Chapter 41

                                    

                                          
Hello! Welcome back to my story! We are almost near the end and I am both nervous and excited! I hope that you all look forward to it. This chapter is nothing crazy but we get to check in with our characters for a bit and see how they are doing after all the craziness of the past few chapters. Now, with that said, let's get into it! 


Chan keeps his head down as he walks towards the front door. He raises his hand to the handle, but isn't able to grasp it before he's caught by his lovely appa. "Where do you think you're going?" Mr. Lee questions. 
Chan sighs and turns to face his father, "Does it matter?"
"Of course it does," Grandpa huffs, "You shouldn't leave the house."
"And why is that?" Chan says, "I'm not ten. I don't need supervision."
"It's because of the curse," Grandma says, appearing as well. Chan shakes his head. Seems like the entire Lee family is going to go after him today. Great. Just great. "What curse?" Chan asks, already hating himself for doing it. He's opening a can of worms that he should just leave alone. "We spoke to a shaman following the death of Jihoon," Mrs. Lee says, joining the group, "The similar deaths and the close proximity of the incidents made us question if these losses were caused by an outside force of nature."
"So you asked some crackhead to read your palms!?" Chan exclaims.
"Such foul words!" Grandpa scolds the teen, "It was a professional, who has foreseen a curse placed on our children! It has already taken Jihoon and Seokmin! You could be next!"
"Oh no," Chan says dryly. 
"Exactly," Mr. Lee states, "That's why you need to stay indoors. The shaman gave us wardings that we have placed all over the house. As long as you stay here, you are safe from the curse, Channie, but once you leave...we won't be able to protect you." 
Chan scoffs, "One, you don't get to call me Channie. Two, what? Now that you've lost two of your sons you want to do anything you can to protect the last one. Don't give me that crap. You're just afraid this curse will latch onto you. You never cared about my hyungs and you could care even less about me."
"That is not true at all, Lee Chan!" Mrs. Lee exclaims. 
"Really?" Chan says, "If you cared, why the hell haven't any of you cried? You two lost sons! You lost grandchildren! Yet, you all remain stoic! As if nothing happened! Don't tell me you care when you haven't shed a single tear!" The other Lee's look at one another, not really knowing what to say. Chan shakes his head, "Do you know how hard it is for me? People around me say they're sorry for my loss and they ask how my family is doing. They say you all must be heartbroken and I'm just thinking...no...they're not. They're perfectly fine even though their children are now ashes! I'm the only one that's suffering! I'm the only one crying every night wondering why my brothers had to die so young! And it hurts like freaking hell...but it's not like I can talk to anyone about it or reminisce with anyone...I can't mourn properly cause my family acts like nothing even happened."
"It's better not to speak of the dead in order to let them pass into the next life peacefully," Grandma murmurs. 
Chan laughs, "Bullshit...you know what...why do I even try!? It's not like you're ever going to understand." With that said, Chan kicks his shoes off and turns back around. He stomps off to his room and slams the door shut. He scowls before flopping onto his bed and burying his head into his pillow. He lets out a shaky breath and squeezes his eyes shut to stop the tears he knows are about to burst from him. He doesn't notice the two figures that watch him from outside with keen eyes and strong ears, both with wistful expressions on their faces. "Hyung..." Seokmin murmurs.