I N N E R C I R C L E

PART I I I

C R I M S O N

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9.

“Hyung, why do you keep making that 21 year old joke?”

Taehyun’s sudden question took Seunghoon by surprise. He directed his eyes to the couch where the boy was sitting. With his usual smile, Seunghoon replied:

“A joke is all. Why do you ask?”

The younger one wasn’t one bit convinced by his act. He asked again:

“You know why.”

Seunghoon didn’t bother to put away his smile. “I actually don’t. Is there a reason?”

Taehyun’s eyebrows raised at the older one’s answer. Putting his phone away, Taehyun slightly shook his hair out of his face as he spoke:

“There is one. I prefer not to be the one to ask, but I did. Might I get an honest answer for once?”

“They’re so wrong about you.” Seunghoon continued to smile. “You actually care a lot.”

“Don’t make it about me.” Taehyun scorned. He didn’t like the atmostphere, nor the fact that he actually was the one to stir this conversation. He wasn’t even sure why he started it, but he did. Last night, it was the first time Taehyun ever saw Mino being that ed up, and he was certain it has something to do with Seunghoon. Whoelse should it ever be. He shouldn’t care, and it wasn’t his business; he made peace with the fact that Mino was pulling a rebound on him, and he shamelessly took it. But to tell himself that he would be alright while clearly knowing that it was a wrecked lie was one thing, to see Mino being that messed up was another. He didn’t want to admit it – but that hurt.

It hurt, because any time Mino wasn’t drunk, it was always gonna be about Seunghoon.

* * *

“God ing dammit.”

Taehyun jumped out of his bed and went straight into Mino’s room from where he heard Mino’s loud curse and a violent noise that followed. The first thing he saw was Mino, standing in the middle of the room and pieces of glasses all around him. Taehyun took a quick glance and realized that the noise probably was from Mino throwing his skateboard at the mirror.

“Hyung what the ….?” He almost yelled at Mino but managed to low his voice down. “What the actual are you doing?”

“Go away, kid.” Without turning back, Mino motioned his hand to send Taehyun off. That gesture pissed Taehyun off more than anything Mino ever did. He tried to keep his calm, and asked again, with a much serious tone:

“I’m asking you a question. Answer me.”

“It’s none of your business.” Mino slowly turned to look at Taehyun straight in the face. Taehyun unconsciously stepped back when he saw those eyes. He barely recognized Mino – his eyes were visibly red with bloodshot and his facial expression so distorted Taehyun wondered if he even knew the man. He tried to speak up, more calmly this time:

“Hey, take it easy man. What is going on?”

“Nothing.” Mino pulled his gaze away and started walking toward his bed in his bare foot.

“Hey be caref…” Taehyun didn’t finish his sentence when the older guy stepped his right foot on one of the glass pieces on the floor, but he kept on going as if he didn’t feel anything.

“Dude what the…” Taehyun freaked out and instantly went to get bandages. His mind was blank as he found himself busy going through the medical box in the living room. Luckily Seungyoon already went out with his friend earlier – he couldn’t even fathom the idea of Seungyoon being at home and witnessing Mino in this state. He clenched his teeth – maybe Seungyoon should be at home now, and witnessing this . Somebody gotta stop that dude from burning the whole world. He noticed the laughters inside Seunghoon’s room, and a rage quickly consumed him. He was this close to walk through that door, drag Seunghoon out and ask him to deal with that motherer by himself. But for some reasons, Taehyun just silently brought all the meds and bandages he needed and went into Mino’s room again, only to find him sitting in the corner of his bed, blood everywhere.

For a second, it was almost funny that all Taehyun could think about was the carpet being tainted.

He went straight to Mino and laid out all the tools on his bed. Mino still buried his face in his hands as if he didn’t realize Taehyun was right there trying to touch him up.

“Here, why don’t you go and wash your wound and I’ll take care of it.” Taehyun patiently said. He didn’t want to trigger Mino one more time – even though what he really wanted to do at that moment was to slap the senses back to Mino. But he didn’t – and couldn’t. By now, he could put the pieces together and recognized that there was something deeply unsettling about the older guy. His mood changed so easily and he did things subconsciously so frequently. In other words, he might not be mentally stable. Trying to be as gentle as possible, he softly repeated his words as he reluctantly patted Mino’s right shoulder.

Mino slightly twitched his head and looked at Taehyun confusedly:

“Oh, Hyunie. What are you doing here?” T