later your dad moved to South Korea with his Korean wife. Since then, he would visit your home once a year, for a week at a time on your birthday. But you've never been to Korea before now.

You had a friend when you were younger who was from Korea. But a year after your parents split, he moved back home to Korea. You fell out of contact soon after, but you often wonder how he's doing.

You approach your father. Your height difference has changed significantly since you last saw him. You're now much closer to his height than you were before. His wife, a Korean woman you met once when he introduced you so many years ago, before he moved to Korea. You don't remember her name very clearly. It started with an S, maybe? Or a J? Something like that. Her black hair is cut in a short bob, and her smile is soft, almost insincere. A little boy you didn't notice stands beside her, looking up at you curiously.

"Hi, Y/N," your father says, giving you a hug. You return it, uncomfortably, and then pull away. You smile in an attempt to placebo yourself into feeling more comfortable, but it doesn't work. "How was your flight?"

"Fine," you say. "A bit bumpy, but not too bad.

"Have you met my wife?" he asks, placing his hand on his wife's back. You shake your head.

"Hello, I'm Sooyeon," your step-mother says. She shakes your hand, then directs your attention to the little boy beside her, who is now hiding behind his mother's legs. "And this is Sunho."

You bend down to Sunho's face level, in sort of an uncomfortable squat. "Hello," you say, your voice softer. He waves with his tiny hand.

"How old are you?" you ask. His mother, Sooyeon, translates to him. He must not speak English. Or maybe he just isn't fluent. Sunho raises his hands up to you, showing five fingers on one hand and his thumb on the other.

"Oh, six?"

"Yes, he's six years old."

You nod. Sunho smiles at you proudly, and he smiles back, still hiding behind the cloth of his mom's skirt.

"He's shy," Sooyeon explains.

Your father directs you out of the airport to his car. You sit in the back with your half brother, Sunho, while your dad and step-mother sit in the front and passenger seats. The ride to their apartment is quiet except for Sunho, who giggles as you make silly faces at him. At the same time, you watch the buildings zip past.

You haven't seen your father in about a year, but he's barely spoken to you since you've arrived, other than introducing you to his wife. You don't know if you should be surprised.

You reach the apartment, and your father helps bring your stuff inside. He shows you to your room. It's empty, and blinding white, as if they just had it cleaned this morning. You walk over to the bed to stand in the center of the room. It feels so empty and plain and large, compared to your small room at your home.

"Y/Nah," your dad says from the doorway. You turn to him, slightly startled by his voice. You've been here in Korea for a few hours and you still aren't used to his voice yet. "Sooyeon is going to have dinner ready in about half an hour. Does that sound good?"

You nod. "Yes."

"Y/N . . ." You look up at your father questioningly. "I'm happy to see you."

You nod, unsure of whether you feel the same way. There are reasons you live with your mom full time and only see your father once a year.

Your father closes the door as he leaves you alone to take in the room on your own. You set your bag aside and open the closet to find it empty. Since you'll be here for two months, you are expected to use the room as you wish. You don't have enough clothes to fill the closet yet in your suitcase, but you wouldn't be surprised if you collect additional clothes during this trip.

You put away all of your things, hanging up your jacket and putting away your shirts and pants. You stare at the bed. It's so clean that you almost don't want to lie down. But you're tired from the plane ride and the emotional exhaustion of meeting your father for the first time in forever. But also, Sooyeon is making dinner for the four of you, so you can't sleep, because that would both be rude to her and would also mess up your sleep schedule for the next two months.

With somewhere between ten and twenty minutes left before dinner--you haven't been keeping track--you decide to sit down on your bed and scroll through the internet and think.

You think about how you used to come to school and tell your friend, the Korean kid--gosh, you wish you could remember his name, he was so nice, but it was so long ago--about what happened at home the day before. You would tell him about how you couldn't sleep because your parents were screaming at each other again, or you would tell him about how your father hurt you or locked you in the basement as a punishment.

You sigh. Aren't parents supposed to be the adults you look up to? The ones who you learn from? Aren't parents supposed to be an example of a healthy relationship? But instead, all you saw and heard was screaming and violence. You grew up being afraid of your own safety, and wondering if watching your mother being hit or threatened was normal.

You frown. The more of that you saw, the more and more you gave up on the idea of a relationship. It was what love was supposed to be--doors slamming, screaming every night--you didn't want it.

Why did you want to come here and spend two months in Korea with your father again?

Right. You wanted to try to mend your relationship with him. Why? Because he wanted you to. And you knew that, if it didn't end up working out, you are now old enough to get a room at a hotel to stay safe if needed.

You sigh. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. Maybe you should go back home and--

"Y/N?"

You look at the door. Sooyeon, your step-mother, has opened the door just enough to poke her head inside the room. You must have been so deep in your thoughts to not hear her open the door.

"Yes?" you say, your voice light as you pretend to be happy and excited to be here and see her.

"Dinner is ready," she says.

"Oh, thank you, Miss Sooyeon. I'll be there in a minute."

"Of course. And please, call me Eomma," she says, smiling widely. You nod, though you aren't very comfortable with calling her the Korean word for mom. You already have a mom who raised you alone for the past six years. Why would you call this woman who you barely know cmom" when you don't see her as that? When you already have a mom that raised you alone? You'd rather call her Miss. Sooyeon.

"Thank you, Eomma," you say anyway. You're afraid that, if your dad finds out you're being disrespectful or disobedient, you'll get in trouble.

She disappears from the doorway, closing the door as she leaves, and you sigh. You're already so emotionally drained by being here, and you still have two months left.

You swing your legs off of the bed and stand up. All you have to do is get through dinner and then you can go to bed and sleep. Maybe in the morning, you'll feel better about being here.

You walk over to the dining room. Your father is sitting at the table, which has been set with table mats, plates and silverware. Sooyeon stands next to him, and Sunho sits across from him. He smiles at the sight of you and points to you. Your father and Sooyeon both look at you at the same time. They both smile widely, but their smiles don't make you feel comfortable. So you just smile at Sunho instead and sit next to your father while Sooyeon sits next to Sunho.

"So Y/N," Sooyeon says, halfway through the meal. "What do you like to do?"

You blink. How do you answer that? You don't know this woman. You don't know if she's genuinely asking because she's genuinely curious, or if she wants information for something, or if she's going to judge you and criticize you, or if--

You shake yourself. These are your trust issues speaking. Maybe you should just answer her like a normal person without trust issues would.

"I listen to music. And I play some video games. I read and draw a lot. I just finished my freshman year of college, so it's difficult to focus on my hobbies as much as usual," you say, sipping from your glass of water.

"Oh? What kind of music do you listen to?"

You squirm in your chair. All of these questions being shot at you are starting to feel like an interrogation, and it makes you feel anxious.

"I, uh, listen to many types of music," you stutter, your voice quiet from the internal stress.

"Y/Nah, don't mumble," your dad scolds loudly from next to you, causing you to jump in your chair. You're still not used to his voice, and him scolding you for the first time in years isn't helping at all.

"Sorry, dad," you mumble, ducking your head.

"Answer your Eomma's question," your dad says, leaning toward you, and you wince at him speaking so close to you. His voice is loud, demanding, and booming. The same that you remember, back when he would shut you in the garage or closet when you were twelve.

You take a deep breath.

"I listen to many types of music. Not a specific type, really." You can feel two pairs of eyes on you. Your father and Sooyeon are staring at you, while Sunho just continues eating. "Eomma," you add. Your father leans back in his chair, and you wish you could feel that relaxed.

You had expected that he might have changed in the past seven years. You'd hoped he'd become less violent and scary.

It seems he hasn't.

He's almost the same as you remember.

Loud, angry and intimidating. His presence demeaning power and attention from the rest of the room.

"You're in college, right?" Sooyeon asks.

"Yes," you confirm.. "I just finished my first year."

"And how was your first year of college?" she asks.

"Fine."

She nods, and doesn't ask anymore questions. You wonder if you made it clear enough that this is a topic you aren't interested in talking about with her.

You finish your dinner in silence. Your father allows you to wash your dishes before you head to your room to say goodnight.

You sit on your bed, considering the past few hours you've spent here in Korea. It's not bad. The city is nice. The bed is comfortable.

But none of that really erases the memories of your parents screaming through the walls, the fear and pain you endured for several years and the loneliness you endured for several more years.

Really, you're not here for fun. You're here to mend a broken relationship that you're not even sure is worth salvaging.

#oneus #leedo #kim geonhak #kim gunhak #oneus fanfic #oneus fanfiction #leedo fanfic #leedo fanfiction #kim geonhak fanfic #kim geonhak fanfiction #kim gunhak fanfic #kim gunhak fanfiction #myfic #fanfic #fanfiction

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starlit-serenade · 4 years

Text

Along the Red Thread | Chapter 3

🧣 Chapter 3: 4,342 words

《 Boy Group Masterlist // ONEUS Masterlist // Series Masterlist 》

“Sunho, let’s go to school, alright?” you call out. Sunho runs out of his room, all dressed for school with his bag ready, and he grabs onto your hand. “Ready to go?” you ask. He nods aggressively.

It’s been just over two weeks since you arrived in Korea, and you’ve been adapting quite well to it here. You’ve spent most of your time reading to Sunho, who loves spending time with you. You’ve read him ‘The Kissing Hand’ about once a night as a bedtime story, and several other books throughout the week, and you have been taking him to school for the past week, while his mom and your shared father go to work. It’s easier for them, plus you feel helpful and you get to know your little half brother.

You and Sooyeon haven’t gotten along much since she yelled at you two weeks ago. Ever since she talked about and criticized your upbringing by your mother like that …

You’ve felt the tension between you and her ever since then. Your anger has gone down, but it’s difficult to see Sooyeon and not rehear those words she spoke. She hasn’t apologized, hasn’t even suggested that she feels bad for insulting you or your mother. You and Sooyeon have had quite a few disagreements like that since then, about stupid things like your screen time–you’re a college student on vacation and she isn’t your mother–and eating habits. Sooyeon started staring and watching you as you simply exist. It’s really as if she’s looking for something to yell at you.

You walk with Sunho to the bus stop you take to get to his school. The stop isn’t too far from your father’s apartment, so you hold his hand as you lead him onto the bus, and hold his hand throughout the ride.

After you wave Sunho off, and he waves goodbye back before joining some friends his age and disappearing into the school building. You hum as you head back to your dad’s apartment, hands in the pockets of your pants as you listen to music through your earbuds. As you walk back toward the apartment, something on the ground catches your eye.

You frown and move off to the side of the sidewalk, kneeling down as if to tie your shoelaces, and you reach over to pluck up the end of the red thread, lying on the sidewalk.

You stand up again, clutching the thread tightly in your hand. It’s been just over a week since you last saw the red thread. It’s a different day, different place, but it almost certainly is the same red thread. You look up, and watch as the thread, a bright red, runs down the sidewalk ahead of you and turns left ahead, disappearing around the block.

You frown. No one else seems to notice or see the string. No one did the last time you saw it, either. They continue about their days, stepping over and around it without even sparing it a glance.

You follow the red thread, coiling it up in your hand and rolling it into a ball as you walk along the path. Miss Sooyeon would probably be appalled by the fact that you’re picking up a random string on the ground. To be fair, you have no idea what this string is, where it leads and where it’s been. You have no idea how dirty it is. But at the same time, this is the second time you’ve seen this thread since you arrived here in Korea. Last time you saw it, it vanished mysteriously after you ran into someone at the store. How can you not be curious about this mysterious red thread?

You follow the string down the street, making sure to be much more mindful of your surroundings so that you don’t run into anyone on the sidewalk, and don’t get run over by a car or bike. You continue walking, and you see ahead that the string leads to a bus stop on the sidewalk, several people waiting in its shade. As you walk closer to the stop, you can see the string wound around the poles holding up the roof, and hanging from the ceiling. You stare up at the string, intrigued, and come to a stop beside the structure, observing how the thread is wrapped around the black pillar.

“What are you looking at?”

You almost jump at the deep voice beside you, and clutch your heart. You see a man next to you, around your age, black hair, eerily familiar. He’s looking between you and the bus stop structure curiously.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he says. He frowns, tilting his head to you. “Wait, you’re the person from the store the other week.”

Oh, that’s where you’ve seen him! He’s the man you ran into at the store when you followed the red thread two weeks ago!

Oh. Oh!

That’s embarrassing.

“Oh, yes, that was me,” you say. You can feel your cheeks heating up in embarrassment. “Sorry, again, about bumping into you.”

“No worries,” he says. “So how has your second week here been? Two weeks, right?”

“Yep. It’s been fine,” you say. “The city is beautiful.” There really is no other way to describe it. You’ve enjoyed reading to Sunho. You’ve enjoyed the small amount of sightseeing you’ve done.

“Excellent,” he says. “By the way, I’m Geonhak.”

He holds out his hand to shake, and you shake it.

“I’m Y/N,” you say. He tilts his head curiously.

“When I lived internationally, I had a friend by that name. Where did you say you were visiting from, again?” he asks. You tell him what city you come from, and his eyes widen.

“Your last name wouldn’t happen to be … Y/L/N, would it?” he asks. You nod.

“It is. How did you know?”

He laughs. “I lived there during middle school. If I’m not mistaken, we went to school together, and we were friends,” he says.

You frown, thinking back. There’s no way this man could be the Korean kid you were friends with, all those years ago. But now that you think of it, his name was Geonhak …

“Geonhak Kim?” you guess. He nods and beams at you.

“Yes, that was me!”

“Oh, that’s so … amazing that we’ve met again! It’s been so long,” you say, nervously rubbing the back of your neck. “I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you.”

“No worries,” he says. “It took me two weeks to recognize you. It’s been many, many years since we’ve seen each other, so it’s understandable. How have you been, Y/Nie?”

You smile at the name Y/Nie. You can almost hear it in his much younger voice, from when you were kids. His voice certainly has gotten deeper since you were thirteen.

“Not much. I just finished my freshman year of college, but as I told you, I’m here visiting my father,” you say. “How about you? How have you been?”

“I, uh …” He glances around before leaning toward you. “I’m an idol,” he says, his voice somewhat lowered.

“An idol? A K-Pop idol? A celebrity?”

He nods. “Yeah,” he says. He’s smiling almost confidently, but his rosy, blushy cheeks are telling you he’s a bit shy. “I’m part of the Korean idol group ONEUS.”

“Oh, that name sounds familiar,” you say, thinking back to where you recognize the name from. “Was it 'Valkyrie’?”

“Yes, that was our debut title track,” he says laughing. “Oh, have you heard of us?”

“Yeah, I listened to 'Valkyrie’. I liked it, it was nice,” you say. “So since we went to school together, you became a celebrity. If memory serves, you were into dance and used to sing. Nice to know it went to good use.”

He chuckles. “Yeah.”

A screech sounds as the bus pulls up to the bus stop. People line up at the now-open door and start entering, scanning their cards and finding a seat.

“Ah, that’s me,” Geonhak says. “Here, let’s quickly exchange numbers. Here’s my phone, just put in your name, and I can put my number on yours.”

You give him your phone and type in your own phone number, putting 'Y/Nie Y/L/N’ as the contact name. You give Geonhak his phone back, and he gives you yours back.

“Bye, Y/N,” he says, smiling brightly. “We should talk soon!” He waves before joining the line for the bus. You wave goodbye again as the bus departs before frowning to yourself. You came to this bus stop for a reason, didn’t you? What was it?

Oh. Right.

You look back up at the roof of the structure, but the red thread is nowhere to be seen. Not dangling from the ceiling, nor wrapped around the supports like before. You look down at your hand, but, once again, the thread has vanished. You glance around, but there is no red thread to be found.

“What … ?”

After glancing around for a moment, you settle with the fact that the red thread has, once again, completely vanished. Slightly disappointed by not figuring out the mystery of the red thread, you head back to the apartment.

You sit in your room, on your bed, working on your computer. You have a bit of summer reading to do for school, and so you’re getting a bit of a head start now.

You have your earbuds in both of your ears, playing all of ONEUS’ music on shuffle. After learning that your childhood friend is now famous and a member of a popular music group three days ago, you wanted to check out their songs. And you really like their music, their first album especially.

Bored with the reading, you take out your phone and open contacts. Geonhak hpad named himself in your phone as 'Geonhak 🐥’ when you gave him your phone three days ago, which you found extremely cute.

You and Geonhak have been texting back and forth since you exchanged numbers. Mostly just talking about school, life. You talk about hobbies and how you both have been since middle school. Once or twice, you mentioned living with your mother and without your father, but it was never a main topic of conversation.

It’s nice to think about meeting your childhood friend. Especially now that you think of how he was always so kind to you when you would come to school and tell him about what your dad did to you or your mom. He would comfort you, he would listen to you. And, from what you remember, he was generally just a fun friend.

“Y/N!”

You look up in surprise. Sunho stands in the doorway, carrying his favorite book 'The Kissing Hand,’ in his arms.

“Hi, Sunho,” you say. “Do you want me to read to you before dinner?”

“Yes please,” he says. You pat the spot on the bed next to you, and he comes and sits down there. He places the book down and smiles widely. You reach over to open the book when you hear the front door open. You swear your heart stops at the sound of the door slamming shut.

“Ah, sorry! I didn’t mean to slam the door!” Your father’s voice is loud, and you let out the breath that you didn’t realize you were holding.

You can hear Sooyeon respond in Korean from the kitchen. With your limited knowledge or Korean, she says something along the lines of, “It’s okay! I just made dinner! I was about to get the kids.”

A couple minutes pass, and then suddenly the door opens to your bedroom and Sooyeon pokes her head in.

“Hello you two,” Sooyeon says. “Dinner is ready.” She repeats it again in Korean for Sunho.

“Okay-yee!” Sunho jumps off the bed. “Let’s go!” he says in Korean. You follow him to the dining room, his loud footsteps echoing through the hallway as he runs to his usual spot.

The four of you take your seats at the table. You sit to the right of your father and across from Sunho, Sooyeon sitting diagonally from you.

Dinner passes by in a flash, and after you finish washing your dishes, your father pulls you aside. Sooyeon is washing her and Sunho’s dishes.

“Y/N,” your father says. You feel yourself stiffen a bit. “I heard from your Eomma that you’ve been being disrespectful these past two weeks.”

You frown. “Disrespectful?” You look over at Sooyeon, who was watching over her shoulder. She quickly looks back at the spoon she’s washing, and you look back at your father.

“She told me that you’ve been arguing with her,” he says. “You’ve been talking back to her.”

“She was talking about mom!” you exclaim.

Your father slams his hand down on the table, and you jump back, hands around yourself like a shield between yourself and him, your head down so that you’re looking down at his shoes.

A moment passes.

“Did I ask what she was talking about?” your father asks, his voice loud and booming. You don’t know if it’s real or in your head, but it feels like his voice is echoing off of all of the walls, both in your house and in your head.

“No,” you say. Your voice is so quiet. “You didn’t.”

“Right. Now, I don’t know what you’ve been arguing with your Eomma about. But I want you to apologize to her,” your father says.

You chew at your lip and turn toward Sooyeon, who is leaning against the kitchen counter. Sunho is nowhere to be seen. Your brain has gone fuzzy, and not in a good way like when you have your favorite food after many years. Instead, it’s like when your mind has gone blank in fear.

You stare at the floor, and watch as a single tear falls from your eyes.

Without even thinking about it, you rush to the doorway, shove your feet into your shoes as fast as you can, and run out the door, down the stairs, and out of the building.

You have no destination in mind. You’ve never been to Korea before. So you run down the only street you’ve run down before. Your arms are wrapped around yourself, protecting you from everything else. Once you feel safer and far away from the danger as possible, you stop and take a deep breath.

It’s dark out. The sun must have set only an hour or so ago. It’s also cold, because it’s night time. Not frightfully cold, but cold enough that a small gust of wind of wind makes you shiver. You look up at the moon in the sky, shining brightly. It’s awfully calming.

After inhaling the fresh air deeply, you look down. Lying there, you see–for the third time, a red string. One end lying at your feet as if placed there deliberately. You frown and pick it up.

It’s the same shade of rest as the last two times you found a red thread on the sidewalk. As you examine it closer, you can see bits of glitter between the strands that are twisted together to build the string.

You look up and follow the string. As you turn the corner, you see that the string leads to the bust stop right ahead. As you approach, you realize that this is the same bus stop you’d followed the red thread to two weeks ago.

The thread is strewn wildly about the bus stop. Coiling around the poles that support the rest of the structure, thrown over the roof and dangling over the edges. You can see the glitter on the string twinkling from the streetlight next to the stop. It’s pretty. It’s beautiful. But you’re still confused as to why this thread is here, why it was there before–twice–and why the thread keeps vanishing.

With one end of the thread still in your hand, you walk over to sit down on the bench within the bus stop. You look around you at the thread dangling around the exterior Of the structure. The glittering string is really pretty.

You hear footsteps nearing and look over to the side. Someone is approaching from down the sidewalk. You squint as they walk beneath the streetlight, until you recognize their face.

“Geonhak?”

The man in question is wearing a white shirt and a jean jacket. It is indeed Geonhak, and as you continue looking at him, you see that he too is holding an end of the string in his hand. He squints at you for a moment, then the bus stop covered in red string, then back at you.

“Y/N?” He walks closer, until he’s standing right next to the bus stop, and you can see he’s frowning. “What are you doing out alone so late?”

“Nothing,” you say.

“What–have you been crying?” he asks. You touch your cheeks and realize they’re wet from when you ran out of your father’s apartment only minutes ago. You quickly wipe away at the tears.

“Oh, no. I mean, yes I have. But don’t worry about it.”

“Are you alright?” He sits down on the bench next to you.

“Yeah. I just got in an argument with my father.”

“I’m sorry. Do you need anything? Can I give you a hug?”

You sniff. “That would be nice.”

He leans over and hugs you. You hum, and thank him after he pulls away.

“So what brought you out here?” you ask. “So late.”

He opens his mouth, then pauses. “You know, I’m not entirely sure. I went outside to get some air, and I followed this red thread … here?”

You look up at the string still dangling from the roof.

“Yeah,” you say. “I, uh … Is there a hotel that would possibly be open about now? I don’t feel safe going back to my dad’s apartment tonight.”

“I don’t think there’s anywhere you can go this late. However, you could come to our dorm,” he says. “We share a bedroom, but I could get you covers and you could sleep on the couch. I promise it’s comfortable. And I can help you get a hotel room tomorrow.”

“Oh, I don’t want to be a bother to you and your members,” you say.

“Really, I don’t mind,” he says. “Please. I don’t want you staying out here in the dark.”

“Would your management be okay with that?” you ask. The last thing you want is to get him in trouble with his superiors.

“I could tell them in the morning that you’re a friend and you needed a place to sleep,” he says.

“Oh. I’d really appreciate that.”

He stands up and stretches his hand out for you to take. You allow him to pull you out of your chair, and follow him down the sidewalk from the direction he came.

“My members might be shocked to meet you, but I’ll explain to them that you just needed a place to stay for the night and that you’re a friend,” he says. You follow him, your hand in his.

“Okay,” you say. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem. Remember when you and I would have sleepovers when your parents got into fights?” he asks.

You nod. You remember you would go to his house, or less often, he would come to yours. Your dad never wanted any of your friends to come over to your house–you didn’t know why–but your mom insisted on letting Geonhak visit. You can vividly remember when he and you would try to play games and talk over the sound of your father yelling at your mother for things out of her control.

“Just like old times.” Geonhak chuckles.

You follow him to his dorm building. He takes you up using the elevator, and opens the door to his dorm. Your hand still in his, you follow him inside. You can hear chatter inside, and as Geonhak leads you further into the dorm, you can see the source of the voices.

One of the two people in the room is staring intently at his phone, a boy with wavy hair who looks quite a bit younger than yourself and Geonhak. The other person in the living room, a brown haired man, looks up as Geonhak closes the door behind you.

“Geonhak, how was your walk?” The man looks at you. “Oh! Who’s … who’s this?”

“This is my childhood friend, Y/Nie,” Geonhak says. “From back when I lived internationally.”

“Y/N? The friend you’ve been talking about?” The wavy haired boy looks at you and waves cutely. “Hi. I’m Dongju, Xion.”

You wave back, smiling widely. This boy’s smile is contagious, you can’t help but smile when he smiles. “Hi.”

“I’m Kim Youngjo, Ravn,” the brown haired man says. He smiles a warm smile, and you would be lying if you said your heart didn’t flutter a bit at his smile.

“Yeah, this is my friend Y/Nie,” Geonhak says. “Y/N needed a place to stay tonight, so I offered. If that’s okay, Youngjo.”

“Sure,” Youngjo says. “Y/N, if you need anything, feel free to let us know.”

“Thank you,” you reply. “I don’t want to be too much of a bother. Hopefully I can get my staying conditions sorted out after tonight. I’ll get a hotel tomorrow or something.”

“No worries,” he says, standing up. He walks over and shakes your hand. “Our other members are out right now, still at the studio I believe, but they should be here any time soon.”

“Alright, I’ll get you some bed covers and pillows from the next room,” Geonhak says. “Youngjo, can you show Y/N around a bit?” He disappears into the next room, leaving you with Youngjo and Dongju.

“So that over there is the kitchen,” Youngjo says, gesturing to the area that is so very obviously the kitchen. “And that room is the bedroom that we all share. You can come in if you need anything, though you might not want to disturb Geonhak when he sleeps.”

You frown. “Why?”

Dongju cups his hand next to his mouth.

“He sleeps without his shirt on,” he whispers loudly. “You might not want to see that.”

You laugh a bit.

“So you knew each other as kids?” Youngjo asks. You nod, and he smiles softly. “That’s sweet. And you two didn’t plan on meeting here?”

“Not at all,” you say. “I’m here visiting my father. I actually ran into him–literally–at the store just after I arrived back here.”

“Oh? That’s quite a miracle that you ran into each other accidentally,” Youngjo says, laughing. He has a genuine, happy laugh. “Are you not staying with your father?”

You shake your head. “No. He and I … don’t really have the healthiest relationship,” you say. Usually you wouldn’t want to tell a stranger about this. But Youngjo and Dongju–who is sitting on the couch nearby–both seem friendly, and for some reason, it slips out.

“I’m sorry,” Youngjo says softly. “I know we’ve only just met, but I am her for you and am willing to support you. I’m sure Geonhak is too, as your friend.”

“If you need to stay here another night,” Dongju says from the couch, “feel free to do so.”

The door to the next room opens, and Geonhak walks in. He’s changed into a new white T-shirt and black sweatpants, and he’s carrying two large blankets and a pillow, stacked on top of each other.

“Alright,” he says. “I have two blankets and a pillow. I promise they’ll be comfortable, but if you need anything, you can wake me up at any time to ask.”

You nod. “Thank you so much. It should be enough for the night.”

Suddenly, the door opens behind you, and you nearly jump in surprise to turn to him. A very tall man enters, and freezes at the sight of you.

“Keonhee! This is my friend, Y/N,” Geonhak says quickly. “They need to stay here for the night.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” the tall man, Keonhee, says, sighing and placing his hand over his chest. “I thought you were a burglar for a second.”

Keonhee walks in further, and two other men follow, one much shorter than Keonhee with blond hair, and one with a much more normal height. They seem much less shocked at the sight of you, probably because they heard Geonhak’s explanation to Keonhee.

They all introduce themselves to you. The shortest one with light hair is named Hwanwoong, and the other man is named Seoho. They’re all kind and sweet and welcoming and friendly. You spend a bit of time getting to know them, exchanging numbers and talking about your time in Korea.

With it getting so late, they all eventually head to bed. Geonhak stays with you as they go. Once the lights in their bedroom have gone out, and the blankets have been set up on the couch, Geonhak smiles at you.

“If you need sleeping clothes, you can have this,” he says, holding out a large white T-shirt. You thank him, and hurry to the restroom to change. As you exit, you can see Geonhak leaning against the wall next to the couch.

“I hope this is comfortable enough for you,” he says smiling widely.

“It is, I promise,” you say. “Thank you, Geonhak. You didn’t have to do this. Your members didn’t have to do this. So thank you.”

He hums. “I sleep on the top bunk of the bed right across from the bedroom door. So if you need anything, please wake me.”

“I will.”

“Alright. Well, good night,” he says.

“Good night, Geonhak. Thank you for helping me.”

He heads to bed, and you watch him disappear into the bedroom. You settle beneath the blankets, and feel yourself falling asleep. You’ve had a long day, so it’s reasonable that you’re tired. Your eyelids are heavy, and you fall asleep in Geonhak’s T-shirt almost as soon as your head hits the pillow.

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