CHAPTER TWELVE

"It's a nice place." Jongin concludes as he plops himself down on Taemin's leather couch with flourish, letting out a pleased sigh after positioning himself to a comfortable recline.

"You do know I've been living here for two months already, right?" Taemin glowers at him as he settles himself down on the couch as well. "I can't believe you took that long to come and see me."

Jongin lets out a loud chuckle. "I did get you that new coffee machine you wanted as a house warming gift."

"Excuse you," he replies with a scoff. "That's no excuse for not seeing your brother despite his repeated pleas for you drop by."

Jongin turns to him with a pout but Taemin simply rolls his eyes. At that, Jongin throws his body atop him and winds his arms tightly around Taemin's waist, eliciting an unhappy yelp from the latter.

"Good lord Jongin, get off me!" Taemin grumbles as he tries to squirm out of his brother's grasp. "You're heavy, you ."

"No! I'm not letting go till you forgive me!" He puckers his lips and makes a kissy sound that draws a disgusted groan from Taemin. "If you don't, I'm gonna kiss you."

"Hell no." He gives Jongin a hard shove sends his brother falling back into the cushions, roaring with laughter. "You're so annoying, has anyone told you that?"

"But you love me." Jongin says with a grin, knowing that even if they were having a real argument, he would have already won.

If there was anything good that came out of moving back to Korea years ago, it would be Taemin. His brother was the closest Jongin had to a family since his mother passed away and he made it a point to never take that for granted. He knows full well that Taemin could have easily regarded him with the same disdain as their father had—considering that he was, for all intents and purposes, evidence of his father's infidelity —but Taemin had never once shown any hostility towards him.

Jongin was very reserved as a teenager, shy by nature, and required an awfully long time to warm up to strangers. Compounded by his father's insistence on pretending that he didn't exist (save for the periodic reminders that he regarded Jongin as nothing more than a burden to the family) Jongin kept to himself as far as possible. He never spoke unless he was being addressed and never once dared to voice his opinions about anything whenever he was in his father's house. He conscientiously made an effort to be as nondescript as possible so that he wouldn't upset anyone more than he already had just by existing. Though Jongin had never been struck by the rod, it didn't mean that he went unpunished if he incurred the wrath of anyone in the family.

Needless to say, the first few months he spent in back in his home country were long and lonely. It was a difficult transition period because his father hadn't yet decided what to do about this extra son that he now (very reluctantly) had in his custody. Chairman Lee wasn't just anyone after all. The situation needed to be handled delicately, because news of this lovechild, borne from an extra marital affair no less, moving into his family home was a scandal he could live without.

For this reason, Jongin's existence was to be kept a secret for as long as it took to figure out what to do with him. This inevitably meant that Jongin was practically a prisoner in what was supposed to be his new “home”. He was kept strictly within the four walls of the Lee family compound with no access to anyone from the outside, and the only people who ever spoke to him where those whose job was to take care of him. Furthermore, as it had been decided that Jongin was to be home schooled, the natural consequence which arose was that Jongin had neither friends of his own nor company his age that he could interact with... the only exception being Lee Taemin, of course.

Taemin had been the one to first approach Jongin but even then, he was wary of him at the start. Taemin's mother had taken an instant disliking to Jongin, for reasons that took him a very long time to understand, so he couldn't imagine a possibility that her son would take kindly to having him around either. Nevertheless, despite Jongin's steely resolve to keep him at arm’s length, Taemin was persistent in his attempts to get through to his new brother.

When months of solitude had finally worn him out, Taemin's hard work eventually paid off. Jongin's defences had chipped away and the boy found himself sincerely enjoying Taemin's company… much to his horror.

Admitting that he had grown attached to Taemin ended up becoming a great source of anxiety for Jongin. He had an irrational fear that Taemin would one day change his mind and decide that he didn't want Jongin as part of his life anymore. On his worst days, he would convince himself that Taemin's companionship was nothing but another one of his life's cruel jokes, and it was only a matter of time before Taemin would snap out of it and forsake him.

Taemin knew of Jongin's fear, and though he had never given him a reason to doubt his sincerity, he understood that his apprehension was not unwarranted.

As such, he made it a point to continually reassure Jongin of his place in his heart. He was relentless in his efforts to show Jongin with his actions, along with his words, that he did have a brother in him and that this wasn't going change.

Where no one in the house cared for Jongin's birthday, Taemin made sure that he was always the first to greet him with a cake and a present in tow. He tried to make him feel loved and wanted through everyday actions too, like always making sure to share with Jongin whenever he had delicious snacks to eat or asking Jongin to play with him whenever he got a new video game. These gestures never went unappreciated by Jongin—on the contrary, Jongin was always immensely grateful and he made it a point to show it—however, he still couldn't shake off his doubts.

It was only after an incident occurred following two years of living with the Lee family that Jongin finally become convinced of Taemin's loyalty. Jongin was a forgetful person, far too absent-minded for his own good, but he still remembers those nights in his adolescence with great clarity.

Jongin can't recall the exact things that had been said which triggered him to run away. All he knows for sure was that Taemin's mother had been a lethal combination of upset and tipsy that evening, and the result was harsh words being directed at him from both her and his father. He had been used to things being said carelessly about how he was unwanted in the house. But that night, something struck a hard nerve in him and when he quietly slipped back into his room, he began throwing his things into a backpack.

Jongin never talked back even when he was being treated unfairly. There had been no yelling and no tears on his part, he had simply kept his head hung low and waited for his unwarranted scolding to he over. To the untrained eye, it would appear as if he were deceptively unaffected by it but Taemin knew better. He hadn't spent the past two years with the boy and not learnt a thing or two about him. (Jongin would never admit to it, but to this day, Taemin remained as one of the people who understood him best.)

When Taemin went up to Jongin's bedroom afterwards and found that he wasn't there, the first thing he did was to pack his own backpack and go after him. Jongin remembers how enraged he was when he saw that Taemin had followed him, not for any reason but the fact that he would have gotten in so much trouble for doing so and the last thing that Jongin wanted was for Taemin to face a tongue lashing because of him. However, Taemin was blind to his reasoning and remained adamant that he would only go back if Jongin did too and if he didn't, then Jongin would just have to take Taemin along with him—much to the latter's chagrin.

Jongin remembers that night distinctly because it had been the first time that he had seen Taemin get angry at him. Along the years thereafter, they had squabbles with each other which escalated into (rare) shouting match, but that night remains blazoned in Jongin's memory as the first and only time Taemin had truly gotten furious at him... and it hadn't been because Jongin had ran away, it had been because Jongin didn't want him to come along.

Taemin had been at the brink of tears as he yelled at Jongin in the playground in the middle of the night, unconcerned that he might have been disturbing the residents in the area. "We're brothers!" He had exclaimed, exasperated with Jongin's obstinance. "We only have each other and what that means is that we have to stick together!"

"Brothers..." Jongin had mummured, dazed by Taemin's unprecedented outburst, suddenly feeling an all too familiar sting in his own eyes. 

"Yes!" He replied with an indignant huff. "You're my brother! So if you're gonna get yourself into deep then we're gonna do it toge—“ He didn't get to finish his sentence because Jongin had lunged himself on him, trapping him in a tight bear hug to which Taemin quickly returns. "No matter what happens," he promised, patting Jongin's back as the boy had begun shaking from the sudden onslaught of tears. "We on each other's team."

Jongin had simply nodded in response, too overcome with emotion to say anything else but it was from that moment on that he finally dared to call Taemin his brother too.

Of course, expecting no less from the Lee family, the boys were found and dragged back to the house come daybreak. Fuelled by adrenaline and naïveté that was characteristic of fifteen year olds, they had carelessly forgotten about the heavy surveillance system throughout the estate. The cameras installed everywhere had caught the boys making their escape on film and of course, this had been promptly referred to Chairman Lee.

Taemin's mother had been quick to scream at Jongin for being a bad influence on her son but before it got too far, Taemin quickly spoke up.

"It was my idea." He said, unfaltering.

"The footage shows Jongin slipping out of the house first though." Chairman Lee had pointed out, his voice stern but expression otherwise impassive. 

"He didn't want to, but I made him go first because it would seem too suspicious if we left together." Taemin turns to give Jongin a smile before reaching down to grab his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I was sick of you and mother always making decisions for me. I wanted a break but I didn't want to do it alone so I took Jongin with me. He had nothing to do with it."

Too stunned into silence and worried about what would happen if he called Taemin out on his lie, Jongin held his piece and squeezed Taemin's fingers back so hard that they probably went white. 

Chairman Lee regards the boys for several long seconds… ”Alright.” He finally says with a dismissive wave of his hand as he stood up and began to make his way out of the room to deal with presumably more important matters. "Taemin, you will be punished accordingly. Jongin, get back to your room."

If Chairman Lee knew that Taemin was lying, he never showed it and the incident was never mentioned by him again. However, whilst it may have been relegated to the back of everyone else's memory, it was something that Jongin could never forget.

Late the following night, when he was sure that the rest of the household was already deep in slumber, Jongin snuck into Taemin's room and crawled under his covers.

"Why did you do that?" He asked, voice small, as he stared at the ceiling.

"You're my brother." Taemin simply replied, too groggy from being awoken before promptly falling back asleep—

Jongin is snapped out of his reverie by Taemin's voice. "It's good to be back in Seoul! Singapore was great, but nowhere quite like home I'd say."

"I still can't believe he kicked you out in the first place." Until now, Jongin was genuinely taken aback by their father's reaction. Taemin had always been doted on as the heir to his empire, and for this reason, throwing him out of the house was the last thing that Jongin expected Chairman Lee to do. Taemin had been "exiled" from the Lee Holdings's Seoul headquarters to run the Singapore branch of their multinational conglomerate for six months. It was only now that Taemin had suddenly been instructed to return back to the country to deal with an "urgent matter" of which both Taemin and Jongin had any clue about.

"But for now, I suppose no news is good news." Jongin continues with a shrug. In many ways, he doesn't think he got the shorter end of the stick by being explicitly excluded from the family business. Chairman Lee had made it clear from a long time ago that Jongin was free to do whatever he wanted as long as he moved out of the house for good (once he was legal) and never bothered them (unless it was absolutely necessary). In exchange, Jongin found his college fees, along with all of his day-to-day expenses (and much more than Jongin ever cared to ask for), fully paid for and he thought that this was an arrangement that he could live with and actually preferred—not so much for the money, but for the freedom. It would always be better than being an outsider in his own home anyway, he thinks.

“Let’s be real here. The only reason why I haven't been kicked out of the company yet is because it would cause too much of a ruckus with the media." Taemin lets out a sardonic laugh. "The one thing that matters most to our father is his reputation. God forbid anything happen to our family name."

Jongin couldn't say otherwise, that was their father after all. Taemin had hit t