Chapter 33.
Enamouredchapter 33.
Joonmyeon had appeared to be enjoying himself - he had been involved in the conversation, no sign of distaste or discomfort on his face when speaking or being spoken to. It was especially funny to see the way in which Jongdae, Minseok and Yifan interacted with him - all past issues appeared to have been forgiven and the men welcomed (more like painfully initiated) Joonmyeon with open arms. At first, he had seemed a little overwhelmed - but that was only to be expected when you were suddenly the centre of attention of a trio like that of Jongdae, Minseok and Yifan. The combined presence of their personalities was no small force - it was no wonder that Joonmyeon had spent the first half an hour of their celebratory drink outing severely frazzled looking. It was only towards the end of the night that Kyungsoo began to notice signs of wear on the usually composed looking mans face - every now and again Joonmyeon would glance down at his phone and the edges of his eyes would tighten minutely, his lips twitching down and eyebrows creasing. Joonmyeon was extremely skilled on schooling expressions, however, so it only took a matter of milliseconds before his face was once more composed.
Still, the later it got in the night and the closer Kyungsoo paid attention, the more pronounced Joonmyeon’s apparent discontentment got - to the point where even the others began to notice.
“Something wrong, Joonmyeon?” Chanyeol asked quizzically as Joonmyeon placed his phone, facedown, back onto the table besides his half empty glass of wine (“Classy as always” Jongdae had said with a roll of his eyes when Joonmyeon had first ordered it). It was a motion that had grown progressively frequent as the night continued.
“Sorry, I’m being so antisocial and rude.” Joonmyeon frowned at himself, running a hand through his hair before sighing. “It’s my brother.”
Reflexively, Kyungsoo tensed. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice - they had all focussed on Joonmyeon - since making the decision to open up, Joonmyeon had been perfectly frank about his family situation and relationship to Jongin - all the men present were now in on the previously undisclosed information which made discussion on the topic a considerable amount easier. No more skirting around edges - everything was out in the open.
“He’s been acting out of sorts for a while now, I’m worried about him. He keeps saying he’s fine but he’s become withdrawn. I try to check up on him but its difficult - he hasn’t even been responding to my texts like usual, if at all.”
“He still at the age where behaviour can be a little unstable, perhaps thats why he’s been difficult.” Yifan frowned, stuffing a now cold potato wedge into his mouth.
Joonmyeon snorted. “I don’t think thats it - I think we all know what Jongin is like when he’s being difficult” All the teachers couldn’t help but agree - Kim Jongin had been the textbook definition of “difficult” for most of his schooling life - obviously what Joonmyeon was describing was something different, something more.
“We will never be able to decipher the mysteries that are teenage hormonal fluctuations, Joonmyeon.” Minseok said simply before suddenly turning to Kyungsoo. “You tutored him for most of this year, Soo. Any insights?”
Kyungsoo, who had sunk down in his seat throughout the duration of the conversation, jumped upright when the spotlight was on him. “Uh, not particularly? I mean, Jongin was always incredibly sharp, so much so that sometimes it was a little jarring.” That was putting it lightly - “I noticed a lot of similarities between you and him though, actually.” He said, directing his words to Joonmyeon - a good diversion to get attention back off him.
Joonmyeon laughed sharply. “Probably inherited from our father.” He sighed then, once, wearily. “I might go check up on him before heading home. I don’t like the thought of him all alone in that house when he’s like this.”
Jongdae hummed in agreement. “That’s probably a good idea. Letting him know you’re concerned is one of the best things you can do to show him that he’s cared for.” Chanyeol, Minseok and Yifan nodded in agreement.
Kyungsoo looked down at the almost empty bottle of beer that he held between his hands, a slight frown on his face. He knew Jongin to an extent - he knew that the teen was lonely and insecure beneath the veneer of hardness he wore. Knowing someone to an extent was always the issue, though - no matter how much you felt you knew someone, you could never be sure of the true depths of their heart —
“Consider this me putting myself out there. I like you. I don’t now what that means for me. I don’t know what that means for you. I don’t even know what it means to like someone. But I’m quite sure thats how I feel anyway.”
Kyungsoo’s eyes snapped open, and for a moment he simply sat, feeling foolish. Perhaps he had been looking at things incorrectly: perhaps knowing someone wholly wasn't the goal - perhaps it was more to do with knowing the most of the true aspects of someone as possible. He had spent so long focussing on bad things and feeling insecure because of them when he could have instead worked more of picking the real Jongin out. His Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed nervously. The voices of his friends seemed distant, they had all returned to their conversations —
“Hey, Joonmyeon”
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