The next morning, Taemin and Minho awkwardly moved around the room around each other. While they had managed to ignore their kiss for the most part as they ate dinner and did laundry, that morning it seemed to be a dominating issue in the morning. 

Brushing their teeth was even awkward, considering Minho kept staring at Taemin’s mouth and when Taemin walked in half asleep on Minho changing he actually gasped out loud and dropped his bundle of clothing on the bathroom floor. 

They ate in silence, Minho drinking coffee like it was the only thing that was keeping his mouth occupied enough to keep it off of Taemin. The younger was shovelling rice into his own mouth so quickly that his cheeks were puffed out and he looked like a chipmunk. At least it would keep him from saying anything overly embarrassing. 

Hanging in the air, amongst the tension, was an overwhelming sense of grief. At noon that day, Jinki was going to be taken off life support. Taemin had found out while they did laundry that none of the boys were allowed be there. Minho had apparently lost his temper with his father when he was told that, but it didn’t help. Jinki’s support would be removed with only his parents and doctors by his side. 

“We’ll be allowed to visit him… visit his body in the funeral home after school tomorrow.” Minho had become choked up and wasn’t able to continue. Taemin awkwardly patted his back and the sounds of the washers and dryers banging in the back ground covered the sounds of Minho’s tears. 

He cried silent tears while they folded laundry and Taemin practically pushed him into bed when they returned to the dorm. Minho had pulled Taemin down next to him and asked him to stay there with him, unable to say no Taemin slept curled up in Minho’s arms for the second time that weekend. 

Walking to class was a welcome distraction with everyone shouting their greetings at the boys there wasn’t even time for the awkward roommates to talk. Minho left Taemin at his class with an awkward nod and Taemin shuffled in, head down. 

“What’s with the face?” Sulli said as Taemin took his seat. 

He startled, “What face?” Getting his books out of his bag, Taemin didn’t look at Sulli’s curious face. 

“The one that says that something’s up, and considering how Minho was acting last night I’m guessing that it's something to do with him.” She said, leaning into Taemin’s space and forcing him to look at her. 

Looking into her curious eyes, Taemin shrugged. “It’s nothing.” 

Sulli’s face changed, it hardened and turned into a frightening aspect of her usual self. “What did he do?” 

A line appeared on Taemin’s forehead as he scrunched up his face. “He didn’t do anything.”

“Don’t lie to me Taemin. I know friend and I know that he has a temper. What did he do?” She rested a hand on Taemin’s arm, squeezing gently. 

Sighing, Taemin realized that there was nothing he could do to dissuade her. “He threw some stuff and it just sent some bad memories to the surface. We’re okay now but I guess its just awkward.” 

Sulli frowned. “He threw stuff?” She waited for Taemin to nodded. “What the hell happened to set him off like that.”

Biting his lip Taemin hesitated. He wasn’t sure if Minho would want Sulli to know, if she didn’t already know. But considering that she was still in class and wasn’t looking devastated about the news about Jinki, he assumed she hadn’t been told. “You should ask him.”

“He never tells me when things are bothering him.” Sulli replied. “Can’t you?”

“No.” He was left unable to say anything else with the arrival of their teacher and the start of class.

Class starting didn’t deter Sulli from her quest at figuring out what had made her brother so upset. She tried to pass him notes, drew on his papers and poked him continuously but he ignored all her efforts. 

By the time lunch came, Taemin was throughly annoyed with Sulli’s efforts to badger him into spilling more details. He knew that she was just trying to help but it was getting harder and harder to resist the urge to spill all his secrets. 

He was grateful that they always sat with Jonghyun, Key and Minho at lunch because he hoped that the presence of the older boys would be enough to stop Sulli. 

He was wrong. 

Instead, after gathering their lunches, Sulli began to badger Minho. “Taemin says you were throwing things last night.” She blurted out without any preamble as she shovelled kimchi rice into . 

Minho glared at her and side eyed Taemin. Then he took a breath and exchanged looks with Key and Jonghyun. Jonghyun nodded, his normally happy disposition cloudy. “My dad called yesterday.” He swallowed hard, looking at his watch before closing his eyes. “It’s 11:47.” He announced, his face losing colour and his shoulders shaking. 

Key whimpered and Jonghyun burst into tears. The occupants of the tables around them all began to stare. Whispers started and the stares stopped as everyone figured that Jonghyun was just being his normal emotional self, for some random reason. 

Swallowing hard, Minho made eye contact with Sull and then Amberi. “My dad called yesterday to tell me that Jinki’s parents have decided to take Jinki off life support early.”

Sulli gasped, her small hand jolting to cover . Amber dropped her spoon into her soup causing it to spill over onto her tray. “When?” Amber breathed, her voice low and thick with emotion. 

“At noon.” Minho said. 

“Noon?!” Sulli exclaimed. “Not noon today?”

Key whimpered again and nodded. He allowed Jonghyun to wrap his arms around him and Key lay his head on his older partner’s chest. 

“Twelve minutes.” Amber said, now staring at the digital clock on her phone. “Why aren’t you there?”

“Our parents don’t want us there.” Jonghyun said, “And neither do Jinki’s parents. My mom said she’d call when it was over. Just so we knew.”

The table went completely silent after Jonghyun’s words, the sounds of the cafeteria suffocating. The food went untouched as the six teens stared at their phones and watches, waiting for them to count down to noon. 

When the digital numbers turned to 12:00 a collective sadness enveloped them and Sulli leapt up from the table sobbing. Amber followed her at a more subdued pace with watery eyes. 

The bell rang signalling the end of lunch and Taemin dragged himself up from his seat. “You should skip the afternoon.” He told his friends. “Go back to the dorm and…” He sighed. “Go grieve.”

Minho looked up at Taemin, his eyes red and his face blotchy. Taemin still thought he was handsome and he repressed the urge to touch Minho. To rub the tear tracks on his cheeks and dry the wetness with his finger tips. 

“I can’t just skip.” Minho began but stopped talking as he looked at the expression on Taemin’s face. 

“No, I can’t skip.” Taemin said, gathering his books. “You can. Take the afternoon Minho. Please. Go and remember my brother for me. Think of the happy stories and the sad ones. I want to know who he was, the only way I’ll ever know my brother now is through you. Through his friends. So please, take the afternoon, if not for yourselves, then take it for me. Grieve for me in the ways that I can’t.” His voice was amazingly steady while he felt like his heart was breaking. He was better at forcing down his feelings than his friends so it was clear to him that right then, he would have to be the one to hold back their grief. 

He would get the chance to mourn the brother he never knew later but now it was their time. 

“I’ll walk you to class first.” Minho said, standing up and waiting for Jonghyun and Key to follow. 

Taemin nodded and allowed his trio of friends to walk him to English. None of them spoke a word when they reached the class but Key reached out and pulled Taemin into the first tight hug. “I’m sorry.” He whispered in Taemin’s ear before he pulled back and allowed Jonghyun to take a turn. 

Jonghyun’s tears wet the shoulder of Taemin’s uniform jacket and his throat was too tight to be able to speak any words. He curled into Key when he let go of their youngest. 

Minho swallowed hard, Adam’s apple bobbing harshly before he rushed at Taemin. He hugged his friend amongst whispers from inside the classroom and then pulled back just as quickly. 

The teacher approached the class from down the hall. “Gentlemen, class is about to begin.” 

“We won’t be attending today.” Key said, voice wobbling. 

The teacher nodded, she wasn’t about to argue with three of the wealthiest and most powerful sons of South Korea and she watched as they said goodbye to Taemin, leaving him to enter the class before her. 

Something was clearly going on, she thought as she called the class to order and began that day’s lesson and she had a bad feeling that it was about that poor Lee Jinki. 

------

And here's this week's real update! 

I hope that the little Interlude was helpful and not just more confusing, although things are slowly starting to come together for the boys. 

I have spent this past week (yay for holidays) eating too much and watching way too much Netflix/ Viki. I hope you all have had a great week!

Comments are always helpful and well loved. I appreciate every one of them and reading them makes me so happy!

Thank you all for taking the time to read this every week!

All the loves

Kat