CHAPTER SIX:
HYUNG
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jongin hated running. granted as jongin himself played soccer, which required running, he surprisingly disliked it. to him it's always just a faster way to traveling if any other faster way to transportation is simply not available.
drills during soccer practice made the action more bearable for him though. the constant exercise each day made him used to the pain that was rising in his calves by the minute, trying his best to beat the clock on his way back home. the clock that was hovering over jongin's head when he should wake up, when he should get home, when he should go to practice, or when he needs to go to sleep. they were like time bombs set up by his own parents that if he wasn't on time, he would be punished. and midnight was his curfew.
his lungs grunted as his legs pushed harder and harder into the pavement that it would leave a footprint behind.
since i left at 11:57, i can make it to my house in three minutes if i sprinted back without stopping, was the only thing really going on in jongin's head besides the constant reminder that his parents are most likely waiting for him behind that door. yet there was a slightest bit of hope and happiness to the thought of his older brother finally coming by and visiting after a four years of being abroad.
as jongin reached his doorstep, his shoes were left messily behind the moment he closed the door. checking his phone quickly, he was amazed to see him getting home faster than he thought. 11:59. yet as he took another step into the household, he hesitantly backed up to fix his messily placed shoes. god knows what his parents would do to him just for leaving his shoes out of place.
a loud sigh escaped his lips as he scratched the top of his head. he looked around his surroundings but his parents were surprisingly no where to be seen. to his relief he made his way towards his kitchen. the entire house was pretty dark other than some of the smaller lamps that lit up certain parts of the living room and kitchen. jongin wasn't well aware of his surroundings as he passed by such a familiar presence. he must of been tired and delirious at this point.
"so you're just gonna pass by and ignore me?" a voice emitted out of a dimly lit corner of the living room.
peering quickly behind, jongin saw a very familiar figure. his older brother changed. he definitely changed over the past four years. "hyung?"
"yeah, it's me." junmyeon chuckled. "who else did you think it was?"
jongin chuckled as he strolled towards his older, yet much shorter brother; soon engulfing him into a tight hug. "i've missed you."
"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.
"just remember that there's always a difference in being successful and happy to making good money and not being happy," junmyeon paused as he hesitating to say the next sentence. "because sometimes mom and dad aren't always going to make the right decisions in your life. they make the decisions on their behalf, not yours. it took my twenty-five long years to realize that, jongin."
he sighed as he lifted himself from the dark wooden chair. "even if mom and dad tell you to look up at me as a successful older brother, don't."
what seemed to be the last sentence of the conversation, junmyeon quickly added one last thing that really surprised jongin.
"it's your life, you choose what you want to do."
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jinsol huffed as she cleaned the last table down in the café. she didn't understand why jongdae or baekhyun couldn't finish up wiping the tables when six, at most, were actually taken up today. which is actually a bit sad and disappointing, but that was far from the point.
the café was dimly lit with only the kitchen light emitting through the room when jinsol sat herself upon the bar stool. she waited patiently for the three beagles who had seem to be too busy bickering in the kitchen. as loud as they were, jinsol hadn't need to make any effort to overhear their conversation.
"did you see the guy jinsol was with, chan?" that was baekhyun.
jongdae's voice came afterwards, exclaiming, "we couldn't get to talk to him much but he seemed like a good guy."
"i don't care," chanyeol's voice quickly cut in. "i'll talk to her later."
as the trio talked, their voices gradually gotten louder as they soon exited the kitchen. "want to talk to me now, oppa?"
jinsol didn't mean to come off as sounding rude, but there was some kind of emotion that laced her voice that made it sound like it did.
chanyeol paused, confusion written all over his face, "talk about what?"
his sister scoffs, "don't act coy, chan. you guys aren't exactly known for speaking quietly."
chanyeol sighs, "fine, you caught me." his hands were up in the air in defeat. during this time jongdae and baekhyun were gathering their things before making their way home. "so, who was that guy you were with?"
"what guy?" jinsol smirked as she tried to play it off cool. surely chanyeol wasn't aware that she came back with guy until baekhyun and jongdae gossiped to her half-brother.
"don't act coy, jin." chanyeol imitated and teased as he made his way around the bar and settling himself next to his half-sister.
"fine, you caught me." jinsol giggled as she threw chanyeol's attempted teasing back to him. "anyway, it's this guy, his name is kim jongin. he's this really smart guy that used to be sehun's classmate that he almost fought a day before school started."
"ooh," chanyeol huffed, "that's the guy that almost fought sehun? i'm surprised he didn't crash your study session with him."
"ditto." jinsol sighs as the two half-siblings fell into silence.
"we should probably get to bed," chanyeol suggests. "it's way past midnight."
"half past midnight does not mean it's way past midnight." jinsol scoffs as the two made their way out of the cafe and towards a stairwell. a stairwell that hid well at the side of the building and into the alley that led to the small studio apartment above the cafe.
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junmyeon stretched out of his bed, kicking his sheets off of him as he failed to sleep even for five minutes. granted, he was struggling to the new time zone that he has yet to get used to again. pulling himself off of his bed, he made his way back down the stairs and into the kitchen, surprised to see jongin still sitting there. still sitting in his uniform and a cup of tea still in his hand.
his older brother sighs as he pinched the bridge of his nose before entering the small kitchen. "don't tell me you're still here because of what i said?"
"partly." jongin said straight to the point.
junmyeon found himself meeting in front of the tea kettle, slowly pouring himself a lukewarm cup of tea that he rejected before. he placed his earl grey in front of him as the kim brothers found themselves in silence once again.
scanning his little brother's face for any signs of discomfort remained a failure as jongin's expression was basically unreadable. typical. junmyeon took this opportunity to at least catch up a little more. granted, he felt he was too in the moment that he left for bed before even trying to talk about jongin. he felt bad.
"so," junmyeon breaks the deafening silence of the kitchen. jongin's still body then moved, glided almost, as he sat up. "we couldn't really talk much about you earlier... care to talk and catch up again?"
although everything seemed fine, jongin just didn't seem in the mood. his eyes lingered away from the sight of junmyeon. his older brother smirked as he his plan failed once again. but then again, there was a topic jongin was the least experienced yet most embarrassed to talk about.
"are you dating anyone?" it was blunt. something that actually surprised jongin that his lingering eyes immediately darted back to junmyeon.
a scoff escaped the younger kim's lips. "of course not."
junmyeon's smirked again while a slight chuckle emitted out of his lips. "what about her?"
"who?"
"ahn chaeun." junmyeon answered. "you know, the girl who can't seem to keep her hands off of you."
jongin rolled his eyes, "she's only a friend, hyung."
"so no feelings whatsoever?" his older brother assured. giving jongin a strange vibe to the sudden question.
"of course not!"
"good." junmyeon deadpanned. "i dislike her to be completely honest."
jongin's eyebrows furrowed in sudden confusion. he was about to retaliate, but his older brother quickly cut in. but even if he wasn't cut off by junmyeon, he wouldn't even have been able to defend chaeun. especially how she's been acting recently. she's changed.
"now, i don't want to be that type of adult that shits on high schoolers, but then again she's a bitch." how blunt. then again, junmyeon never hesitated to state his opinions... unless it's with his parents.
jongin didn't bother to respond.
"haven't you noticed she's been your only friend since elementary school?" junmyeon asked.
jongin scoffed at the question that had an obvious answer. "you're incredibly smart, hyung. don't tell me you've stooped that low."
"please," junmyeon rolled his eyes. "there's an obvious reason why you haven't been making any relationships with people because of chaeun."
being genuinely interested in what his older brother had to say, he sipped at his lukewarm tea with his eyes peering at him. not only was he about to share his insight on a five year friendship that wasn't even his to begin with, but he was on the debate team. being able to get heated over a simple topic with all types of evidence and character. not to mention his pathos in a debate or argument was his specialty. jongin would be astonished if he managed to convince him successfully on why he disliked chaeun so much that he would rethink about a friendship he held so dearly.
"give me your best shot, hyung." the younger kim smirked as he placed down his mug.
"think about it, jongin." junmyeon clears his throat and leaned in. "you always had a difficulty making friends in elementary and middle school, but your classmates did try to talk to you, even girls, right?"
with a nod of a head, junmyeon continued. "well, that's where ahn chaeun came into the picture. beginning of sixth grade year, you never made a single friend from byungcheol nor hankyung and yet the most popular girl from your elementary school went to the same middle school as you. then you want to tell me that ahn chaeun suddenly was interested in making friends with you?"
"i mean, sure that's a bit strange." jongin finally cut in. "but that has nothing to do with you hating her."
"dislike, actually." he pointed out. "i'm not that pressed about it. but continuing on, seventh grade year was technically the peak of your friendship. you guys were inseparable and talked 24/7. yet did you even notice that no other girl tried talking to you even if it was for educational reasons? like come on, chaeun had that power and her dad is the superintendent of many of the schools around this area. byungcheol elementary school, hankyung middle school, and pyeongtaek academy are all under the supervision of ahn chaeun's father."
"so you're saying that she's manipulated a bunch of her classmates back then?" jongin queried. looking back on it now, he forgot how powerful chaeun was. but what did she have to do with a guy like kim jongin.
junmyeon rolled his eyes, "obviously! you're a smart guy, jongin, you seriously can't be that dense with people."
"granted, i never had much friends so i'm kind of behind on the whole friendship 101 shit, hyung."
"anyway, i can go on and on with how i dislike ahn chaeun and her father... but that can be saved for another day."
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if you didn't notice already, i italicized 'hyung' and 'oppa' because i always found it cringey when fics did that, but then again i find it weird for siblings to call each other by their first names when their own culture thinks that's inappropriate and rude.
i also wanted to share more insight on characters, that's why this chapter was mostly dialogue. hopefully this didn't bore you because i either share too little or too much when writing important dialog.
— jun (JUN-IPER)