p.s.: sorry i didn't specify this earlier but the sentences in italics are the voices in the minds of the characters (the things their minds are telling them) whereas when a word is in italics in the middle of a normally written out sentence, it is for stressing that particular word.
also, for what a person is thinking (not what his mind is telling him but what he himself is thinking), i would use sentences in italics with single inverted commas (') while for dialogues, i'll be using double inverted commas (").
"SEUNGMIN!" yelled jisung, calling out for his brother. "jisung, calm down," chan walked towards the boy, stroking his back.
soon, seungmin came running down the stairs to see his parents with jisung. he gulped at the strange silence as he walked closer to the three males.
"you didn't tell dad and papa, did you?" "jisun-" "yes or no?!" jisung growled making seungmin flinch. "n-no. s-sorry jisung... i-i..." the boy started panicking.
"jisung, calm down. please? he's getting scared," chan pleaded, caressing the older boy's back.
"sorry seungmin but i have to do this." "jisung no, pleas-" jisung turned away from his brother to face his parents.
"that hyunjin guy used to bully him, a lot. to the extent where i literally saw him pushing minnie down on the cafeteria floor after making him fall by obstructing his way with his feet," he spluttered out. minho gasped and turned to his younger son while chan stood there, too confused to react as his eyes wandered around the room.
"h-he did what?" minho asked, not believing his ears. how could he not even know that his son was being bullied? and how could someone bully his son? there were 'n' number of questions arising in his head and he didn't know the answers to any of them.
a thunder seemed to have erupted in his brain. his body was losing the control of his emotions and neither did his brain, nor his face know what he was actually feeling. anger? confusion? sadness? he couldn't keep a finger on it.
chan's eyes marked the delicate change in minho's sensitive expression that subtly turned cold with his tender looking eyes getting darker.
processing the scene his eyes and ears were perceiving, his mind told him to make a move before something goes wrong.
he looked into the younger's now, red eyes, blinking his own tender ones softly, signalling the man to calm down.
this broke the younger out of the battle going inside his mind. making contact with his husband's beautiful orbs that seemed to have held a new galaxy of tranquility in them, he felt his body loosening out of the thick skin of stiff posture that had wrapped his masculine body as his tightened chest fluidly unwinded out of the long rope of mixed emotions. he took a deep breath and the corners of his husband's lips curled upwards though the elder's mind itself, was preoccupied with a storm of thoughts and emotions.
although himself getting impatient, chan felt like he needed to keep everything in control.
"h-he did ap-pologize, though," seungmin anxiously spoke in a nervous tone with his eyes looking at the floor. the restless boy's fingers were fiddling with one-another. to him, his heart seemed to be pounding louder than his own voice that flowed out of his mouth in the facade of the stuttered out sentence.
he was scared of the reaction he was about to receive. his brain gave him no sign of estimation of the scene that was about to unfold in front of his eyes. the scene he would have probably eluded for forever, if possible. he was nervous, he was fidgety. he knew nothing of what time held for him and his heart throbbed, marking the quiet and slowed down periodicity of time in the moment that seemed timeless not only to him but his parents, as well.
everyone broke out of their thoughts on hearing a soft voice. "why did he bully you?" "h-huh-" "i asked why did he bully you?!" the loud yell made seungmin flinch. chan felt his breath hitch at the sudden change in his husband's tone.
seeing the way the sensitive moment was turning into the one with a thick layer of coldness in the air, chan allowed his foot to lead him to his husband who was now, almost red with anger; body close enough to shivering as his hands were balled into fists, revealing his veins that flowed with feelings he himself couldn't recognise while his jaw was clenched, sharply.
his red eyes were going glossier by the second though his tightened jaw and fists helped him keep himself from letting any beads flow down his pink cheeks.
chan walked to the male and stood next to him, sliding his hand to the other side of the male, stroking his arm in an attempt to calm him down while keeping him engulfed in a side hug. the elder male's fingers felt the way his husband's body was almost trembling, so he tightened his grip around the weak seeming body, to keep the younger from falling.
"shhhh... calm down, min..." chan whispered, rubbing the younger's arm as the two kids just stood there. one regretting everything he said; the other seeing the moment tearing apart the pages of happiness which he had just begun to write as the scene in front of his eyes, seived out all his happiness, letting only a stream of warm tears to drain out of it.
percieving the difficult situation in his surroundings and considering his own tears that were brimming his eyes, chan slid his hands to grab minho's tightly fisted ones, opening his fingers gently as the younger looked up at the elder's moist eyes that were concentrated on their now, intertwining fingers. the elder grabbed minho's hand and started taking him with himself. he stopped as he reached close to his younger son and wasted no time before mumbling a shaky yet soft, 'sorry, seungmin' to him, making the young boy's eyes shot up only to see the back of the already leaving tall figure that was carrying the slightly shorter one, up the stairs.
seungmin felt his heart shatter. now, not only would his parents hate the boy he loved but would also be disappointed in him for not telling them about the difficult days he had at school because of him. what hurt him even more was the fact that both his parents were on the verge of tears before they left and the 'sorry,' the eldest male mumbled to him, left back a pang in his chest.
after what seemed like hours of standing, looking at his parents' backs but wasn't even a few seconds later in reality, his mind lost all control.
jisung. it was all his fault.
seungmin's impatient mind was driving him insane. he needed to blame jisung.
after all, he was the main reason of the whole drama, wasn't he? why did he have to intervene in everything?
the young boy clenched his fist and turned to his brother who now, stood with his head bent down in guilt which he didn't even deserve to feel. seungmin looked at him with a cold expression before spluttering out things, he never wanted to. "who do you think you are, huh?" the younger chuckled in disbelief. "happy, now?" he raised an eyebrow.
"thanks jisung. thanks for everything," he spat before walking away as jisung's head shot up. "w-wait s-seugmin..." his voice trailed off as his brother disappeared behind the long pillars.
jisung's knees felt weak below his hazy going vision and he dropped to the floor with tears trickling down his face as he cried his heart out.
he wanted to be a good brother but was he really being one? he not only made his brother sad but also hurt his parents.
his chest felt a certain tightness and his heart hurt, while seungmin felt a weight lift off his chest as he blamed it all on jisung, but leaning off the pillar to look back, time flashed in front of him, the sight that made his heart clench. more guilt, more pain, more desire to turn back time with the feeling of desolation began engulfing the young boy into its darkness as his vision started getting hazed out by the infinite thoughts racing through his mind.
jisung did it all for him, yet he needed to hurt him?
a water droplet rolled down his cheek which he didn't even realise of. atleast, not before there were many more, blurring out his eyesight that saw his caring brother, lying on the floor with a heartbreaking trembling body.
◇◇◇
chan stood in front of his husband who was now having tears flowing down his eyes, uncontrollably, just like in the case of chan himself. the couple sobbed, holding onto each other's hands.
"shhh... min... you need to be calm, hmm? he doesn't bully him anymore, right? it's all okay now. calm down, love," chan whispered in a honey laced voice that always brought peace to minho with its musical texture, but this time, despite the harmonical tone, the words that spilled out of his mouth created a completely opposite impact on his husband.
"w-what do you mean, chan? how can you say that? our son was getting bullied and we? we didn't even know... i didn't even know," minho's voice cracked at the last sentence. chan hated this. he hated seeing minho like this. so weak. so vulnerable.
the elder knew it was a really big thing to worry about. their son was getting bullied and they didn't even know about it, but the intense hussle of words in the train of thoughts that ran zig-zag through the tracks of his mind, clashing behind his blurry vision, didn't let him think of any appropriate words to comfort his husband, so he spluttered out whatever came to his tongue, unintentionally, paying no thought to it; immediately regretting ever letting those words out.
"i-i didn't mean it like that minho... i-" "it's okay, chan," minho looked into his husband's eyes with his own watery ones. "i understand what's going inside your head because trust me... trust me, it's exactly the same for me, too," minho said in a weak voice, caressing his husband's cheek, smiling sadly. chan slowly reached out to wrap his fingers around the hand that fondled with his cheek, leaning into the warm, homely touch that always made him feel that he had someone who would always be there for him, no matter what.
he slowly leaned his head to the side, resting his and minho's intertwined hands softly pressed between his shoulder and cheek, letting the comfortable feeling to spread through both their bodies and soothe their souls as his lips traced out a smile through the saddened expression held by the rest of his tear stained face.
their hearts ached as they stared into each other's eyes that sparkled, not with joy but pain, reflecting through the water full of sorrow that flowed down in synchronization with the passing second. the melancholic sight of their significant other ached their insides, even more.
their eyes let their emotions trace the curves of their faces that no longer held their usual brightness in them as the salty fluid flowed out of their glistening eyes.
the recently discovered truth of their son getting bullied had them shook.
how did they not catch on the expressions of his son when he came back from school? were they just so full of themselves? were they just so selfish all along? selfish enough to not even care about their own children and their lives?
negative thoughts endlessly echoed through the corners of their heads and they hated themselves for they felt that they had failed as parents. they doubted their own parenting skills. their minds told them that they hadn't really been the sweet loving parents they always thought they were and the fact that their kids couldn't even trust them, enough, seemed to have justified it at a higher level.
"push all the negative thoughts away, chan. i am doing it, too, okay?" minho mumbled with a quivery voice and instantly pulled his husband into a tight hug only to break down yet again, but this time in a warm embrace with his tears wetting the white t-shirt of the elder, whose hand stroked the younger's soft hair, gently.
a/n: i can't believe i wrote almost 2000 word long chapter for just a ten to fifteen minute long scene lol
my sister was reading this chapter and was like: tf is going on? what have you done, here? 😅