September 15, 2020 - Six months earlier; week of capture (Part II)

It was almost five in the evening and Taemin sat with Jinki at one of the local restaurants. The report he had managed to finish before the professor left for the day. Of course the professor wasn’t necessarily excited to have waited almost an entire day for one student’s work assignment and reminded Taemin that next time he wouldn’t be so lenient. There wasn’t much sense for Taemin to explain that his home life was anything but normal and that his days were often taken up by watching his five year old nephew. 

He sat with Jinki, beer in hand. Taemin never was one to really go out to socially drink with friends, since he never usually had the time. Sohee had texted at some point if he was going to be home for dinner to which he responded that he wouldn’t be and for her to not feel obliged to wait for him. It was just one of those days where he needed a break. 

"Why not hire a babysitter?” Jinki suggested before he took a sip from his cup of tea. In the amount of time that Taemin had gotten to know Jinki, the man never was one to really drink. He respected that of the other male, but it often made Taemin feel a little embarrassed or out of place to be the only one at the table having a drink whereas Jink was not. 

Taemin shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “Aniyo, that would just be another expense for Sohee-noona to worry about. I don’t want to do that to her.” 

Jinki raised a brow at him. “Well, it wouldn’t necessarily mean that you’re getting a babysitter to make more bills. Simply to just help you both out in the long run. Having kids and taking care of them is a full time job within itself.” 

Taemin scoffed with a roll of his eyes at his friend. “Yeah, do you mind letting my brother know?” 

The other male said nothing as he awkwardly looked off to see the diners that were inside. Jinki was probably the only friend out of their group that was given insight to Taemin’s situation. There was some resentment that Taemin had towards Minho, that much was getting quite noticeable. But time and time again, Jinki was always having to make Taemin level headed by reminding him that Minho didn’t just up and leave his duties as a father, that he was actually out serving in the military to better protect not only them but the rest of the country. 

"I'm sorry,” Taemin said suddenly and pushed his hair back anxiously. “It’s just one of those days.” 

Jinki looked back at his friend, giving a warm smile as he nodded his head at him. Sometimes reassurances were best left unsaid. Taemin finished his beer and set it close towards the edge of the table, indicating to their waitress that he’d like another one. Jinki silently noticed but said nothing. 

"I know it sounds silly,” Taemin started up again while staring at the drink coasters. “But on days like this it just feels like Minho abandoned us… well abandoned me. I found myself doing what he had done for me after umma left and when appa didn’t seem to care for us too much.” 

When he looked up at his friend, Jinki was intently listening. There had been bits and pieces of Taemin’s life that he was comfortable sharing but otherwise, he was a closed book. Jinki wasn’t ever one to push people into sharing details of any aspects of their life to him and only shared details of his when he felt appropriate. 

"Maybe you could explain that to him instead of avoiding it.” Jinki replied curtly, raising his brows at Taemin while reaching for his cup of tea again. 

Taemin sat in thought as what Jinki had said struck him. Not necessarily in a bad way but it was an idea to consider. There were a lot of things that Taemin avoided telling his brother, mostly since Minho wasn’t always an easy person to talk to. Often, he only listened to what he wanted to hear and then almost made Taemin feel that he was wrong for thinking or feeling the way he did. 

Taemin would never admit that he was more sensitive, mostly since Minho always threw that trait back at him. As Minho would say when they were young, “being an older brother isn’t easy. Do you know what it’s like being ridiculed and constantly having to prove to myself to appa?” Taemin remembered feeling hurt and even angry. He could remember he responded with, “and being the younger brother isn’t easy when I constantly have to live up to his expectations. Appa doesn’t hold back on me either.” Their conversation didn’t end well that day, as Minho blamed Taemin for being an easy target all the time and needed to learn to stand up for himself. 

In the end, Taemin sighed and glanced over to the waitress who had brought him another beer and took his empty bottle. He looked up at Jinki who tilted his head at him.

"I could but I don’t think it’ll matter. He’ll probably take it the wrong way if I do. Or he’ll say that it’s not a big deal to learn some responsibility and stop being lazy.” Taemin finally responded and shrugged his shoulders. He reached for the bottle of beer and took a long drink. 

Jinki seemed dissatisfied with his friend’s answer but nonetheless, still felt bad for him. “Well, even if he does say all that, at least he’ll know how you feel.” 

Taemin cringed at the idea. He hated expressing his feelings to his brother, or to anyone really. Thoughts were one thing but what he felt inside was another. 

*   *   *

It would be ten in the night by the time Jinki and Taemin decided to finally leave. To say that Taemin wasn’t a little buzzed from the amount of beers he drank would be an understatement, so Jinki offered to give him a ride home. Taemin made himself comfortable in Jinki’s passenger side and closed his eyes as he drove. It was quiet between them but Jinki didn’t seem to mind at all. In the end, he knew that Taemin’s escape was to drink everything off and talk for hours on end. Jinki figured if that’s all his friend needed to do was to vent, then he’d be more than happy to be that person to let it out on. 

Once they reached the house, Taemin groaned at the thought of having to get up. He already could feel the headache that was going to start throbbing in the morning. 

"You can’t keep doing this to yourself, you know.” Jinki said after a while. 

Taemin furrowed his brows as he rolled his head in Jinki’s direction, one eye only having the strength to be able to look straight. It took a moment for Taemin to realize what he had said and when he did, he closed his eyes and leaned back in the seat. 

Jinki pressed the unlock button on the door of his car. The sound made Taemin’s eyes open but he didn’t move. 

"Well, I’ll see you later in class, I guess.” Jinki said nonchalantly.

Taemin nodded silently and pushed the door open. He heaved himself out of Jinki’s car, stumbling a bit before he closed it behind him. With the window rolled down half way, Taemin raised his hand to wave Jinki off before saying thanks. 

Anyone else would have driven off the moment they saw Taemin stumble his way back to the house but Jinki decided to wait. As much as he would want to use this time to study until his eyes fell off, he was a good friend first. Taemin reached the door of the house and stood outside for a while as he rang the doorbell a bunch of times. He had his keys with him but there was no sense to fuss with them when he could barely manage standing up. 

Finally, Jinki saw the front door open and knew that was his signal to leave. He slowly peeled off the street and headed back home, but he looked back real quick to see Sohee having to deal with a drunken mess called Taemin.

To say that Sohee was more or less pissed off would have been accurate. Taemin was practically hanging on her as they both stumbled into the house. She managed to shut the door behind him while helping to guide him to the couch. 

"Where have you been?” She snapped in a whisper. “I’ve been texting you all night trying to figure out what happened to you!” 

Taemin could barely respond to her and it was practically no use when she got him to the couch. He instantly fell back and through slitted eyes, could barely make out how upset she was. 

"Taemin, if you start this up again I will tell Minho.” She said sternly and it was enough to get a reaction out of him. Taemin instantly sat upright, eyes wide. 

"Aniyo, please, noona, don’t tell hyung about this! I’m sorry.” He pleaded. Sohee didn’t seem to be all that accepting of his apology. 

"I don’t appreciate you coming home late like this and waking Haneul and I up. You know better, Taemin.” Sohee said with her arms crossed over her chest. 

If you could find the definition of a sad puppy, that would’ve been Taemin’s demeanor. He needn’t be reminded about his first year at university. It was all a year wasted, full of parties, coming home even later than tonight, and not to mention Taemin failed his classes for goofing off. The reckless behavior resulted in a scolding lecture from Minho. 

As if he were in tears (and in his drunken state, it wouldn’t have been surprising) Taemin spoke again, “I’m sorry, noona, I’m sorry. Just please don’t tell hyung, please! I won’t do this again.” 

Sohee was too angry and too tired to deal with this. Instead she reassured him that she wouldn’t. After a million thank yous, she told him to go to sleep. Before she finally left to go back to sleep, Taemin found her hand and gently grabbed it, surprising her as she was pulled back. 

"I'm really sorry, noona. But thank you for everything.” 

Sohee only whispered a goodnight to Taemin before heading upstairs. Eventually, Taemin did fall asleep and when he did, his phone fell from his pocket and landed on the floor. The message that Minho had sent earlier had been left unread.

A/N: I didn't realize that maybe combining both this chapter and the last wouldn't have been so long. Whoops! I might fix it later on. I'm sorry if things may also seem confusing or not flowing too well... I'm going to try really hard so that it won't be too complicated to follow TT 

Hope you guys can still enjoy the story! Thank you all for putting your support into this story too! (I'm already brewing some other fic ideas to bring to the table, so we'll see!) 

-M