3:36 PM

"LEE TAEMIN!" Jongin screams, sprinting past a newsstand and knocking down someone who lets out a yelp and falls over, dropping their coffee and drenching the newspaper she was reading with the light-brown liquid. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Jongin says, stopping immediately and backtracking to squat beside the woman whose hair is falling in a curtain in front of her face and blocking her face from view. "I'm so, so sorry, I'll pay for the newspaper... and the coffee... I'm sorry, please forgive me!"

By this time, Taemin's joined Jongin, still hovering out of arm's reach as he playfully shakes his head at the taller male, and Jongin mimes strangling the air in front of him before the woman looks up at Jongin, ignoring the coffee slowly staining her skirt, and says cheerfully, "Hey, Jonginnie!" Taemin freezes as soon as the woman speaks, joking grin falling off of his face, but Jongin doesn't notice, too busy gaping at his older sister.

"Kaerin-noona!" Jongin shouts finally, once he's recovered from his initial shock, and throws his arms around the female, who returns the embrace eagerly. "I thought you weren't coming back until next month!"

"I wasn't, but then I got a research paper from a professor in Korea, so I came back. I thought I'd surprise you," Kaerin says, beaming. 

"Well, I'm surprised," Jongin laughs.

"Good," the woman says, then pauses and glares at him. "And you'd better pay for my stuff."

"What? You're going to make your only brother, who you haven't seen in months, pay for your newspaper? Such a cruel, cruel noona."

"Well, your friend can pay for it as well, I guess," Kaerin says, turning around to face Taemin, who hasn't moved since the start of the conversation.

"I... Noona..." Taemin breathes, and Kaerin stills. 

"Hi, Taemin. Long time no see," she says finally, all traces of earlier childish glee gone.

Jongin looks between the two, confusion evident on his features. "You two know each other?" 

"Yeah," Taemin says vaguely, and then exhales, ruffling his hair. "Shall we go to my house?"

3:57 PM

The elevator ride up to Taemin's apartment comprises of Jongin's confused glances between the two others, Kaerin's nervous humming and Taemin, who stares out of the window in preoccupied silence. "Taeminnie?" Jongin asks eventually, just before the elevator bell dings to signal that they're at the 12th floor, and Taemin grabs both siblings' hands and drags them down the hallway and into his apartment. "T-Taeminnie!" Kai manages, stumbling in after his sister, whose legs look ready to give way. 

The shorter male pulls the two to his couch and sits them down on it, then flops down onto his armchair with an expression that's a combination of confusion and sadness. "Explain, please," Taemin says finally, speaking to Kaerin but looking at the ceiling.

"Yes, do explain," Jongin says pointedly, staring at his sister. 

"I'm sorry, okay?" Kaerin says, looking down at her lap. "Jongin, do you remember when I said that I'd gotten a boyfriend? That was Taeminnie. It was a while ago, and we were in the same class two years for our art major. We were dating for about a year and a half, then something happened -"

"You happened, you cheated on me with that guy -" Taemin bursts out, eyes shining scarily.

"Yes, and I'm sorry, we'd been over this, hadn't we?" Kaerin cries desperately. "I'm sorry, I really am, but -"

"I loved you," Taemin says quietly, and Jongin's heart stops.

"I know," the woman whispers. "I know. And I'm so, so sorry. It was wrong, so wrong of me. And I know I shouldn't have run away, but I was confused. I know it sounds like I'm just making excuses, and I am. I'm sorry, Taeminnie. I'm not going to ask if we can start over again, but I do ask that you'll forgive me?" 

There's silence for a while as Jongin stares at his sister with both disbelief and amazement, said sister gazing at Taemin apprehensively, before Taemin stands up suddenly, pushing his armchair back forcefully, running his hands through his hair so that his fringe covers his eyes. The other two look up at him, startled, before the dancer darts into his room, slamming the door. "Taemin!" Jongin shouts, jumping up and running to the door before looking back at Kaerin, who smiles weakly.

"Sorry that my visit turned out this way. I'll go now, yeah?" Kaerin says softly, then gets up, and before Jongin can say anything, is out of the door. 

What do I do now? Jongin thinks to himself, listening to the silence in the apartment.

4:16 PM

Taemin slides down the door until he's almost sitting, his shirt riding up above his waist, but he doesn't care. Stupid, stupid, how could you have said those things?! And in front of Jongin... he groans and throws his head back so it thunks against the door, hissing as the oh-so-familiar sting of tears burns his eyes, but he won't let them fall, and so he closes his eyes, listening to the silence in the apartment.

But who would see them?

There's nobody in the apartment, the deafening silence is a testimony to that, and so Taemin blinks once, twice, and the warm wetness on his cheeks is oddly relieving, and so he sniffs, letting out a whimper, and suddenly there's a knock on the door.

Taemin gasps, whips his sleeve over his face, mind calculating the odds of escaping from the possibly-axe-murderer and not dying by a fall out of a 12th floor window, and then Jongin's voice says his name softly, and it should, by the laws of physics, be muffled by the door, but it's not. "Taemin," Jongin says, loud and clear as if he's sitting right beside the dancer. Taemin's mind stops, tears still trickling down his cheeks, and he can't help it, he lets out a sob, and immediately Jongin's calling Taemin's name again. "Taemin!" Jongin shouts, alarmed. "Are... are you crying?"

"No," Taemin chokes out, burying his face in his knees and breathing in slowly, a long, shaking breath that evidently does nothing to assuage Jongin's concerns. 

"You are crying," Jongin says firmly, jiggling the doorknob. "Let me in, Taeminnie, please."

"No," Taemin repeats, softer this time because he doesn't really know if he even wants Jongin to go away. 

"Please, Taeminnie," Jongin pleads, and his voice cracks on Taemin's name. "I can't kick down the door because you're probably sitting in front of it. Don't cry alone, please don't."

And so Taemin lets himself fall onto his side, lying there with his cheek pressed to the carpet for a while before he gets up slowly, lethargically, and presses that one button that separates him and Jongin. The door opens as Taemin crawls slowly over to his bed and presses his face into the blankets, feeling his tears slowly wetting the soft fabric before he's enveloped in a strong, warm hug. "Jongin," Taemin breathes, and again, by the laws of physics, his voice should be muffled, but to Jongin it seems louder than it ever was.

"I love you," Jongin says into Taemin's neck, and the smaller male shivers as Jongin's breath ghosts over his skin, goosebumps erupting when the feeling fades. Taemin turns, snaking his arms around Jongin's waist and nuzzling into Jongin's shirt, and Jongin doesn't mind that he can feel a wet patch above his heart where Taemin's tears are soaking into his shirt. 

"I love you," Taemin mumbles into Jongin's chest, and thinks to himself that maybe this is what he needed at that time, but it doesn't matter because Jongin is here, now, and he wouldn't have it any other way. 

Not for the world.

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

it's me again 

(sorry)

here you go

They'll end up kissing on live television one day I swear

This chapter was kinda sad, I'm sorry... (I cry) (inside)

aww thank you Jongin

omg they're so cute OTL

I'll give you a gifset now 'cause I'm nice that way

lol they're so funny 

Ok bye hope you enjoyed leave me a comment!

~KimSeRin