Yay! Quicker than last time!  This was waaaayyyyyy easier to write than .  I don't think there will be too many of those chapters but there is definatley at least one more in the works from me and possibly more. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

#9 – Broken

Chatter filled the large room, taking up the entire level of the building, filled with various machines.  Gossip flew from mouth to ear and round again as hands kept busy with well practiced tasks left mouths and minds free to focus on other things. 

It was such absent-minded handling of product that led to the unfortunate incident that followed. 

Focusing more on the words flying from his mouth than what he held in his hands, he didn’t even realize that it had slipped until it was too late to stop the machine.

The entire workroom, usually full of so much noise that you couldn’t even hear yourself think, had grown startlingly quiet.  No one moved, they barely breathed, and all eyes were focused on the same singular point in the massive room.

They were all shocked into their stillness by the incredible shriek of one Kim Kibum.

Standing at the center of the storm Kibum looked down at one of the presses used to dry clean the clothes that their design firm was creating with something far beyond horror.  Initially people thought that he had shut the machine on his hand, which had been known to happen on occasion when someone’s hands moved faster than their thoughts.  But it wasn’t that.  No, not a physical but an emotional pain that the thirty-one year old was now enduring.

He silently moved his arm to push the button to raise the press.  There, shattered, sitting atop an overly priced sundress that they expected to be one of the hits of the summer season, was his engagement ring.  A platinum band studded with small diamonds and sapphires.  The one Taemin had agonized over buying and been so sweet about planning just the right moment to give to him. 

It was a mark of their love and commitment to each other.  It was as far as they could go as a couple since the South Korean government did not permit couples of the same to marry each other. 

And there it sat, band snapped and diamonds partially ground and broken among the floral design of the dress beneath it, sapphires indistinguishable from the color of the pattern below.     

Kibum’s shaking hand slowly extended to touch the sad remains. 

“No….” he gasped as his trembling fingers finally made contact with the broken metal and precious stones. 

“Oh Oppa…” the woman next to him, a close colleague of his and his gossip-mate, whispered, knowing how important that ring was to her friend. 

Tears slowly slipped unnoticed from the corners of Kibum’s eyes as he picked up the many pieces and cradled them in his hand.

Noise started to creep back into the room as the other designers and interns started to move back to their work, their gossip now expanded to talk about Kibum’s ring and his reaction to its loss.

Kibum sniffed and shoved the remains into his pocket, rubbing away the tears and causing bright red smears across his cheeks. 

Wordlessly, he pulled the dress from the press and hung it up on its hanger, moving it to the proper collection location and straightening it on the hanger before stalking off to his office, avoiding the knowing looks and blatant stares that followed his every step.

Arriving at his office two floors above the workroom, he searched through his desk and found an envelope.  He gingerly removed the remnants of the ring from his pocket and painstakingly placed all of the jagged pieces and put them into the envelope.  Once he is sure that all of the miniscule pieces have been moved from his pocket, he seals the envelope – determined that he wasn’t going to lose any of them.

That done, the sense of purpose that he had built suddenly fled from his body along with the adrenaline that had surged through him when he saw that glint of metal on the dress just before the press hid it from view. 

He sat down hard in his office chair that rolled back a few feet with his momentum.  He heaved a sigh and felt his mind go blank.

What was he going to do?  Taemin had spent so much time and energy and money on that ring, had spent months searching for just the right one and ended up having one custom made for Kibum – and because of his carelessness it was destroyed.

Kibum had felt the ring slip from his finger but his arm had shot out and pressed that button anyway, his body doing the action without him even thinking about it.  So used to the action that his body moved without him, and just as the thought was forming to pick the ring back up, it wasn’t even an option any more without severe injury to himself. 

Kibum buried his face in his hands, his elbows perching on his knees.  He had to tell Taemin, and he would, he knew that there was no way around doing so.  But how to bring it up?  He couldn’t just walk in the front door tonight and say “Hi sweetie, how was your day? Mine? Well, we finished up the dress we’ve been working on and oh! I broke your engagement ring.”  That just wouldn’t work. 

Key sighed.  He had no idea how he would bring it up but he would figure it out tonight.  He knew Taemin wouldn’t be mad or anything.  Disappointed maybe, heartbroken that the ring that he had put so much effort into was beyond repair, but he wouldn’t be angry.  They would figure something out he was sure.

He shook his head and decided to finish his work and head home, it was almost quitting time anyway.  He clicked around on his computer for a while, finishing up a report about the sundress and sending it off to his boss so they would double check everything before sending off one of the models for mass production. 

He grabbed up the envelope and his jacket and made for home.  He didn’t even play any music in the car, a rarity for him who usually danced and sang along at the top of his lungs for even the shortest journeys.  Taemin’s disappointed face kept creeping into his vision and Kibum would blink and shake his head to clear it, but it would show up again within a few minutes. 

As he sat in the unmoving traffic of Seoul, the white envelope sat on the seat next to him, mocking him, refusing to fad away into the tan upholstery and let him forget about it for just a few minutes. 

He parked his car in the parking garage in his assigned spot, directly next to Taemin’s motorcycle and scooter that shared a spot.

He placed the envelope in the inner pocket of his jacket and it seemed to burn a whole in his chest pocket, or at least it felt like it.

He didn’t even remember the ride up the elevator or punching in the code on their keypad, but he was brought suddenly back to the present when Taemin’s voice carried from within their apartment welcoming him home. 

Kibum removed his shoes and wandered into their home and his eyes came to rest on a photo of them on the wall behind their couch from the night Taemin proposed.  The both looked so damn happy and Key was happy showing off his ring in the picture while kissing Taemin on the cheek.  Kibum’s tears started to gather again but he held them back.

The sound of slippers padding down the hallway as Taemin came out to welcome him home as was their custom.  He must have known the instant he walked in the room that something was wrong because there was a moment of hesitation before he walked up to Kibum and offered to help him off with his jacket. 

The rapper shook off Taemin’s hand and turned, and the dancer saw the look of lamentation in his lover’s eyes.

“What’s wrong Kibum?” He asked gently, worried now.

Kibum shook his head and just leaned forward, putting his forehead on Taemin’s shoulder and hugged the shorter man close.  Taemin’s arms came up on instinct and he rubbed small circles on Kibum’s back, trying to sooth the man from some pain that he didn’t yet know. 

Kibum heaved a breath and raised his head, staring into Taemin’s eyes.

“What’s wrong love?” He was asked again.

“There uh, there was an accident at work today…” Kibum said slowly, but quickly added, “I’m fine I promise!” upon seeing Taemin’s eyes start to dart over Kibum’s body as though to find some wound for him to heal. 

“I’m alright,” he started again, “but…” 

He couldn’t seem to do it.  To make the words pass his lips.  Instead he stepped back from Taemin’s embrace and reached into his jacket and brought out the envelope.  He held it up in one hand and revealed his ring-less finger on his other.

“Where’s your…?” Taemin began but then realization began to dawn in those chocolate brown eyes. 

Kibum pulled Taemin down to the couch and tore open one side of the envelope and gently emptied it on the coffee table in front of them.  The horrific sight of his once beautiful ring now torn asunder once again assaulted him as Taemin saw it for the first time. 

Taemin, just as Kibum had done early, reached out with a gentle hand to touch the broken token of affection, as though the reality wasn’t true until he had confirmed it so with his own hand.

Kibum watched at the younger man’s full lips compressed in a hard line and he knew he had predicted it all exactly right – the man was frustrated that the ring was no one, disappointed that it would not stand proudly on the hand of the man he had claimed anymore. 

“How’d it happen?” He asked softly, eyes still focused on the twisted metal as he gingerly picked up one of the freed sapphires between his thumb and forefinger. 

“It slipped off my finger and got smashed by a press in the workroom.” Kibum replied, just as quietly.  It seemed somehow so much simpler to explain than it had been to endure.

Taemin sighed again and put the jewel down.  Looking through the debris it seemed that only that one stone had escaped fully intact. 

Taemin reached out slightly and grasped Kibum’s hands that sat clenched in the elder’s lap. 

“At least you’re okay.” He stated, turning understanding eyes up to his lover. 

“I’m so sorry Taemin, I should have paid better attention!” Kibum started, but Taemin stopped him up with a gentle kiss. 

“It’s alright, accidents happen.”

“How can you be so understanding?” Kibum wondered incredulously.  “I know how expensive that ring was, how much work and effort you put into the design and picking out all of the jewels.”

Taemin shrugged, “It’s insured.”

Kibum stopped up short.  “Insured?”

Taemin laughed, “Yeah, insured.  The company that made the ring will not do any custom orders over $500 without the customer purchasing insurance for the piece as well.  So it’s insured, including against workplace accidents.”  Taemin smiled at Kibum with a laughing look lingering in his eyes.

“Lee Taemin you beautiful, brilliant man!” He laid a loud smooch on his lover’s lips and then collapsed back against the couch as the tension flowed out of him.

“So what do we do now then?”

“I’ll take it in to the shop tomorrow.  All things that are broken can be fixed again.  There are few things that are truly so destroyed that you cannot salvage anything from them.

“Like this sapphire here,” he said, picking up the lone survivor once again, “You wouldn’t even know that it came from a mess like this would you?”

“No I wouldn’t.” He said calmly, studying Taemin now. 

“Baby…” he started, causing Taemin to turn his head back towards Kibum who was sitting further back on the couch.  “Let’s not do a replacement.”

“Hmm?” Taemin looked confused.

“Let’s get couple rings.” He said, grabbing Taemin’s left hand and rubbing the other’s ring finger.  “I was the only one who had a ring this time, and it was beautiful, but I think it would be better if we both had them.  We don’t know when the law will change, if it ever will in our lifetime, and I want people to know not just that I belong to you, but that you belong to me too.”  He explained, looking earnestly into Taemin’s eyes.

Taemin gave a lop-sided smile.  “Alright, we can do that.  But we’ll have to wait until both of us have a clear schedule then to go into the store.”

“That sounds just fine to me.”

The bands were simple.  Thick, plain silver bands that gleamed brightly under any light.  But that didn’t mean that the original ring disappeared.  That surviving sapphire had been made into a simple necklace that Taemin planned to give to Kibum on his birthday. 

Taemin smiled looking down at his ring, content in the knowledge that an identical one sat on Kibum’s finger (and rested on a chain around his neck whenever the other man was in the workroom these days – Taemin had insisted). 

He had been shocked upon seeing the broken ring, but was quite content with this consolation as well.  One broken ring had given them two whole ones instead.  Not a bad deal he thought, and moved back to concentrate on his latest article, twirling the band absent-mindedly and smiling softly to himself, not a bad deal at all.        

I need your help!

Upcoming chapters are going to have some new characters in them (members of family/friends/etc.) who are going to be named, but I don't know to much about Korean names.  If any one is able, please supply me with a couple of names (male and female) and their meanings if at all possible.  I need at least one female name to use in the next one-shot alone and I know that there will be more to come so any help will be grately appreciated.  Please leave them in your comments (I do actually read all of them) or PM me. 

Thanks in advance and I hope you enjoyed this installment.