DITHER | KIM JONGIN

S I X

"i did too, but enough of the sappiness." junmyeon chuckled as they let go of each other. "i managed to convince mom and dad to go to bed so we can talk. come on, we got four years to catch up on, nini."

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the kitchen's florescent lights lit the small room dimly as the rest of the house was quiet and dim.

"do you want some tea, hyung?" jongin asked as the steaming hot water of the kettle was already made beforehand.

"no, i'm good." junmyeon tapped the table slightly, he waited for jongin to get his cup of tea and arrive back at the small circular kitchen table at the center of the room, but he couldn't. his patience ran thin as he waited countless hours of keeping his arrival from jongin since yesterday, just to surprise his beloved brother. "so how's school? is pyeongtaek still the same as it was when i was still going there?"

"hmm?" jongin hummed as he turned only his head. "uhh, school's pretty good so far. but pyeongtaek has changed a bit since you've graduated."

junmyeon watched his younger brother as a small silver spoon twirled around the honey in the teacup when jongin finally sat down at the dinner table.

"how so?" he queried.

"well, the school's uniforms changed slightly." jongjn started, lifting up his tie and shook slightly to prove his point, "the shade of blue is a shade of blue lighter than before." they chuckled. "miss shin transferred schools though, she became an elementary school teacher again at byungcheol."

junmyeon guffawed, "shame, miss shin was pretty hot back then—"

"—hyung!" his younger clicks his tongue in disbelief as a smirk appeared on his lips. "that reminds me, how's jiwoo? any plan on purposing yet? i know mom and dad are just bugging you to get married already."

junmyeon sighs, "yeah, they are and i hate it. i'm still in my early twenties and i still got a lot of time to further pave a path to a successful future."

"studying abroad to become a neurologist seems to be a pretty good start of a successful future, hyung."

"it is... but it's not exactly what i want to do, though." junmyeon confessed as his voice hushed into a whisper. "don't tell mom or dad this, but i really hate studying abroad—or rather studying in something i don't want to do."

jongin paused as his brother finished with a confused look on his face. "then why'd you do it?"

"because mom and dad wanted me to."

"is that why you're here?" jongin voice asked in a hush as he realized he didn't even gulp down a single sip of his oolong tea. "to get away from it for a while?"

he didn't really mean to dramatize it, really. maybe it was the way he was grown up to think that his parents are always right and to look up at his older brother who always followed the rules.

junmyeon hesitated, "kind of... but that's not exactly the point i'm trying to come across from, jongin. i know that it's your last year of high school and i wanted to tell you to make decisions for your future very carefully, okay?"

jongin's gaze went from looking down at his tea to back to his brother. he saw junmyeon's expression of much thought and care was put into this conversation, which he wasn't sure why it was this serious.