Part XVI (615 words)
The Disbelief

“This can’t be legal!” Taemin finds himself exclaiming, frustrated as he slumps low in his seat. “Isn’t there a law preventing this?”

Gwiboon is laughing at him now and Taemin thinks disgruntledly that she looks even more like Kibum than ever before—it’s not a compliment. “What, against the fact that you’re lusting after Jinki?” she asks, and she still would not stop laughing.

A heated flush paints across Taemin’s cheeks and he sinks even lower into the soft cushions in a sad attempt to drown in the plush couch. “I could sue him, you know,” he grumbles after a few beats.

But Gwiboon is already shaking her head, amusement glittering in her eyes as she begins, “But I thought it was you who said that he’s not your doc—”

“I know what I said!” Taemin cuts her off briskly, sitting up. “I take it back! I’ve never been so embarrassed before in my life!” With those words, Gwiboon nearly falls off her chair laughing at him, a few tears now streaming down her cheeks. Taemin contemplates murder for the first time in his life. “Aren’t you supposed to make me feel better about myself? All I’m feeling is ty since the second I stepped in here—how are you one the best psychiatrists in country?”

Gwiboon shrugs, wiping the tears out of her eyes as she rights herself in her seat. “Well,” she hums, “I only offered one free session. I’m not sure why you’re back here when you’re so obviously better now.”

Taemin’s expression scrunches up in frustration. “How am I better? I don’t get how just because the darkness reminds me of Jinki―” Gwiboon snorts in an attempt to hide her laughter, Taemin deciding to take the high road and ignore her as he continues speaking, “―now, that I’m not afraid anymore.”

Sobering, Gwiboon looks at Taemin with a curious gaze. Her sudden seriousness makes him squirm and look away from her sharp eyes. They got along so well that it was odd considering their first meeting―she really was Kibum’s cousin, and it was frightening how alike they were.

“Taemin-sshi,” she starts calmly, a small smile quirking her bow lips, “when you close your eyes, what do you see?”

His eyebrows scrunching in confusion, Taemin closes his eyes and says the first thing that comes to mind. “Well, black obviously. What else?”

“That’s not what I mean,” Gwiboon responds in annoyance, and Taemin can practically envision her rolling her eyes at him the way Kibum does when he thinks Taemin is as dumb as a bag of peanuts. “What do you really see?”

And suddenly Taemin understands, the black behind his eyelids suddenly flooding with images of Jinki; Jinki smiling at him, Jinki talking to him, Jinki working, Jinki laughing, Jinki watching him curiously, Jinki, Jinki, Jinki―

“You’re probably in love,” Gwiboon states smugly. “I knew you’d like him.”

And all Taemin can think about in that moment is the way it felt when Jinki held him close, how it felt when the older man caressed his lower back, his warm breath fanning over the skin of Taemin’s neck, soothing in ways that were unimaginable. Taemin had never felt so calm and riled up at the same time before in his entire life.

“It’s amazing what love can do to us, really,” Gwiboon is saying when Taemin finally opens his eyes, and she looks so honestly pleased that he cannot even bring himself to deny her words. Instead, he just groans deeply in response and slides even lower into the couch until his chin is buried in his chest.

Great, just what he needed―another reason to feel awkward around Jinki.

“.”