9 {F}
Is This My Life?The Choi residence has been quiet the past month. A little too quiet.
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No words could come close to describing how Taemin felt after Minho left. His heart shattered and nothing cheered him up. He felt absolutely dead, and at times he even felt as if he should be dead. No one could fill that void in his heart. Key tried to help Taemin, but all his attempts proved useless.
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No words could come close to describing how Taemin felt after Minho left. His heart shattered and nothing cheered him up. He felt absolutely dead, and at times he even felt as if he should be dead. No one could fill that void in his heart. Key tried to help Taemin, but all his attempts proved useless.
Taemin stopped trying to help himself a long time ago.
Instead of killing himself, Taemin decided that self harm was the best alternative. At the dead of night when everyone would be fast asleep, dreaming of wonderful things, Taemin sat in his restroom, carving incoherent patterns into his skin.
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Taemin never expected himself to be the person who would self mutilate, but the idea came to him as he watched a video. The main boy felt rejected by society, and he turned himself over to self harm. Taemin disgust should have been his reaction, but instead Taemin felt the need to do the same. He understood the main character.
Taemin asked his 'Umma' to take him out shopping. Key gladly took the offer, thinking that Taemin finally put Minho behind him.
Little did Key know about Taemin's real plans.
Taemin managed to get away from Key for a while, using the excuse of wanting to shop alone. He found a beauty supply store and bought a few razors. He hid the razors inside the bag of clothes he previously bought and quickly returned to Key.
The self harm began that night.
The crimson blood poured out of him, and he blankly stared at it. His arm painted a red color, and he just stared at it. The blood puddled at his feet, and he stared at it.
Once he knew dawn was approaching, he quickly hid the evidence of the night. Cleaning his essence of life with paper towels, and hiding them in bags at the bottom of the trash bin. He made sure to hide all his razors in spots no one would imagine anything to be hidden. He hid them in different places, just in case. Taemin then jumped into bed as if the night filled with blood did not happen.
No one ever found out.
Taemin hid himself away from prying eyes, only going out of his room to go to studies. Even Mir barely saw Taemin, and the few instances Taemin showed up for studies they never talked.
Joon sensed something happened to Taemin, and he tried to get him to talk. In response, Taemin gave him a cold shoulder. Eventually, Joon gave up.
Taemin didn't find comfort in reading anymore. The books he once cherished were now meaningless pieces of paper bound together. The words that jumped off the pages were reduced to just ink on a paper. There was no meaning.
The library that used to be his sanctuary was now a place of pure emptiness.
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Taemin barely ate anymore. He would go down to dinner every now and then, but even at those scarce moments he hardly touched his food. Key would stand outside his door during every eating time, trying to coax Taemin into eating something. Key's only answer was the awful silence. Regardless, Key always left a tray of food outside Taemin's door, hoping that he would munch on the food.
However, Key always returned to an untouched tray.
"Taemin, please open up!" Key would cry out as he banged on the door. His cries echoed down the empty hallway. "You need to eat something! Please Taemin, please eat something! Please!"
Silence answered his cries, as always.
Key constantly broke down in front of Taemin's door, trying anything to get the boy to eat. Key was also breaking on the inside; his baby was slowly killing himself.
Key sobbed and cried until Onew came rushing to his side. He said soothing words to his lover, calming him down. Sometimes Onew had to pick Key up, and they would walk away, but the two always looked back, hoping to see a boy come out of the door.
The boy never came out.
This became a regular routine the first month.
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The second month Key brought a new being into the mansion.
Key went out to buy groceries when he came across a young boy on the streets. He looked around the age of 16, and death seemed to linger on his lips.
The boy was all skin and bones, but when Key saw his eyes he saw the determination of living the kid had. Key gave him some food, and then he went on his way.
Key was about to turn the corner when he heard a voice call out to him.
"Please, don't leave," came from the boy, his voice cracking from dehydration. "I've been alone for too long. Please, come back."
Key looked back, and he knew he couldn't leave the boy there to rot. He quickly rushed over and hugged the raggedy looking boy.
"Don't worry, I'll help you," Key whispered into the boy's ear.
"I'm Kai," the boy said as small tears trickled down his cheeks. Kai held onto Key, as if he would disappear at any moment.
Key took out his phone and dialed Onew. After explaining the situation Onew rushed over in his car, and the two of them helped Kai into the back seat. The pair then transferred Kai into a vacant room in the household, and they nursed him back to health.
While Kai was being taken care of, Key would usually be in his room. The two would talk about all sorts of things. Key one day mentioned Taemin, and Kai couldn't help but ask Key to talk more about Taemin. Key told Kai everything that happened, and Kai felt a pang in his heart. Taemin's story was sort of like his. Kai decided to confess everything to Key, since he had been feeling guilty about keeping everything to himself.
Kai was not wealthy growing up, in fact he was really poor. His parents never loved him, and by the age to ten his parents mysteriously disappeared. Kai, left alone, defended for himself. During the first few years of living on the streets Kai went through so much.
He was beaten up by various gangs because Kai accidentally wandered onto their turf. Half the time he was starving because no one cared to give him food. He couldn't find someone to hire him. He was even , multiple times in one night. As Kai continued on with his story, Key's eyes started to water up. Key rushed over and hugged Kai, and Kai was startled by Key's sudden action.
"Oh Kai," Key said as he sobbed. "Why is it that all beautiful creatures must suffer? First, my Tae-baby and now you. You two should be happy and living a carefree life. Instead, you both suffered through so much. Oh Kai, I am so sorry."
Kai held Key, and they both cried together.
After their cry fest, Key asked Kai a very serious question.
"Kai, I know you may not know anything about this household, but there is so much happening currently. I need you to help not only me, but someone who I hold dearly to my heart. I need you to help Taemin become alive again."
Key went into detail about Taemin's story, or what he knew about it. Kai nodded and listened intently, all the while trying to put a face onto this mysterious boy he keeps hearing about.
"I'll make you an offer," Key said. "You can live in this house as a cleaner, but in exchange you must befriend Taemin. I need your help to get the light back inside his eyes. I need you to help him feel that he's worth something. Could you do that?"
"I'll do it."
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Those two boys fates were destined by those words.
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