AFTER an hour or two of spending time at the mall, Minghao had informed Jun that he'd be heading off to see his parents after dinner to talk to them real quick. Not wanting his guardians to worry, he promised Jun that he'd try to return as quickly as possible. Their drive back home was silent as Minghao had fallen asleep once they entered the car - but, his hand was still clasped onto Jun's while he slept.

"You better come home..." Jun mutters to himself, glancing over to the knocked out Minghao beside him. The time almost hit seven and he knew he was going to either get an ass-kicking by his mother or Fengjun. Yes, Fengjun because he was taking way too long to buy a mere bear.

With the music filling his ears and the background noises of the cars heading down the same street as him. Jun found his way into their neighborhood and parked his car in the designated spot that was right in front of their house. Jun removes his hand from Minghao's to set the car in park, once that is finished he unbuckles himself and undoes Minghao's seatbelt as well. Which leads to the metal jabbing into the boy's side. "Ow..." He whines, eyes refusing to open as there was still a bit of sunlight outside.

"Sorry sleepy head, but we're home." Jun smiles, removing the keys from the ignition and leaning over into the backseat to grab the stuffed animals they bought. "come on, let's go inside."

"Yeah..." Minghao yawns, holding onto the house-shaped box that held his froggie. Both boys exit the car and walk towards the entrance of Jun's home. Instead of getting out his keys due to himself being lazy, Jun rings the doorbell and it only takes a few seconds for Fengjun to answer.

"You're kind of late! Mom went to bring dad his dinner since he forgot it, I've been home alone for ten minutes!" Fengjun scolds, he points to the pizza boxes on the table, "we're having pizza, hope you don't care."

"I don't." As Jun kicks off his shoes, Minghao doesn't as he looks around. The brunette turns to Minghao and raises a brow as he didn't understand why he didn't remove his, "you okay?"

"I think I'm going to go talk to my parents." Minghao says, he gives Jun his frog to hold and the brunette takes it without any fuss. "they're probably going insane right now and I don't want to go too late."

"Alright, I hope things go well," Jun replies setting down his box, Minghao nods and gives him one last kiss before leaving. A lightbulb then goes off in Jun's head, he grabs the youngers wrist before he can exit their home and tells him to wait. He runs off into the kitchen, ripping a useless envelope that he got from a nearby drawer and scribbles down some numbers. Jun runs back to Minghao, handing him the piece of paper, "in case if something happens." Minghao clutches onto the strip of paper, nodding and shoving it into his pocket for safekeeping. Finally, Minghao leaves and he's gone from their sight. Fengjun, who has his arms crossed taps his brother's shoulder,

"Are you sure he's not going to get shipped away?"

"I'll throw your bear away." The older doesn't hesitate with his words.

"You wouldn't dare!"

Minghao took his time when it came to walking to his house, merely because he didn't want to go. He was afraid things were just going to go downhill from there and he'd never get to have his goodbye. As he arrived at the front door, he knocks on the door and waits with his head facing the ground. Shortly, the door opens and it's Minghao's mother who shows up. "You're here." She mutters, scanning her son - her expression did not change as her opinion still stayed the same. "come in."

The boy does, he enters and kicks off his shoes so he can walk over to the couch. His mother locks the door, following him right after. "You didn't answer my text."

"I had a reason behind it."

"But you decide to answer your father's!" Her voice suddenly raised as she took the device out from her pocket, it was his father's phone. His personal one to be exact, since he had another one for business. "Minghao, this is not what I wanted you to grow up into."

"It doesn't matter what you wanted mom, why can't you just listen to me and think about my own happiness for once!"

"Because it's nonsense Minghao, if you continue like this you'll get nowhere in life." She spits, which hurts the boy dearly as he genuinely believed his mother had no faith in him. "If you were one of my sibling's son, you would have been disowned."

"I really could care less, where's dad?"

"At work," She answers, "your flight has been changed. You're leaving this Wednesday-" As Minghao caught those words, his heart drops, but that's not the only thing that ruins his week. "and you're not going back to your friend's house. You are my son."

"You can't do that! Did you even talk to dad about this!"

"Your dad agreed to this."

Minghao shakes his head, "I refuse to believe that, I'm leaving—" He gets up from his seat and starts to walk towards the door, that was until his mother blocked the exit. "mom, please stop this. If you'd listen to me things would be much easier!"

"You only have childish dreams Minghao, they don't matter."

"Mom, I get to plan my own life. Why do you care about shaping mine! Do you know how frustrating this is to me, the position I'm in is not only affecting me but my friends!"

She doesn't listen, it was obvious from the look in her eye as they displayed no care. The words went into one ear and out the other. "Go to your room, you're sleeping here today. No school tomorrow, it's pointless."

"I'm going and—"

"You're not going!" She yells, Minghao jolts from the sudden tone and he takes a step back. "go to your room, I'll bring you dinner. Give me your phone."

"No, I'm—"

"Minghao," She sternly says, frustration building within her. Minghao's mother sets out her palm and repeats herself once again, "give me your phone." But this time, she speaks in their mother tongue.

The ravenette clenches his fist, gritting his perfect teeth as he was angry that he had no power over her. Even if he did retort more, he'd only dig his grave even deeper. So, he hands her his device and stomps his way upstairs. This was it, the one and only worse result he didn't want to dive into. But, it's over - he was now stuck in the prison he was once in and had no way out. Once he made it to his room, he realized that his window was covered with thick plans in a horizontal angle.

"For fucks sake, great." He groans, slamming the door, and flopping onto his bed. He had no other devices in his room to contact Jun, this was basically it - his endgame and he was foolish to believe things were going to be okay. His mother wouldn't change her mind in the course of a couple of days, it would have to take a couple of years, and maybe some other pushes while at it. He grabs a naked pillow from the upper half of his bed, shoving his face into it, he mutters a stream of apologizes to his best friends Soonyoung and Wonwoo, to Fengjun and to Jun.

Jun who dashed up to his room after Minghao left waited for the boy to come to his window, his gut was giving him odd signals and something didn't feel right. Maybe he was overexaggerating, or just a clingy boyfriend. But, once he opened his window Minghao's room was dim and there was no one in sight. Nor any furniture in eyes view. "Minghao?" He calls, but there was no response. There was a high possibility that they were discussing things downstairs, but, that was until he received a text.

minghao
> hi jun, sorry I won't be coming
back tonight. I'll just be sleeping over
since it's getting a bit late
read 7: 17 p.m.

The brunette was surprised to see a message so quickly, did that mean things were okay? He trusted Minghao with his full heart, he truly did but wanting to stay home seemed a bit out of character for him. Clicking his tongue, he shakes his head and puts his faith into the younger. His thumbs finally move onto the screen and type the words he was preparing to reply with.

jun
> okay ! I'll see you tomorrow,,
I love you ♥︎
read 7:18 p.m.

After the message was sent, Minghao never replied and Jun only assumed that he was still talking to his parents and covering everything. He throws his phone onto the bed, trying not to worry about Minghao though he was the one thing on his mind. Running back downstairs, he finds Fengjun sitting on the couch touching up the bear his older brother had bought for him. "Do you like it?" Jun questions, walking over to his brother to touch the stuffed animal's polyester based fur.

"Yeah..." Fengjun mutters the reply, "but, shouldn't you be worrying about bigger things right now?"

"If you're implying Minghao, I trust him and he just texted me saying he'll be sleeping over at his parents since it's getting late. I'll see him tomorrow don't worry." Jun reassures, but, Fengjun shrugs his shoulders as he doesn't seem too pleased by his words. "look, I don't want him to be sent away, we both don't so let's wish for the best okay?"

"Okay..."

The two brothers in the Wen household comfort each other as they worry for the boy next door. His mother, who stares at the received text from her son's significant other was filled with disgust as she read the message once more.

"A disgrace..."