To say he didn’t understand what they were fighting about was a lie, because Kibum new perfectly well why Donghae was angry with him. Honestly, the way it started out was completely stupid, and that’s why Kibum thought Donghae was being unreasonable to get mad over it. He knew that at first it was about the fact that when Donghae was a kid he got a job to take care of himself, but Kibum hadn’t done that. Kibum knew that Donghae was under the impression that Kibum had never tried to be responsible and that he’d just gone straight to the drugs. But that was far from the truth; Kibum tried so hard to do what he needed to do to take care of himself after his parents had left.

After he’d gotten out of the hospital and returned home to find an empty house, he cried for days soaking up his own misery. But then what little supplied that was left ran short and he knew that he was screwed. Knowing that he was abandoned and there was no one to help make things better, Kibum had gone to town and applied everywhere for a job, even if it was the worst paying job there was. But the sad fact remained that the rumors were still going around, people shunned him worse than ever. He was denied at every place he applied to, the owners saying they’d never employ a murderer. The people would say that he deserved to rot in hell after what he’d done to his sister.

So that was the reason he’d never worked, why he had no money to buy himself necessities. Of course, even when he started doing drugs he had no money. Most people think that you have to pay a load of cash for a stash, but that’s why Kibum went to parties where it was free and everyone was too high and drunk to care about getting paid.

That and there was food there too.

Of course, he wasn’t going to tell Donghae about why he didn’t get a job. He wasn’t ready to share his past yet, he wasn’t emotionally ready. It was so hard to tell Heechul about what happened, Kibum didn’t want to try again just yet. What happened still hurt, and the cruel stories were still going around – hence the other day at the library. But mostly it was because that deep down, Kibum still felt so ashamed of himself. Somewhere inside of him, Kibum was still blaming himself for Dayeun’s death.

While it did seem to everyone that he was getting better, happier and coming out of his shell, Kibum was still suffering greatly. He still thought about her every single day, still heard her sweet, angelic voice, and still dreamed horrible nightmares about her.

No, he couldn’t tell Donghae.

Not just yet.

But after three days of being ignored by Donghae, Kibum couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t want Donghae to hate him, it hurt a lot and he missed his brother so much. It crushed his heart painfully when Donghae would be laughing and smiling with Sungmin and Mir, but if Kibum came near him he’d turn mean and angry and turn away from Kibum. It was painful and Kibum didn’t want to go through this treatment any longer so he decided to try again with apologizing. Maybe if he explained to Donghae why he couldn’t share his past yet his brother would hopefully understand and stop treating him like a leper.

It was Sunday afternoon at the apartment and everyone was doing their own thing. Heechul had gone off to the store to buy groceries, Sungmin and Mir were playing a game at the kitchen table, and Donghae was on the couch texting happily on his phone to Eunhyuk, making plans to go visit his boyfriend soon.

Kibum walked out of the bedroom where he’d been attempting to read a book, but having been too distracted with his thoughts. He saw his brother on the couch alone and slowly walked over to him. He had his arms wrapped around his body and he bit his lip timidly.

“Donghae, can we talk?” He asked quietly, in a hopefully voice. However, Donghae just glared at him and stood up and walked away to the kitchen to sit with Sungmin and Mir. He sat facing away from Kibum, not wanting to even look at him at the moment.

Mir and Sungmin glanced at each other discretely. While Heechul may have been oblivious to the two’s fight, they were well aware of what was going on. Not the reason they were fighting, just that they were fighting in general. While neither of them wanted to get involved, they shared a thought that it was rude of Donghae to keep ignoring Kibum when the latter was obviously trying to apologize.

“Hae, maybe you should talk to him,” Sungmin said in a quiet voice. Donghae just glanced at him and shrugged carelessly.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” He replied in an edgy voice.

“Then why are you ignoring him?” Mir asked, confused by Donghae’s sudden change in personality. What had happened to the happy-go-lucky brother he’d had?

“Because, Kibum is being unreasonable and unfair and I don’t want to deal with him anymore,” Donghae said, his tone of voice meaning this was the end of the conversation.

As the days progressed, there was still thick tension in the air whenever Kibum and Donghae were near each other. Kibum didn’t give up trying to talk to his brother; he tried to apologize to Donghae every chance he got when they were alone. Each time Donghae would just brush him off and give him the cold shoulder, but Kibum wouldn’t stop trying. He was determined to get back in his brother’s good graces. It hurt a lot to be rejected every time, but Kibum didn’t mind, he knew that Donghae was hurting too. He wasn’t going to stop attempting to apologize until he was able to say what needed to be said.

However, there was one person who was growing tired of their actions. Mir was feeling bad that his best friends were arguing. Generally he was really happy to be home with his umma because he’d be around his friends, and that made going to school each morning a lot easier. But now, he didn’t want to be there anymore. He decided that if they didn’t stop being foolish then tomorrow after school he would just go back home with his appa. This week was supposed to be fun, but it wasn’t.

“Donghae, you’re being mean to him,” Mir said quietly as they set the table for dinner one night.

“To whom?” Donghae asked innocently.

“To Kibum, who else? You’re not being nice and it’s not fair that he’s trying to apologize and you won’t let him,” Mir said with a frown.

“Mind your own business then and you won’t have to think it’s not nice or fair,” Donghae responded, turning to walk away once they finished their chore. Mir sighed and turned to face Sungmin, who had decided to cook dinner tonight to give Heechul a break.

“Minnie, will you talk to him? Maybe he’ll listen to you,” Mir said hopefully, wanting this drama to be over with.

“I don’t want to get involved, Mir, sorry,” Sungmin told him apologetically, and Mir really couldn’t blame him.

When they all sat down for dinner a little while later, it seemed like any other day. They all made pleasant conversation and enjoyed each other’s presence. Sungmin’s cooking was really good and everyone found it delicious. But even so, Heechul noticed that Kibum was just pushing his food around on the plate instead of eating. He’d been doing this a lot lately, reverted back to not eating again.

“Kibum, you need to eat,” Heechul told him. Kibum sighed softly, having known that Heechul would say something sooner or later, and lifted his fork to take a bite. But he put it back down on the plate and grimaced slightly.

“I can’t eat right now, hyung,” He said softly, feeling his stomach churn at the thought of eating anything right now. Mir and Sungmin stopped eating and watched him curiously, but Donghae just ignored it and continued eating his meal.

“You haven’t eaten anything since breakfast, that’s not healthy. Please just eat a few bites,” Heechul said. Kibum nodded slightly and did as he was told, and everyone went back to their conversations.

Mir made a mental note of this though, thinking that if Kibum was too upset to even eat then he needed to say something to his umma. If he or Sungmin couldn’t get Donghae to listen to Kibum, and if that was causing Kibum to get sick then he’d have to intervene and make things better; even if it meant tattle taling on Donghae. He didn’t like betraying his brother, but this was important.

So when it was time to go to sleep, Mir crawled into bed with his umma. He’d been sleeping in there for the last few days so Sungmin could sleep in his bed. He cuddled up under the blankets, holding his pink stuffed cat, and made himself comfortable next to Heechul.

“Umma, can I talk to you about something?” Mir asked as they lay together in the dark.

“Of course you can, sweetie,” Heechul replied, slinging his arm over his son’s body.

“Kibum and Donghae are fighting,” Mir informed him, rolling over to face his mother.

“I kind of figured,” Heechul replied, not having missed the lack of interactions from the two.

“Yeah, but Donghae keeps ignoring Kibum and won’t let him apologize and Kibum is trying really hard,” Mir responded. This made Heechul frown slightly. He’d been under the impression they’d both been ignoring each other and was content to let them do so since it was their problem. But if Kibum was trying to fix things and Donghae was being stubborn, he needed to have a talk with Donghae.

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