5 years later

Kwangmin’s POV

Somehow, I had managed to survive five years without my family. If they don’t want to take care of me, then I’ll have to learn to live without longing for them. They would call to check on me but I’ll never give them the satisfaction on having intimate conversations. I can tell that they were getting frustrated with my yes and no answers. When they would ask me to talk to Youngmin, I would hang up without second thought.

I didn’t fall into depression as others thought I would. The night that I let myself cry when they left me was the last time I felt pity and sorry for myself. After that, I became the Jo Kwangmin who wouldn’t cry and who could stand on his own feet. The whole school knew me as the unapproachable straight-A student. Well, there were a bunch of people who forced themselves into my life though. They’re kinda hard to dispatch but I have to admit to myself that I enjoy their noisy company. The times I spent with them are the times I temporarily forget about my solitude. 

“Kwangmin let me copy your homework you heartless friend!” No Minwoo snatched my bag from me and rummaged desperately for my Math homework.

“It’s not there, idiot.” I waved my notebook in front of him and hid it behind my back as soon as he tried reaching for it.

“Please Kwangmin~ Please~~ I don’t want to stand outside the classroom again!” He tried to use his aegyo which works on everyone but me.

“No homework again Minwoo?” The teacher entered the classroom before I can tease Minwoo further. Everyone rushed to their respective seats and we all greet the teacher. “Well Minwoo, you know what this means.”

“Yes teacher...” he walked lazily outside the room with his head hanging low. He gave me one last meaningful glare which I could interpret as “You’ll pay for this Jo Kwangmin!”

It was finally lunch time and Minwoo was still not talking to me. I have no plans of apologizing since it’s not my fault he was punished by our strict teacher again. We headed to the cafeteria and sat with our two seniors who are also our friends, Jungmin-hyung and Hyunsung-hyung.

“Yo Minwoo, let me guess...You were punished by the teacher again, aren’t you?” Jungmin-hyung teased with his cute trademark smile.

“Hmp! If only my friend here would have the heart to save me it wouldn’t have happened,” he crossed his arms and pouted.

“It’s not Kwangmin’s fault idiot. You should have done your homework yourself,” Hyunsung-hyung said.

“Why does everyone call me idiot?!” he frowned even more and we just laughed at his childish attitude. His mood completely changed though when I offered to treat him lunch.

“Thank you Kwangmin, you’re really the best!” Minwoo said while digging on the lunch I bought for him.

“Yeah yeah...I’m only the best when I treat you lunch,” I said nonchalantly.

“That’s not true!”

More teasings and various conversations followed until the bell rang. We stood from our chairs, ready to get back to class.

“Wait Kwangmin,” Jungmin-hyung called. “Can we go and play at your house today?”

I remembered it was Friday and we usually hang out at my house to play games or do group study because there’s no class the next day.

“Sure. Let’s meet at the front gate later hyungs.”

“Ok, see you!”

“Oh my god Kwangmin!” Minwoo suddenly exclaimed which startled me a bit too.

“What’s wrong?”

“I forgot to do my English homework!”

Facepalms.

We were all inside my car which my parents provided for my transportation. I actually had my own car when I was in 2^nd grade. That was the time when Youngmin was diagnosed with Lymphoma. They didn’t have time to drive me to school anymore so they bought my own car and hired my own personal driver.  When I entered middle school, my uncle presented me a brand new car telling me that it’s my parents’gift to me. I just scoffed like it’s no big deal...which is actually the truth.

The maids bowed when we entered the house. My friends are still uncomfortable being treated like that so I kept telling them not to mind it.

“Kwangmin you’re back! And long time no see to you too guys,” my uncle gave them a welcoming smile.

“Long time no see to you too uncle!” Hyunsung-hyung greeted back and the other two smiled as well.

“By the way Kwangmin, I have good news to tell you.”

“What is it?” I was thinking it was another extravagant present from my parents which I would’ve probably disregarded again but what he said shocked me for the first time.

“Your parents are coming back with Youngmin next week and they would stay for good.”

I froze and slowly digested what my uncle had said. Parents coming back...with Youngmin. Every normal kid in the world would have probably jumped out of joy if they knew their parents would finally come home after a long time but I just stood there, not knowing what to actually feel.

“Wait a minute, who’s Youngmin?” Minwoo’s question broke me out of my reverie and it was only then that I had remembered I had never told them about Youngmin since I have been treating him like he never existed.

“Kwangmin didn’t tell you? Youngmin is his older twin brother.” My uncle blurted out before I could stop him.

My friends gave me simultaneous shocked expressions and gasps followed by bombs of questions.

“Why didn’t you tell us you have a twin?!” Minwoo was the first to shout at me.

“Kwangmin, you’re unbelievable!” Jungmin-hyung looked at me with an incredulous face.

“How could you leave such an important detail of your life?!” Hyunsung-hyung said.

Important detail of my life? I scoffed inside. He is nothing but a pain in the to me. “Will you all please shut up!”

I rarely snap at my friends ever since we became close but when I do, they know when to stop bugging me...except for this one stubborn dickhead.

“Excuse us uncle, Kwangmin has some explaining to do!” Minwoo pulled my hand hardly as he led me towards my room as if it was his own house. I tried getting out of his grip but the guy was just too damn stubborn. The two hyungs followed behind us quietly.

When we reached my room, he closed the door and gave me a look inspectors have when they’re about to drill a convicted suspect.

“So Jo Kwangmin,” he crossed his arms getting into his inspector roleplay quite seriously. “Mind to explain what this twin thing is all about?”

“I don’t want to talk about him.”

“And why?”

“Just because! And stop forcing me or else I’ll have the guards kick you out of the house.”

“I don’t care!”Minwoo replied stubbornly.

“Uhm Minwoo...I think we shouldn’t force Kwangmin if he doesn’t want to...” Hyunsung-hyung said in a low voice.

“No Hyunsung-hyung,” this time, it was Jungmin-hyung who spoke. “I can’t let this matter pass as well. I want Kwangmin to explain.”

I groaned and the two kept on drilling me until I finally gave in. I could just go back to my pretence of Youngmin’s non-existence after this.

“Fine! But no more questions after this okay?!”

The three of them sat in a behaved manner like puppies waiting for treats. Such friends I have.

“Youngmin,” I almost shivered by just saying his name. “Like what my uncle had said, is my older twin. When we were eight years old, he was diagnosed with lymphoma. My parents took him to America five years ago to receive special treatment and that’s the reason why my parents aren’t here except for very rare occasions. That’s it.”

“Then why didn’t you tell us about him?” Minwoo asked again.

“I thought I said no more questions!”

They all glared at me like wild dogs being deprived of their treats...which means there’s no escaping this.

“Because I hate him!”

“Why do you hate him?”

Do I seriously have to kick Minwoo’s to stop asking questions? “Because he stole my parents okay?”

They all looked at me as if I was the most stupid person to have ever walked on this planet.

“Who knew you could actually be more idiotic than I am?” Minwoo shook his head.

“What did you say?!”

“Anyway, can you show us some pictures?” Jungmin-hyung asked, diverting my attention to him.

“You seriously think I’ll keep a picture of him?”

“Just look at Kwangmin’s face I’m sure they’re look alike!” Minwoo joked.

“Don’t even compare me with him!”

After a few more irritating questions, they had finally dropped the subject but not without making me promise that I would introduce Youngmin to them.

“I will let you see him if you want but I don’t talk to him so you’ll have to introduce yourselves.”

“I have no problem with that!” Minwoo said excitedly. I forgot that this guy was actually very sociable.

“And then if you become friends with him I won’t talk to you anymore,” I said.

“Kwangmin you’re such a meanie...”

I lied down on my bed and closed my eyes allowing my head to cool off a little. The three were planning on how to approach Youngmin as if I wasn’t in the room. I wondered what would actually happen next week. I admit I am a bit nervous thinking about what would happen once I see him again. Will he look sickly like before or will he look healthier and fully-recovered now? I shook my head as I realized I was actually thinking about his condition instead on how should I continue ignoring him.

“Hey, I didn’t notice this pokeball before! I asked my mom to buy this limited edition when I was a kid but it was too expensive!” Minwoo said.

I opened my eyes to see what was Minwoo talking about and my eyes widened when I realized he was approaching the pokeball Youngmin gave me. I had never removed it from the spot where my uncle had left it five years ago. I jumped out of the bed and rushed towards it before Minwoo could.

“Don’t touch this!” I hugged the pokeball close to my chest with both hands and gave Minwoo a warning glare.

He raised his hands and backed off a little, “Geez Kwangmin...I didn’t know you were this protective of your pokemon stuff. I just wanted to take a look.”

“Just...look for other things to play with, not this one!”

“Okay...okay...you pokemon-addict...”

Minwoo went to the hyungs who were setting up the Xbox 360. I detached the pokeball from my chest and wondered what had actually gotten into me. I had tried many times to throw it away just like what I wanted to do with Youngmin’s letter. Everytime I would look at this I would remember Youngmin’s hopeful eyes as he was giving me my 12^th birthday present. I returned the pokeball back to its place. No, I shall not feel any pity towards him. He wasn’t the only one in pain. I was in pain too.

_______________________

Chapter 3^^ thanks for the comments and insights on the last chapters! n___n and sorry for the grammatical mistakes, I was in a bit of a hurry ^^;;

And thank you so much for understanding Kwangmin's feelings here T__T I thought I wasn't able to convey his reasons very well and you all might think he's a shallow bastard.

Vinseopdiva I agree with you, bad parenting indeed T__T but maybe because they think Youngmin would need both the strength of his parents since it's no ordinary disease. Thank you for the insightful comment btw! :D

jotwins0424 thank you so much for waiting ;A;