Quiet | Seungjin

10

Felix and Jisung's plan of love:

1. Talk to him in class 

2. Text him out of class 

3. Ask to hang out (with or without us if you're confident enough) 

4. Keep hanging out 

5. Fall in love

Hyunjin looked at the list his friends made him in disbelief. He thought by plan they were going to come up with something that could actually work. "What the hell is this? This is literally just getting to know somebody."

"Ok...we may have had some trouble trying to come up with a list—but—Felix said he was brainstorming something else," Jisung defended as he joined Felix on the bed.

A grin spead across Felix's face as he pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket. "okay so you need to be friends with both Shuhua and Seungmin. If your friends with her I'm sure he'd want to be friends with you. And yes I know you think don't like her because you think she's in love with him too—but I honestly think it's the only way."

"Well how am I even supposed to become friends with her? We're on two different sides of the classroom." Hyunjin interjected, not too sure with the plan Felix was so sure in.

But the younger had an answer for everything, "That's where Jisung comes in. He sits next to Shuhua and we all know he can make friends with everybody." A small sigh came out of him before he continued, "I know it's going to take some convincing for Chan, Changbin, and Minho, but they could join our friend group."

Jisung quickly shook his head, "Innie isn't going to like that. He's going to think a girl will threaten his life place as the cutest one in our group."

Although Hyunjin was grateful that his friends cared so much about his love life, he still had his doubts. "As much as I appreciate the thought that went into this Lix, I don't think we can just throw Seungmin into a group of loud idiots. He could barely look at us when we were in a group together, he's a little more delicate than you think."

"Then why don't we just become friends with him? Since Hyunjin is a little bitch and can't do it himself, it can just be us. Then Jeongin won't feel threatened and Seungmin doesn't have to be scared."

The eldest considered the new idea Jisung proposed. There would be a lot less people to scare him, but there was also still three boys he needed to befriend. And at this point, it felt almost impossible to get Seungmin to notice him let alone become friends. "I guess we could try. I'm not counting on anything to happen...but It won't hurt anything to just see what'll happen."

"Hyunjin—oh hey Jilix—anyway I'm going to the clinic if you want to come? They need some help tonight."

A smile spread across Hyunjin's face as he heard his mom's words. "Do you think Mr. Choi will let me intern with her again?"

"I'm sure she wouldn't care, but if not, the floors could always be vacuumed."

The boy just shrugged before turning to wave to his friends, "There's food in the fridge if you get hungry."

✨✨✨

A smile spread across Seungmin's face as he watched his brother struggle to get his suitcase past the door way. The man was supposed to have been there a week ago, but he got caught up with things at his university. But all that mattered was that he was here now.

Wonpil turned around and couldn't help but smile himself at the sight of his little brother. "You've gotten taller since the last time I've seen you."

"Hi..." the boy whispered, a sense of pride washing over him as the words made it past his lips. He was almost too quiet to hear, but it was a step in the right direction.

The elder froze, not having heard his brothers voice but once or twice since it happened. He couldn't stop the tears from gathering in the corners of his eyes as he fanned himself, "gosh it's good to be home."

The voices in Seungmin's head were running wild, they were screaming at him to run away, telling him that he couldn't trust anybody. But for one second he needed them to stop, he needed his brother to know that he did trust him. He took a hesitant step forward and breathed out all of his anxieties before wrapping his arms around the elder torso.

Wonpil immediately returned the embrace, wrapping his arms securely around the boy and pressing his lips gently to the top of his head. It felt like the last time he'd held his brother was when he was just a little baby. Back then he was so happy...and Wonpil just wished that he had protected him the way a big brother was supposed to. Maybe if he had, the boy would still be happy. "I'm sorry I wasn't there Seungmin. I'm so sorry for all of it."

Seungmin felt his own eyes well with tears as he listened to his brother. Everybody was always apologizing to him, but the truth is, It was his own fault for not being strong enough. Nobody else was to blame but himself. He pulled away and wiped at his eyes, "it's my fault," he said quietly.

Frowning at those words, the elder quickly shook his head, "it isn't. You were just a kid...I'm so sorry. I should've been there to protect you."

A small sniffle came out of the boy before he let his brother hold him once again. He gently laid his head down on the elders shoulder, forgetting about all of his fears.

Maybe nobody was to blame. They had all spent years drowning themselves in the what if's, but maybe there was nothing any of them could've done to change what happened. 

The boys' parents watched from the the doorway with soft smiles on their faces. They could both tell that their baby was doing better. They just hoped he continued to do better. 

———

Thanks for reading 💖