"Jongin, breakfast is ready." 

No reply.

"Jonginnie." 

Kyungsoo sighed. He quickly finished arranging the rest of the dishes on the dining table and went towards Jongin's room.

That sweet little angel, wearing his silver rimmed glasses and cartoon T-shirt, looked like the cutest thing in the world, at least to Kyungsoo. Jongin was absorbed in solving his Petaminx cube while sitting lumpily on his blue been bag. He had a little frown on his forehead as he concentrated all his attention in sliding the small compartments of the world's hardest Rubik's cube. Kyungsoo knew that Jongin would not listen to him, so he just gently grabbed Jongin's tender arm and walked him out towards the dining table. Jongin let himself be carried like that, still engrossed in his puzzle. 

Kyungsoo brought the spoonful of cereal near Jongin's lips, but the younger didn't open his mouth. 

"Jongin, please have some." 

He didn't. This was a part of his behaviour, he would instantly get attached to random things and forget about the rest of the world. Kyungsoo gently touched the hand Jongin was sliding the compartments speedily with. This move enraged Jongin and he shoved Kyungsoo's arm away, throwing the silver spoon down on the floor. 

"Jongin, what is this?" Kyungsoo sounded more worried and concerned than angry. But he couldn't just let go of Jongin. Because Jongin had to be fed something before Kyungsoo left for his office, or else he'd have an empty stomach for the rest of the day until dinner. Kyungsoo took a deep breath so that he could paste a fake smile on his face after that. He ran a soft hand through Jongin's dark and heavy hair, "Baby, please eat something. If you don't like it then I'll cook something for you. Please Jongin, you're a good boy, right?" 

Jongin lost his patience. In a fit of anger he dropped the cube and swept his arm across the table, sending the whole ceramic bowl of cereal and milk flying to the floor and hence, breaking it and creating a mess all around the place. He then started flapping his hands and whined in a shrill voice. Kyungsoo immediately reached for Jongin and held him into his arms. 

"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry baby. Nobody's forcing you to do anything. Here, take your cube. You have to solve it, right?" 

Jongin slowly opened his beautiful eyes again and slowly caught hold of his favorite toy back. Kyungsoo kept carressing his litte boy's arms and nape to calm him down, and thought to himself how Jongin is growing more aggressive and uncontrollable each day. 

Just then, the doorbell rang. Kyungsoo went to see and found his mother standing on the other side. That 49 year old burnette was one of the most successful and trusted neurologists in South Korea. She would give surprise visits to Kyungsoo every once in two weeks, so Kyungsoo warmly welcomed her in with a bright smile. 

"How's my sweet son?" 

"I'm good, Mom. How are you?" 

"I'm doing great sweetie. Were you having your breakfast?" With that, she walked from the lobby towards the dining hall. Her feet stopped just when she saw Jongin sitting on the chair. Kyungsoo got the signal and he rushed towards Jongin saying, "Uh...Jongin. Baby go to your room." 

Jongin frowned and murmured something incomprehensible while still hooked on his puzzle. 

"Jonginnie, please." 

While Kyungsoo was pleading Jongin to get inside his room, his mother stepped in and within a fraction of second snatched the cube from Jongin's hands. 

"Go to your room." The tone was as cold and sharp as a knife. 

Jongin was dumbstruck, he stood up and stretched his arms to get his cube back as he whined. 

"Mom, what are you doing? He-" 

"Kyungsoo, I'm a doctor. I know how to deal with these people." After saying that, she gave a gentle push to Jongin who was now trying to invade her space to get his cube back. "I see the mess you've created here. Now before I make you clean all this, go to your room." 

Jongin screamed louder, not willing to speak out any word. 

"I said go to your room." ​​​​​​the rude tone and scary eyes made Jongin silent. He pouted and then whimpered.

"B-Bad Mom. Bad...bad Mom." He then stomped his foot and marched towards his room. 

Kyungsoo had no option but to look at the way Jongin left. He was way too sensitive for his precious stepbrother. He stood there helplessly, knowing that going against his mother was not an ethical thing to do. Yes, his mother did hate Jongin with all her will, obviously, because Jongin was the son of the woman who stole her husband and completely wrecked her life. But Kyungsoo trusted his mother blindly in the case of Jongin's medical treatment. 

"Kyungsoo, are you seriously going to keep him around you for the rest of your life?" 

"Haven't we discussed about it enough? Yes, I can't leave Jongin. He needs me Mom." 

"No, he doesn't. He doesn't have any attachment towards you. He can in fact do better without you when he's around the people who understand his medical condition better than you."

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean that...you should send him to the mental asylum." 

"WHAT? NO." 

"Kyungsoo try and understand. You have your whole life ahead. You have to marry and have kids. Being with Jongin won't let your life go smoothly. You have to give him up." 

Kyungsoo's eyes were welling up, just the mere thought of having to give up Jongin broke his heart. "B-But...autism isn't that bad, right? And...and Jongin is so smart, he's even more intelligent and talented than us." 

"You're right sweetie. But his condition in incurable. If a longer rehabilitation helps him to do better off by himself then would you stand in its way?" 

Kyungsoo shook his head lightly, he did want Jongin to be just a little more independent. Because with the job that Kyungsoo had, it was hard to take care of Jongin alone. But still, he was not willing to give Jongin up. "No. I won't send him. I- I will hire a full day nurse or...or even go with him daily for his therapy sessions. But I just...I just can't live without him. I will not let him go away from my sight." 

His mother sighed. She set the half solved cube on the table as she said, "Just take your time to think about it practically and not emotionally. I'll see you later sweetie, we have work." And she left after giving a tiny peck on an almost crying Kyungsoo's cheek. 

Kyungsoo just stood there as he dwelled deeper into his thoughts and worries. Worries about Jongin and his future, Kyungsoo certainly couldn't be around Jongin forever to protect him from the outer world and even from himself, because Jongin had attempted to harm himself in the past, knowingly or unknowingly, who knew? But the thought of staying away from Jongin was even more terrifying. Kyungsoo would believe anything his mother would say, but this was certainly not it, he was confident that Jongin had a strong attachment for him and that he would be just as sad if they were separated. The words of his mother, an educated and acknowledged specialist in the field, echoed in his brain, it was for Jongin's betterment. A few tears left Kyungsoo's eyes and he went into a flashback of his sweet relationship with Jongin.

When he was just three years old, Kyungsoo's parents got divorced because his father loved someone else. That someone was Jongin's mother, a widow with a two year old child who was yet to speak his first words. Kyungsoo's custody was given to his father, considering that his mother had no job or house to raise him well. He was way too young to understand why he got to see his mother just once a week, why his new mother was so rude and neglecting towards him and who was that cute little baby in his house. In the beginning, Kyungsoo was really excited about his little brother, his new friend Jongin. But as time passed, he started realising that his stepmother was way too biased for Jongin and Kyungsoo was often left uncared for. As he grew up, Kyungsoo started realising more things, his hate for his wicked stepmother grew day by day and it even made him hate Jongin as well, because those people were the reason why he had to stay away from his own mother, who was suffering alone. He immediately stopped calling that cruel lady his mother, and even refused to accept Jongin as his brother. A few years later, they noticed that something was wrong with Jongin, he did not interact with anyone at all, he used to do repetitive actions and would talk gibberish whenever he spoke, he would create a chaos whenever brought out of the house, that is why he was not sent to school even by the age of five. Ultimately, he was diagnosed with a severe case of autism. Jongin's state induced sympathy in Kyungsoo for him, he wanted to show love towards that poor kid, but never reached out because of the horrible woman he hated. After about an year of vocal sessions and therapies, his condition improved by just the slightest bit. He was able to talk in intelligible language, only when he wanted to speak. Also, he showed a weird but strong interest towards mathematics and science. So he was officially taught just those two subjects, because he would fail miserably in language subjects yet show excellence in his favorite ones. When Jongin was ten, his mother passed away in a car accident. Kyungsoo's father had always been indifferent towards Jongin, he didn't even pay much attention to his real son, let alone Jongin who was not even blood related to him. The same year Kyungsoo's birth mother finished her medical education and became Seoul's most educated neurologist till date. Kyungsoo's father moved to America and now Kyungsoo and Jongin were left alone in that huge empty house. Ms. Doh had suggested to send Jongin to an orphanage for special children or medical asylum even back then, but Kyungsoo requested her to keep Jongin with them. He had even dropped the surname 'Kim' from his name and was a 'Doh' now, he had still not accepted Jongin as his brother, but there was an emotional connection which ached his heart at the thought of separation with Jongin. Kyungsoo's mother hated Jongin due to obvious reasons, so she visited Kyungsoo regularly while he still stayed with Jongin in the same house alone with the housekeeper. Jongin grew up to come out as a prodigy. He cleared several international mathematics olympiads and even scored good rank in some of them. His attraction for mathematics, science and logic increased with time, to a level that he was able to secure a graduation degree exclusively in mathematics. As much as Kyungsoo was proud of Jongin, he somehow had always been worried for him. The motherly instincts that he had developed for Jongin always had him in a constant fear regarding Jongin's well being, because there had not been a major progress in his overall mental growth and behaviour despite years of treatment under the best medical services available in South Korea. If anything, the younger's confidence and patience was declining with time. 

Kyungsoo sighed, he was totally stressed out after thinking about the same stuff over and over again. But then his eyes went to the cube, which would probably be the final and toughest achievement for Jongin. He took it and went to see Jongin in his room before leaving for the office, and trying for one last time to get him to eat something. 

The plastic puzzle broke into several other cubes as it dropped from Kyungsoo's hand straight to hit the marble floor. He ran towards Jongin and started crying right away, "Oh my god. What are you doing? Jongin-", he paused to throw the lighter away from Jongin's hand, "Where the hell did you even get it from?" Kyungsoo couldn't mind his language in such a state of panic. He quickly grabbed Jongin by his burnt arm and immediately put the affected area under running water. He was still persistently crying even while applying ointment to the burn.

"Do you feel any pain?" 

To his surprise, Jongin chuckled, "No." 

The first conversation they had in a few days, was this much. Kyungsoo still gave Jongin a painkiller just in case, but only after almost forcing him to eat some food. Even though Jongin was being a little bit cooperative now, Kyungsoo felt even more heartbroken after another incident of Jongin trying to harm himself. Probably, he would have to take his mother's advice. 

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Hi everyone! 

This chapter may seem a little bit boring, but please understand that it is just a plot for something bigger to happen. Do leave comments about how you feel about it or to give any suggestion regarding the writing or just...anything.

Also, I've done as much research as I could on autism through internet, but still if you feel that the information mentioned is false, then kindly accept it as it is, because its essential for the story. 

Thank you, have a nice day!