MINHO

"Oh, Adreanne's gift is in there too." Minho lifted the paper bag he was holding to Taemin's eye level and the younger mumbled "just put it anywhere, really," under his breath as he took a seat at his desk. In the paper bag was a souvenir Kibum got for Taemin when he went to New York last week. Minho told Kibum that he was going to meet Taemin soon, so he automatically became the designated postman for the gifts.

Minho observed how haggard Taemin looked that morning. The man didn't even care to shave his stubble. He didn't wait for an invitation when he chose the sofa to sit on, he also didn't wait to ask how long has it been since Adreanne left their house- because it seemed to be the cause of Taemin's lopsided tie, and how out of place he looked as of now. Taemin didn't seem to hear his question the first time. It was probably too early of a morning for the sleep-deprived Lee, Minho mused. As impatient Minho was, he decided to wait it out a little. Taemin pressed a button on his intercom nonchalantly, and the ever-cheerful voice of his PA greeted him.

"Yeah, good morning too. Please bring in two cups of coffee. The usual. Thanks." Taemin ordered. Minho looked around at Taemin's elegantly decorated office, nodding in approval at the interior design. Most of the furniture was black despite white being Taemin's favorite color.

Taemin fumbled around with a few A4 papers lined neatly on his desk, scanning and reading them before signing them with his favorite executive pen. Minho has been friends with Taemin since they met at their school's soccer team tryouts, but he has never seen the man that serious. They have also dealt with each other in a business setting, but even back then Taemin was more stoic and laid-back. His eyebrows were furrowed in an uninterrupted focus - which the doting Minho finds adorable, but he decided to hold back his smile in the name of professionalism. If they were out of the office he would have easily laughed and pinched Taemin's cheeks just in the name of spite. Taemin was only okay with such cutesy treatment if the person doing it is his wife. Other people calling him cute would annoy him the whole day.

Not long after Taemin breathed out an "Okay done" and placed the signed papers on a document tray, his PA, G.O came in with their coffee. "Decaffeinated for Minho-nim and no sugar for Taemin-nim. I also prepared butter and kaya toast. Anything else?" G.O asked as he pulled out two napkins from a hidden compartment under the coffee table.

"I have signed the papers from yesterday. And don't forget about the slides." Taemin took a bite of the warm toast after taking a seat adjacent to Minho. G.O nodded and took the documents and left after Taemin mumbled a quick thank you.

"How long has it been, Taemin?" Minho questioned once again. Taemin took a sip at his coffee and closed his eyes, probably hoping for the caffeine to hit him faster. Minho failed to hold back his laughter this time. "You look like you need a year of sleep, man." Taemin smiled at the comment and shook his head.

"If you are referring to Adreanne," Taemin took another bite of his toast before continuing. "I am sure you know better. I have stopped counting." He glanced at a framed picture on the wall of his office. Minho followed his line of sight, turning his body a little to see the object of Taemin's attention. Among the company's framed certificates, there was an odd picture that stood out the most. It was a picture of Minho and Taemin after a soccer match, Taemin sitting comfortably on his shoulders with a big smile. Key and Jonghyun were grinning from ear to ear with Adreanne sandwiched between them in an uncomfortably tight hug.

"You okay?" Minho's voice seemed to bring Taemin back to earth. "You look like you didn't get enough sleep yesterday."

"I know you're in contact with her." Was Taemin's completely unrelated response.

Minho smirked. "You don't beat around the bush, do you?"

When Taemin didn't respond, Minho cleared his throat before offering some words of comfort to ease the younger's worries. "She's doing great. Don't worry too much," He finished his cup of coffee. "You should worry about yourself instead."

Minho felt the atmosphere in the room change. Taemin was angry. He stayed quiet for a moment and seemed to be set on finishing his toast and practically inhaling his coffee before he cleared his palate with a vigorous chug of mineral water. "Why can't you just tell me where she is, hyung?" He wiped his plump lips with a napkin and threw it mindlessly onto a food tray on the table. "Is this some kind of game for you?"

Minho laughed heartily. "Game?" He tilted his head at the younger. Taemin stared at him sternly, not finding anything worth laughing at. Since Adreanne 'ran away' from home, Taemin would grow tense every time Minho brought up her name in their conversation. He knew Taemin was incredibly annoyed because he knew for a fact that Minho knows where Adreanne was. "You told me last week that you don't care because she'll eventually come home, Taemin. I don't think I should dump water on that fiery belief of yours. You probably know your wife better than I do."

Taemin glanced at Minho before sighing and looking away towards his desk. Minho knew that Taemin was embarrassed. He was so certain when he said that Adreanne will come home in a few days. He was positive that Adreanne wouldn't have the heart to leave him for too long.

"Well, I still don't care. I don't think she loves me anymore, anyway." Taemin stood up and went to a refrigerator in a secluded corner of his office room. Minho tsked and held himself back from saying anything that would cause them to get into a fistfight. He hated Taemin's guts and arrogance. Everyone who sees him right now would know that Taemin could go crazy if he have to go through another week without Adreanne by his side. His mask was crumbling.

"I tried to fix us, hyung. It got me nowhere." Taemin started, his voice low. 

Minho shook his head in clear disapproval at Taemin's sulky tone. He felt like Taemin didn't deserve to lounge around in his office like this, sulking around. If Minho didn't know any better, he would think that Adreanne was the one supposed to be blamed for Lee Taemin's evident misery. "I am sure that you are not trying hard enough." Minho deadpanned. He heard Taemin grumble "You don't know anything" as he slipped out of his suit jacket. Minho glanced at the canned beer in Taemin's hand, and he couldn't hold back his next remark. "Look at you, drinking alcohol in the morning when it's the very thing that she hates the most."

Taemin paid no heed to what Minho was saying. He walked to his desk and asked his assistant about his schedule for the day. When G.O said that he had nothing important aside from some reports and proposals to read and approve, Taemin announced that he would not be in the office the whole day. His only reason was "I don't feel great". Minho was surprised at how much their conversation was affecting Taemin, although he looked pretty much unbothered aside from the fact that he was unhinged enough to want to get drunk at his office.

"I'm not going to drink it," Taemin said as he sat down on the sofa. "I'm just holding this so that I won't- never mind."

"So that you won't punch me?" Minho provoked.

Taemin groaned. "I might do that for real if you don't stop, hyung," he said as he ran his fingers through his jet-black hair.

Taemin placed the beer on the glass coffee table, and it landed with a soft clang. He then buried his face in his palm and let out a huge sigh. Minho hadn't expected such a defeated sigh from someone like Taemin, so he chuckled. He loved Taemin- there's no doubt about that. He coddled the guy throughout their high school days and only stopped treating him like a child when both of them became proper adults and had to manage their respective family companies. By then, Taemin was no longer a baby in Minho's eyes, he was a CEO worth to be respected. He earned his stripes, considering what he had to go through. But hey, everyone knows Minho loved Adreanne more. Adreanne and Kibum were the two people outside of his family whom he wouldn't think twice to take a bullet for. Minho didn't think that it was morally acceptable to be sympathetic toward a person who cheated on the person he loved like his own sister. There was no way he could be nice to Taemin when Adreanne comes into the picture.

"This is what you get for playing with fire, Taemin." Minho got up and picked up his phone from the glass table. An alarm made the phone lit up, and he knew he had to get back to his office. "Although I must let you know that it is so ing unfair for you to say that Adreanne doesn't love you anymore when everything she has done and sacrificed all these while is just so that she could stand beside you. You cheated on her, Taemin," Minho paused and held himself back from sounding like he wanted to give in to his testosterone and punch Taemin's handsome face right then and there. "You cheated on her. I don't think I need to say anything else."

"I know hyung, I know." Minho hoped Taemin knew that he was a terrible husband.

As pissed off as Minho was under his calm exterior, there was a pity that managed to make its way out of the tenderhearted man that he was. He pitied Taemin, but a man should atone for his sins and deal with the consequences- he made the choice that brought him to his own agony. "She'll be home soon, I am sure. Just make sure you are ready to do better if she forgives you." Minho patted Taemin's head on his way to the door and left before he could let his anger engulf him and say anything else that would hurt Taemin. As much as he loved Taemin, there was no way he could forgive him for hurting his sister like that.

Sunday; 31 March 2013; 5:00 am

I got into an argument with Taemin during dinner. It’s 5:00 am and it doesn’t seem like he’s coming home. I feel so upset and guilty. We have never gotten into an argument this big since we dated.

He was asleep the whole day and only woke up to eat. I invited him for a movie night when we were eating lunch since we haven’t done that in quite a while, but he refused and said that he was tired. He just wants to sleep today, he said. The rejection hurts a bit, I am not going to lie. But I understand. I mean, I have to. The end of the first quarter of the year, right? I know those big companies make a big deal of their quarters, but in my defense, even Minho oppa could spend some time with me sometimes. He took me grocery shopping, he accompanied me when I had to take my car for a service. Taemin could spare a lot of his time just fine for me in the past years since he started working too. Sure, he couldn’t be out and about with me like how Minho oppa or Kibum oppa always do due to the circumstances that we are in, but Taemin never really liked being outside anyway. He was always at home with me during his free time, and we would do the things we loved together. I appreciate that so much. Sometimes we just sit in silence and enjoy each others’ company. He would play video games, and I would just do my own thing. I know people change all the time and we are fairly young, so I respect his changes. But why it’s so hard for him to be at home now? I think the only time I see him nowadays is in the morning during breakfast, and sometimes- rarely, during dinner. Why? Is there something wrong with me? Is there something I do that he doesn’t like? Am I starting to bore him?

I brought this matter up at dinner. He shrugged me off and said that the company is doing a huge audit and such. I know he’s a dedicated perfectionist. The Lee Group thrived a year after he took the reign. Taemin is a hardworking, brilliant leader. But his wife hasn’t gotten the chance to have a nice conversation with him in the past two months. I don’t want to whine, but I miss him a lot, and it’s getting a bit too unbearable. We haven’t even done anything intimate for a long time except for sleeping in each other’s embrace at night; although there is a feeling of tenseness that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I feel like I shouldn’t talk or do anything at all for the fear of making him lose his mood. I feel like I am asking for too much, but I want him to touch me during our waking hours too. I miss just playing with his hair while he talks to me about the book he read. I miss him kissing me before he goes to work- he has stopped doing this for quite a while. I miss him watching documentaries loudly in the kitchen as I cook desserts for us every weekend. I miss him cheekily asking for a shoulder massage as he plays his video games.

I want to understand him and fix whatever situation it was that we are in. I don’t feel like all of this is right. Something is wrong somewhere. I want to know how I can be useful to him, or make him feel better. He shouldn’t be pushing himself past his limits, to the point that it stresses him out and made him change drastically as a person.

When he was about to finish his food earlier, I asked him if there were any problems at work. That could be the reason why he started drinking so frequently, I assumed. Taemin was never an alcoholic, but I have lost count of how many times he has come home intoxicated lately. I hate it so much. Sometimes he vomits right after he entered the front door. He’s never the same person after he started his drinking habits. It scares me so much because I feel it slowly killing our relationship. I feel it slowly killing me too. There’s this anxiousness that swirls in my belly that makes me feel like something is going to happen to us sooner or later if I don’t talk to him about this whole thing.

Before this, he said he got drunk because he and his colleagues are celebrating something major that they managed to achieve, and he got carried away. Then it was doing some networking with some people from other companies and the friends were heavy drinkers. I try to understand. I try to believe in what he said, although they are always too good to be true. Eventually, there was no excuse anymore because I think he has run out of ideas.

I know Taemin better than anyone. We have been married for only three years but I have been in a relationship with him since I was at the age where I had to memorize the periodic table. He’s not the type to be friendly with people. Especially his colleagues. It doesn’t take a detective to know that Taemin has something that bothers him so much that he had to go lose his mind and ruin his liver every night. Lee Taemin is also a lousy liar. Everyone who knows him knows that. He only entertained me with those excuses because he knows how much I hate people who give their sanity up to a mere liquid in a glass.  

Taemin accused me of complaining when I stated that he got drunk pretty bad yesterday, to the point that he passed out on our way to the bathroom. I told him I waited for him until 4:30 am and I was so worried because he never arrived home that late before. Usually, he’d be at home by 3:00 am, sent home by his driver if he’s too drunk to drive. He said he never told me to wait for him. He said he could have managed himself just fine without my help anyway. He said he was just drunk, he’s not stupid. He said I shouldn’t have helped him if I want to complain about him getting intoxicated. He said I am just trying to argue with him because he didn’t spend enough time with me anymore.

I told him that I am just trying to understand him. Or was he right? At this point, I am starting to question myself too. Am I just lonely and deprived of his affection? When I said sorry, and that I was just trying to communicate but it, unfortunately, came across the wrong way, he left the table and didn't want to hear anything anymore. I called out to him and said sorry again and again but he kept walking away. He went upstairs, changed his clothes, and left home. Probably to the bar, or the club. Tonight, I am the source of his stress and a reason for him to get drunk once again. Just like the previous nights, I am left alone with the echoing sound of the slammed front door, but this time, I probably deserved it. I kept replaying the sound in my head to serve as a reminder that I should be a good wife and just stay quiet. Taemin is never angry at me whenever I am quiet.

What more can I do? I am devastated that I hurt his feelings. I should have been more careful when choosing my words, right?

Adreanne

Thank you for reading <3