Title: Quasimodo

Pairing: crackship!TaeRi, onesided!JiMin, past!JongRi, Gyuri/OC

Rating: G

WC: 11,205

Summary: Gyuri is marrying someone she doesn’t love. Jiyoung is annoyed because Taemin won’t stop.

A/N: This is a oneshot posted into two chapters because of the length. So if you missed the first part, kindly clicked on the previous chapter.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go.”

Taemin sighed loudly and slumped down on the carpeted floor. He rolled on his side, after a minute or two, he rolled on his back. Then he sighed again and rolled on his left side. Just as the clock starts to work, he re his back and heaved a rather loud sigh. He fished his phone out and raised them in the air, when the lights turned off from his gadget he rolled off to his right side yet again. With his sanity on the verge of breaking down, he re his back and groaned.

“Will you stop doing that?” Jiyoung slumped her pen down and glared at the boy, “I’m trying to finish my essay here.”

“Why is your sister taking so long?” He dramatically prolonged the last word and stared at the girl with those big black orbs of him.

She facepalmed, “How long does a date, takes for you?”

He pulled himself up and propped his elbows at the coffee table, “But she should be home now, it’s already past nine.”

Jiyoung has her eyes tightly closed along with her fists and her nostrils larger than before when she calmly (try) responded back, “You should be saying that to yourself.”

“There’s a big difference in that.”

She opens her eye and one eyebrow, Taemin just stares at her. “I am a man, you’re sister is clearly not. I can handle myself if anything goes wrong.”

Jiyoung gave up, she lies on the carpeted floor and stares at the ceiling, with a small uncertainty in her voice she speaks out wishing her words would knock some sense in Taemin’s head and at the same time, hoping that Taemin is as strong-headed as she is. “You’re clearly missing the point. She’s on a date with her boyfriend Taemin”

“And so?” She smiles inwardly and glances at the boy’s expression, the evidence of annoyance is present. “Not every man can defend a girl”

Jiyoung’s smile stretches and this time, she didn’t try to hide it from him, “You’re one to talk, just look at yourself.”

Taemin puts a fist in his left chest and pretends to be in shock as he clutches the fabric of his clothes, “Despite the lack of meat in my body, I am very much capable of handling situations that needs strength, missy.”

Jiyoung laughs, unexpectedly, and Taemin sees the crinckle in between her nose bridge for the first time. When she stops, he lies back adjacent to her with their toes touching underneath the table and asks, “Jiyoung, do you think we’re at the right age to venture in relationships?”

She was surprised but not for long, because somehow, Jiyoung may have already sensed it within Taemin. And all of a sudden, she thinks as she looks at him that maybe Taemin is already advancing in his maturity. “Is there a right age for that?”

“Good question,” He turns his head to the left and looks at her, “Now?”

“I don’t know Taemin,” she returns her gaze back to the ceiling. “I’m not an expert in that field.”

“Oh...” his voice was small and it lingered in the air, reminding Jiyoung how soft Taemin’s eyes were just then. “Then, do you ever feel lonely whenever your sister goes out on a date?”

“Are you asking me if I’m jealous?” She looks at him skeptically and thinks no, because the relationship isn’t a relationship in the first place. “Do you feel lonely now?”

And again Jiyoung was not at all shocked when he nodded with so much longing pouring in his eyes. She sits back up and resumes her work, her toes moving inches away from Taemin’s.

When Gyuri reaches home, it was already a quarter before eleven and Taemin is fast asleep in his own bed.

“Taemin I’m really sorry. I didn’t know you were planning on waiting for me, you s –”

“Its okay noona,” he cuts her off and smiles at no one in particular. “Besides, I love annoying Jiyoung right? So there’s no need for an apology, really.”

“But still, it feels like I need to. You were home late because of me, your parents must have been worried about you.”

He bites back the giddiness at his lips, loving the worried voice of the person behind it, “My parents are cool, and again noona it’s okay. You were on a date with your boyfriend.” The last word left a bitter taste in his tongue.

There’s a pause in the other end of the line and Taemin wonders if he had said something that offended her before she says with demand, “Let me make it up to you. Ask me anything”

There’s a wicked smile in his lips when Taemin thinks of saying ‘Ditch your boyfriend the next time you have a date with him’ but instead, he asks for a free dinner later that day in their house right after he hears a voice calling Gyuri at the background.

He sighs, “You can stop pretending to be asleep now Jiyoung, we’ve already hanged up.”

Said girl slowly opens her eyes but remains in her position, “It’s your fault you always sound like a crazy fanboy when you talk to her.”

“That bad?” She rises from her crouched position and he leans back in his chair, both staring at the horizon, and both having troubled expressions.

“Do you still think now is the right time to venture in a relationship?”

He chuckles, “I think I really sounded like a crazy fanboy but, even married couples breaks the contract, what more if they’re only dating?”

“I wish you luck then” and Jiyoung really means it even if she didn’t look back at Taemin when he smiled appreciatively.

“Some dinner you prepared there,” Jiyoung finally said as they watch Taemin’s retreating figure.

Gyuri turned back around, leaning against the wall when the younger closed the door. “He waited for hours, Jing.”

The latter sighs, “Unnie, he’s my age,” and stares at her but Gyuri refused the contact.

“You told him that I have a boyfriend,” she mutters lowly, fingers playing at the hem of her knitted sweater.

“He never had a girlfriend but now he’s thinking to have one.”

 “He said he likes annoying you.”

“Does he saying that even marriage breaks what more if they’re only dating, sounds crazy for you?” Jiyoung saw how Gyuri’s eyes widen for a second before she sighs and pushes herself out of the wall.

“What are you trying to tell me Jiyoung-ah?”

The latter’s gaze turns soft, Gyuri’s voice sounded affectionate, “I don’t know unnie, but I hope you know what you’re doing. You’re older than us after all.”

“Is there something wrong?”

“Huh?”

“You look troubled, something bothering you?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m just stressed.”

It wasn’t that Gyuri is trying to avoid Taemin because of what Jiyoung had said. No, the reason of her absence that took two weeks for them to meet again was of her work. And the funny part is that, even if Gyuri assured Taemin that everything is fine two days after the boy went home without seeing her shadow and calling her in the middle of the night because he’s bothered, they both knew nothing is fine as they stood frozen facing each other in the door way.

“I uh,” she stopped, searching for the right words that seems to be swallowed by the irises of the one standing a couple of inches away from her.

“Noona,” Taemin tried to hide the smile but the moment he opened his lips, they gave him away. “It’s been a while,” he started enthusiastically like the first time they met at the door but stopped when a feeling of déjà vu flowed within the air, “Are you going out?”

“Yeah, the kitchen needs to be stocked,” she blinks twice as Taemin beams.

“Can I come with you?” For a second Gyuri thinks she heard Jiyoung’s voice as the air brushed her ears, but then Taemin is in front of her after two weeks and Gyuri feels like she had missed the boy somehow. So she nods, locks the door and walks by his side, only now noticing how awkward their height is without her heels.

“So –”

“Ho –”

They both stopped walking but it was Gyuri who broke the silence that came along when their eyes met gazes, “You first.”

Taemin rubbed his nape and slowly made small steps, resuming their first walk “How’s your work?”

“It’s much lighter now after the project got finalized,” Gyuri followed him but made sure that the distance between them increased a few inches apart.

But Taemin doesn’t notice this; he was too absorbed in being awkward and having tongue-tied to continue the conversation. The confidence in him also had suddenly gone missing and it was like their meeting once again, where Gyuri was the one who breaks the ice.

“So, how are you?”

Good was the only word he managed to say, when in truth he wanted to tell a story of his days without her, before they fall into the world of silence. And they remained like that, smiling at the owner of the small grocery store just at the corner six blocks from Gyuri’s house when they arrived, Taemin following behind as Gyuri scanned the aisles and holds the basket for her.

However, when the weight of the basket seems to be matching the one inside his chest, the words just came out of him so naturally that Gyuri almost dropped the can of sliced peaches, “I miss you noona.”

Heat rushed through his ears and Taemin thinks the world just stopped when he heard an angelic voice shyly saying, I miss you too.

The appearance of Taemin in their lives went back to its normal visitation – not that he stopped, Gyuri just wasn’t there when he comes in smiling – and Jiyoung keeps shut every time. What happened between the siblings that night after didn’t affect anything at all, Jiyoung believes in her sister and so she stays quiet whenever she sees something out of the ordinary. And Gyuri proves her right that she’s older than them when she, herself, in her own way, reminds Taemin of the situation not so obviously to hurt him every now and then.

Still, Jiyoung wouldn’t lie when everytime Gyuri does that, she sees something in her sister’s eye flick and change. It makes her stomach flip and nothing in Taemin’s gleeful smiles helps to flip it back.

“How long are they?” Taemin looks at her from his phone, “Your sister and her boyfriend, I mean.”

Times like this makes Jiyoung want to have a time machine to re-do everything, starting from meeting Taemin last year and not having to do anything to prevent the friendship he offered her, “Three”

“Wow,” he tucks his phone back to his pocket and supports his chin in his elbow propped at the arm chair. “How many guys before him?”

Jiyoung looks from the book she’s reading, “Why are you asking me this?”

“Because I’m bored,” he pouts but the girl across from him only an eyebrow. “I’d feel awkward asking her this questions. Can’t you feel how comfortable I am to you, Jiyoung-ah?” he adds an extra cute sound as he says her name.

“That’s disgusting,” she went back to her book and sighs in relief to have the said material because no matter how much she sounded strong with words, Jiyoung is a girl. And her name rolling off of Taemin’s lips like that sounded too good for her ears. “Second.”

She heard some shuffling not far from her but choose to ignore it, afraid that Taemin might caught her red-handed. But no one told Jiyoung that she should be aware of those noises, because just as she was about to start reading the next sentence, the book was snatched from her and she was left staring into those brown eyes, close. Too close for comfort for someone like her.

“Are you serious?” She blinked, Taemin’s cologne reaching her nostrils. “Second and three years? How long was the first one?”

She shifted uncomfortably and exhaled the air she’s unawarely holding as Taemin sat on the carpeted floor in thought. Oblivious of what had happened. “Yes, second boyfriend and three years already. Don’t ask me about the first one, I don’t know.”

Jiyoung knows, completely knows it. The virus of happiness was in the air for one year and four months, but Taemin doesn’t need to know that. She had never told a soul about what she knows in her sister’s life, Taemin can’t be an exemption.

“That sounds too serious,” he glances at the girl sitting on a higher level from him. “But in a good way.”

She wants to object, the words are already at the tip rather, she nods eyes falling on the book at her lap.

“Do you think I can do that?” Her eyes shift a little, landing in the pair owned by Taemin. “Years of relationship?”

“Don’t ask me this questions Taemin, you know I’m not capable of knowing the answers.”

“But we’re friends, wasn’t that enough for you to know the answer?” Something falls, somewhere not far from where she sits and Jiyoung shakes her head.

“Are you free this Thursday?”

“Sorry, but I have already planned something. Maybe some other time.”

When Taemin had the chance to ask Gyuri out for a brunch, it came out of the blue. Jiyoung was still fast asleep when the words slipped from their location and Gyuri was dressed to take his breath away. His lips were flat in a thin line but his cheeks reached his eyes when she took the offer.

Not far from the bus station where Gyuri sits next to an old lady, Taemin ponders if the erratic noise he hears comes from his chest.

She comforts him when his mind started working again; realizing that what he had in his pocket can only feed them from the cheap diner he frequents. “Its fine Taemin, after all you’re still a student.” Gyuri says, smiling softly as they wait for their ordered food.

He doesn’t look at her but he nods, “Next time I’ll bring you to somewhere fancier.”

Gyuri’s smile leaves her lips, her knees feeling weak but she didn’t say anything. Jiyoung will wake up anytime soon and she’ll be here eating with Taemin by the time the younger reads the post-it she left by the kitchen counter. “Maybe next time I’ll treat you out, with Jiyoung.”

Taemin looks at her but their food comes right at that moment and Gyuri can only manage a small smile before looking anywhere but the boy in front of her.

The time they spend alone together becomes longer compared to the earlier meetings. Jiyoung turned busy with her project and Taemin goes home straight, home where Gyuri would be sitting in the couch watching the early evening news as she waits for that knock in their door. She would smile at him and he would greet him normally. However, today is different. “Noona, come with me,” Taemin said as soon as she opens the door.

She frowns, her hand leaving the knob, “Why?”

“I’m craving for some street food, so let’s have some,” Gyuri freezes in her spot. Her eyes widening in the idea and the next thing she knew, slender fingers were tightly encircled around her wrist.

Taemin

She stared at the boy humming happily ahead of her. The way his hair bounces each step, the touch of his fingers around her skin, he was still wearing his school bag and Gyuri was wearing house clothes. “You could’ve at least let me change clothes, you know,” she mutters lowly, staring at their hands.

He glances behind and looks at her, “Oh, I didn’t – I’m sorry noona.” Then he stops, retreating back his hand. “We don’t have to go if you don’t want.”

Gyuri shakes her head, eyes never leaving the spot Taemin’s fingers had occupied. “We’ll eat every food that you like.”

“Are you su– ”

She inhales and takes the first step, Jiyoung’s face fading from her memory, and fits her fingers across the gap between Taemin’s own then smiles, looking up to meet his shocked eyes. “Let’s go.”

He follows the girl by his side, squeezing the hand that fits perfectly with his.

“I called you last night.”

“I’m sorry, I was busy.”

“I guess its okay.”

Jiyoung wasn’t at all pleased when Taemin approached her at lunch with a smile that shone brighter than the sun. It hurt her eyes. More importantly, it irritated her knowing it could only mean one thing. “What do you want Lee Taemin?” She slightly flinched when he touched her hair.

“Is it wrong to miss my dear friend?” His voice was teasing.

“I’m not going to tell you the questions in Mr. Han’s quiz if that’s what you want.”

He sat in front of her and wagged his index finger right before her eyes with a smile, “You’re completely underestimating my abilities in Philosophy of Man, Jiyoung-ah”

She rolled her eyes and says, “Then what could be the reason for your creepy smile, huh?”

When Taemin grabbed Jiyoung’s hand to intertwine them with his, Jiyoung was lost for words to explain the red in her cheeks. “Last night,” he stares at their hands and her eyes soften as she observes him with interest, “Noona held my hand like this.”

It was past twelve and students had started pouring down, fighting against each other in the line of food. There’s a loud voice in the background and laughter erupts right after it. In the table next to them, a group of friends were talking about calculus and Jiyoung remembers her assignment she needs to pass before the day ends. But, it wasn’t enough to distract her from what Taemin had said.

She confronts her, in the kitchen Gyuri was making them dinner, at the living room Taemin was laughing out loud. “Aren’t you going to tell me what happened last night, unnie?” Gyuri stops, Jiyoung walks beside her, “He told me you held his hand, what happened? I thought I already said it out?”

She opens the lid letting out the steam, Taemin’s laughter still ringing in the house. “I was just testing it out”

“It doesn’t sound like that to me. I know you’re completely aware of what you do.”

She switches off the stove and sighs, the day she knew would come is now here, “Jiyoung, I just... you’re right. I sh–”

The younger cuts her off, “Don’t even answer that.” The disappointment in her voice was a first. “You said it yourself, he’s the first friend of mine that you’ve met. Don’t give him false hope if you’re not planning to break your commitment.”

She leaves her astounded in her place; the dinner Gyuri had prepared wasn’t appealing anymore. Still, Jiyoung calls out for Taemin on her way to her room.

He only noticed the distance between the two when Gyuri had shyly asked him about Jiyoung. Confused, he questioned her why and when Gyuri just smiled in return, Taemin suddenly realized how he never hears Jiyoung’s voice whenever her sister was around. And with the two them all alone in the house, he bravely asked, “Did you have a fight with your sister?”

Taken aback, she glances at him, “What are you talking about?”

He looks straight at her and abandon’s the movie, “Come on Jiyoung, why she would ask me about you when you’re both living in the same roof? What happened?”

Her hard eyes maneuvers back to the movie, “Nothing that concerns you.”

He sighs, runs a hand in his tousled hair, “I know, but I’m your friend Jiyoung. You can tell me anything.”

“That’t the problem. I can tell you anything but not everything.” Annoyed, her dagger like eyes returns to him, “If you’re going to ruin my mood, better go home Taemin.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing is wrong with me.”

“Something is wrong with you,” he crosses his arms and adds, “You’re not usually like this.”

She scoffs, “Well perhaps you don’t know me too well Taemin.”

“I know you Jiyoung, better than what you think.” His voice was challenging, Jiyoung one eyebrow up and folds her arms across her chest. “What do you know about me, huh?”

“What I know about you is not important.”

“See, you don’t know me at all. So why don’t you go home now because seriously you’re starting to get on my nerves.”

“And you’re seriously being stubborn, why can’t you at least let someone help you?”

“I’m perfectly fine. I don’t need any help.”

“You obviously do.”

Patience reaching its limit, Jiyoung unclasps her hands, “Why can’t you just stop?!” Taemin stares at her and she continues, “Are you numb? In which part of my sister dating another boy, you don’t understand? Taemin, she has a boyfriend, wasn’t that enough to stop all the nonsense?”

It was silent, both not holding back their gaze. Then he unfolds his arms, his eyes softening in an instant. “Was that the reason?” Jiyoung didn’t say anything and Taemin didn’t need any, “Can’t I like someone like this? Can’t I have my happiness even if it’s messed up?”

“You know what’s going to happen to you if you don’t stop,” she challenges, eyes narrowing.

Taemin smiles, painfully beautiful, “Then why didn’t you stop?” And Jiyoung’s eyes turned wide. “You think I didn’t notice? I told you Jiyoung, I know you better than what you think. But still, you never stop no matter what I do.” He leans back, breaking the eye contact, muttering softly, “I can’t either.”

“We can go home if you want.”

“I’m sorry.”

It was awkward for the next few days between the two. But when Taemin had finally built up the courage, he waited for Jiyoung by her locker and smiled shyly as she looks anywhere but him. “Hey,” she stops just a few feet away from him. “Can you at least look me in the eye?” She does and when she did, Jiyoung saw how beautiful Taemin is and how she ended up in the unrequited line. Just like him.

“Im sorry if I offended you, sorry for pointing it out for you, and I’m sorry for not doing anything about it.” They are the same. “But just like you, I can’t stop. If I get hurt later, then so be it. I live in the present, and right now it’s the only thing I can do. Jiyoung I hope you understand, I like you, I really do. But it can’t get pass the barrier of friendship. I’m really sorry.”

Rejection, Jiyoung thinks must be more painful than break-ups. “I understand if we can’t go back to where we are before but I just want to tell you that I miss you. You’re my friend and nothing will change.”

She breathes and hears the bustle of the crowd outside the university, the real world. It is hard, but she tries, “I didn’t even have the chance to confess and if not for you, I won’t even notice it.” He touches his nape, the corners of her lips tugs upward and something inside her crumbles to the ground. “You’re really good looking Taemin.” Then she reaches her hand for him, “Let’s start again, friends?”

She sees Gyuri by the staircase, duffle bag in hand. “I’m sorry,” she mutters but Gyuri catches it and stops. “No,” she looks up, her older sister smiling down at her. “You’re right, I shouldn’t have done that. I was wrong and I really should not have done that. But Jing, you know what happened and now, I think I’m anticipating his every visit. You know what that means?”

Jiyoung nods, “I know.”

No one said anything about the confession and rejection that happened between Jiyoung and Taemin to Gyuri. Some things are better left unsaid. Taemin sits on the couch close to her and they watch in silence. Jiyoung sees this but says nothing. At the middle of the movie, she bids them good night.

Something falls on Taemin’s shoulder and he didn’t need to turn to know that the soft patch just above his jaw was Gyuri’s brown locks. “You’re comfortable”

“Are you tired?” He asks hesitantly.

“Yeah,” she grabs Taemin’s hand and turns it upside down, drawing shapes in his palm. “A little.”

Taemin thinks Jiyoung isn’t sleepy at all, but Gyuri is warm and he’s comfortable. “You can take a nap noona, I’ll wake you up once the movie finishes.”

“Gyuri”

“Huh?” He moves his head slightly, trying not to look down at her.

“Call me Gyuri,” she demands. Then she cutely adds, “Please?”

Gyuri his minds shouts, he closes his eyes, holding back the butterflies that were rumbling inside his stomach. “Gyuri,” it tastes beautiful in his lips, “You can sleep the rest of it. I’ll wake you up.”

“No, I’ll watch it with you.” When Taemin tries to take a glance at her, Gyuri is looking back at him with a shade of pink in her skin. “Let’s stay like this.” He nods, smiling foolishly as he feel his heart do numbers of flips he, himself, can not do.

“Is it really okay with you?”

“Yeah”

“I’ll pick you up then”

“My brother,” she looks down at him in her lap and threads her fingers in his hair, “He went to meet his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend.” She hums, “He asked for his permission. He told me he wants to marry her.”

“Wasn’t that nice?”

He looks up, “He also told me that she’s still in love with her ex.”

“Oh...” her hands stops and Taemin rises from position, sitting next to her side. “Why would he want to marry her then?”

“I don’t know. But he told me that he loves her already and even if she refuses too, she can’t.” Taemin takes her hand and laces them with his. “They were bound to get married.”

Gyuri stays silent, wishing Jiyoung would come out from nowhere and blurt things that would distract her. But Jiyoung wasn’t at home and Taemin’s hand, even if a good distraction itself, wasn’t helping the situation. “I feel bad for the girl,” she gulps.

“Taemin,” and he looks at her, smile so bright, Gyuri stares at their hands instead. “You’re aware that I’m c-committed, right?” He feels him nod, “Don’t you think it’s enough, where we are?”

He visibly stiffens and Gyuri wishes everything is just a bad dream. “Oh...” he retreats back his hand, she misses them already. “I’m sorry noona. I didn’t mean to. You were so kind to me, I got carried away.”

“Hey,” his eyes took longer to reach her. “It’s okay. I like your company.” I like you, Gyuri means to say.

“Can I...” He looks away, “Can I still visit you?” After all, Taemin doesn’t know how to stop.

Jiyoung watched him as he walked the corridor, heavy clouds above his head despite his smiles. “Taemin-ah, are you okay?” she asks when the coast was clear.

“Yeah,” he turns to look at her, “I’m just thinking”

“About what?” She prods, fixing her bag.

“On how to forget someone?” Jiyoung stops on her tracks and Taemin smiles, one that doesn’t reach his eye. “You’re sister thought that it is enough.” He sighs, “But I think it’s not enough.”

They walk back in silence, Taemin leading the way, Jiyoung thinking of anything to console the former but a part of her wonders what if he didn’t see before her.

When Taemin stops at the gates and a silver car stops right in front of him, Jiyoung calls for his attention. “I don’t know what she said but know this, you’re the first guy she didn’t left behind at the first meeting.” And he was gone with nothing aside from a wave of hand.

“Did you tell him the real reason why?” She asks, watching Gyuri put the final touches of make-up. She shakes her head, placed the lipstick at the table and stares back at the younger through the mirror. “I don’t know how to.”

“He hasn’t showed up for a week,” Jiyoung leans by her door. “I rarely see him in school. Does he still contact you?” When Gyuri looks away, the younger has too many reasons to get angry. Rather, she exhales and stands straight. “He said he’s fine liking someone from the distance. But I still think he doesn’t deserve this, unnie. Not at all.”

Guilty masked the latter’s face, her hands folds into fists, and Jiyoung thinks she see saw her eyes tremble for a second. “I don’t deserve this either,” she hears her mutter and for the first time, Jiyoung wants to crawl back into her bed covers and pretend to sleep. Because now, Gyuri can speak

Falling in love wasn’t a choice, in whom you falls to is never an option either. The four letter word that people oftenly describes as a heavenly feeling, is a sneaky traitor.

When a silver car stops right in front of their house, a man dressed with a beautiful smile, Gyuri wearing their late mother’s clothes, and she’s wearing her sister’s dress, Jiyoung wants to puke at the sight.

“Ladies,” his voice is manly, suave even. Jiyoung couldn’t see any flaw within him and she hates it. She hates the fact that they will be family, soon enough.

He offers his hand to Jiyoung and she has the mind to turn it down, but she didn’t. For a brief second, she sees Taemin crying in the same spot Jonghyun did and she was there comforting him with words she know wouldn’t matter. She shakes them back. Because Gyuri is smiling, even if small, Gyuri is smiling.

Helplessly

Falling in love wasn’t a choice, in whom you falls to is never an option either. The four letter word that people oftenly describes as a heavenly feeling, is a sneaky traitor. No one can predict. No matter how much one try to follow advices from what they call, experts in love, or how many saints they try to pray upon, still, like what the song says, love moves in mysterious ways.

But Gyuri has a choice. When she sat in the dinner table with her parents, she could easily object. When she met with Jonghyun for break-up, running away would’ve been better. But she never did anything to stand for her own. Jiyoung’s constant demand of giving it up rings at the background and she wishes she had followed her from the start.

Taemin stares at them in shock, hands falling miserably at his side. His brother introduces them and something in his head connects. He musters a smile, but it was hard, only the end of his lips had managed to move. When she walks past him, he subtly reaches for her hand. She stiffens, but his older brother doesn’t notice anything.

This is hard, he hears her voice.

Gyuri is beautiful, even in that state.

He stays by the door, watching as his older brother takes her hand. The one that fitted so perfectly with his. He sees her smile, but not the one he oftenly sees. He hears her voice, but it wasn’t as angelic as that time in the grocery store. He stares at her and she glances back, he vaguely wonders what happened with her first boyfriend. His heart aches.

She really likes you, I know it. Jiyoung is telling him with sympathy across her face and he knows when she is lying. But Taemin couldn’t find it in him to acknowledge the thought. Not when Gyuri is holding back his brother’s hand.

Love is tragedy