How My Brother And I Kidnapped An Assassin

13. A Mystery

"Are you enjoying your trip here in Korea right now?" Jisung asked him, curious. "Any wonderful people you met?"

"Yes, definitely," Hendery said. "I've been thinking of spending a few days here in SM Town, if I am honest, granted, if you and the royal family don't mind. I didn't come here to create conflict, your honor."

Again, like Jisung said earlier - his suspicions were not being cleared. But like Yuta said, he didn't believe that the Chinese royal family was behind the assassination attempt. And Yuta was always right.

Jisung gave Hendery a small smile. "I see no trouble," he said. "There's a lot of wonderful stuff to find in this town."

***

During the entirety of breakfast, Johnny noticed that Donghyuck hadn't spoken to him once.

To be fair, Donghyuck didn't speak much during breakfast, just handing Mark food here or there, since the latter was too polite to request anything. He also answered any small questions that Xiaojun would ask him, those types of small talk people always did. Other than that... nothing.

Johnny shouldn't have been surprised - Donghyuck has been really quiet these past two years, keeping to himself, but he would at least talk to him. They were brothers, after all, not strangers.

Donghyuck had been a bit more social since they came here, in Johnny's opinion, but it was probably due to Donghyuck's intense curiosity about everything. His need to explore big, unknown places was never satisfied since he never did anything.

After breakfast, when Donghyuck finished helping wash the dishes, he went back to the guest room that he and Johnny were sharing at the moment, ready to spend the day locked inside. The usual.

"Hey, Haechan, where are you going?" Johnny said, calling after him. He was the only one who used the nicknames they were supposed to be using during their stay here; no one else paid attention to it. "Hyuck!"

"I'm tired, let me read," Donghyuck said, shrugging. "My mouth hurts too much to talk anyways," he lied, closing the room door shut.

Yesterday, Johnny had caught Donghyuck and that Mark superhuman thing eating a dessert that they apparently made, and while Johnny did want to scold Donghyuck about it, the dessert, or more importantly, what it was caught his eye.

He remembers his mom always making it in the past, but Johnny never had the urge to really eat them; it was just a fancy way of making an apple pie, in his opinion. He didn't like apple pies when he was a kid, not even the ones Taeil did (not that they were bad, of course - this is Taeil we're talking about), but he couldn't help but regret not trying at least one of his mother's desserts before she passed away.

Yeah, maybe Donghyuck was in a sad mood because of that. Or maybe because Johnny yelled at him for being too close to Mark again.

"It's good that Donghyuck likes to read," Xiaojun said, interrupting Johnny's thoughts. "You never really read in school."

Johnny glared at him, scoffing. "I totally read in school," he said, trying to think of the last book he had read. "I'm not stupid."

"No, you never read," Xiaojun said again. "You always told me how you hated it and wished Donghyuck would read more instead of playing games all the time."

Huh. That sounds like something Johnny would have said. "He doesn't really play games," Johnny admitted. "He just... does his own thing, I guess. Maybe I'm too old for him or something."

Xiaojun shook his head, stacking some clean plates to put away. "Nah, he just looks lonely," he said. "It's obvious, I don't recall you ever mentioning at least one friend that he has."

"He totally has friends," Johnny pointed out. "He has Doyoung, he has Taeil-"

"Johnny, those are your friends," Xiaojun said. "You have them, you have me, you have Ten, you have Si Cheng, and Donghyuck doesn't have any. How is he supposed to be social?"

Johnny glanced back at the hallway, where Donghyuck had shut himself inside the room. "He can make friends," he muttered. "Donghyuck can totally make friends."

***

"I can't make PASTA!!!" Jaemin screeched, frantically searching for a wooden spoon. "It's burning-"

Renjun grabbed the spoon in front of him and stirred the pasta twice before setting it down again. "The water is barely boiling," he said.

Taeyong glazed at Jaehyun, who was busy working at his desk despite being the crack of dawn. "I thought pasta wasn't breakfast food?" he asked the two. "Usually Jaehyun has some french toast sticks."

"It's not, I'm just in the mood for fettuccine," Renjun said. "Did you get the sour cream, Jaemin?"

"Yes I did, matter of fact, I got extra so that we can eat tacos for dinner," Jaemin said proudly. "I even invited Jeno over. His favorites are chorizo but no cilantro because everyone in this country is a wimp- hey, Taeyong, tell Jaehyun dinner will be ready soon," Jaemin told him.

Renjun frowned. "The pasta is literally uncooked."

"Keyword, soon, Renjun," Jaemin said. "You tell Jaehyun soon and he shows up an hour later, might as well tell him ahead of time."

Taeyong opened one of the small cabinets, pulling out a jar. "Jaehyun needs to eat something, though," he said. "Knowing him, he's going to complain about not being hungry."

He pulled out a couple of biscuits that he had made the night before and wrapped them in a cheesecloth, hoping Jaemin would eat some. Something small was better than nothing, after all.

"At this rate, you have to force food down his throat," Renjun said, shrugging. "Kind of weird, since he's always preaching about healthy habits and whatnot."

"It's easier to give advice than to follow it," Jaemin agreed before his eyes started bulging. "It's sticking again!!!"

"Jaemin, it's NOT-"

Taeyong grabbed the wrapped biscuits and headed over to where Jaehyun was sitting, clearly his throat softly to get the other's attention. "I brought you something to eat, sir," he said, setting it on the desk in front of Jaehyun. "You shouldn't go hungry."

Jaehyun looked up, grinning when he saw Taeyong. "Hey," he said, looking back down to what he was working on - he had been screwing some stuff together. "I'll eat in a bit, I'm almost done, anyways-"

"Um, sir," Taeyong said slowly. "...This isn't good for you, you know. It's important that you eat something."

Jaehyun looked up again, confused. "I'm good, really," he said. "Don't worry about me."

Taeyong didn't break eye contact with him for a few seconds, almost as if he froze. "Fine," he said. "Whenever and whatever you eat, I eat as well-"

"Oh, you really shouldn't- Taeyong, that's not valid, you know bodies are all made differently and require different amounts of nutrients," Jaehyun said, standing up.

"I know that," Taeyong said. He did know that, having always paid attention to whatever Jaehyun taught him. "But... I'm worried about you, okay?" he said. "And you don't seem to understand that and it makes me really frustrated."

Taeyong turned around and left the room quickly, leaving Jaehyun to run after him.