"lee entertainment ceo, lee taeyong, and seo designs top model, jung jaehyun, reportedly to have broken up after 5 years of being together." ten felt down as he read the article headlines.
"they really did it, huh?" he said lying down the bed beside johnny.
"who did what?" johnny cuddled up next to him keeping his face buried on the smaller's neck, leaving kisses. "taeyong and jaehyun broke up." ten replied.
johnny's head shot up and looked at his boyfriend. "they did? how come i never knew?"
"babe, it's all over the internet. don't you ever read?" he showed johnny the article he was reading. the taller widened his eyes at the words. "how are you calm about this? do you know about this?" johnny asked. ten immediately shut his mouth.
"ten..." johnny said in a warning tone. "what do you know?"
ten huffed loudly and sat up straight.
"when taeyong told me this, he didn't want anyone else to know. so you better shut your mouth and not tell anyone, or i swear no babe time for a month." ten gritted his teeth as he looked at his boyfriend straight in the eyes. "yes, sir." johnny nodded like a little kid.
"they both cheated."
"what? how? why? what?" johnny never ran out of questions and ten winced at the high-pitched voice his boyfriend was creating at the moment.
"taeyong told me he caught jaehyun on bumble using his own bumble, so you pick it up from there." it didn't take johnny a rocket scientist to figure things out. but he had a lot of questions in mind. "oh my god, that's why jae won't answer my messages."
"it's a mutual breakup, i guess they're okay."
ten entered the building immediately looking for taeyong. he dropped by his penthouse but he wasn't there anymore. he thought maybe he needed a friend right now since yesterday. he opened the door to taeyong's office and found him on his laptop with some papers on his table. he looked up from his table and saw ten with the door open.
"hey ten!"
ten was automatically weirded out. he's surprisingly okay? this is new, really new. back in college, he distinctly remember how taeyong would be bugged out about little things with jaehyun. and there was on time when they had an argument so bad they thought they almost broke up, and taeyong would raid ten's secret stash of alcohol beside the bed. now a real break up, and he's doing good? it's no secret he was expecting something more dramatic.
"wow you're... okay?"
"of course i'm okay, why wouldn't i be?" he asked so casually as if nothing happened last night. it's freaking ten out that he checked if taeyong was either drunk or sick. he touched the older's forehead and neck trying to see if he's getting hot.
"honey are you drunk? were you sick last night?"
"i'm not drunk, i'm not sick either." he smiled removing the other's hand.
"you sure? you're acting weird though." ten raised an eyebrow.
"ten, i'm fine. i promise i'm okay. the break up was mutual so there's really nothing to worry about." taeyong assured.
"alright fine if you say so." ten started to fix himself and walk back to the door. "i'm checking on the junior trainees today. call me if you need anything." they both smiled and went back to their work.
taeyong immediately closed his laptop and brushed his face with his palms. he was getting frustrated, he kept sighing and huffing. he spent his whole night crying feeling guilty that he cheated when in fact, jaehyun cheated too. i need booze. taeyong thought. he was fine, he just needed a distraction. and so he got his phone and dialed his friends.
"are you really okay? is this about the break up? i've seen the articles."
sicheng called hours after receiving taeyong's 'party tonight' message. he was also weirded out but he just needed to know if the other was okay. "it's not about the break up, i'm totally fine. it's just work and i need to loosen up a little." taeyong replied.
"alright, but are you ever gonna tell us what happened? we're you're friends too. we're kinda left out just so you know."
"i'll tell you sometime soon, okay? just not now."
"fine. jungwoo's been bugging me non-stop since this morning. by the way, i wanna join the drinks but i gotta be here in the hotel until tomorrow morning, what do you say we have drinks here instead?"
"your place, your treat." taeyong smirked. sicheng rolled his eyes as if the other could see him but taeyong felt it.
"fine. since it's been a while we got together. i'll see you later then." he hung up the phone and went back to his work.
he was bored. he didn't wanna do work. at times like these, he'd usually call jaehyun and bother him whatever he was doing. but he remembered that jaehyun wasn't there anymore. that they just broke up and he wasn't his to claim. jaehyun has been in his mind since last night. he opened his secret cabinet behind him and took out a bottle of brandy. if he's gonna get drunk later today, might as well have some appetizers.
in a few hours after taeyong downed his bottle of brandy, and ten found him on his desk with half-lidded eyes holding a glass staring at nowhere.
"tae what the hell?" the smaller immediately ran to taeyong snatching the empty glass. taeyong seemed to snap out of his train of thoughts when the glass was out of his hands. ten could see the slight redness of his eyes as he looked.
"you know we'll be drinking tonight. and you know you're a lightweight. what's the problem, i thought you were fine with your break up?" ten took the bottle preventing the other from sipping another drop.
"i am fine! i just thought if we're gonna drink, might as well start early." he rolled his eyes at ten and the latter just tried rubbing his forehead.
"in case you forgot, you were supposed to attend a meeting 15 minutes ago, but instead i covered for you. you don't drink during work hours, taeyong, believe me i've known you since public nose-picking days. what is wrong?"
taeyong gave up on his best friend and sighed brushing his face with his palms. he groaned loudly and gripped his hair tight. "i don't know what's wrong, ten!" he yelled standing up.
"he's been in my mind since last night. the break up was mutual, but why? i don't understand. i feel like i was forcing myself with the break up too. i cheated, he cheated. that relationship was trash, it was going nowhere. but..." he looked down, fists on the table and he shook his head. "i don't understand."
taeyong sat back down his chair. he was in the brink of crying, he didn't want things to end up this way. ten went closer to and leveled down to taeyong.
"honey you're gonna be alright. trust me everything's gonna be okay, hmm? we'll talk when we get back to your house after the party, okay?" ten said trying to calm taeyong down and the latter just nodded holding his forehead.
"what do you say we go to sicheng's hotel and get wasted?" ten smiled before receiving a reply from the older. "you're the best, don't ever leave me." taeyong whined like a child hugging ten. "i know and i won't, sweetheart. now let's go get that drink."
walking inside the hotel, toward the bar, taeyong bumped to a girl a little shorter than him. "i'm so sorry, i'm a little tipsy." taeyong said. what a lie, you know you're drunk.
"taeyong?" the said boy froze as he recognized the voice.
"jessica noona?"
taeyong didn't know she was back in korea. it's been so long since they've seen each other, and just when he broke up with her brother, they had to meet now. "oh my god honey, it's been so long." jessica went in for a hug which the boy gladly accepted. he missed the pleasing appearance of the beautiful girl in front of him.
"i know, i missed you." the boy said mellowly at the woman. it was obvious he had a lot to drink just before he got here.
"sweetie, are you drunk?"
"a bit. don't worry about me. what's new with you, we have a lot to catch up." he replied. soon, ten felt a little left out and so he excused himself to go.
"you look like you do have a lot to catch up, i'll go ahead to sicheng. catch us later, tae. and it was nice meeting you again, noona." ten smiled at the woman as he leaned in for a hug before he went.
taeyong and jessica sat down at the lobby to catch up on some things. not forgetting that taeyong just got out of a relationship with her brother, she needed to know what happened.
"when did you get here?" taeyong asked immediately.
"i just got here yesterday. i'm staying here at the hotel for the meantime, cause you know with mom at home, we really haven't made up since i left. dad told me to come home though, but i refused. and ny fashion week is coming so i won't be staying long."
taeyong looked sad that the other won't be staying long but before he can say anything, he was cut off. "jaehyun called me." And taeyong shot his head up to look at his noona.
"that's why i came here." she pursed her lips not knowing if she should continue. she did anyway. "it was night here and he called me at like 9 in the morning. he called yunho and krystal too but none of them were picking up he said, so even if i was in new york, he called me. it was good timing though, i wasn't so busy right now, and i knew i needed to come home to him."
taeyong was taken aback from all the words. jaehyun was not one to bother anyone even if he's being through so much, especially his siblings.
"listen, it's really not my place to know, but jae wouldn't tell me what happened and i got really worried. i came home to him crying in his room. yunho didn't know what happened and so did krystal. then i saw from the article that you two broke up. taeyong, I'm really sorry." jessica held his hand and smiled softly.
"it's okay, noona. and i'm sorry but i don't think i can tell you now. it would be much better if you hear it from him instead. i can't really bring myself to tell it to anybody." and you told ten, though. he thought.
"no pressure, tae. look, i'm not supposed to tell you this, but back in his college, jae told me that he knew he'll marry you someday. he never brought himself to tell you that, but i think you should know now, anyway. my heart flutters everytime i think about it because he's our youngest and he's so precious to the family. right now, i just don't know how to feel when i think about it."
he planned to marry me?