Forgotten Memories

Their Sad Scenario

10: Their Sad Scenario

Dinner was composed of complete silence.

Every member at the table could feel the cold atmosphere, except for Onew, who was too fascinated by his chicken to notice.

It was as if Minho was having a showdown with his food, the way he concentrated. Taemin just watched their Leader Onew as he clumsily played with his food. Jonghyun and Key knew what to do now, but they were still wondering who was going to break the ice.

Manager Hyung had found the atmosphere so intimidating, he'd decided that he was going to ditch them for a fast food restaurant.

Key sighed and set down his silverware, catching the attention of every person in the room. He had already realized that his boyfriend wasn't going to make the first move. So, as always, the Almighty Kibum was on his own.

“So, Taemin,” Key sighed and smiled warmly into the surprised eyes of his dongsaeng by 2 years. “How's school?”

“Um,” Taemin was still shocked that Key had attempted to slice through the tension, which he personally believed, couldn't have been cut by a chainsaw. “It's fine. I got straight A's on my last grading report.”

“That's nice,” Jonghyun rushed in to help his lover, adding an obviously-fake smile to his comment.

Onew just sat there, slightly shaking his head in admiration for the two brave souls who had attempted to make dinner the least bit enjoyable.

“And Minho, you're almost done with high school,” Key turned to his other dongsaeng. “How's school going?”

The said teenager glanced up at Key's pitiful struggle to create a better mood. “Good.”

Cold. That was the only word to describe the way Minho shook him off. It seemed like the usually timid and quiet boy had become an indifferent statue overnight.

“Okay,” Jonghyun muttered as he turned back to the maknae. “We've been living together for almost 2 months and we still know almost nothing about each other! We should enlighten each other!”

Key pointed at Taemin at the same time that Onew yelled, “Oh me! Me! Pick ME!”

Plain-spoiler.

“Sure Onew,” Key's lip twitched as he gave permission to their childish Leader. “Start us off.”

“Well,” Onew rubbed his chin as he put down his chicken wing. “My real name is Jinki! But you guys already know that... I love to play hacky-sack and humor people with my body gags-”

“Okay,” Jonghyun interrupted, once again putting on that fake smile to take the attention off his rudeness. “Taemin, it's your turn.”

“Um,” Taemin looked down and began. “I was born in Dongbong-gu, Seoul and I have one older brother... I'm a fan of Michael Jackson and-”

“Wait,” Jonghyun interrupted once again. “You hardly told us anything about your childhood! You have to go in depth.”

“I didn't get to go in depth-” Onew complained and was stopped with a death glare by Key.

“Fine,” Taemin sighed and continued. “Well I was born in a working-class family so life wasn't bad, but that didn't mean it was great... I often played video games at home or read magazines...”

“How about when you were a baby?” Jonghyun bounced in his seat, excited to solve the mystery.

Taemin, in response, gave his Hyung a weirded-out stare. Thankfully, he continued.

“My Dad was a workaholic and my Mom was the stay-at-home type,” Taemin paused and thought deeper. “She loved to socialize with the neighbors so I met new people every single day-”

Key took note of the way Minho's eyes flashed up at Taemin's face the moment he said that. So they had been neighbors...

“Taemin, did you have any neighbors that you were really close to you?” Key questioned naturally.

“Of course,” the maknae nodded. “There was Esther, Eunhye, and-”

The middle schooler cut off all of a sudden and a faraway look came into his eyes.

Minho was staring at him so intensely that Key worried that he might burn a hole into his youngest dongsaeng.

“And?” Jonghyun prodded softly.

“I forgot his name.”

There was a flash of anger in Minho's eyes but it evaporated into sadness in a flash. “I'm finished.”

Minho threw his dishes into the sink as he escaped to his dorm. Key just watched him, fully understanding what the scenario was. Taemin was confused at his Hyung's reaction but tried not to let it get to him.

So he's angry that Taemin forgot him, Key smiled at the thought. But if they were really close, what could've made our maknae forget him?

Forget him to the point that he didn't recognize him and still hasn't?