Taemin wakes up the next morning to a splitting headache and the light burning his eyes. He pulls the blankets over his head with a groan, attempting to block out all the light that’s burning his retinas and making his head pound even worse.

“Taemin, it’s time to get up.” He hears his mother’s voice, but he doesn’t want to move.

“Taemin, get up.” His mother tells him in an annoyed tone, but Taemin just groans and rolls over.

“We’re already late to see grandma and grandpa. Do you want to keep them waiting any longer? They might not give you your present if you don’t get out of bed.” The last line has Taemin scrambling to get out from under the blankets, but the second he sits up, his head is swimming and his vision blurs.

“Take this, sweetie. They’ll help your head.” She puts two little pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other.

“I feel like I’m dying.” Taemin chokes out after he swallows the pills, and he stares at his mother with a look of utter desperation.

“You’re not dying, you’re just hung over. Now go brush your teeth and your hair and change your clothes. I’ve been trying to wake you up for fifteen minutes, young man, and I will not have you waste another second, hung over or not.” She tells him, urging him out of his bed and into the hallway.

Taemin lets out a desperate groan, but he follows his mother’s orders anyway. Forty five minutes later finds him sitting in his mother’s car with large sunglasses over his closed eyes while they drive to his grandparents’ house. They still have another ten minutes until they’re there, and Taemin whines as his stomach growls.

“I’m hungry,” He complains, but his mother is showing him no sympathy.

“Grandma made breakfast for us, Taemin.” She informs him, and he just pouts in response.

They’re quiet for a moment before she finally sighs as asks something she’s been wanting to know all morning.

“What do you remember from last night, Taemin?” She asks quietly, and Taemin turns to look at her before going back to leaning his head against the seat with his eyes closed.

“I went over to Jongin’s and we drank some, and I think Yunho came and got me, and then I was puking and you made me eat bread.” Taemin whines, turning to glare at her when he tells her the last bit, “I don’t remember how I got to the bathroom, though. One minute, I was sitting in Yunho’s car, and the next thing I know you’re with me in the bathroom.”

She sighs, putting one hand against her forehead as she continues to drive.

“What, did something happen?” Taemin asks, his voice laced with worry.

“You…got into a fight with someone last night, where the gap between Yunho’s car and the bathroom is.” She informs him, and he stares at her with wide eyes.

“You’re joking.” He looks at his arms to see if there are any bruises, and he doesn’t see anything, but his shoulders are sore.

“From what I was told, it was more verbal than physical, but he did push you, and they were afraid you may have hit your head.” She tells him, and he instantly puts a hand on his head to feel if there’s a bump or any soreness.

“It feels fine. Aside from the headache, that is.” He mumbles before turning back to her, “Who did I fight with? What was it about?”

She’s quiet for a moment before she pulls into the driveway of her parents’ house.

“Taemin, sweetie, you had a fight with Heechul.” She tells him slowly, and he stares at her in disbelief.

“No, no I did not.” He denies, shaking his head lightly, “I don’t remember even seeing him after I left for Jongin’s!”

“Sweetheart, you had some very intense things to say to him, from what I’ve been told, and what he said wasn’t much better.” She tells him carefully, putting her hand on his.

“I don’t wanna know.” He tells her quickly, moving to get out of the car.

“Taemin-“ She tries to talk to him, but he just slams the car door and hurries inside.

He sits at the kitchen table with his head in his arms, and his grandfather laughing lightly at his dramatic entrance.

“Not enjoying the after effects of alcohol, are we, Taeminnie?” He questions, patting Taemin’s back while his grandmother starts putting the food on the table.

“Don’t laugh at my misery, papa.” Taemin mutters out, the words muffled from his face in his arms.

“Taemin, sweetie,” His mother sits down next to him, his hair, “You have to know what was said.”

“I don’t care what he thinks about me, okay?” Taemin nearly shouts as he brings his head out from his arms to look at his mother, “I don’t want to know, and I don’t care!”

“Really?” She questions him, her stare hard on her son, “Because the way you were crying and what you were saying to me last night tells me otherwise.”

“Well I don’t even remember it, so it doesn’t matter.” Taemin says harshly, turning his head to stare at the plate of food in front of him.

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that, Lee Taemin.” She scolds him, and he glares at his plate.

He stays quiet for a moment before he mumbles out, “I’m sorry.”

“I can’t hear you when you mumble.” She scolds him, and he turns to glare at her.

“I’m s-o-r-r-y!” Taemin nearly shouts, dragging out the words, “Can you hear me now?”

“Go to your room.” She tells him, pointing in the direction of the bedrooms.

“Mom,” He whines, not thinking she’s serious.

“Go!” She jabs her finger in the same direction, and he gets up with a huff while he slams the fork down onto the table, stomping down the hall and slamming the door to the bedroom that was his from when they used to live here.

While she puts her head in her hands and tells her parents about the fight from the previous night, Taemin falls onto his bed and hugs a pillow to his chest, hiding his face in it and wishing he could disappear. He feels guilty for yelling at his mother, but he’s tired, he feels like he’s been run over by a bus, and he just doesn’t want to hear what he already knows the man thinks of him. He doesn’t want to hear it, because he doesn’t want to admit it.

His door opens a little while later, but he doesn’t look up even when the bed dips next to him. A hand is rubbing his back, but it only makes him bury his face further into the pillow.

“She only wants what’s best for you, Taemin.” The voice of his grandfather rings in his ears, and the teenager takes in a shaky breath.

“How is her telling me that my father hates me the best thing for me?” He questions, the words muffled through the pillow.

“Because you need to know what you said and what was said to you while you were drunk.” He tells him, but Taemin just shakes his head.

“I already know what he thinks of me, I don’t need to hear it from her.” He can feel the tightness in his own chest, and he can tell that he’s going to start crying, so he tries to push it back as best he can.

“Taemin,” The man starts, but his grandson cuts him off.

“Please, papa, I don’t wanna hear it.” The words are strained, and tears are leaking from his closed eyes as his grandfather sits him up and holds him close. He hides his face in the man’s neck while breathes raggedly, his fist clutching his grandfather’s shirt.

“Papa,” His voice cracks, and the man holds onto him tighter, “Papa, make it stop.”

“Make what stop, sweetie?” His grandfather questions, running his hand up and down the boy’s arm.

“Make it stop hurting, papa, please.” Taemin begs, tears running down his cheeks.

“I wish I could, baby. I wish I could.” He tells the boy, and all he can do is hold him close and his hair to try to calm him down; to make him feel better.

They eventually go back out into the kitchen, Taemin apologizing to his mother for yelling at her and being rude. They all spend the day together, to celebrate Taemin’s birthday, and he smiles and thanks his grandparents for his present. When he goes back to the dorm, s act awkwardly around him. They finally just ask him if everything he said last night is true; if Heechul really is his father. He figures that the cat’s already out of the bag, and he doesn’t deny it. He tells them that it’s true, and that he doesn’t want to talk about it. They leave it alone, but all five of them know that they have a schedule tomorrow at the same time as Super Junior, and it’s going to be awkward for everybody.

Taemin tells them he doesn’t remember anything from last night after getting in Yunho’s car, and they don’t try to remind him of what was said. He’s thankful for their silence, and he desperately hopes that Super Junior is the same way tomorrow, because he doesn’t know what he’s going to do if he has to see his father.

He can see Siwon and a few others walking towards him on his way back to the dressing room the next day, and he takes in a deep breath and rolls his eyes as he pushes past them and their questions.

“I don’t remember anything so you can save your breath.” Taemin mutters out, opening the door to SHINee’s dressing room, only to have them file in after him.

“I already said I don’t remember anything! You can leave now!” Taemin tells them, because he doesn’t want to be questioned about his father.

“But you know what happened.” Siwon presses, and Taemin narrows his eyes.

“I do, and I don’t wanna talk about it.” Taemin sneers, going to sit on one of the couches and staring at his phone so he doesn’t have to look at them.

“That’s some pretty serious information you let out.” Leeteuk mentions, going to sit next to the teenager.

“Yeah, well that’s his problem, not mine.” Taemin mumbles.

“Well I’d say you’re definitely both involved.” Donghae tries to joke, but Taemin only glares at the man.

“Well no one asked you, did they?” The boy spits out, and the three look like they were expecting a similar response, “Just leave me alone.”

Taemin leans forward, puts his face in his hands with his elbows resting on his knees. The three older idols look at the boy with sad expressions

They spend quite a while trying to talk to the boy, but Taemin refuses to answer any of their questions. He finally gets fed up with them after almost half an hour of their constant prodding and nagging, and he snaps at them.

“Why are you even here? What are you trying to prove?” He asks them, and their expressions soften at his words.

“We’re not trying to prove anything; we just wanna make sure you’re okay.” Siwon tells him, and Taemin scoffs.

“You looked pretty broken after he yelled at you.” Donghae says, and Taemin narrows his eyes at the man.

“Thanks,” The word is said slowly in an annoyed tone of voice.

“Look, we aren’t happy with him.” Leeteuk starts, but Taemin doesn’t let him finish.

“Why don’t you go bug Mr. Wonderful, then?” He questions, snapping at the three older idols.

“Because he’s not here.” Siwon tells him, and Taemin sits back in confusions.

“Why not?” He asks.

“No idea. We assume it’s because he wants to avoid you.” Leeteuk looks like he wants to elaborate, but Taemin’s mother is rushing into the room, and the teenager groans.

“Mom, what are you doing here?” He whines as his mother grabs his arm and pulls him up off the couch.

“Taemin, I need you to come with me.” She tells him, her voice strained.

“Why, where are we going?” He asks, and he gets worried because he’s never seen his mom like this.

“We’re going to the hospital.” She tells him, taking in a deep breath.

“What, why?” He squeaks in surprise, and she has her hands on his shoulders, rubbing them in a soothing motion.

“Baby, grandpa was in an accident.” She says slowly, “We need to go to the hospital so we can see him.”

“What? What happened, is he okay?” He doesn’t move from his spot, “Mom?”

“Baby,” She tries to smile at him, but it only makes him more nervous, “Baby, grandpa hit his head, and he’s in a coma right now, so we need to go to the hospital so we can be with him.”

“You’re lying.” Taemin chokes out, biting his lip because he refuses to cry in front all these people, “You’re getting back at me for yesterday. I said I was sorry!”

“Taemin, I would not lie to you about something like this.” She scolds him lightly, and he shakes his head.

“Is he going to be okay?” He asks, but she only continues to rub her thumbs into his shoulders.

“Sweetie, we need to go now.” She tells him, but he continues to shake his head.

“Why won’t you tell me if he’s okay?” He chokes out, “Mom!”

The realization that his grandfather is in a coma hits him hard, and he lets out a strangled sob, “Mom, is he gonna die?”

His mother pulls him closer to her, and she runs a thumb over his cheek as she looks at him, “I don’t know, baby; that’s why we need to go to the hospital. I need to talk to grandma, and to the doctors, and find out what’s going on.”

“Mom,” She pulls him into a hug as he starts crying, “Mom, he can’t die.”

She holds onto him for a moment before she leads him out of the room, out of the building to take him to the hospital. He sits at his grandfather’s bedside, still wearing the clothes he performed in, holding the man’s hand as he rests his head on the bed.

“Papa, please wake up.” He begs the man while his mother and grandmother talk to the doctor out in the hall, “Papa, please. I don’t know what I’d do without you, papa.”

He feels numb, and the steady beeping of the heart monitor is the only thing he can hear besides his own voice.

“Papa, people can hear you when they’re in a coma, right?” Taemin asks, “It helps them wake up, right?”

There’s no response, but he wasn’t really expecting one.

“I’ll talk to you every day until you wake up, papa.” Taemin tells the man, one hand holding onto his while he runs the other hand up and down the man’s arm.

“We recorded for a show today, papa.” His voice is barely above a whisper, “I thought we did okay, but I think I could’ve done better. My singing needs to get better, it really does.”

He talks to the man about the recording, about how the three Super Junior members practically interrogated him, and about how Heechul wasn’t there.

“I don’t know why he wasn’t there, but they said it was probably so he wouldn’t see me. I don’t care, though, papa, I really don’t.” Taemin reassures the man, and the silence he receives in return is deafening.

He talks to the man even when his grandmother and mother return to the room, only pausing when one of them starts talking. He stays until the very last second of visiting hours, and he apologizes to his grandfather, saying he has to go, but he’ll be back tomorrow to talk to him some more.

Meanwhile, Heechul watches the show his group recorded for today. He watches SHINee’s performance, his eyes narrowing every time the camera zooms in on Taemin. He watches as SHINee comes on stage at the end with only four members, and when they ask for everybody to pray for the maknae’s grandfather who’s in the hospital.

He doesn’t care about the kid. Doesn’t care if the person the boy is closest to is sick or injured or both, because this kid is the bane of his existence. Taemin is the mistake he made sixteen years ago; the reason Heechul didn’t show up to perform today.

s tell him to apologize to the kid, but he can’t. He can’t bring himself to talk to the boy, let alone apologize for the harsh words he said in a moment of rage.

While Heechul has an internal battle with himself, Taemin visits his grandfather every day after school. He holds the man’s hand, talks to him, tells him about his day. He complains about his homework one day, telling him that they just get assigned too much, and it stresses Taemin out. He does his homework while he visits, sometimes asking his grandfather a question and hoping the man will wake up and answer him. He feels guilty after he complains about his homework to the man, because he knows his grandfather disapproves of him complaining about school, but sometimes he’s really just hoping to hear his grandfather scold him for saying such things.

On day three, he swears he felt his grandfather’s hand twitch in response to something he says, but when he tells the nurse, she says it’s probably just his imagination. He grows angry, and he tells his grandfather that they’re useless once she leaves.

“They don’t take me seriously because I’m a kid,” He tells the man, “If I was fifty, how much ya wanna bet they’d be scanning your head and camping out by your bed until you move again?”

He feels another twitch, and he grins, “Papa, can you hear me?”

There’s nothing in return, but the grin stays on his face, “I love you, papa.”

On the seventh day, while both his mother and grandmother are at work, Taemin sits with his grandfather. He has his legs crossed on the chair, his Algebra II book in his lap as he stares at it and scratches his head.

“I really don’t understand this; like, at all.” Taemin lets out an annoyed breath, "Radicals are the square root thingy, and you can't have a radical in the denominator, because it's not simplified but who really cares? No one, that's who. And this is an imaginary number, but it's really just a negative in a radical, like I don't understand how that's imaginary, like I see it, it's right there. You are not imaginary, I see you. Math’s just not my thing, papa.”

The man’s eyes start twitching, but Taemin doesn’t notice as he stares at his homework, “And graphing; ugh, graphing is just so…annoying.”

“Like your complaining.” Taemin jumps at the raspy words, his book and paper falling off his lap as he gets up to lean over the bed.

“Papa!” Taemin squeaks, hugging his grandfather as best he can, “You’re awake, you’re awake! I knew you’d wake up, papa, I knew you would!”

Taemin can’t help the tears that form in his eyes, because he’s so happy that his grandfather finally woke up.

“Taeminnie,” The man looks like he’s laughing, “The nurse.”

“The nurse, right.” Taemin suddenly straightens up, nodding his head, “Gotta get the nurse.”

He hurries for the door, but turns back quickly before running out, “I’ll be right back, papa! Stay awake!”

His grandfather has to stay another few days for observation, but Taemin goes back to the dorm that night with a smile on his face.