"...and oh man, he has a huge one. My still hurts." 

Kyungsoo just kept looking at the computer screen while absent-mindedly typing on the keyboard.

"Are you even listening to me?" 

"Huh? Uh...yeah. I am." 

Baekhyun rolled the casters of his chair and slid closer to Kyungsoo's cubicle. "Oh really? What was I talking about?" 

Kyungsoo fixed the bridge of his glasses as he tried to guess what Baekhyun could have been talking about , because he really wasn't paying attention to him at all. Considering Baekhyun's y traits, the only guess Kyungsoo could make was, "Something about ?" 

The pretty blonde smirked, "That's just obvious, isn't it? with who?" 

"Umm...the new junior assistant?" 

Baekhyun's scoff was way too loud for the office working hours, "I dumped him a whole week ago. See, you weren't listening to me." 

Kyungsoo sighed and shifted his attention back to typing the same digits, "I'm sorry." 

"What is up with you? I mean yeah, you have the same dead expression on your face most of the time and you're always ignoring me as well. But today you look kinda...down." 

Kyungsoo wanted to be left alone with his tensions at that moment, but there was no way he could escape his childhood friend's observing eyes. "Nothing, really." 

It was as if Baekhyun could sense that there was a serious problem, so he switched from his usual carefree self into a concerned best friend. He hesitated before eventually asking Kyungsoo, "Is Jongin okay?" 

Jongin's name was enough to tear Kyungsoo up. He blinked back his tears and gulped to be able to speak without cracking voice, but sadly was not able to utter a single word. Baekhyun got the signal and he rolled his chair even closer so that now he was entirely in Kyungsoo's cubicle. 

"What happened to Jongin? Tell me Kyungsoo." 

Kyungsoo stopped pretending and let the teardrops wet his face. He lifted his head up to face Baekhyun and tell him, "I'm sending him away." 

"What? Where and...why?" 

"I don't think that I'm able to take care of him anymore. He...he needs more help. I'm sending him to the mental asylum." 

"What?" Baekhyun was almost disgusted at that very idea, "That's absurd. You can't do that to him. If you can't take care of him then give him to me, I will." 

"You're getting me wrong. He tried to hurt himself again, my Mom is suggesting that he really needs closer supervision by experienced doctors, it will be better for him." 

Baekhyun scoffed, more out of frustration than mockery "Do you really think that those experienced doctors will be able to take care of him more than you, who has been looking after him like a mother since you were like...eleven?" 

Kyungsoo had no answer to that. He himself was caught up in the dilemma of whether this decision would be right for Jongin or not, "But...but Mom said..." 

"Kyungsoo, your Mom hates Jongin. Of course she'd want to keep Jongin away from you." 

Kyungsoo was taken aback by such a blunt statement. Baekhyun was a straight forward person but this was just plain accusation, and Kyungsoo immediately became defensive. He loved his mother even more than he loved Jongin, if possible. "She's a doctor and Jongin is her patient, she wants the best for him and I don't want to hear otherwise." 

"Listen, you know that I too care about Jongin, right?" 

Yes, he did, so much so that apart from Kyungsoo, Baekhyun was the only one Jongin was comfortable with. It was because Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were best friends since high school and they had spent most of their teenage years in Kyungsoo's house together with Jongin. Where Kyungsoo had taken up a parental role in Jongin's life, Baekhyun was like an elder brother, who would teach a few bad habits to his innocent little brother, but would also protect him at all costs. Kyungsoo meekly nodded. 

"Then just trust me, I don't think its the best decision for Jongin." 

Kyungsoo groaned, "Then...then what should I do? I'm going crazy." 

Baekhyun took a deep breath before giving an advice, which seemed like it had been in his mind since the very beginning of the conversation, "Well, do you know my cousin Jongdae?"

"Yeah, that medical student." 

"Right, except he's not a student anymore. He's been treating people since a few years now..", Baekhyun cleared his throat before speaking further, "...people with...mental illnesses." 

Kyungsoo finally got it, "So...you want me to consult him, knowing that Jongin is already being treated with the best medical facilities available?"

"Look, I know that he has much lesser experience than your mother. But he has already proven himself as an eminent doctor in his field. He has helped many people."

Kyungsoo didn't have any faith in this idea, plus it was hard to trust a new person regarding Jongin's treatment. He aggressively shook his head. 

"Kyungsoo what if...what if he might actually help Jongin? Just at least consider seeing him once before sending Jongin away." 

Now that Baekhyun put it forth that way, Kyungsoo's heart and brain were lit up with a new ray of hope. Anything would be better than having to give Jongin up. Hesitantly, Kyungsoo agreed to see Dr. Jongdae. 

After a long period of silence and Kyungsoo trying to pierce his lower lip by his own teeth, Baekhyun finally spoke, "By the way....you didn't ask me who I was talking about earlier." Kyungsoo turned to see Baekhyun's signature smug look. He was not quite sure who Baekhyun was referring to, but the smart blonde was quick to grasp it, "...the one I had with last night." 

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, the typical Baekhyun behaviour always made him do this. He threw a short and cold, "Who?" to reply. 

"Our boss." 

*************************

1:58 PM, Jongdae was to arrive at two. Baekhyun had mentioned that the young doctor was really punctual, so Kyungsoo was anticipating seeing him any minute now. Just as much as Kyungsoo was grateful for Jongdae to take some time out of his busy Sunday to have lunch with them, he was worried too, he could just hope for Jongin to not flip out after seeing a stranger. He rememberd how Jongin wouldn't even get off of the car when Kyungsoo took him to Jongdae's clinic two days ago, and hence the lunch, thanks to Baekhyun. 

The doorbell rang, Kyungsoo quickly scanned his wrist watch. Exact 2:00 PM. He internally praised Jongdae and rushed to open the door. 

The man looked even younger than he already was. The smile on his face was like sunshine, it had a power to light up everyone's day. Kyungsoo was instantly filled with positive energy. The confidence written all over Jongdae's face was enough to awake new hopes in Kyungsoo's heart. 

"Hi. I'm Dr. Kim Jongdae. You must be Kyungsoo, right?" 

The bright guy's voice was just as lively. Kyungsoo tried to reply with the same zeal, "Right. Please come in." 

Right after entering the house, the first question that Jongdae asked was, "Where's Jongin? What is he doing?" 

"He's in his room. Probably playing or reading." 

"Probably? Why probably? Why don't you exactly know what he is doing?" 

"Umm...I don't really spend much of my day in his room." 

The expression on Jongdae's face was of a seven year old kid who just came to know that Santa isn't real. But before Kyungsoo could even react to it, he had already opened the door of the blue room. It was called so because every single thing was a different shade of blue, just the way Jongin liked. And there sitting on the chair was the odd one, dressed in baby pink, that soft colour complimenting his bright golden skin making him look like an angel. The special boy was sitting next to his study table with his chin resting on his hands, he was silently staring at the rotating globe. He would spin the blue sphere again with his slender fingers whenever it came to a halt and then go back to observing it again. 

"Can you spot South Korea?" 

Kyungsoo prepared himself to see Jongin jump up and start yelling at Jongdae, who was standing awfully close to him, but his cries never came. Instead Jongin put a hand on the globe to stop it exactly around the right of Asia, and pointed to the small country coloured in orange. 

"Great. Now...can you spot the only country which is also a continent?" 

Jongin slightly turned the globe further towards the right and pointed out the big isolated orange inside the blue, Australia. 

"Oh that's so amazing, Jongin. You're so smart." 

The over exaggerated compliment made Jongin blush. He face palmed to hide his soft smile. 

"Kyungsoo?", Jongdae's sharp voice brought him out of his thoughts when Kyungsoo was staring at Jongin's unusual but way more impressive behaviour. 

"Y-Yeah?" 

"I need to leave at sharp three. The lunch is ready, right?" 

"Uh...actually not yet." Kyungsoo said with an apologetic scrunched face. 

"Then you can go and get done with it until I have a small talk with our little genius." 

Kyungsoo could see that Jongdae was indirectly asking for privacy. Kyungsoo so badly wanted to stay there and witness their small talk, but he was left with no other option than to obey Jongdae. He hesitantly stepped outside and went to the kitchen. His heart was racing, just this single minute of Jongdae and Jongin's interaction was more than enough to make Kyungsoo believe that Jongdae could really help them. He was elated, excited and nervous. He was working expertly on making the best dumplings in the world heedlessly, because his brain and ears were all focussed on the next room's conversation. Just a few seconds later he heard a loud laughter, a melodious and carefree laugh, like that of a child, a laugh that Kyungsoo's ears had been aspiring to hear since so long. Kyungsoo's heart was melting, he just stood there and imagined Jongin's precious face while he was laughing so freely. 

Kyungsoo nearly tripped on his way to Jongin's room after having prepared the food, but right when he was about to knock on the door, Jongdae came out. Kyungsoo tried to take a peek inside the room but was unable to see pretty much anything. Kyungsoo walked him humbly towards the dining hall. 

Jongdae seated himself on the chair and watched as Kyungsoo served mouth-watering dishes on his plate. Kyungsoo on the other hand, was very curious to know what Jongdae had to say about Jongin. He didn't have to wait for too long since Jongdae himself began speaking while having his meal, a bad habit which at least a doctor is not supposed to have. 

"He has a stage three autism. The most severe case." 

Kyungsoo slowly sat on the chair next to Jongdae, "Is...is it too bad?" 

"Not at all. There's a huge scope of improvement." 

Kyungsoo heaved a sigh of relief, "So can he live a normal life? Can he live independently?" 

"I can't confirm that he will be able to live a normal life, by which I'm referring to be able to raise his own family and have all the responsibilities and all." Jongdae took a tiny sip of water in between the big bites of grilled beef, "...but he certainly will be able to live an independent life." 

Kyungsoo was beyond happy. He didn't care much about Jongin being able to take up responsibilities of his wife and kids in the future, all he wanted was for Jongin to take responsibility of himself, and not depend upon Kyungsoo or anyone in general, for even the smallest needs like being fed properly. 

Coincidentally, Jongdae's question matched Kyungsoo's thoughts. "He told me he doesn't have the afternoon meals. Why so?" 

"Umm...since I have to go to job, he's usually alone in the house during that time. So skipping lunch has become a habit for him now." 

For the first time in the conversation, Jongdae dropped the chopsticks and focussed his attention at Kyungsoo. "That ." 

Kyungsoo felt ashamed. He knew that it was a mistake on his part, but there was not much he could do about it. Jongin wouldn't eat if anyone else other than Kyungsoo fed him, let alone eating by himself. 

Jongdae sighed, he went back to get himself filled with the heavy yet healthy food. "Anyways, did you know that he keeps a journal?" 

"What?" 

"Yeah. He told me about it. I know its a bad thing...but you should read it. Since he doesn't express himself a lot, I think it will help you know him better." 

Kyungsoo was shell-shocked, because first of all, he had no idea that Jongin had a journal. And the second thing was how the hell was Jongdse able to get such a personal information out from Jongin, who barely spoke anything at all in the entire day. "I...I can't believe it. How was I never able to find out about it?" 

"You yourself told me that you don't visit his room often. You should spend more time with him Kyungsoo, he may protest initially but you got to understand that its just a part of his condition." 

"I really want to. But my Mom suggested me not to intervene his space." 

Jongdae scoffed, thank god he didn't choke on his food. "Is your Mom a psychiatrist or something?"Jongdae's question was totally meant to be sarcastic, but little did he know. 

"Well... she's a neurologist." 

"Wait...wait a minute. Does that mean that your brother has received treatment before?" 

Kyungsoo wanted to correct it so badly that Jongin was his 'step brother', but answering Jongdae was way more important. "Yes, of course. He has been treated ever since he was diagnosed with autism when he was a kid. He has been receiving best medication possible along with regular therapy sessions." 

The frown on Jongdae's face showed that he was not just confused, but actually pissed off. "Can you show me his medicines and therapy reports?" 

"I don't have the reports, my mother said that they weren't necessary. But yeah, I'll get his medicines." 

Kyungsoo came back with a small bottle of antipsychotics prescribed to Jongin. Jongdae checked the bottle, it looked fine to him until he opened it and took the pills out. He carefully checked a pill and then sighed. Without saying anything he grabbed his own bag and pulled out another bottle of the exact same drug, except that it really had the said drug inside. 

"The pills your brother has been taking...are just multivitamin supplements." He finally revealed as he poured a few yellow pills of the original medicine on his right hand and put it next to the white ones on the other. "...the excess of which, can also be toxic." 

It was nearly impossible for Kyungsoo to believe that he had been decieved by his own mother since years, "This is not possible. Probably...its...its a different company or batch."

Jongdae was running out of his patience, as a doctor he was really angry with such a negligence on Kyungsoo's part, which could turn out to be fatal for the innocent and naive Jongin. He simply popped one of those white pills himself and raised an eyebrow at Kyungsoo, "Yep. Definitely a multivitamin." 

Kyungsoo was suddenly feeling weak at his knees, he was shaken to the core. He always knew that his mother hated Jongin, but to this extent? It was ridiculous for a doctor to play with the life of her patient. And if the medicines were fake, then sure enough Jongin never received any behavioural therapy as well. And maybe...it was all a part of her plan to get Jongin out of Kyungsoo's life, which would certainly have happened not long after if Jongdae had not stepped into their lives. Kyungsoo started crying at the realisation of what could have happened if he had not come across this brutal truth. 

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Hey everyone ! 

I'm really sorry for such a late update. I've just been busy. Also, the other reason may be that I was not satisfied with this chapter's writing. I'm really worried that I might ruin this story just because of my average writing skills. Let me know if they're just fine or I should improve something. Also please comment how you feel about the story so far, or any predictions, maybe? :)

Thanks for being so patient!