#a little taste of what things were like before v and rika adopted the twins in cereus | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

marshmallowprotection · 3 years

Text

Wren

Pairing: V | Kim Jihyun/Reader, Hinted Han Jumin/V | Kim Jihyun

Description: Jihyun knew what it felt like to be lost in the desert without water to quench the dryness in his bones. He knew what it felt like to work until he'd feel like he was going to fall over and weep, only to get back up again because he was the only one that could do something. Even now, as his life is in a better place, he can't help but push him to be everything for everyone.

Word Count: 8506

Cowboy Jihyun x Reader

[Cowboy Saeran] [Cowboy Seven]

[Read On AO3]

Jihyun Kim had been plagued by disaster his entire life. It seemed like the same story told in different ways over and over again.

No moment of his life had he known peace, except for a few short years, where he almost tasted what it felt like to be free from burden and hardship. There was no denying that he knew what it felt like to be hurt. He carried that weight with him time and time again because he had no say in what direction his life was heading in.

It was like someone else controlled the puppet strings to his fate. For so long, his life was determined by factors that Saejoong Choi decided. The man decided everything with the wave of his hand all because he had that power to destroy others for his gain.

He destroyed lives, places, people, and more in the chance that it may get in his way. It was never because he cared about what he destroyed, he only cared that it could destroy him.

It started with his mother who lost her life because his father made a deal with the wrong people at the wrong time, leaving her ultimately trapped in a burning household that she traded her life for to ensure that Jihyun lived. That changed the course of his life in a single day. Saejoong had forced a change upon him, and that was a change to keep things seemingly neutral.

Even if it meant that he had to bite his tongue and act like the rest of the world was fine. Even if it meant that he had to look a devil in the eyes and pretend to be his best friend. Even if it meant that he had to do things that he wasn’t proud of. He smiled through it all and became a man who stayed very strong on the image of keeping everyone happy.

He settled into his title of owning his father’s bar rather well as a young man. Jihyun knew how to go about the song and dance without any trouble. He knew how to please people and play the role of a ringmaster who directed people to look all around until they lost track of the truth. It was for the truth and safety of anyone that was hiding for a reason.

In doing that, he was able to help others and focus on doing good. It gave him a sense of purpose and even his childhood best friend commented on how it seemed to lift some of the weight on top of his shoulders at that time. Jumin thought that it was good that Jihyun had decided to do something that felt right to him after they’d spent their youth searching for a dream.

For Jumin, that had been chasing the stars and better conditions for the workers that tended to the company that his father helmed. He had dreams that people didn’t think much of because it almost sounded nonsensical given all of the changes and advancements that he wanted to make to keep any person safe and earning what they were due for their time.

That was a dream that he had been able to grasp between his fingertips without a fight. But for Jihyun, he still felt lost even after he saw his friend find what he wanted to do. That started to change as he settled into the bar and started helping others under the guise of being a neutral land where nobody could misbehave and whine.

He began to realize just how much he could help from his position. He started to use it to extend a hand to anyone that was down on their luck. If they needed a tip, trade, or a chance to get away for a good reason, he would find a way to get them out of town and onto the train for their wellbeing.

It happened over and over again for so many unfortunate people who were lost in roles that they’d been forced into. It was mostly small situations with people that were trying to escape captors, and if not in that case, then it would be people that did a small-time crime that couldn’t afford to pay off debts. So, he would cover their tracks and get them out.

That’s actually how he encountered Rika Kim in the first place. She’d known him from afar her entire life and decided to approach him because she was desperate to get away from her adoptive family with as much ease as she possibly could. Jihyun knew that painful look in her eyes and he couldn’t help but be drawn to her illuminating light.

For some reason, he couldn’t imagine escorting her out of town and letting her slip between the tips of his fingers. He was drawn to her for reasons that he didn’t quite understand but he instead gave her this simple offer of an engagement to convince her family to let her go free and off of their hands. She took the offer and at first, he only did so to make her happy to live her life freely, but as time passed—

Jihyun truly began to care for her in a romantic light. There was something about her that united them both, even though they butted heads about certain things in private now and again. Everyone seemed to think that they were the perfect match made in heaven. When Rika came into his life, the air around him started to change in ways that it never had before.

With her newfound freedom, she decided to help him change the bar for the better. She used that voice and talent that she honed in the church choir to the best of her abilities. She stood on stage and extended a hand to anyone that was within her sights and they flocked to her like vultures to prey. She was all that the people wanted to see.

With Rika’s help, he was able to help more people because they felt comfortable venturing into his bar to come and find him. That was how the little family they had grown day by day. It wasn’t just the two of them anymore. It was a team that believed in each other and counted on each other to keep their hearts alive.

It wasn’t just them aiming for the stars while his best friend Jumin stood nearby, cheering for him and keeping him steady in the face of anything that came his way. Jumin wasn’t always able to stay in town when he had business but when he was there, he was sitting at the bar, sharing drinks with his friend and urging him to follow his goals.

Jumin was the steady rock that allowed Jihyun to keep his faith alive in this world that had burned him countless times.

The first person to be encountered was Jaehee Kang, a woman who had been struggling to find work with her shooting skill and was on the brink of working with criminals just to be able to make ends meet. Rika found her in the streets one day, hungry and anxious, and brought her back to the bar to be taken care of.

Jaehee repaid the debt by deciding to help them with anyone she could behind the counter with a kind hand.

The second person to be brought in was Yoosung Kim, Rika’s young cousin who had been struggling to find his place in the world after a game had destroyed one of his eyes beyond repair. He needed to be able to get out of his family’s house so he could stop wallowing and hurting alone, so he took the spot by Jihyun as a bartender and learned the skills of the trade.

Yoosung was grateful for the chance and he put his cheery smile into every guest that he spoke to and took care of.

The third person who joined them was Zen. A young man that had come from the east was trying to chase his dreams of stardom. However, he was getting by working with gangs to get a place to sleep and food to eat. Rika saw potential in him the second she saw him trying to get together a theatre troupe, and she made the offer for him to perform at the bar with her to help fund his dream.

Zen provided a passion to the aura that Rika had created with a tender hand, and everyone came from miles to see him shine.

That wasn’t the end of their family that had started growing at that time. Because just as this began to settle down after succession, he and Rika encountered two young boys wandering dazed and confused in the heat of the desert, covered in blood and clinging to each other as they tried to hide away from the monsters they feared.

They took one look at those boys and knew that they had to do something. As it turned out, their father was none other than the man that had killed his mother and almost killed him. The man that everyone believed to be a man that was a man of the people, Saejoong Choi. He saw himself in those twins and he vowed to protect them no matter what.

They hid the boys in their shared household just on the outskirts of town and tried to cover the tracks as best they could. Rika would spend as much home as she could with the boys when they weren’t at the bar working to keep up their covers. That was because Saejoong was hunting for the boys. He had killed their mother in cold blood and was ready to get rid of them no matter what.

If he found them, they would be destroyed.

This brought such a hardened tension upon his shoulders and Rika’s. They had fights now and again but it got harder to agree when any choice that they made was going to put the lives of everyone at risk with one single mistake. They couldn’t afford to make mistakes. This man didn’t hesitate. He killed if he had to, and that meant every choice was life or death.

To their credit, Jihyun knew that he and Rika tried their best for six months to take care of things, but it wasn’t long before Saejoong had managed to catch onto them. Just one little mistake and one person seeing more than they needed to. That was all that it took to change things once again. Jihyun managed to get a warning from one of the bandits that he made deals with.

They warned him that if he didn’t remove his precious treasure, it wouldn’t end well. That’s why he'd called upon a former deal that he made with another outlaw, Vanderwood. He told Vanderwood to take the boys away and hide them as much as they could, but the night that they came, Jihyun was held back at the bar by a patron that had been paid to stall him.

Vanderwood managed to get to the household and sneak the boys out to their carriage with Rika’s help but the villains arrived at the scene just as Vanderwood was about to take off. Rika made a split-second decision to stall the men as long as she could and show them around the household to prove that it was empty, all the while Vanderwood took off and tried to get a headstart into the desert.

Vanderwood did manage to get away.

However, the men realized what Rika did.

Instead of locking her up or making her pay for what she did, they loaded their guns and took care of her as if she was nothing more than a lamb to the slaughter. Jihyun’s skin still crawled as he thought of her final moments in this life and what she must have suffered. Damn whatever problems they had at that time, he didn’t want to suffer in such a horrid way.

He found her that night, left abandoned by the floor of their home, and he broke down and sobbed for the first time in years. Saejoong had robbed him once again of what little happiness he had. He lost the sons that he cared for greatly, he lost his partner that he loved, and he lost his mother all over again just by thinking of what this all meant.

Saejoong had taken his livelihood from him and made him suffer.

He couldn’t tell a soul about who truly murdered Rika because if it came out, the mayor would call him a liar and a cheat. Nobody would ever listen to him and nobody would ever believe him if he got the chance to bring out the documented proof. You couldn’t find someone who everyone believed to be kind and genuine.

You needed substantial proof.

He had to lie through his teeth and say that she’d passed suddenly from the sickness that had been spreading around the area. She had been sick, but not to such a degree where that would happen. He hated to lie to everyone about it but he thought that it was the only way to protect the boys. Rika had given her life to protect them, and he wanted to honor that.

The next couple of years were spent trying to find everything he could manage so he and the boys could take Saejoong down once and for all. Saeyoung and Saeran were forced to become outlaws to survive and get by, and Jihyun spent days working himself into the ground to try and ensure that it wasn’t a life that they would have to live forever.

He toiled away for those few years until everyone came to a standstill.

These days, he knows that he’s in a much better place than he was in the past.

A part of it is because he knows he has Cereus to thank. They came to town when everything felt like it was going to end in a way that would destroy all of them in the process. They took Rika’s position in the bar as a performer that could stand by Zen and keep the bar invigorated with guests.

Jihyun had to admit that he didn’t know how well they were taking to the job because Zen had said time and time again that they were talented and fully capable of holding their own, and when Zen promised something, he kept his word. He just never expected them to encounter Saeran when they weren’t able to work and help guide him to believe in humanity again.

Cereus reached through to Saeran’s heart when nobody else could, not Jihyun, not Vanderwood, and not even Saeyoung could manage to touch his bleeding heart.

It had only been Cereus who could snap him out of the lull of anger that he was trapped in for so long. They managed to steal everyone’s heart in the town, not just the members of the bar, in a matter of a few weeks.

Jihyun felt ashamed of himself for not being able to do that himself, but he was grateful that someone had been able to do it at all.

And by doing so, they united everyone to come together to rescue them from Saejoong Choi. When someone so beloved was at risk of being harmed, there was no choice but to follow the trail of blood. They took the chance and the risk to do what had to be done to protect everyone. It was at that point, or never.

It revealed everything all at once to the entire town in a matter of seconds. That the mayor had been stealing their money from underneath them and killing anyone that got in his way of maintaining his control. He was caught in the act and red-handed by the good people who suffered long enough.

The sheriff had been caught covering it up, and they were immediately removed from power.

That’s where Jihyun’s life changed for the third time.

And, this time? It was for the better and he knew that to be true. The town needed to be brought together once again and he and Jumin decided that they would take the risk together to start that process of mending things. Although, he hadn’t been sure about the choice that the people made about him.

The town’s people needed a new mayor to helm the area into the future. They all voted that it would be him if he would take the job and the risks that came alongside it. He hesitated at first but Saeran’d taken one look at him and simply said, “Dad, your goal in life has always been to help others, even if it got you burned in the end. If you want to help everyone, go through with it.”

Saeyoung had agreed with that.

The boys both supported him regardless of what he wanted to do with his life, and Jihyun decided to take the chance on himself. He always floated around because he had been packed into a bubble and never once did he think that he would be where he found himself now. He was now the mayor of the town that he cared for greatly.

All the while his adopted sons were trying to make sense of their own lives. He was proud of them for doing so. Even if it had gotten them involved in more trouble along the way. He never thought that the boys would wind up facing more trouble after they left town, but Saejoong was a man that never quit if he wanted something.

It invoked the wrath of pirates that wanted to scorn and burn the twins for the money. They wound up being able to come out unscathed but it had affected them in ways that they weren’t ready to talk about. It was hard to go from one trial to the other, but now, Jihyun was sure that that would never happen again.

That’s why Vanderwood went east to ensure that Saejoong faced the final judgment day. The twins had gotten involved in quite the mess while they were traveling and by the time that they came back, they’d quite the story to tell, alongside a new person in their lives that meant the world to them. Jihyun didn’t know what to say—

However, he knew that the boys were in good hands.

Cereus was going to stand by Saeran no matter what challenge came their way, while Andromeda was going to help Saeyoung chase the stars that he longed to touch with his bare hands. He approved of the path that the boys were taking. He was just happy to see them smiling and free from the trouble that’d haunted them since they were children.

Saeran was going to visit the bar every day to watch Cereus perform as the sunlight sparkled in their eyes. He would make sure that they were warm and protected. He would find friends closely with Zen and Yoosung, likely taking the helm of security for the bar whenever he was around for free. When he was able to see his Cereus glow, he was always smiling.

If he wasn’t doing that, he would come around to the mayor’s office to see what he could do to help Jihyun out. He was rather good at doling out tasks to others and checking paperwork. It probably had a lot to do with how much he had learned at being able to see through liars and fine prints. He truly was growing from the isolated boy he’d once been.

Saeyoung had grown as well. He wasn’t hiding behind a mask of fools any longer to keep himself alive for everyone else. He was laughing because he was truly happy. He would be right there by Cereus as he played his guitar and hummed along to a melody, while his Andromeda watched him from their spot at the bar by Saeran.

If he wasn’t enjoying his time with his family, he would hold Andromeda by the hand and take them around town to see what good they could do. Last Jihyun heard, they’d been making sure that all of the kids at the orphanage were able to have fun and things to do. He’d settled in rather nicely with a band of misfits. It worked for him.

Cereus was a shining beckon that reminded him of the moon, the glow that bloomed the flowers everyone forgot. Andromeda was like their namesake, the star that finally shined freely away from those chains that held them down. They were lovely people and they loved those brothers with everything they had in their hearts.

Jihyun was proud of his boys. Of course, even though it had only been a few days ago, he couldn’t stop chuckling about how the boys both proposed to their partners. Of course, Saeyoung let Saeran have his moment of glory to sweep Cereus off their feet and kiss them deeply, but he couldn’t let his brother be alone on the joyous occasion.

“I reckon I can’t have the spotlight for five minutes, can I?”

“Don’t let him fool ya’, Andie n’ Cereus. He agreed to let me share the special day.”

“We probably should have seen that coming, Andromeda. He doesn’t just write one song when he gets in his head. Are you sure that you want to deal with that forever?”

“I think that’s what’s charming about him. Are you sure that you want Saeran to gawk at you from afar like that for the rest of your life?”

Everyone was finally finding a sense of peace that was long overdue. Nevertheless, he was proud of the people around him. It felt like everything was finally coming together for their little group. He was proud of all of his friends. He was happy to call them his family, by all intents and purposes. This was a life that they deserved.

Jumin and Jaehee had managed to pool together the infrastructure of the town and ensure that truly everyone was getting paid their dues for everything, as well as ensuring that new businesses and families were joining them. He had them alone to thank for helping him piece together the mess left behind by Saejoong.

Yoosung had also taken to his new position very well.

He was enjoying being able to control the direction that the bar was heading. He had learned a lot in the time that he and Zen were in charge and it showed. He was on his way to making it a place where anyone was welcome and could find a place where they belonged. There were plenty of changes that had boosted the client list tenfold already. He’d never looked happier.

Zen was the same way. He was bringing in more talent to keep the place electrified when he or Cereus weren’t at the helm of things. He was doing what had been done for him. He was giving a chance to a group of people who dreamed of the spotlight but they needed someone to give them a chance to get there in this tough world.

Things were finally at peace in their quiet little western town. Sure, there were going to be tough times ahead but nothing compared to what they’d already gone through time and time again. Jihyun felt like he was prepared for it. But, there was still this yearning in his heart that struck him when he was alone for longer than a few minutes.

This lonely feeling inside of his heart had always haunted him. Even though Saejoong wasn’t going to be able to hurt him or his loved ones anymore, there was always this fear that something was going to go wrong when he least expected it. It was why he was always on guard and trying to look ahead to any possible outcome that may occur now or later.

It might have sounded silly but he was guarded for a reason.

Jihyun had a lot to take care of now and he wanted to ensure that the people under his care were well taken care of. It didn’t matter what it took to keep his promises, but he knew that being open and as transparent as possible was for the best. That’s why they had council meetings and allowed people on the floor to state their needs and fears no matter what they were.

The town wasn’t just its leader, after all.

Everyone had to work together to make a sustainable community. That was the best way to keep the hearts of everyone united. If someone hid things from the community, it would only make matters much worse in the long run. People deserved and needed to know that there were risks and benefits to every choice that they made.

For the most part, however, it was working out to the benefit of everyone. It was a lot to put on his plate, though. He was handling most of the planning and filing by himself, as it wasn’t easy to come by anyone that wanted to take the job beside him. Everyone may have trusted him to take charge but not a single soul wanted the infamy of Saejoong to weigh over their heads.

It meant that he was pushing his luck with his health, but that wasn’t new to him. It had always been hard to rest well knowing that the boys needed him to be strong.

Now that they didn’t need him, it was a matter of trying to understand how he could do that for the rest of the town, and find the time in the middle of that for himself, too.

Now, that’s why it was no surprise when Jumin found him slumped over at his desk when he came to visit. His best friend wasn’t angry at the sight, but he knew full well how hard that Jihyun worked to get himself to that point of exhaustion. The two of them were notorious for trying to tend to everyone except for themselves and really, it was something they all should’ve seen coming.

Jihyun had been working on trying to help builders coordinate where the best spots would be to build new homes and businesses closer to the center of town. It needed some working and tinkering since all of the land had to be leveled and cultivated properly. There were plenty of new people coming but not enough to sustain them for long in the hotels.

But, doing this was a labor that was taking far longer than he thought it would.

As in, taking a few months, as opposed to a few weeks of preparations and then a month or so of work to get things all squared away. Even with Jumin’s company to help in and supplement, there was still no way to do all that needed to be done as fast as he wished he could. Human hands could only work so fast and hard, unfortunately.

He had reassured everyone that he was handling things well but it didn’t excuse the fact that he had barely left his office as of late. Even an offer from Jumin or Saeran didn’t tug him away from his work and duty.

When he awoke, he wasn’t in his office anymore. He was no longer at the mayor’s headquarters at all. They had likely moved him back to his home to get rest in an adequate bed instead of in his chair as he often did. Jihyun knew that they weren’t going to let him hear the end of this.

Jihyun ran a hand into his hair, noting that the curls were growing longer, it was messy from his rest but he liked it this way. His former lover had chided him about it time and time again but it was one of those things that he didn’t mind.

It didn’t seem like anyone was in the room with him. He glanced around and noted that there were a few things strewn about to indicate that someone had dropped by. He removed the rag from his head and sat up in bed. His body felt a little woozy but that might have been because he hadn’t gotten that much to eat before he crashed.

“Oh, no, you don’t, mister mayor,” a voice spoke from the doorway. The sounds of footsteps against the ground were telling as he realized that he was in trouble. He smiled sheepishly as they nudged him back against the sheets. “You’re exhausted. Jumin said that he found you slumped over at your desk for what must be the hundredth time. I thought we had this conversation already, you can’t do that!”

You were the doctor for the town. You had taken up the helm from your father’s practice and were in the process of trying to establish yourself after having been away to study for a few years properly in the city. You learned everything from your father but you wanted to be able to apply new skills that could benefit everyone in such a small town.

It was admirable but the last time that he’d seen you was when the two of you were teenagers. It’d been such a long time that it was always a surprise to see you around like this nowadays. He knew that you’d be in and out of town to handle cases.

After the last minor epidemic, you wanted to ensure that it just wouldn’t happen again.

He could remember you saying that with earnest once when he was at your father’s practice. That you wanted to help ensure that the livelihood of everyone around was taken care of no matter what you had to do to protect people. You wanted to know everything you could to protect someone’s health and safety.

This was what made you a saint to the people in town. It wasn’t always a sound business deal that you followed because you hardly charged anyone for what you did. So much of it relied on the donations of a group or of the people that you tended to. It was a hard job but you did it with care.

Even if you had to strong-arm someone to get some sleep.

Jihyun knew your father very well. That was the man that treated his burns when he was a child and continued to supply the care he needed to make sure that it didn’t grow infected. He wasn’t able to do much about the scars but a skin blemish was a much better fate than losing his life after his mother had given hers to save him from the embers.

You had been helping his father, even back then, because he could remember you scolding him daily that he needed to dress his wounds properly. Whenever he saw your face, he remembered the voice of someone reminding him that he needed to take care of himself.

It wasn’t such a bad memory because your kindness back then had helped him when he felt so isolated.

“Oh, Wren, it’s you,” he said, feeling the embarrassment rising from his neck. He should’ve known that Jumin would send you to check in on him. Jumin knew that he could leave his friend to be a doctor in town with the Wren birds painted on the side of the building. That was your family moniker, and what most people called you by. They’d done the same for your father.

“Oh, don’t, ‘Oh, it’s you, Wren,’ me, Jihyun,” you clicked your tongue. That was a tell-tale sign that he was on thin ice with you. You placed a glass in his hands and kept that friendly smile on your face. “I’m not going to tell you twice, sir. You’re not going back into the office for two days, doctor’s orders. You should know that Jumin’s been worried sick about you.”

No pleasantries.

Jihyun was grateful that you dropped by. He made sure to drink as much as possible because you were going to babysit his bedside. There was no doubt that Jumin was in the other room. Given the fact that the sun appeared to be long gone, it was late into the evening or even later into the night. You two were going to ensure that he didn’t leave, huh?

If he didn’t know any better, he’d probably assume that Saeran and Saeyoung were lingering outside of the house to cover all of their bases. It came from a good place so he wasn’t too worried about that, but he did have to get his work done. The world wasn’t going to stop moving just because he needed to take it easy.

The gracious smile on his face could only deflect your concerns for so long. “And, I reckon I shouldn’t say that you’re worried sick, too?”

That look on your face softened. But it was washed away when you took the empty glass from his hands and set it back on the bedside.

You ran through your checklist of things to look for his vitals and after a couple of minutes off tests to see that he was alright, you nodded. He had no clue of all of the things that you had on your mind but he knew very well that you had a reason for them.

You said, “I reckon I can say that I’ve been worried about the strain of your workload, Jihyun. You have been trying to make up for mistakes that were never yours to start with. Nobody expects you to give us gold every day you've already done that tenfold. So, there is no need to wind up in this bed like this. No reason whatsoever."

He closed his eyes.

To some degree, he knew very well that you were right. It wasn't going to help him if he did any of this but at the same time, it wasn't going to help everyone else if things didn't go the way that he planned. It was like he was trapped between a rock and a hard place. It seemed like there was no ideal option. All of these things he wanted to do and so little time.

They’d call him a masochist for doing this to himself but he had a bleeding heart.

Jumin had said that once. After the truth was revealed to everyone and he heard the burden that his best friend was carrying on his back. Those worried grey eyes watching his every move and saying with that knowing look in his eyes: “Jihyun, it would be a fool’s errand to go in without help. Let us shoulder a shred of the weight that you’ve borne alone all this time.”

Jumin’s hand had felt so warm against his skin. That reassurance made him want to have faith in his words. He took the risk because Saeyoung and Saeran didn’t let their fear guilt them, because Zen, Jaehee, and Yoosung ran in without thinking twice, and because Jumin held his hand and told him to believe again.

Yet, old habits die hard, don’t they?

It was the realistic choice but it was hard to unlearn a system that you’ve instilled into yourself from such a young age. His life wasn’t what it used to be but that didn’t mean that he was out of the woods that he placed himself within. A little progress was a good thing but he knew that now that the cat was out of the bag, he’d been expecting less on his plate.

Perhaps, Jumin wasn’t wrong when he mentioned that it would be nice to put out the offers to find an assistant from out of town that would be comfortable taking the position. Saeran wasn’t likely to want the job full-time, he assumed, but he knew that they’d likely ask him to jump in until they could find a poor soul that wanted to traverse the desert.

There was so much to do and his brain was whirling with everything that would come because he was not able to keep up his pace like he used to. Perhaps, this was merely a sign that he was getting older, or the strain was finally catching up with him after what was nearly a decade of pushing himself to the extreme.

This was another dust storm of emotions, wasn’t it?

He found himself lost in those often.

You weren’t pushing him to talk or say anything but he knew that your eyes were watching him closely. That was your job, after all. Even when you were younger and just learning how to dress wounds the way that you did,

You had a lot more patients to tend to, right? Jihyun didn’t want to get in the way of that. He could handle this on his own, and he knew that the others would step in to nag him the same way that you would. He didn’t want to worry you if he could help it. You were always kind and sweet to him but your time was better spent on people who could listen.

—

“Jihyun, you need to be careful, okay?”

“Of course, [Y/N],” that thin little smile that Jihyun always shared with others flashed across his face as you slowly began to redress his burns. Your father let you tend to the young Kim after he had managed to remove most of the dirt and cloth that had seared into his skin. His black was splotchy with grooves and lines that would soon bubble and burst.

Despite the amount of pain he was in, he was hiding it with a friendly smile. His father had already left him entrusted to the car of the Wren family practice for the time being. He was far too busy trying to deal with the remains of their home. Being aware of his stern father wasn’t too bad, but he didn’t know how to feel about being here.

He knew that he was comfortable with Jumin and his family, but this was the first time that he had been stuck with any other such family. He felt like such a burden because he couldn’t do anything but lay on his stomach and stifle the sounds of whimpers as the pain grew. The scars covered most of his upper back and most of his neck.

It had scorched some of his hair but he was fortunate that it hadn’t done more damage.

You were careful to graze his wounds. You didn’t want to make them too tight but right now, they were too harsh to see too much light. You were remembering everything that your father told you but you paused at every chance you could. It was like you could sense when it was too much for Jihyun.

You just knew when it was uncomfortable.

The sight of injuries and wounds wasn’t shocking to you but to see the mint-haired boy from your church in so much pain hurt. It was the first time that you’d have some kind of connection with someone that you’d tended to and it made you think twice about how you applied medication and care. Your father would’ve told you to get it over with sooner, rather than later.

But, wasn’t it wrong to ignore the distress of a patient, too?

You tied off the final knot on your wraps and rubbed your hands together. You looked back at the doorway but hesitated since you knew that Jihyun was going to be alone. He was having such a hard time but his dad hadn’t even come to visit him since everything happened. “Jihyun?”

Ever the polite one, Jihyun tried to tilt his head to the side so that he could meet your gaze but he hissed as the pain shot through his body. You frowned and shook your head. “Don’t try to move, ‘kay? The welts are going to make it hard to move for a little longer. You don’t have to try n’ look at me like ya’ do with my dad, okay?”

Jihyun didn’t respond to that right away. However, he did adjust himself and rest his chin against his forearms. There wasn’t much that he could do. It made you feel bad. You wished that you could do just something to make his pain a little less exhausting. That forlorn sigh against his lips made you wonder what you could do.

That was when an idea burst into your head!

“Wait here, okay? Well, I mean, it’s not like you can get up right now, but I’ll be back, ‘kay?”

"...Okay.”

Jihyun would be surprised when you returned sometime later with Jumin at your side, a giggly laugh on your lips when he seemed so surprised. You knew that he was lonely in that room. As much as you’d love to keep him company, though, you knew that you wouldn’t be able to stay with him for too long.

Your father kept you busy as can be and you knew that you had to help everyone in town as soon as possible! It was the duty of the business.

Still, the three of you sat together in that tiny room for quite a while, easing Jihyun’s mind from the pain that he felt so strongly. It wasn’t much, but it was the most that you could think to do. It had been a time that changed how you viewed caring for the people around you. It was what made you want to think of kindness first, as opposed to getting things done without ensuring someone was comfortable.

You never forgot that boy.

Jihyun Kim left his mark on in ways that you would never be able to forget.

—

Those memories still hang in Jihyun’s mind, as well.

“Sorry to have worried ya’,” he said. His eyes met yours and you smiled despite how much you wanted to scold him for it, “I just want to do everythin’ right. Everyone’s puts their faith in me n’ I want to ensure that I give everyone what they deserve. After all that this town has suffered over the years, I’m just determined to make it right.”

You leaned forward and pressed your hand against his shoulder, shaking your head. “Jihyun. You’re always smilin’ and tellin’ everyone that you’re okay so that you don’t feel like an inconvenience, but it’s your turn to allow others to carry you, okay? I know it’s not my place to say it since I ain’t been back in town for very long and we’re strangers these days, but please, understand that we want to help you as you’ve helped us.”

That glimmering smile that breached your face was enough to make his chest flutter for some reason. It made him blink, and look at you twice. You merely laughed away that look of disbelief on his face. “I’m sorry. I reckon that was too forward of me. Jumin’s the one that you should worry about. He’s the one that wants to give you a stern talkin’ to.”

He hung his head.

You were right.

Jumin was right.

So the conversation that lay ahead of him was just one of many that were coming to be given to him. He knew that he should prepare himself for it but the cover of night protected him from opening up that topic just yet. The morning would be a hardship but it would be nothing compared to those pains that he bore in his past, right?

“I surely… have it comin’,” he murmured.

“Don’t worry. I’ll vouch for you if you’re not ready to talk to everyone,” you pulled your hand back and pressed a finger to your lips as if to shush him before he could interrupt you. “You can say that it's eye for an eye because you did cover for me that one time when we were kids. Remember?”

Jihyun blinked, then he chuckled. Oh, you meant that. “Oh… I suppose ya’ meant that time that you brought Jumin over to cheer me up, right? Well, that was… that meant a lot to me. You said that it was important that he thought that you were always getting your work done. But, you already spent all of your time dressing my wounds, you needed a break.”

“Always wise beyond yer’ years, huh?” You shook your head at that. There was a comment that you’d bitten back about how he tried to play the grown-up to please everyone and keep himself from falling and crumbling. “Well, I know how everyone feels about life debts around here. Consider that as what makes us even.”

“I have a grave feelin’ you’ll be seein’ me again, Wren.”

“Mayor Kim,” your voice was curt with him as you stood up once more. You had the makings of someone who knew how to command the rest of the world with the wave of a single hand. That made him shiver but he didn’t turn away as you were thrilled with confidence, “I do not want to see you under the guise of an emergency house call anytime soon.”

Jihyun knew that you weren’t kidding.

“...”

When he didn’t respond or say anything, you found yourself laughing as you headed towards the door once more. You spared him a single look over your shoulder with a playful glint to your sparkling eyes. It left him wondering if that lightheaded feeling that was churning in the back of his head was because of his exhaustion, or something more.

“However, if you want to see me when I’m off-duty, send a message my way. I’d always be happy to get a chance to spend time with you. After all, it’s been too long since we’ve spent time together. I want to see how your burns are fairin’ these days if you’ll let me. But for now, get some rest, okay? You’ve got a long day.”

—

When Jihyun awoke once more, he wasn’t surprised that Jumin had taken your place at his bedside. There was that familiar look in his eyes that simply said that he was in trouble again. He could’ve let Jumin scold him or he could’ve pretended to be asleep for just a few moments longer.

Neither was going to do him much good, though.

So, he merely sighed and let himself make eye-contact with his friend. Oftentimes, they didn’t even need to express their thoughts in words. They just had that friendship where they knew what to say because the other’s thoughts were already bursting at the seams in their mind.

Still, it was going to need to come to surface whether they knew it or not. The one thing that he could be grateful for was that the others hadn’t trotted in at the same time. They’d surely be around to come and see him before the end of the day but… his dear Jumin was always the first one to put himself on the line to see to his health.

The shame that he felt for not being able to do more in return for Jumin still weighed on him, but he knew not to deny that the takedown of Saejoong had happened just in time to save Jumin’s company from failure. Still, Jihyun longed to be able to make the burdens everyone felt wash away so they could have the taste of weightless freedom.

Much like a bird flying high in the sky.

“Jihyun.”

“...I’m aware. “

“If yer’ aware, then you know exactly why we shouldn’t be in this position right now. Honestly, we’ve been working on this together and you neglected to inform me that you needed more help with these contracts?”

“Ah, the work yer’ doin’ is already well enough, Jumin. I didn’t want to task you or Jaehee with much else when yer’ covering your end of our goals. I am sorry that I worried you. I don’t want… I don’t wish to put you in that position again.”

“It’s my fault, as well. I know you… I should’ve suspected that you would fall on old habits. But, ya’ve got to ask for help when you need it, Jihyun. Wren made it clear that ya’ve pushed yourself too hard to exhaustion this time. They didn’t put it lightly. Ya’ can’t keep doin’ this to your body. It’s going to hurt you sooner, rather than later.”

Adjustments could be made, Jumin was implying. However, adjustments were nothing if Jihyun died or became gravely ill in the process.

Jihyun smiled, as he always did when he was in this position, but he offered his hand to his friend this time instead of keeping it all to himself. Jumin took it without hesitation and looked at where they’d been united since they were young.

Even if they suffered and struggled, nothing would change those bonds they forged.

In this town, their world was about new beginnings and renewal of belief in others and oneself. Even if the world around them was changing, their bonds would never change. Jihyun was going to try and be the man that everyone knew him to be, and who he wanted to believe himself to be. He just needed to start small to get there.

It always felt overwhelming when he was alone with his thoughts but you reminded him of something that he often missed. Even if he felt alone in the darkness, there were always people thinking of him in those times of need. Whether it was Jumin reaching out to him when he knew that his friend was in a vulnerable place, or when you kept him company as his body toiled away.

“I… I promise I will try harder to trust in myself. I can’t promise that I won’t be a stubborn fool, my dear friend, but I don’t want to waste the chance we’ve all been given to change our fates once bound by the unforgivin’ desert,” he said, quietly. “Thank you, for always trying to remind me that I need to have faith.”

“I know yer’ capable, Jihyun,” Jumin said. Though, there was an unspoken ‘but’ at the end of his words that Jihyun knew was coming. He sighed the second that he felt his friend getting ready to break some kind of news to him. “But, you will be restin’ this weekend. Wren is going to see to it that you stay in bed for most of the day. You n’ I both know why they are so successful.”

Jihyun chuckled. “Yeah, because they’re relentless when it comes to the care and quality of life that somebody has. I’ll try not to take this personally.”

“Good. Because I assumed you would prefer their company over Saeran and Saeyoung. Your sons have been itching to have a word with you since dawn.”

Well, at least, there was never a dull day.

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