Joonmyun wanted this evening to be about his brother; it was his brother who had been a part of the press conference, it was his brother who looked to get a promotion with this merger, it was all about his brother and Joonmyun wanted to leave it this way. Being in the same room as his parents since the evening of their disastrous meal however told Joonmyun that this evening was going to be about anything but his brother.

“Oh, hello Joonmyun” his mum greets flatly when she sees her son stood there

“Mother” Joonmyun replies just as monotonously and sends a strained smile to his brother when he sees him staring at their interaction.

“W-what are you two doing here?” he asks

“We came here to see you of course!” his mum gushes “I can’t tell you just how proud we are! You, our son, working alongside Choi Siwon!”

Joonmyun hates it when his mum does this. He’s used to her always praising his brother and never sparing him another glance, but he hates it when she deliberately gushes over him louder than she would usually do because she knows that other people around them will hear her, she knows Joonmyun is there and she’s doing it to show him that he could this much attention if he had done what his parents approved of.

“What about Joonmyun?” his brother tries “He had already interviewed Choi Siwon and Wu Yifan before the company merged with them!”

Joonmyun appreciates the effort, he really does, but both of them know that no amount of effort is ever going to be enough for his parents to take even the slightest interest in him. Still, there’s no harm in trying.

“That’s lovely, really” his mum replies just as flatly as her greeting to Joonmyun “But it’s hardly worth anything compared to the achievement and probably promotion you are about to get!”

“Mum, he’s your son!” Joonmyun’s brother says in shock, not quite believing that she was talking about her son like that.

“It’s fine” he assures his brother “You get used to it after the third time she manages to insult you”

“Joonmyun that’s no way to talk to your mother!” his father snaps and Joonmyun faces him with a straight face

“Of course, I forgot you two could do nothing wrong. It was always me who was in the wrong in this family”

“What is the matter with you?” his mum asks “We are your parents! We are your parents and you have the audacity to speak to us like this?”

“Well you’ve never been good parents to me have you?” Joonmyun asks with a laugh

“I will not have this conversation here” his mum stresses in a hushed whisper “I will not have this moment ruined for your brother over your childish behaviour”

“This is what I mean!” Joonmyun exclaims “You always run away from the problem! We could easily sort this out like the adults we are supposed to be and instead you come up with excuse after excuse to not face the fact that you’re in the wrong!”

“In the wrong?” his father asks “We can assure you that we have not done anything wrong! We have been good parents, firm parents, aiming to raise our sons correctly”

“Then why do I get the feeling you always spent your time on him instead of me?”

“We had a goal set out for you both. Your future was sorted, it was to provide financial stability for you two when we weren’t able to provide for you! Instead for ran off and started this silly journalism career of yours!” his mum argues.

“I did that because it was something I wanted to do” Joonmyun says “It was something that I enjoyed doing. It was the only thing I could freely choose because I didn’t have you two dictating my life, I enjoy my job and where my career is going. Can’t you two be happy for me?”

“Happy? How can we be happy when you’re off doing this? Look at you, you were never the smart one were you? It only proves when instead of being up there with your brother for this merger you’re merely sat in the audience as a spectator. What next? Going back to sit behind a desk and write all about it on a computer? Pathetic”

His mum’s words never usually hurt him. He was able to perfectly block them out and never let them get to him. Something about this, hearing how she really thought of it, struck a nerve in Joonmyun. It hurt him. It hurt him in ways he never thought it would. He couldn’t be around them any longer, he didn’t want to argue with them and ruin the moment for his brother, deciding to take his leave.

“I’m going to leave” he tells him “Don’t worry about me. Enjoy the rest of your evening”

He shoots his brother a shaky smile, but it’s obvious he doesn’t miss the tear that slips out and falls down Joonmyun’s cheek before he’s turning around and quickly walking out. He wants to go after his brother and comfort him, but he knows that as long as his parents are there he’s powerless to do anything…

Joonmyun hasn’t cried since the day of his grandfather’s funeral almost five years ago. He’s never cried over any harsh comments his parents have ever said to him because he’s effectively use to it all. The harshness of how his mum had spoken to him however finally made Joonmyun concede to tears. He was a fully grown adult and yet his mum could still hurt him and make him cry like this.

“God’s sake Joonmyun you’re an adult” he scolds himself as he rubs his eyes harshly “Stop crying like this!”

“Crying is good though, let’s you know you’re still a human”

Joonmyun had picked an area to go to away from everybody else where they wouldn’t see him cry. He thought nobody would be able to find him, but then again Yifan was nobody, he was this annoying somebody who always found some way of butting into Joonmyun’s life.

“What do you want?” Joonmyun asks, turning himself away so that Yifan can’t see him

“Came to give you this” he replies, walking over and holding out a tissue “If you keep rubbing your hands over your eyes like that you’ll end up rubbing them too hard”

“I don’t need anything from you” Joonmyun spits out “Now go away and leave me alone!”

“You’ll understand why I find it difficult to believe that the tears running down your cheeks aren’t the best indicator in telling me that you’re fine” Yifan points out, still holding out the tissue and doesn’t retract his hand until Joonmyun rips the damn thing out of his hand.

Taking the tissue like he wanted him to, Joonmyun now hopes Yifan will leave him alone, but instead he stays there, there’s nothing to be said and yet he stays there as if expecting Joonmyun to just start talking to him like nothing’s wrong.

“What do you want Yifan?” he asks tiredly

“I don’t want anything. It’s obvious something’s upset you and I know we don’t exactly like each other but just use me as…” he begins trying to think of the right word

“A shoulder to cry on?” Joonmyun offers

“Oh God no, that’s way to cheesy” Yifan rejects “As someone to rant and vent to until you feel better”

It feels like Joonmyun’s in a dream; was Yifan actually willingly offering him the chance to just stand there and rant to him? Surely there had to be some sort of catch as to why he was doing it… but it wasn’t everyday Joonmyun was going to get an offer like this and he would rather much prefer to get everything that was bothering him out in the open rather than bottle it all up.

“Oh nothing much really, just the usual parents favouring my brother because he did what they wanted and I did what I wanted to” he begins, laughing bitterly “You get used to it after a while but that doesn’t mean it hurts; seeing them get so happy over his achievements, how proud they look whenever he talks about work, how it’s all about him and never about me”

Yifan stands there silently listening to every word coming out of Joonmyun’s mouth. He stands there listening intently and it doesn’t look like he’s going to say anything to mock him about what he has said so far.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love my brother, in fact we’re pretty close… but with the amount of attention, love, and affection he gets… you just can’t help but be envious of him sometimes. It’s not fair, it’s just…” Joonmyun tries to keep it together, but every word that comes out of his mouth hurts his heart just as much each time, it’s only inevitable that tears start to fall down his cheeks again.

“Why don’t they love me?” he asks before he begins to properly cry, taking a look at Yifan and laughing in disbelief “I can’t believe I actually told you all of this… why would you care anyway?”

The only noise made between them is the sound of Joonmyun sniffling and trying to stop himself from crying too loudly. It doesn’t look like Yifan is going to say or do anything, so Joonmyun goes to thank him for listening to him- even though he did cry, it did help get a lot off of his chest. He doesn’t get a chance to say his thanks however as Yifan reaches over and pulls Joonmyun into a hug. It’s nothing stiff or awkward, it feels genuine and warm and Yifan holds him and it shocks Joonmyun, he must be dreaming by this point, there was no way Wu Yifan was hugging him like this!

Nonetheless, he gets the message Yifan’s trying to give by doing this gesture and he doesn’t pull away. In fact, since his grandmother had died, Joonmyun doesn’t remember the last time he had been held like this. It only makes him cry harder…

Okay, I know I'm putting poor Joonmyun through quite a lot, but it leads nicely to the next chapter that I have been so excited to write since I began writing the last chapter... that's how excited I am! Eee I can't wait!!

Until then!!