21. Seojun

CHAPTER 21

SEOJUN

" I 'm wiped." I collapse on my couch as soon as we're back home, and I don't even care that I'm getting the very expensive velvet wet, which says a lot about my exhaustion.

The Phantom, one of the supervillains I've always looked up to, is such a disgusting wuss.

"Me too. But great job, baby. We only got him because of you." Jack crashes next to me and cocks his head to the side to look at me.

Why does he have to look so fucking cute when he's complimenting me?

"You'd have got there eventually." I brush his leg and tap his knee. He smiles.

"You beat me to it by mere seconds."

I roll my eyes, and even that hurts. Jack offers me his hand, and I thread my fingers through his. It feels good touching him. I don't even miss the fire we felt when he was still signed. It was too strong, too intense. This…it feels good. It's nice and gentle, and just the right amount of heart-warming. It's…Jack through and through.

"It's been a crazy few days, hasn't it?" I hum, my eyes so heavy it takes effort to keep them open. Effort I can't withstand. I lean on his shoulder and breathe deeply. "Hm?"

I wait for an answer, but it never comes.

"I said…" I lift my head just enough to look him in the eyes and find him fast asleep. "Oh good," I mumble and close my own eyes, letting sleep claim me, finally.

When I open them again, it's dark outside. And Jack is no longer beside me.

"Wait a minute!"

How did I get to bed?

I lie back and try to think. Try to figure out if I've just started sleepwalking or something when Jack enters the room with a tray. I can't see what's on it at first but whatever it is smells delicious.

"Good evening, Mr. Sinister. I take it you're starved?"

"Famished," I reply and sit up.

Jack puts the tray on my lap and kisses my forehead before taking his place beside me.

I go for the coffee first, which smells divine and is the perfect drinking temperature, before I even try to discern everything else on the tray.

There's a small glass pot with apple and cinnamon overnight oats, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and scrambled eggs and bacon on toast.

"I have to say. I'm impressed."

He raises an eyebrow and chuckles.

"You do realize I just scrambled some eggs and cooked the bacon, right?"

He does have a point, but it's more than anyone has ever done for me, so I couldn't care less. He could have slapped me in the face with a slice of toasted bread, and I would have dropped to my knees to worship him.

"What about the oats? How did you overnight the oats when it's not even night yet? That takes skill."

"You're such a goofball." He pushes my head to the side. I laugh.

"And you're a creep. Quite a pair," I tell him, looking into his eyes, trying to capture this moment, commit this feeling to memory so I can treasure it for the rest of my life. Who knows how long it will last, and how do I know this will ever happen again? Especially when it hasn't happened in my twenty-six years on Earth.

"Meh. We make it work," he says, reaching for my coffee mug.

"Hey. That's mine!"

"Sorry. A creep's gotta creep," he answers and takes a sip, ensuring his tongue covers every possible rim surface.

"Congratulations. You've graduated from creep to disgusting."

He does a little bow, barely moving from his position, and offers the mug back to me. I take it and drink more coffee. No disgusting creep is gonna keep me from my coffee. Especially one so cute.

I try the scrambled eggs, and they taste de-fucking-licious, as do the overnight oats, but since I'm not a pig, I give him the PB&J, and we eat in silence, which is eerily so unlike me, yet…I don't mind it.

"So…are you ready for a trip to Newark?"

"What's in New Jers—" I start when the events of the last twenty-four hours come crashing down on me.

It's been such a whirlwind since April's office that I completely forgot the address she gave us. My family's address.

Or maybe I've been avoiding thinking about it because I'm not ready to get answers.

Isn't that ironic, after everything I've done to get to them?

"Y-yeah. I guess."

"You guess? What's up?" Jack searches my eyes for answers, but how can I give him any when I don't have them myself.

"Nothing. I'm ready. Yup. Let's do this!"

He watches me for a moment longer before submitting to my fake enthusiasm. We get out of bed to shower and get ready. It's almost eight o'clock in the evening when we open the front door of the apartment and stop in our tracks.

"What are you doing here?" Jack asks.

Robin, Annie, Lily, Zeke, and Brandon are all there, standing on my doorstep, staring at us.

"Movie night!" Annie says with overt excitement, but none of the others reflect it.

"We came to see if you're okay after last night." Zeke glares at me. I can't say I blame him. Last night was a shit show.

"We are fine, guys. A lot has happened since then," Jack says.

"But…" I step between him and his friends and eat some humble pie. "It doesn't excuse what I did. Listen, guys, I want to apologize for everything that has transpired since we met. I shouldn't have lied to you, and I shouldn't have made Jack lie either. It was a mistake. In my defense…" Zeke scoffs as if I don't know how that sounds. "In my defense, I've never had friends. I've never had anyone other than my mom and brother, and I lost them too. I thought Jack and his work were behind it, so I thought he was evil, and I didn't feel an inch of guilt. Anyway, it doesn't matter now. What I'm trying to say is I forgot what it's like to be good to people. Hell, I forgot what it's like to talk to people in general, let alone interact with them. And I'm sorry, so sorry, for hurting you and getting you mixed up in my bullshit."

Are my cheeks wet? What the fuck? I didn't mean for this to turn into the Seojun show, which is preposterous because everything is supposed to be the Seojun show. But these guys are good people and don't deserve to be messed with.

"Aw, Seojun. It's okay. I forgive you." Annie is the first to cave, of course, and she and Lily hug me.

Robin smiles at me with a reassuring nod, and Zeke's grimace turns into a pout, which I'll take as a win. Brandon is Brandon. He's crying as if the world has come to an end. Poor guy.

"Now, guys, if you don't mind, we've got somewhere to be," Jack says, and I reprimand him. How dare he dismiss his friends in a moment like this.

"Forgive him. We were just on our way to Newark to see if my mom and brother live at this address we got."

Zeke lights up, blinking.

"Wait. You found them?"

I shrug.

"We'll come with you," Lily says.

"Oh no. It's okay. Really."

"Oh no, it's not. We're coming." Robin agrees.

"If only to find out if you were telling the truth," Zeke says.

I wonder if I'll ever win him over. If I'll win any of them over. If it even matters. Because…what if Jack walks out of my life as soon as I reunite with Omma and Min?

"Okay. Let's go." Jack ushers everyone back to the elevator and we get two cabs to Newark.

It takes a little over an hour to get to the address April provided, which turns out to be in a perfectly serene suburban area with more grass than road and large but unimposing houses.

We gather outside number 811, and everyone stands behind me, urging me on, encouraging me, but I can't move. I can't blink. I can't breathe.

What if it's a dud? What if there's no one here? What if April made a mistake?

And what if they're right? What if they've been here all along? Why haven't they come to me? Why have they kept their distance? Are they in trouble? Someone's captives?

"I can't." I fall back into the group, into Jack's arms, and catch my breath.

"Yes, you can."

"Of course you can."

"You're so close."

They all chime in, but it doesn't make my legs any more cooperative.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Jack whispers in my ear and I nod so fast my head might as well roll off my neck.

But it's not just Jack who comes with me. It's everyone. Which somehow makes it easier to walk and breathe and even knock on the door.

Light floods the porch, and the silhouette of a woman appears, but I have to close my eyes and adjust to the light before I can make out her features.

"Omma!" I say when I do, falling into her arms.

"Seojun?" She stops and takes a step back before I can embrace her. "What are you doing here?"

I'm confused. What kind of question is that?

"What do you mean? I'm here for you."

"Why?" she asks, and someone walks up behind her—Min.

"Why? Because you're my family. Because, one day, you were just gone, and I didn't know what happened to you. Are you okay? Do you need help? Do you need me to rescue you?"

"Rescue us?" Min laughs.

Why is he laughing? Why are they acting so weird? Are they being mind-controlled by one of my enemies? Is that what this is?

"Yeah. Someone took you. Made you disappear. I've looked everywhere for you," I tell him, feeling Jack slip his hand into mine and squeeze.

"Seojun, no one took us. What are you talking about?" Omma asks. "Didn't you read our letter?"

I grimace.

"What letter?"

"The letter we wrote to you. Telling you we were leaving? Min, didn't you write the letter."

Min nods.

"Yeah, I left it with the neighbor. She was supposed to give it to him the day after."

The neighbor? What neighbor? Everyone hated us in my old neighborhood. Except…

"Are you talking about Mrs. Wilch?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"She died the morning after you…left?"

They left?

"Why did you leave?"

Omma's face sours.

"Oh, here we go again. Because, Seojun…all you ever cared about was ‘comfort.' You've got such amazing powers and you only ever used it to get the bare minimum."

The bare minimum? What? Why the hell do they think I got my apartment in Central Park? Who do they think I went into a life of crime for? To provide for them. To give them what they wanted. To be a good son.

"Yeah, bro, you're such a goody-two-shoes. We thought you'd want to do more with your life. Be more. Make more. I mean look at us. We made a life for ourselves."

"No thanks to you," Omma says.

"I got you your cars, your house. What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Yeah, a car. You can do so much more with your power."

"And what did you do with yours?" I ask Min because I'm too frustrated to even look my omma in the face.

"I'll have you know my super-yawn has gotten us out of a lot of pickles."

"Huh?"

Min leans on Omma, and for the first time, I realize he's not my brother. Min was sweet and kind and just a teenager. This guy right here is a dick. Have I been idolizing my memory of him? Of both of them?

"Omma here is a drug lord. We're Breaking Bad this shit."

I turn to Omma and wince.

"What?"

"What do you mean what, Seojun? Did you expect me to use my telepathic cooking to cook your meals every day? I can do so much more than make instant bibimbap, you know. So much more."

Min interjects, and Omma laughs. I don't even hear what they're saying because it finally sinks in. The truth.

They left me. They didn't disappear. They didn't get abducted, tortured, or anything like that. They just got sick of me.

A memory nudges at me, and for the first time, I let it unravel. It's Omma complaining her brand-new car is not very good and Min asking when we're going to get a pool installed in the backyard. All in the same breath.

And then more memories come forward. One after the other. Of times when they were being demanding, ungrateful, downright bitchy. Because I was still learning my power and its limits and wanted everything I got for them, for us, to last.

"So, wait a minute." I shake it all away and refocus. "If you left me a letter, supposedly, why the fuck did you change your names?"

Omma rolls her eyes.

"We didn't do that for you. We did it because the FBI was getting close to busting us. You foolish boy."

"Foolish?" I laugh. "Foolish? Everything I did, I did for you guys. And that's the thanks I get?"

"It's the least you could do for your family. At least, Min here has put many an FBI agent to sleep when we get caught. You're just…such a disappointment."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Jack steps forward and puts his hands up in a time-out. "You're his mother. You can't speak to him like that."

"I can. And I will. You let me down, Seojun. You let us both down. We were miserable under your roof. But look at us now. We're thriving."

"I guess we should thank you though," Min adds. "If it weren't for you, we'd never have realized how much we can do with our own powers."

My limbs go cold. No, not just my limbs. My entire body. This isn't happening. This isn't real. I've spent so long chasing after them, and they'd dropped me like a sack of potatoes…because I didn't want money and power? This is a joke if I've heard one.

"Do you know the lengths he's gone to find you? To get some answers?" Jack asks them.

"At least I didn't do what The Phantom did, right?" My voice comes out monotone and vacant, like my body.

Jesus.

I'm like Phantom Mario. I've gone to such great lengths to find my family when I should have followed my own advice to him. Just let them go and move on.

Wow. How's that for irony?

"That's not our fault. I tried to make you something, someone to be proud of. To push you to do big and great things, but you were just too chicken. You're honestly such a disappointment."

"Hey!" Brandon shouts behind me, and I turn to look at him. Everyone does. "How dare you say that to him? Do you even know him? Seojun has the best fashion sense I've ever seen on anyone and always wears the best designer clothes." I catch my omma scanning my outfit from the corners of my eyes, but I don't dignify that with a full glance her way. "He's got the best apartment in New York City, and he even has a sidekick. But most of all, he's got a big heart and is not afraid to show it even if it gets him into big trouble. I only see the negative in anything and even I can see Seojun's a real diamond. Which makes you the shittiest family members I've ever met."

Did…did Brandon just stand up for me? Did he call me a diamond? I wonder how many carats he thinks I am.

"And who are you?" Omma asks.

"He's my friend," I tell her.

"No. We're family," Annie corrects me.

"Damn right. And maybe I should teach you the meaning of the word," Zeke adds and puts his hand on my shoulder, giving Omma and Min the dirtiest look I've ever seen him give anyone. Even me.

"They are," I say, and the verbal confirmation takes me by surprise as I gasp and tears run down my cheeks. For fuck's sake. Why am I such an emotional mess? "I may have lost two people, but I gained a whole army of them. And they're so much better than you."

I look at Jack and offer him my hand. He takes it and pulls me into his arms, holding me tight. So tight. I don't want him to ever let me go.

"I love you," he whispers.

"I know," I whisper back, and I realize how true that is.

I've given this man plenty of reasons to walk out on me. I've put him through so much since we met. He has every right in the world to be mad at me, yet…he's still here.

And they're not.

"You know what's funny?" he says, louder this time.

He loosens his arms around me and turns to address my…Hana. To address Hana and Min. She no longer gets the privilege of being called Omma or Mom anymore.

"What?" she asks with a dismissive pout.

Jack smiles at both of them.

"You leaving him made him the son and brother you wanted. Because you see Seojun here? He's a supervillain. Because of you. You gave him one heck of an origin story. Isn't that funny?"

"Seojun?" Hana asks, but I'm too busy cooing at my boyfriend, who just called me a supervillain. "Is that true?"

I kiss my teeth and shrug.

"Yep. And you want to know another thing?" I turn to her and give her my biggest grin, knowing I'll be okay. I'll be fine without her and without Min. "The FBI knows about you."

Jack bursts into a laugh. Everyone does. I do too.

Everyone except for Hana and Min.