What's In A Picture - 6/7
Title : What's in a Picture
Pairing : 2min
Genre : Angst, Semi-Fluff
Rating : PG
Word Count : 22,072
Summary : They say a picture's worth a thousand words. Unfortunately, Taemin is looking at five...
Minho went back to Seoul a few days later. He couldn’t stay in a house with Taemin around but not being able to touch him. Just remembering the night their relationship officially ended killed him inside. And Taemin had done his fair share of ignoring his presence. He was constantly glued to his phone, leaving the room if necessary to hear the caller. The little Minho would hear of the conversations would be Taemin’s voice oh so polite and willing. Whatever that meant.
So in reality he didn’t really have much more of a reason to stay.
When he’d gotten home a desolate little place filled only of the memories of Taemin’s laughter he trudged up to the bathroom to take a shower. He went to the bedroom to dump his bag on the bed when he saw the empty envelope and pictures scattered on the floor. His heart weakened as he picked them up. One by one he leafed through them as he sunk to the floor.
The first two were of the day he and Jiae had run into each other again. They had sat down at a nearby café and caught up with each other. They were laughing. In one Jiae was wiping some whipped cream from Minho’s face. His stomach clenched at the image. He didn’t usually even drink his coffee with whipped cream. But Taemin loved it so much he decided to try one to see if his tastes had changed even a bit. They hadn’t.
And they never would.
The last three were of the day…that day. His arm around her shoulders to comfort her on the way in to his and Taemin’s apartment. Them sitting on the couch, neither paying attention to the tv as their lips connected. And the last one they had relocated to the bedroom.
If it weren’t for these pictures that day would have remained nothing more than a nightmare he’d forced himself to believe didn’t actually happen. He’d still be with Taemin. Taemin would have never felt the hurt he did. These pictures surfaced from out of nowhere and destroyed the only tangible form of intangible love he’d ever feel.
But where did they even come from?
That’s right. Not only had someone taken pictures, but they had been deliberately delivered to Taemin or himself. Last he checked, pictures were inanimate objects. And inanimate objects don’t walk around on their own.
Jiae.
Did she take them? She had to. He certainly didn’t. He hadn’t known about them until the day he found them. Not to mention he hadn’t noticed anyone taking pictures either day shown in the photos. Plus for the one in his bedroom, how would someone outside get such a clear shot? They were well done, almost professional.
Why would someone…
Minho pulled out his phone and scanned his contacts before remembering he didn’t have Jiae’s number. Annoyed, he stood up and decided to proceed with his earlier choice of a shower.
Taemin stood in the small studio apartment and looked around. It was small, a lot smaller than the apartment with Minho, but of all the other places he’d looked at it was the best. The interior was westernized, the kitchen having an island with the sink and dishwasher built in yet still with enough room to be used as a table to eat at. It was conveniently close to the community center and the landlord was a nice ahjussi that had been dying to rent the place soon.
He had originally thought he wouldn’t like the place. He had never lived in a place where the kitchen, living room and bedroom were located in the same place. But the built in wall-ladder right next the exit that led up to the large mattress intrigued him. The kitchen was pretty and clean and the appliances looked new. The couch that faced the kitchen area was hideous, but he didn’t plan on being home much unless to sleep.
His workload had increased immediately when he returned to Seoul. The annual Spring Showcase was coming up extremely fast. He had been preparing for it even before he’d went to Jindo. But when he found out about Minho all thoughts of the showcase flew from his mind and all he could think about was getting away.
But now he was back and things were even more stressful than they usually were. He had spent a majority of his time working on some of the dances he needed to have prepared. He was supposed to teach three intermediate groups three different dances, and instead of one solo performance he had two in which he had to dance with a couple of the other dance instructors. He felt bad about bailing on them and hoped whatever they had decided upon doing for the show was something he could easily pick up on.
And if not that was ok, too. The more work he had the less likely he was to think. And if he didn’t think, he wouldn’t be reminded of a certain lying-no good-backstabbing-‘orientationally confused’-cheating-jackass person. And if he didn’t think of that heartless son of a- person, then he wouldn’t remember what said person did.
And he wouldn’t cry.
“So how do you like it?”
Taemin turned toward the voice of the landlord. He smiled as best he could. “Ahjussi, this is perfect. I’d really appreciate being able to move in as soon as possible. Whatever is more convenient for you, though.”
The man clasped his hands together and nodded. “How great. We just need to get the lease signed and as soon as I have your down payment you can move in whenever you like.”
“Thank you, ahjussi. I’ll get those to you right away.”
A bell chimed as the door to a café opened and Minho walked inside. He scanned the tables for a familiar face and sighed of relief when a hand waved him over. A couple hours after he had showered Minho remembered he still had Jiae’s personal email in his work email. He scoured his contacts until he found hers and immediately sent her a message to meet up. She got back to him a few days later with the days she was available, which was today.
So here he was, walking over to the table by the window where she sat with her drink half empty with a small smile gracing her lips. “Hey, Min.”
She stood and gave him a small hug before he sat down. “Jiae.” They sat in an unbearably awkward silence. “So…how’ve you been?”
She let out a sound somewhere between an uncomfortable laugh and a strangled cry. “How have I been…” she mused, running her fingers through her hair.
Minho got a good look at her. She didn’t seem the way he last remembered her. Granted he didn’t like thinking of how he last remembered her, she seemed a bit less lively. Her skin was a lot paler, her eyes had lost their spark, and her face may or may not have gotten thinner. He didn’t really know if it was his mind playing tricks on him. Maybe after losing Taemin, he was seeing Jiae in a light he had missed before. Maybe it was karma knocking some sense into him.
“I could say I’ve been fantastic, but it would be a lie.”
Minho’s head tilted to the side. “A lie?”
She nodded. “Remember my fiancé?” Minho nodded and watched her. “He called off the wedding.” Minho’s eyes widened. “But it was completely my fault. And since then I haven’t really been too…happy I guess.”
Minho nodded in understanding. “You seem different.”
Jiae chuckled. “I bet. You know this is the first time I’ve been somewhere other than work and home in almost a year? I don’t see much sunlight, and apparently it’s getting unhealthy let my sister tell it.” Minho didn’t really know how to respond. “But I don’t think you came to hear about my pity party. What’s on your mind, Minho?”
He let out a sigh and pulled the envelope from the pocket inside his jacket. “This.” He passed it to her and waited for her reaction. Her eyes widened respectably as she saw the first image. Her face paled drastically more than it already was. “Have you seen these?”
“Min,” she shook her head, thumbing through them all. “Oh, Minho, please tell me you’re the only ones that saw these.”
Minho looked down at the table, unable to respond. Her tone was so pitiful, apologetic, he felt ashamed for thinking she could have been the ones to send them in the first place.
“No.”
Jiae’s eyes shot up hearing Minho’s melancholy response. She let out an exasperated sigh and put the photos back in the envelope. “Damn it, Shin. You couldn’t just leave it between us,” she muttered to herself before passing the envelope back to Minho.
“Shin?”
She nodded. “My fiancé…ex.” She cradled her drink in her hands and stared down at it. “There was a time when he thought I was cheating on him, so apparently he hired someone to follow me around and get evidence if I was or not.” She blew out a puff of air. “At the time I wasn’t. But that day…apparently that person had a good aim.”
“So you didn’t send them?”
“Oh, god no, Minho! I hadn’t seen those pictures since last year.”
Minho sighed. “Right. Sorry, Jiae. I should have known. It’s just…”
She frowned sympathetically. “I understand, Min.” She bit her lip hesitantly. “Did…are you guys still…together?” Minho sullenly shook his head. “Shit, I’m so sorry, Minho. I have no idea how those got to Taemin. As far as I knew, my ex was the only one with those.”
“It’s ok. It’s my fault anyway. If it hadn’t happened, we’d both be happy right now.”
“It’s both of our faults. Please don’t beat yourself up over this.”
“Someone has to. I hate myself for causing him so much pain. I love him, but I hurt him. How does that even make sense? When you love someone you don’t hurt them. And now he hates me.”
“Oh, Minho…”
“He moved out. That day he saw them…I came home and all of his things were gone. He was gone. Do you know it took me a whole month to find out where he was? And even then we didn’t talk for a week. I have never gone this long without him. I honestly don’t know what to do with myself when he’s not around.”
“It’ll get better.”
He looked at her skeptically. “Really?”
Jiae bit her lip and shook her head. “No, not really. It’ll get less painful. Then when you think you’re all right again, you’ll see him again and it’ll start all over. And slowly it’ll start to hurt less. There will be a lot of regrets, but much more memories you’ll cherish.”
Minho watched as she wiped her teary eyes. “Jiae…”
“But I really can’t say it gets better. I’m still in the ‘regrets’ phase.” Her eyes watered and lips trembled. She brought her drink up to her lips with a shaky grip. “I hope it gets better.”
“Me too,” Minho glanced out the window at the cloudy sky and sighed. “Me too.”
“Lee-seonsaengnim, am I doing this right?”
Taemin’s attention shot to the little eight year-old in the front row of the twelve students in the class. He nodded and walked over to her, raising her arms slightly. “Yes, but with the arabesque your right arm should be straight up like this.” He stood back and observed the rest of the ballet class with a nod. “Great work, everyone. Class is dismissed for the day.” Everyone bowed to him before grabbing their bags.
A knock on the door interrupted the brief conversations, and Taemin looked up to see his friend and coworker Kim seonsaengmin, Kim Kibum outside of work. “Hey, is class over?”
Taemin nodded and walked to the door. “See you all next week,” he called to the class before leaving with Kibum. “Hyung, are you just finishing with your class, too?”
Kibum nodded. “My class ended early. I decided to come pick you up so we could walk to practice together.”
Taemin laughed. “Hyung, practice is just upstairs. And…wasn’t your class already upstairs?”
Kibum let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. “Fine, you caught me. I just wanted to spend more time with my favorite dongsaeng before the others smothered you. We haven’t spent time together in a while. Especially since you took that near two month vacation.”
“Ah,” Taemin’s eyes dulled as he looked to his shoes. “Sorry, hyung. I should have been more considerate of when to take a break. It really put us back for the showcase.”
Kibum clicked his tongue in annoyance. “No, it didn’t. Kwangsoo is working us hard enough that if we had a routine planned for next year’s showcase we’d be practicing that, too.” Kibum looked at Taemin and sighed. “I talked to Minho.”
Taemin stiffened. He hadn’t spoken of him since he’d gotten back home almost three months ago. He was too busy with the nine classes, twelve private lessons, showcase setup, and routine practices to have the time to think about anything else. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d had a proper sleep. Maybe the day before his dad’s birthday. No, the day before that. Because that night he had been too distraught to sleep. He couldn’t really remember what he had done. He remembered screaming though. Lots of screaming.
“Taemin!”
He jumped and looked at Kibum, who was staring at him curiously. “Oh, yea? Sorry, hyung.”
“I’d ask how you were doing, but I can see the answer clearly.”
“What do you mean?” Taemin focused his attention to the stairs as they climbed them. One…two…one…two…just one foot after another.
“Minho was the same way.” Taemin flinched at the name. “He seems so…empty now.” Kibum’s eyes flickered over to Taemin as they came to the last step. “You still haven’t spoken with him?”
“Why would I?” Taemin replied, voice darkening quite noticeably.
“Because you two love each other.” Kibum frowned as he watched Taemin’s expression change. As long as he had known Taemin he had always been such a happy person, always smiling and laughing. But recently he had his head in the clouds (the rain clouds) and barely looked or acted human. He was on autopilot and he hated it. He remembered back when he and Minho were roommates in college. Whenever Taemin would visit, Key saw a bright smile on the younger. And Minho acted much differently when Taemin was around. He was always quiet and indifferent until Taemin showed up. Then it was hard to get him to shut up, or stop sucking the face off of the younger. It was cute back then, and was still disgustingly cute a couple months ago when they had that get together at their place for close friends.
“That’s in the past, hyung.”
“It was back in February.”
“What’s your point?”
Kibum opened his mouth to respond but decided against it as he saw Taemin’s face growing red and his eyes watering. “Nothing. Don’t worry about a thing, Taemin-ah.”
“Lee-seonsaeng?” They turned toward the main desk. The secretary ahjumma waved him over.
“Good afternoon, ahjumma. Was there something you needed?”
She nodded and pointed to the man standing to the side holding a large bouquet of marigolds and white lilies and a rectangular box. “Lee Taemin?” he nodded confused as the man stuffed the items in his arms. He pushed a clipboard toward him to sign then left.
“What is this?” the ahjumma smiled, “You have a secret admirer?”
Taemin set the box on the counter and opened it as Kibum looked through the flowers for a card. Taemin stared at the chocolates. On the box was a brown post-it note.
‘Mianhae.’
He didn’t know anyone that would send him flowers and candy. Well, that was a lie. He knew. He had been getting presents for the past few weeks and was doing a good job ignoring them. Every day after his lunch break he’d go back to his office and find presents on his desk. He ended up leaving them all in his office, which he didn’t visit much at the moment, until after the showcase when he’d have time to dispose of them all.
“From Minho,” Kibum waved the card in his face.
Taemin set the flowers on the counter, “I know.” He smiled at the ahjumma. “Is it alright if I leave these here? I’ll pick them up after we practice. I promise.”
She smiled and reached over to pat his cheeks. “Aigo, of course Lee-seonsaeng.”
He bowed to her and walked off with Kibum down the hall toward their practice room. “He sent you flowers and chocolates.”
“This isn’t valentine’s day,” Taemin muttered under his breath.
“Taemin, be honest with me, please?” He looked over at Kibum warily. “Do you still love him?” Taemin’s eyes widened before a look of irritation passed over his eyes.
“Look, I know you’re worried about your friend, but I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t bring him up around me. I have too much stuff going on right now to think about anything else. It just adds to the load.”
“I’m not just worried about him, Taemin. I’m worried about you, too!” he grabbed the younger’s arm and yanked him to a halt. “You walk around here like a damn zombie, Taemin. Come in, clock in, dance, eat, dance, clock out, leave. You don’t talk with anyone anymore. You don’t smile. You don’t laugh. You don’t even attempt to be happy. You’re just…there.”
“Well, I don’t know what you want me to say, hyung. Oh, look, Kwangsoo sunbae is here already.” Kibum watched as Taemin trudged into the practice room and shook his head before following.
“What do you mean you broke up?!”
Minho cringed in his seat before shooting a glare toward Jonghyun. They were at work, a pharmaceutical company, on break. Well, Jonghyun had gone to Minho’s office during his break to persuade the younger to take a break, something he noticed he hadn’t taken in a while. When Jonghyun voiced his concern with a joke of how Minho’s little boyfriend would probably make him sleep on the couch if he didn’t call, Minho announced the breakup in the shortest, simplest terms possible.
“Exactly as it sounded.”
Jonghyun ruffled his hair in confusion. “How the hell did you let that cute ass kid get away? You two were, like, constantly emitting rainbows and unicorns and glitter.”
“I am twenty-seven. What do I look like ‘emitting unicorns’? Hyung, did you slip in a drink before coming to my office?”
Jonghyun narrowed his eyes. “Yah! Respect your elders!” He let out a sigh. “So, what did you do?”
“Why do you automatically assume I did something?” Minho muttered miserably.
“Oh, so it was…what’s his name, Taeshin?”
“Taemin. And no, he didn’t do anything.” He sighed and looked away from his computer. “I really don’t want to talk about it. Just know I messed up, big time, and he hates me now.”
Jonghyun whistled. “Wow, that sucks.”
“Hyung, can you be a bit more…I don’t know, supportive?” Minho rolled his eyes and went back to typing on his computer.
“Well,” Jonghyun shrugged, “what do you want me to do? It’s not like I can magically make the kid appear and everything will be alright between you two.”
“I’d love you forever if you could.”
“Wait, isn’t your anniversary coming up?” Minho nodded, fingers still typing away. “Didn’t you mention something about some…wedding bands?”
Minho froze and his eyes widened. “Fuck!” Jonghyun jumped in surprised. “I forgot about that.” He groaned and banged his head on the desk. “Fuck! I was supposed to pick them up next week.”
“So, what are you going to do?” He watched as Minho cursed and hit himself in the head.
“I honestly don’t know, hyung. I don’t know.”
“Well, good luck with that.” Jonghyun tapped his desk and left back to his own office.
Minho closed his eyes and tried to calm down. With all the stuff going on with Taemin he had forgotten about their anniversary. And his proposal. He and Taemin would have been together for ten years this year. And he wanted to make it special. He had gone through catalog after catalog searching for the rings just right for them.
He’d put the down payment for them back when he ordered them and a few weeks later had sent in the final payment. All that needed was for him to pick them up when the shop owner called.
He and Taemin had been through so much together during those ten years. Minho had figured the next step for them would have been marriage. They were living together, anyway, having gotten the apartment after Minho graduated and Taemin was going into his third year. They loved each other, they had each other, and that was all that mattered.
But Taemin hated him now. So there wasn’t really anything Minho could have done. He’d have to end up canceling the reservations at that fancy Italian restaurant Taemin had been wanting to go to for months. He couldn’t return the rings, they were custom made, so he’d more than likely end up keeping those as a reminder to himself of just how big of an idiot he was.
He shook his head and picked up his cell phone. After dialing, the line rang a few times before someone answered. “Hello? Yes, my name is Choi Minho. I was calling to check on today’s delivery. Yes…Carnations, that’s right…Tomorrow’s?... I want daisies, and the day after should be sunflowers...Roses? I don’t know. They have to be yellow, though…Alright, thank you.”
Taemin walked through the community center’s parking lot toward his car with his keys jingling in his hand. In his arms were boxes of things that needed to be finalized for the Showcase. It was just a few weeks away and he felt nowhere near ready for it. He’d regretted taking such a long break when everyone else was preparing he was off hiding, or trying to anyway. Now he was mentally behind and barely had enough time to catch up.
Once he got to his car, he stuffed the boxes in the backseat and climbed in the driver’s seat. He noticed a purple post-it note on the window shield. He rolled his window down and peeled it off.
‘Naneun babo’
Taemin stared at it, immediately recognizing the handwriting despite it having no signature. His eyes scanned the lot suspiciously before he balled up the note and threw it in the glove compartment.
The next day, Taemin was walking to the office areas with Kibum and Eunae, the swim instructor, to work out some kinks in the performance line up. He’d been drinking a strawberry banana smoothie when he’d seen a large bouquet of yellow daffodils sitting on Kibum’s desk.
“Oppa, who sends you flowers?” Eunae’s head tilted to the side in mock confusion as Kibum eyed them mysteriously.
“For your information, I am very desirable.”
“Yea, by teenage girls,” Taemin snickered around his straw.
"That was a misunderstanding!" Taemin and Eunae snickered. “Yah! Respect your elders!” Kibum glared at them both before finding a note. “’Hyung, pass these to Taemin. Gomawo.’ Damn frog.” He shoved the flowers toward Taemin angrily as Eunae giggled. “For you.”
Taemin grabbed them warily. Eunae lifted her hand and peeled off a pink post-it note. “Oppa, look.” Taemin took it from her.
‘I am nothing without you.’
“Babo,” Taemin rolled his eyes and stuck it back on the flowers. “I’ll put these in my office and be back.”
Taemin wiped his face with a towel as he finished his dance for the last dress rehearsal. The showcase was in two days and he was excited for it to be over. Not that he didn’t love performing or watching everyone else’s hard work but he wasn’t in much of a spirit for it this year. He just hoped he remembered all the right steps when the time came.
“Great work, everyone. See you all in two days! Be safe!”
Everyone bowed to the director before heading out. It was late, almost midnight, and a lot of the employees and few nonemployee performers had stayed extra to make sure everything went smoothly.
Since it was so late, Taemin offered Eunae and one of her students a ride home. Once they’d gotten to his car, Eunae was first to notice yet another green post-it on the driver’s window. “Taemin oppa, what’s with all the notes these days?”
“What do you mean?” Taemin snatched the note off his window and read it.
‘You’re my north star, you help me find my way.’
“What does that even mean?” He scoffed, telling himself that his slightly fast beating heart was from the annoyance.
“Lately you’ve been getting lots of flowers and post its in bulk.” Eunae clasped her hands together. “I went to your office this afternoon looking for you. All I found was a desk full of lots of yellow flowers with different colored post it notes on each. There were even some on the floor, oppa.”
“Eunae, don’t think too much on it, please. There is no meaning to any of it.”
Finally. It was finally over.
Taemin rushed off stage after the closing performance of Kwangsoo, Kibum, and himself in desperate need of a water bottle. He looked at Kibum with confusion as he drank from his own. Last he remembered, they set their things down in the same spot.
He snatched Kibum’s arm over in the direction of his mouth before squirting the liquid down his throat. “Yah!” Kibum pulled his arm from Taemin’s grasp and hit him over the head. “Go find your own bottle!” and he walked off muttering something about ‘disrespectful dongsaengs’.
Taemin laughed and greeted people as he headed for the back room to retrieve his bag. Before he left, he saw a flash of yellow plastic in his hindsight. Looking over, he saw his yellow water bottle sitting on a lone chair in the corner. He walked over and saw an orange post-it on it.
“Really?” He shook his head in disbelief as he picked it up.
‘You were great! But that’s no surprise. You always shine doing the things you love.’
He stared at it for a while before taking a drink and turning on his heel to go to the back room.