2. You Make Me Go Insane

 

Do Kyungsoo sat on the porch of their house, fiddling with his phone as he patiently waited for his mom and stepdad to come home after they fetch Kim Jongin—now Do—his stepbrother.

 

It was a strange thing. Ten years ago, his family was the most liked in the entire neighborhood. His dad was a doctor at the renowned Seoul National Hospital, while his mother worked as a college professor. They were living a prosperous life. On summers, they would go on picnics and fish at ponds; on holidays, his parents would gift him things he never actually asked for but wished to have. It was the type of family the then-popular Kim Junmyeon was jealous before he even disappeared.

 

But now, things would change.

 

He don't even know what he was annoyed of: The fact that his mother's attention would mostly go to his stepbrother, or because he was not comfortable with the idea of having a new dad and a brother.

 

If only you didn't cheat. You should've been careful. I blame you for making me feel this way, Kyungsoo thought bitterly, pounding his hand on the ground.

 

He later heard the familiar honk of his mom's two-year old Subaru. They were home. Time for a new family, and a new kind of teenage life.

 

If Junmyeon was here, he'd probably laugh at him. “Soo, it's better to have biological parents. Can you just imagine if you mom sleeps again with another guy?" Although Junmyeon was the definition of perfect, he realized he was not that perfect at all, most specifically, his family life. They were always arguing about the smallest things. One day when Kyugsoo and his old friends went to their house, Junmyeon told them his dad was drinking again and came how late. At some times, it would end up to a physical fight, with his mother being beat up.

 

Mrs. Do stepped out of the silver car first. She was carrying a Louis Vuitton shoulder bag with her. It was probably from his new father. Of course, his real dad was practical. He preferred being not too materialistic and instead focused on the feelings of people.

 

Kyungsoo stood up from where he was. “Welcome back," he said, faking a smile.

 

“You don't look happy." His mother opened the door and went inside just as Kyungsoo was about to speak.

 

He decided to help his step dad and stepbrother who were busy packing out their bags and stuff. “Can I help?"

 

The two men stopped and looked up at him. His stepbrother, Jongin, was surprisingly tan and taller than him by a few inches, and he had thick lips and expressive eyes. His stepdad was tall, too, tan but had the face of a teenager. Shrugging off the idea of his mom marrying a younger guy, he simply put on a pleasant smile.

 

His stepdad nodded. “Sure."

 

When he tried to lift up one of the bags, he groaned and dropped it quickly. He smacked his mouth, nervously checking if anything broke. Then a hand took hold of his wrist and Kyungsoo stopped.

 

“Relax, it's just my clothes," Jongin said with a sheepish grin on his face.

 

Years ago, when he was still with Junmyeon, all the girls and boys were attached to each of them, always stalking them at any given opportunity. The best was when they go at parties and they were the rendsetters. Once they donned stylish steam punk clothes at Kim Myungsoo's sixteenth birthday. Everyone watched them take the center stage, and seconds later, all eyes were fixed on them.

 

The feeling was great, but Kyungsoo knew better. He talked to a guy when he went to order vodka at the bar. It was just a five minute chat before they ran to a bathroom and had .

 

Jongin and his father brought their things in. His mom would definitely ask him why he didn't help them since she was a serial worrier. Like, the limit of her paranoia was too small. So he picked up a small duffel bag of who-knows-who and placed them at his room upstairs. Kyungsoo was informed that Jongin would be sleeping with him. He wasn't used to have someone in the bed beside him, but it was too hard to convince his mom not to have his stepbrother together in one room. As per everybody's experience, mothers always won.

 

“So, what do you guys want for dinner?" Mrs. Do asked from the kitchen, already preparing the vegetables and meat.

 

“I'm good for whatever," Kyungsoo replied. Besides, anything that his mom cooked tasted perfect.

 

 

 

“I think Kyungsoo haven't introduced his self formally yet."

 

Kyungsoo poked another piece of meat and popped it into his mouth and stared across the table at his mother, who pushed her hair back. “As you two must know by now, my name is Kyungsoo. Age, sixteen. Studying at Seoul National High School. Planning to take up Engineering in college. That's all."

 

“I'm Jonghyun, and he's Jongin. Jongin's currently in tenth grade, same as you. He's fifteen. And... anyways, you should be knowing him through time." An awkward laugh came out on his stepfather. “I work as a doctor at Seoul National Hospital."

 

He almost choked on his food. His mom's types were doctors and men in lab gowns? Kyungsoo mouthed A doctor, again? to his mom.

 

Mr. Kim—now Do—looked nervously at the two of them. “What's the matter?"

 

Kyungsoo's mom quickly responded, waving her hands furiously. “No. Nothing's wrong. He's just surprised you work at a very famous hospital."

 

Yeah, right, he thought sullenly.

 

“By the way, Jongin will attend your school. I hope you show him the turns and here and theres of the school, alright?"

 

Kyungsoo nodded, picking up a small slice of potato. “Sure."

 

In just a day, Kyungsoo would be returning to jail. No, school. But they were the same thing. Except in jail, he would never do anything academic. He would have to surrender himself to this year's jam-packed schedule: thesis, tons of research, interviews with other students, volleyball practice, choir competitions, and essays to pass the Seoul College Entrance Exams. But there was one thing Kyungsoo had been looking forward to this year: winning the year-end talent show after several failures because of his singing rival, Kim Sunggyu. Snggyu had won three trophies for three years in a row, and while he got to perform in public places, Kyungsoo got the second place but never did anything.

 

The dinner ended in an awkward manner. Basically, his mom washed the dishes, his new dad helped in clearing the table, while he and Jongin went upstairs to rest.

 

While Kyungsoo was stuffing his books in his backpack, Jongin asked out of the blue. “Do you have any friends?"

 

Yesterday, he saw one of his ex-best friends, Byun Baekhyun, tagging along a new companion, the transformed Kim Jongdae. They both looked great, wore branded clothes, and speak to other people in a confident tone. Baekhyun had changed a lot. I fact, everything in him had apparently changed. How did he even manage to do that? All those things aside, he had to admit that whenever he saw his old friends, he felt a pang in the chest. Junmyeon's disappearance caused them to break their bond.

 

“What if I tell you no?"

 

“Well, if that's the case, I suppose you have an antisocial disorder." Jongin took off his shirt and jeans.

 

“What makes you say that? Just because I don't have any friends at all, doesn't mean I'm not friendly or anything." He turned around and saw Jongin, dressed only in a pair of red boxers. “What the—"

 

“Sorry."

 

Kyungsoo shook his head. “Don't be. I mean, you're sleeping in boxers?"

 

“Yeah," he mumbled nonchalantly.

 

Now this was getting more and more uncomfortable.

 

For hthe next five hours, Kyungsoo was still wide awake, staring at the ceiling, and mind full of random thoughts. Jongin was beside him, sleeping like a total prince. A prince that had no cape, no crown, no clothes. Instead, he was a prince in boxers.

 

He felt Jongin was turning to the other side—actually his side, because the moment Kyungsoo was going to shift his position, Jongin's arms were around his waist. That wasn't the problem. It was okay. What was wrong was the no-no part in his boxers was touching his thigh.

 

Bottom line: He might have a crush on his stepbrother, and it might cause a lot of trouble if he really did.

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JUST A LITTLE NOTE HERE. As the story progresses, you'll recognize the characters by their personalities. Baekhyun's a pro-stealer, while Kyungsoo is the typical gay guy. That's all! :)