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Side Story

Taecyeon & Nichkhun

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A couple of weeks ago...

The sky slowly turned darker at every passing minutes. The room was awfully quiet, save for the occasional noise the crows made outside whenever it flew by, returning to its nest. The other patient who shared the ward with Taecyeon had left for hours, spending the day with his family while Taecyeon’s parents had returned home to rest a little – on his suggestion - and to cater his young siblings.

Taecyeon wanted to lift his arms, wrapped in white bandages and fresh with bruises from his encounter with Joongki the day before yesterday, but quickly decided that he better stayed still for the moment. Every little movement caused him so much pain. He stared at the ceiling helplessly, only his mind spinning around thinking of things, entertaining himself. For someone who usually worked out, practiced for the game, studied, just spending every minute of his life not being idle, lying still on the bed was hell.

“Ugh, I’m going crazy.”

Taecyeon threw his head back, if that was even possible. He took a deep breath, preparing his mind for all the pain he was about to inflict on himself, and then pushed himself up, trying to sit.

He had never imagined such a simple movement could cause so much pain. The deep blue mark on his stomach throbbed painfully like it was freshly punched right there while his arms felt like it was stabbed with thousands of knives. In the middle of his attempt to pull himself up, the door to his ward opened. To his surprise, it was Nichkhun. Taecyeon almost fell back to his back but Nichkhun managed to rush to his side and helped him into sitting position.

“Are you okay?” Khun asked him.

“Yeah. Yeah, thanks.” Taecyeon said. Khun nodded to his answer and backtracked his steps to the door again to pick up the things he had dropped when he rushed to Taecyeon earlier. He had brought with him some tangerines, and a couple of books. When Khun walked closer and placed the books on his sidetable, Taecyeon found out that one of the books was a Sudoku. Taecyeon silently thank God for those. He swore he could have died out of boredom. Things were a little hectic these days, with his parents going back and forth to the police station and the school, no one remembered to bring him something which he could kill time with.

“I brought you a few things.” Khun casually pointed over his shoulder at the stuffs he put on the sidetable with his thumb.

Taecyeon chuckled. “Yeah, I saw. Thanks. I’d really need that.”

Khun smiled back at him, but his smile turned out awkward and both of them could feel it, despite them trying to hide the fact. Khun cleared his throat before he spoke again.

“I talked to the doctor just now. They said you couldn’t play basketball for at least 3 more months.” Khun briefly glanced at Taecyeon’s broken, cemented leg, and then back at the ex-captain of the basketball team again.

“Yeah. But I guess I could use the time to just rest. Everyone is telling me to use the chance to take a break.” Taecyeon chuckled.

“I’m... I’m sorry for everything that happened. I know apology won’t cut it but...”

“Hey, no sweat. Things happened.”

“I should have known better than getting you involved.”

“Come on. Chansung, Junho and Junsu is in this. How can I not? If you didn’t ask for my help, I would have gone there anyway. You know me.”

“Yeah, I know you,” Khun chuckled. “I’m sorry for what happened to Junsu though. I’m trying to get the school to co-operate, trying to get him out of there since the police doesn’t want to make things difficult. Joongki is well-protected, the police doesn’t want to stir things about him so there’s nothing we can do about him, but at least we can try to prove Junsu’s innocence if everyone back him up.”

“Yeah, I guess that could help. But this is so messed up. I mean, Junsu, of all people?” Taecyeon sighed.

“Don’t worry about him. I’ll help him out, I’ll do everything I can.”

Taecyeon nodded. “Thanks.”

“Heh, what’s there to thank me?” Khun chuckled. Taecyeon smiled back at him.

“You fit that role, you know? The president of the student body. Always doing a lot of things for people. And you’re very loyal.”

“Hey, what’s with the sudden compliment? You’re going to make me blush,” Khun playfully punched his shoulder. Taecyeon winced in pain, but laughed anyway. Khun apologized for his action just now, but he didn’t look sorry, not with that wide grin plasterd on his face. He guessed compliments made him happy, when it came sincerely from someone like Taecyeon. Someone who don’t look at status.

“Hey, speaking of which, remember that time when you joined our practice game for fun? All the girls were excited to see such a good looking guy joining the team but you were so bad at it that you sprained your ankle only 2 minutes into the game,”

“Damn, not that...”

“The girls were all like, ‘Aww, poor him’, and you blushed real bad because everyone was making it such a big deal.”

“Why do you have to remind me of that?”

“Subin was there too, and she laughed really hard,” Taecyeon looked straight at Nichkhun right after he spoke. He purposely brought up Subin’s name to gauge Nichkhun’s stance regarding the issue. He wondered if Khun already forgave his mistakes or if he was still deeply angry at Taecyeon at what happened with Subin. He wanted to know, because had had long wished they could return to being the bestfriends they were.

Khun chuckled, but there was bitterness in his smile. “Yeah, she was so happy back then, even when she knew that she had not much time left in the world.”

“I tried my best, you know. To make her days fulfilling. But in the end, I failed anyway.” Taecyeon said softly.

“Why did you do that? Why... did you leave her alone on her last days.” Khun stared at the floor as he recalled back the bitter memories he shared with Taecyeon and Subin.

“There was no reason.” Taecyeon said flatly. Khun’s head shot up at his surprising answer. Khun stared deeper into Taecyeon’s eyes, looking for an explanation to his answer. He wanted to understand, ever since their relationship started to crack, but Taecyeon never said anything.

“There must be-”

“I was a coward, that’s the only explanation I could give.” Taecyeon heaved a sigh before he continued. He was surprised that Khun was very patient, waiting for him to elaborate his answer more. Before, Khun wasn’t so forgiving, he would get angry and blame Taecyeon for everything at any given chance.

Taecyeon took a deep breath before he continued, “I was a coward, and I was stupid. I was worried and scared for Subin, so when one day her mother confronted me, I didn’t know what to do.” He paused again for a moment, to recall back the memories and then continued.

“Her mother blamed me for her worsening condition. It was partly true though. Subin wouldn’t have been that sick if she didn’t keep sneaking out the hospital to see me.” Teacyeon chuckled a little, rendering Khun confused at his questionable laugh.

“You wouldn’t believe what she told me.” Taecyeon told him. They were talking about something which happened over two years ago, but to know that there was something he hadn’t know yet caused Khun’s heart beat to grow rapid. Somehow, it was nervewrecking to know that there was a possibility that he had been blindly blaming and hating Tecyeon, his best friend, for nothing.

“She told me ‘I’d rather see Subin die than see her being with you’.” Taecyeon’s eyes watered as the memories he had kept buried for so long resurfaced. “I didn’t understand why she said that. Heck, I still don’t. I wondered if she was worried about Subin’s health or just hated the idea that Subin hung around a guy like me, someone so ordinary, someone with no status. But I thought, for a mother, for someone so dear to Subin to say something like that, I thought I was in their way or something. And if Subin had to choose between her mother or me, I’d rather she had her mother by her side, someone so important and dear to her. It was  a baseless conclusion on my part, but that was what I thought at the time. I thought she would feel secure with her mother by her side all the time... I didn’t know she had been so lonely during her last days. If it wasn’t for you and Munhwa, she would have no one.”

Taecyeon looked away, causing a single tear to escape from the corner of his eye. He cleared his throat because his voice was getting hoarse.

“You have no idea how much I regret my decision.”

Taecyeon let out a long sigh again.

“Hey,” Khun lightly punched his arm. It was a playful gesture, but his face was devoid of emotions, “That was a long time ago. Don’t you think?”

Khun’s lips slowly curved up to a little smile, and Taecyeon chuckled when he saw it. It was a smile that meant more than just it. It meant that he was ready to forget any misunderstanding between them, and that they were fine already.

“Heh, yeah. And it doesn’t work out well with me and Minsun either.” Taecyeon threw his head back and sighed in defeat. He was still smiling despite the heartbreaking memories resurfaced into his mind.

“Hey, do you think you’re the only one? I’ve known her for like what? 10 years? You always took away my girl first,” Khun playfully scolded Taecyeon.

Taecyeon raised an eyebrow at the his new knowledge, “Now that you put it that way, it’s kinda true. Sorry dude.”

“A**hole.”

The two guys laughed loudly this time. It was as if they had never fight in the first place. It was refreshing for them both. It felt like a heavy burden was removed from their shoulders the moment they laughed together. Despite haven’t been talking to each other for two years, the bond they had just revived just now felt exactly the same, if not stronger than the one they had shared before the long cold war between them started.

“Oh, man,” Taecyeon sighed again, staring into the ceiling, “I should never mess with your girl again. It’ll never work out.”

“I should find a girl who is the total opposite of your ideal type or else they all flock to you,”

“Hah, you should!”
 

- - - - -

This is pretty short and not really an update. It's something I wanted to write but FORGOT to include in the previous chapter. Just a short bonding/bromance moment between Taecyeon and Khun  Thank you so much to everyone who always leave replies, your comments mean a lot to me!