Chapter Text
“We’re here.”
Hyunjin looked out the window, taking a glance at the old rundown building in front of him. It looked empty, & so did the other houses & buildings around. He let Chan talk with the driver & stepped out. He could see the small figures of a few people, a little far from them, walking around aimlessly. He cluelessly looked around the place, trying to remember what he had forgotten. He could hear Chan talking behind him, someone who had picked him up from the military hospital this morning claiming they were friends. Hyunjin believed him. Because he didn’t have a reason not to. Besides, Chan looked like a kind person.
“Unhappy?” Chan asked, dismissing the driver with a few extra coins.
Hyunjin looked back at the older man a little confused. “Why would I be?”
A small smile curled up on Chan’s lips. He stared at the boy in front of him. The boy who was once full of life. The boy whose smile always rivaled the sun. The boy who had a dream bigger than the universe.
“You kinda hated this place before.” Chan looked up at the old building, then around before his gaze settled on a small shadow of a two-storied house a little far from where they were standing. “You hated this neighborhood.”
Hyunjin followed his gaze, & found a small house about ten to fifteen minutes distance from there. It was true, that this neighborhood looked sketchy & shady. But so did the others. The war had turned this country into a depressing piece of land. Wherever he looked, he could only see ruins, bloodstains, burnt forests & dead bodies. It looked like a painting drawn by some colorblind artists, who could only see shades of black, grey & white.
Black ruin of the buildings.
Grey people.
White deaths.
It suffocated him; the smell of gunpowder, mixed with the smell of the dead. It suffocated him to be surrounded by people who were counting the last few seconds of their life; begging for someone to save them, crying to see their family, who were most probably dead, for one last time.
But here, away from the city of death, he could finally breathe. Though this place also looked black & grey, it felt like home. It felt peaceful. He wondered why would he ever hate the place that made him feel safe.
“We have six other friends. We all live together.” Chan explained as they walked down the narrow path that led them outside the city. He wanted to alert the clueless boy about the crowd in their home.
“Do I know them?” Hyunjin looked at Chan, watching the wry smile once again crawl up at the elder’s lips.
“You used to.” Chan smiled, “We all grew up together.” Chan always felt warm at their memories. It was undoubtedly tough for them, eight orphans fighting against the world to survive. But they never strayed away. They were always together, until-
Until one of them wasn’t with them anymore.
“It can be a little hard.” Chan continued as they stopped in front of the house, feeling worried all of a sudden. “The kids… they might react a little harshly…” Chan knew they would.
Hyunjin looked at the older in question.
“You’ve been away for a little longer than we liked.” Chan patted the boy’s head, “But no matter what, never forget how much they love you. They will come around pretty soon.”
Hyunjin looked like a child, trying to make sense of what Chan was saying, He looked conflicted if he should believe the older man or not. In the end, he nodded. He had no reason not to believe the man who saved him from the dead city.
Chan let out a small sigh of relief, & patted the boy’s head gently. He really wasn’t lying when he said they still loved Hyunjin. Every single of them still loved the boy. But with pain & grief now in their hearts, it was harder to accept back the missing piece of their life, even though they wanted nothing more than to hold onto the pieces that Hyunjin had left behind a year ago.
It was gonna take time. But Chan knew they could once again be happy. They could once again be Eight.
“Did hyung tell anyone when he’s coming back?” Jisung asked, looking around the room for an answer. His radio hadn’t been working since this morning. He tried to fix it but didn’t have any luck on that.
“Nope. He said something about visiting a camp in the city.” Minho replied, eyes attentively stuck on the vegetable he was chopping.
Others shared a look. Minho wasn’t happy. They lost the war a year ago. With their country, they lost their freedom & pieces of themselves that they could never retrieve back. And he hated that they had no other choice but to accept that. Accept the help from their enemies & live under their fake care.
He hated when Chan got the job in the main city. Not like he didn't get one. He got a job in a local newspaper that started just a few months ago. His main job was to type the news that he tried to ignore. But to live, they needed food & money. And for that, unfortunately, they had to work under the new government. As much as he hated those people for ruining their country, he had no other choices at the moment. But once choice he had & he took that. He took the night shift to make sure he’d have to meet fewer people from the new government.
It did come with a risk. There was still the news of innocent people getting killed, & left here & there in the dark of the night, only to be the meal of the starving dogs. The others were worried about him, but he was unwilling to change his shift. Later, Jisung also joined him as a cleaner for the night shift, cleaning the waste & inks after work.
A few days later, Seungmin got a job in a post office as a delivery man. Changbin used to work as an hourly laborer but recently got a job in a clock shop; repairing old & damaged watches. A week ago, Felix got fired from his waiter job, for breaking glasses. He was now looking for another job. Jeongin was looking into a hatter’s shop recently. Still in the training period.
And, Chan. He worked in the military camp. As a nurse. Treating & caring for people he shouldn’t. Sometimes they made him bury the unclaimed bodies as well.
Even after that, Chan still kept going back. He was still looking for someone. And, today was their off day. But still, Chan went to the camp to submit the list of the dead that he made yesterday.
Minho was almost done with the lunch when Chan came back. Hearing the knocks on the front door, Felix walked up to open the door with a big grin on his face. But the grin was wiped off as soon as he saw the tall male standing behind Chan, looking back at him with wide curious eyes.
“H-hyunjin…” Felix breathed, unable to believe his eyes. Hyunjin wasn’t supposed to be here!
“What happened, Lix?” Changbin walked closer, watching Felix holding onto the door like a statue. “Why are you blocki-” His words died out in his throat when he saw Hyunjin.
Chan smiled encouragingly, & gently pushed the open when he realized that those two weren’t gonna move on their own. At least not now.
With one last glance at Changbin & Felix, he clasped Hyunjin’s hand tighter & walked inside the flat. They followed the sound of their other friends. He was nervous. He was downright scared. But there was no turning back now. Not when he found Hyunjin again.
Jisung & Jeongin was sitting on the floor, bickering about something unimportant. Seungmin was on the old couch, still reading the book he found in a ruined library three days ago. Minho was in the kitchen, with his back to Chan.
As soon as the trio in the living room noticed his presence, they looked up to greet him. But not a single word came out from their lips. There were different emotions painted on their faces just at the sight of Hyunjin.
Disbelief.
Surprise.
Betrayal.
Anger.
Longing.
“What is he doing here?” Jisung was already on his feet, charging at the clueless male behind Chan. “What the fuck is he doing here?!” He shouted out, causing Hyunjin to flinch in fear & clutch Chan’s hand tight.
“Jisung-”
Chan tried to stop him, but Jisung wasn’t listening. His yelling had caused Minho to run out of the kitchen. Changbin & Felix also hurried to the scene, holding each other’s hands to ground themselves. Minho looked like his life had left him. He couldn’t look away from Hyunjin, who was now hiding behind Chan, shaking like a leaf.
“What is he doing here Chan?” Minho’s voice was cold, eyes enraged.
Chan smiled at him. “I’ve brought Hyunjin back home.”
Minho sucked in a deep breath. Eyes burning with tears of rage & frustration.
“Hyunjin is dead, hyung.” He looked straight at Hyunjin whose tearful eyes were wide, lips parted in disbelief. Minho watched with sick satisfaction as a single tear rolled down from the boy’s eyes as he said the next words.
“Hyunjin had died a year ago.”