As Makki was sitting in his room thinking about what had happened before falling asleep, he heard a knocking sound against his door.
Makki frowned and stood up from his chair and walked towards his front door.
When he opened the door he saw his mom standing there with an angry face.
"Hello dear..."said his mother coldly.
"Good afternoon"said Makki politely.
"I heard you skipping class and not answering your phone"whispered Makki's mother in a stern tone.
"Uh yes... My phone died yesterday"said Makki.
Makki's mother glared at him suspiciously.
"Well.... Whatever. I need to talk to you about something..."said Makki's mother while walking into the house.
Makki followed his mother silently and shut the door behind him.
"Come sit"said Makki's mother while looking at Makki and pointing at the couch.
"What is it that you wanted to talk about?!!"asked Makki irritatedly.
His mother looked at him and shook her head in disbelief.
"How dare you! I'm your mother!!! Why are you acting like such a brat??!! You'! You' re supposed to respect your mom!"exclaimed his mother angrily.
Makki blinked confusedly and shook his head. "Wait, what?!! Respect my mom?!?! What did I do wrong?!?!"asked Makki loudly.
Makki's mother ignored him and continued speaking angrily.
"Didn't I say anything wrong? Didn't I ask you how you're doing? Didn't I ask you whether or not you feel like anything is bothering you? Or didn't I tell you that we are leaving for a week tomorrow and won't be back till sometime next month? Did you forget all of those things?!!"demanded his mother angrily.
"I--I'm sorry"mumbled Makki quietly as he tried to look apologetic.
"Sorry for what??!! For lying to me??!! For not calling me back???!! For staying in that damn room all day without telling me where you were??!! For making us lose our entire savings??!! For almost ruining the whole family?!!!"asked his mother angrily.
"I'm sorry...."said Makki once more, but he didn't mean it anymore this time.
His mother sighed angrily and shook her head slowly and sighed softly.Look at the mess you made..."said his mother and pointed at Makki's face.
"What??!"blocked Makki and grabbed his nose gently.
"Your nose is bleeding.."pointed at Makki's nose.
Makki touched his nose and saw the blood on his finger.
"Shit..."cried Makki.
Makki ran to his bathroom and quickly cleaned his nose, but he wasn't able to stop the blood flow.
Makki sighed and sat back in his chair.
Makki didn't know how to deal with all of the emotions that he felt.
All he knew was that he hated this stupid nightmare.
Why? Because it reminded him of when his brother was killed by the monsters who attacked their neighborhood during summer vacation.
Why? Because the same thing happened in his life again.
Makki knew he had been through a lot and that was what the dreams meant.
This time however, they weren't like any other nightmares Makki has ever had. They were much worse.
Makki knew he had lost something important.
He knew he had lost something he would never get back.
He knew he had lost someone precious to him.
Makki looked at the clock again.
"LookIt was 6 pm.
His parents were probably starting to worry now. He knew that since his phone was dead he could no longer message Yuta or tell him where he was.
So Makki sighed sadly and thought about what to do next.
Chapter 3
Taeil was driving Makki home after school.
They drove for about 20 minutes in silence.
Suddenly Taeil asked.
"Hey, Makki?.. Do you wanna play a game?!!"suggested Taeil cheerfully.
"Sure. Let's play some card games!!"said Makki enthusiastically.
Taeil chuckled.
"Sounds good to me!"he said happily.
Makki smiled widely and turned on his phone to find a game to play.
Taeil glanced at Makki.
Makki seemed pretty excited about playing cards, so Taeil assumed that he must want to play a good game.
As they arrived at Makki's house, Taeil pulled into the driveway.
He parked the car and got out of the car.
Once they were both out of the car, Taeil held Makki's hand and led him inside.While Makki waited impatiently outside of the bathroom, Taeil went ahead and entered the house with Makki following closely behind.
When Taeil went into the kitchen, Makki saw the empty table and looked around for a second confused.
"Mom? Dad?"asked Makki hesitantly.
He knew they wouldn't just leave him alone, especially not when they knew Makki needed support right now.
Makki knew that if his parents left him alone in the house he might have a panic attack.
But he also knew that if he was alone in the house, he would just lay on his bed and cry for hours. And Makki really didn't want that.
"Makki?? Are you alright?"called Taeil in concern.
Makki jumped at the sudden voice and turned to look at Taeil who was staring at Makki with worry.
"Yeah...yeah im fine.....um...just a little thirsty"answered Makki awkwardly.
"Oh...okay...well.. Here. Drink this."said Taeil handing Makki a glass of water.
"Thank you"said Makki gratefully and took the water in his hands and chugged it down as fast as possible.After drinking the water, Makki felt better and smiled at Taeil.
"Thanks. Sorry about earlier. I'll pay for it later. I promise."said Makki nervously.
"Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. I was worried sick for awhile because i couldn't get a hold of you.."replied Taeil with a soft smile.
"It's okay. I'm sorry i worried you. I guess i just over reacted"said Makki.
"No worries. Im happy you're safe and alright"said Taeil warmly.
Makki smiled shyly and nodded.
They smiled at each other until Taeil broke the silence.
"Do you still wanna play cards or something?...?"asked Taeil with a curious expression.
Makki laughed.
"Yes. Please!!"said Makki happily.
They played cards together until they were done with their cards.
Makki won two times and Taeil was close to winning the last one.
"Wow! Im proud"said Makki sarcastically.
"Haha.... I'm sure"replied Taeil laughing and ruffling Makki's hair.Then they heard footsteps coming closer.
"Dad! Mom! Is that you???!! I told you we'd be home late"shouted Makki annoyedly.
"We know sweetie. We know. But your father got an urgent call from work and they called and told us you were sick and they needed us"said Makki's mother with a disappointed tone in her voice.
Taeil stood up, walked towards his wife and put his arm around her waist lovingly.
Makki sighed and shook his head.
Makki's father came into the living room and looked at his son and smiled.
"Hello Makki. How are you feeling today?"asked his father.
Makki sighed tiredly.
"Just fine dad..."replied Makki.
Makki's father stared at his son intently.
"You don't sound very fine"he said sternly.
"I'm okay. Just kinda sleepy.. I guess"said Makki honestly.
His parents looked at each other before nodding.
"We'll go home soon...and then we'll come visit you tonight. Ok??"said his mother.
"Ok..."replied Makki reluctantly.Okay. You can come sleep in the guest room tonight..."said Taeil smiling at Makki.
"Yeah. That sounds great.."replied Makki with an awkward smile while looking at his feet.
"Good boy...goodnight"said his mom kissing Makki's forehead.
"Goodnight..."replied Makki with a small smile as he watched his mom walk away.
"See you tomorrow.."said Taeil happily while waving at his friend goodbye.
Makki waved his own farewell to Taeil and headed upstairs.
Makki climbed the stairs slowly and yawned loudly after every step.
He opened the door to his bedroom and sighed deeply once he entered and threw himself onto his bed.
He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Makki woke up with a heavy head.
He groaned and sat up on his bed.
He rubbed his eyes and looked at the ceiling trying to recall what had happened last night.
After a few moments of trying to remember everything, Makki suddenly remembered about the dream.
He frowned slightly and sighed.
Makki decided to try and fall asleep again when he heard a knock on his door.Makki?!"called Taeil's voice worriedly.
Makki sighed and stood up to open the door.
Makki opened the door and was shocked by what he saw.
"DONT WALK AWAY FROM ME!!!"shouted a screaming Taeil angrily.
Makki stared in shock at Taeil and backed away slowly.
Taeil was holding a broken piece of glass that was dripping with blood.
Taeil was covered in bruises and cuts and his face was swollen.
Taeil growled in pain when he tried walking.
"W...What happened!?"asked Makki quietly.
"Im sorry"said Taeil softly, but he was still breathing hard from anger.
"Wh...What do you mean?"asked Makki in confusion.
"I didnt mean to hurt yuuga.."said Taeil softly.
Makki looked at Taeil and furrowed his eyebrows.
"How did you even do that??"asked Makki curiously.
"I dont knoooow"responded Taeil in frustration.
Makki nodded in understanding.