When Jongin woke up, Taemin was sitting on the edge of the bed, back facing him. 

"Taemin..." he called tentatively. He was feeling better now that he'd slept, but he had no idea what kind of mood Taemin would be in. 

"You have to be at work in an hour and a half." 

"Okay." Jongin sat up. Taemin was still turned away from him, looking straight ahead at the wall. "What time is it?" 

"It's five twenty-six." 

", I slept that long?" 

"I guess so." 

Jongin bit his lip. He didn't want to ask, but he had to know what was up with Taemin. 

"Are you mad at me?" 

"No."

"Are you sure you're not?" 

"I'm not mad, Jongin. I'm just frustrated. I don't understand what's going on with you. Yesterday you just wanted me to leave, and you didn't even come home until this morning..." Taemin paused, running a hand through his hair. "I get that you had work, but you could've at least told me you weren't going to come home. I was waiting up for you, but you never showed up, you didn't even answer my texts. Just tell me why, Jongin. Let me know what's up. I'm not a mind reader." 

"It was something with Kyungsoo. I'm sorry." 

"Okay, and?" 

Jongin was taken aback. His face rose in anger as he spoke. 

"What do you mean, 'and'? You know perfectly well what that means." 

"No, I don't. What does it mean? That you can't even look at me? That you can't be bothered to even send me one text to let me know you're even alive?" Taemin's voice remained fairly calm, but Jongin heard the note of annoyance accenting the end of his questions. 

"I'm sorry." Jongin was no longer angry, but he didn't know how to smooth the situation over, Taemin was obviously still irritated, and he had nothing to say that could fix it. "I... You just don't understand..." 

"You're right, I don't. Why couldn't you just stop at your apology? But no, you have to tell me something I already know, instead of trying to actually make things better. I'm trying to understand, I want to, but you're not being helpful at all." 

"You won't understand. You haven't lost anyone like that. I can't help you." 

"I'm going to go, then. I don't feel like talking to you anymore, this isn't going anywhere. Don't be late for work." Taemin stood, walking to the bedroom door. He left silently, and so quickly that it took Jongin a moment to process that he'd just been left alone. He shrugged, trying not to acknowledge how much it bothered him, Taemin doing that, and got out of bed. He still had time to eat before he had to go to work. He made absentmindedly made himself dinner, his thoughts wandering to the previous conversation with Taemin and its rather unpleasant results. 

Well, he decided, for now he wasn't even going to let it bother him. Taemin could just walk out like that if he wanted, and then when he'd finally calmed down enough they'd talk and he'd make Taemin see reason. Simple as that. 

*****

Taemin wasn't home when Jongin returned after work. It was odd for him to be out so late, especially considering that he had work tomorrow, but Jongin tried not to think much of it. He couldn't fall asleep for a while, however, tossing and turning, trying not to think about how the bed now seemed too big, too cold.

When Jongin woke up, Taemin still wasn't there. 

He's probably at work, Jongin thought, but he was still unable to shake the sudden anxiety that had taken root in his mind. 

When he came home from work, and Taemin still hadn't come back, Jongin finally gave in to his apprehension. He hopefully dialed Taemin's number, only to be met with voicemail. 

.

He didn't know what to do. Maybe he could call Sehun? He tried that, too, but Sehun hadn't seen or heard from Taemin. This was not good. He was trying to think of any other way to get in contact with his boyfriend when the man himself strolled through the apartment door. 

"You're back! Where were you? Do you even know how worried-" Jongin stopped short when he caught sight of Taemin's face. 

Taemin gazed at Jongin coolly, his expression completely blank. 

"Oh, so now you do actually care about me?" 

Jongin's confusion must have showed on his face, but Taemin didn't offer an explanation, instead he said something that only confused Jongin more. 

"I only came to get some stuff. I'm going to stay with my brother for a few days." 

"What?" 

"You heard me. I'll be out of your way in less than five minutes, alright?" Taemin brushed past Jongin, heading into the bedroom.

Jongin didn't know what to say. Why was he...? No, this wasn't right, why so suddenly? Why didn't Taemin tell him beforehand?

Taemin came back out to the living room, heading for the door. He stopped in the doorway, looking at Jongin again. 

"When will you be back?" Jongin asked, throat suddenly dry. There was a strange emotion in Taemin's eyes as he responded,

"A few days." 

And then he was gone, leaving Jongin to attempt to piece together what had just happened. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N

Aaaah, I'm so sorry this chapter is super short, but I'm kinda rushed right now because I'm going away for three days tomorrow and can't bring my laptop, and then I was going to make this longer but when I actually got to what its current end is I felt like it should just end there. Like, it makes more sense to end it here, you know? Anyways, I'll be back with the next chapter/couple chapters as soon as possible. :)

Thanks so much to all of my subscribers <3 <3 Also, I really had a great time reading the comments on my last chapter, you guys are totally right about Jongin and this whole situation, haha! :D

Thanks for reading!

-H