The lost path (5/5) [OnTae] (SHINee)
( Part 1) (Part 2) ( Epilogue)
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We spent around half an hour trying to explain everything to Minho (there was some I had to explain him privately later)
“I still don’t get why you run away” Minho confessed, looking at me half annoyed half concerned “You could call me and tell me what that bastard was doing to you”
“No, I couldn’t” I mumbled.
“Why?” he asked frowning.
“The bad news does not say on the phone”
Minho’s expression softened a little.
“Bad news?”
I looked at Jinki, nervous, and he nodded slightly.
“Minho, mom is dead” I said with broken voice.
“She… she…” Minho’s breathing became uneven. I caressed his back, trying to comfort him when he started crying. Key and Jinki remained silent as Minho tried to get himself together.
“When did it happen?” Minho asked, trembling slightly.
“A couple of months ago” was my answer
“Did he…?”
“She got sick” I interrupted him mid-sentence “But he kept with the house and the money”
“That son of a bitch” Minho mumbled, a little calmer.
For a moment no one dared to talk, but Minho kept staring intently to Jinki and Key.
“I guess I should thank you, for taking care of Taemin” he said. Jinki tried to shrug.
“We were not going to let him there” Jinki said.
“I hope he didn’t cause many problems”
“Not at all” Key said smiling at me “Onew needed someone to beat some sense into him”
I chuckled, blushing slightly.
“And Taemin did it?” Minho asked raising a eyebrow “But he is a little troublemaker”
“I’m not” I said frowning, making Jinki chuckle.
“Oh but he is surely better than Onew” Key said, looking askance Onew “One time he managed to get himself looked on the kitchen”
“But your kitchen hasn’t any lock” I said, confused. Key smirked at Jinki, who was trying unsuccessfully to hide.
“Exactly”
I began to laugh at Jinki’s ashamed expression.
“But… Taemin? Do you remember that time at the department store?”
“Minho, don’t you dare to…”
“What did he do?” Jinki asked eagerly. Minho looked mockingly at me.
“Let’s just say that the place would have seen better if a tornado had been there” Minho concluded. Jinki and Key burst on laughing.
“I’ll be in the kitchen” I announced, slightly annoyed.
The evening went by with Key and Minho trying to embarrass Jinki and me. As soon as they seemed to not be looking at us (they were discussing something that appeared to be related with chocolate cake and football) Jinki and I slipped out of the house.
“Your brother is nice” Jinki said, sitting next to me. I nodded.
“But he is trying too hard to pretend that everything is fine” I sighed “I didn’t want to tell him this way”
“It was better if you did. He needed to know” Jinki reply self confident.
“He needs to know some other things and I’m not sure how to tell him” I confessed sheepishly. Jinki chuckled
“Think about it later” he mumbled before kissing me.
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It had been a while since Key and Jinki had gone to bed. I knew that they wanted to leave me alone with Minho, and I really had appreciated the gesture.
We were sitting on the couch, my head on Minho’s lap. He caressed my head absentmindedly.
“Today I remembered a lot” Minho whispered
“Do you?”
“I remembered the day we went fishing” he said, smiling.
“When you fall from the boat trying to reach that tiny fish?” I smiled too.
“The time you cried because you dropped the fish on your head” Minho confirmed. We laughed softly at the memory “Mom didn’t want to go, she said yes only because it was your birthday”
“She laughed so hard when she saw the fish on my head that her face turned red ” my voice sounded breathless “Yet she almost cried when your dad took you out of the lake totally soaked”
“She was amazing” Minho’s voice was cracking “She promised me that we will go back to that lake for my birthday”
“We still can go” I told him, trying to sound eager and failing “We can take out your father’s equipment and camp there and…”
“Did she suffer?” Minho asked without looking at me. His eyes were filled with tears and his low lip was trembling. I looked at my brother, truly concerned, fully understanding how he felt. I caressed his cheek.
“She was sleep most of the time” I whispered “She didn’t even know that I was at the room with her”
“What did your father do?” he looked at me intently. I hesitated “Nothing, right?”
“That was why I ran away” I confessed “I couldn’t take more his indifference and the way he treated me like everything was my fault”
“You are safe now” Minho assured me “I won’t let he hurt you anymore”
I smiled weakly, closing my eyes.
“That’s why I was trying to reach you. I needed you”
“I seriously doubt that” he said, chuckling. My eyes opened suddenly.
“What?”
“I believe you find someone else to take care of you” Minho looked over his shoulder to where it was Jinki’s bedroom.
“Did Key hyung tell you?”
“Key told me a lot of details about what had happen” Minho said “But it was kind of obvious when I saw him kissing you”
I couldn’t help but blush.
“He seems to be a decent guy” Minho continued, appearing reluctant “Yet I would prefer you do not become very affectionate here”
“Hyung” I slapped his arm as he started laughing. I was relieved; Minho didn’t seem to have a problem with my relation with Jinki, yet I had to face the fact that I would have to say goodbye either to Jinki or to Minho.
“You aren’t going to stay, are you?” Minho asked, taking me out of my thoughts. The meaning behind his words, he understood a lot more than I had figured out at first.
“I want to…”
“But?”
“It won’t be easy to let him go” I replied, hugging my legs and burying my face into them.
“Are you sure you can do it?” Minho inquired tenderly “Are you sure you want to?”
“It’s not like you are going to let me go with him anyways” I mumbled.
“I would…”
“No you wouldn’t and you won’t” my voice was flat, emotionless “You are acting like this because you don’t want me to see you cry again”
Minho laughed slightly, yet a couple of tears rolled down his cheeks.
“It’s amazing the way you always can see through me” he said wiping them with the back of his hand “I’m going to sleep, you should stay up too long”
I nodded without looking at him. As soon as I heard the door of Minho’s room close, I stood and walked to Jinki’s room.
“Are you sleeping?” I whispered as I entered.
“No” Jinki replied as he sat “Apparently I’m not longer able to sleep without you”
Jinki was smiling, but I couldn’t smile back. He understood that something was wrong and that made him sigh.
“I guess that I should get used to that, shouldn’t I?”
“I’m sorry” I mumbled, sitting beside him. His hand pulled my head towards his chest, caressing it softly. Then I started crying.
“Everything will be fine” Jinki assured me, trying to comfort me but failing as his voice broke “We will be fine. I’ll come to see you every week, and we will have a proper date. You can visit me too; Minho can come if he wants to…”
“Can I stay here tonight?” I asked between sobs. Jinki just nodded and pulled me under the sheets. I took me a while but when I finally fall asleep I could feel Jinki’s lips on my forehead.
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There was an amazing smell on the air. I had smelled it a dozen of times so I knew that it was Minho cooking breakfast. Minho hyung cooked delicious, even better that our mother, but neither the good memories of Minho cooking nor the fact I was starving made me want to leave Jinki’s arms.
He didn’t seem to want to stand, so we remained in the bed, just staring at each other. Occasionally, Jinki bended to kiss me but those weren’t the long kisses I was used to. They were goodbye kisses, short and painful.
“Lovebirds, breakfast is ready” Kibum shouted across the door.
“We’re coming” Jinki replied. Kibum’s steps as he walked away made me sigh.
Jinki tried to get up, but I couldn’t help but held him tight.
“Taemin, we can’t avoid it” he said sweetly “We have to do it”
Gently, he took off my arms from his waist and started changing his clothes. Silently, I left the room towards the bathroom.
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I tried to ward off the thoughts of Jinki leaving as I walked to the kitchen. There was laughing coming from there. I tried to approach carefully to see what happened.
It was Key and Minho. They sat next to each other in the bar, his breakfast forgotten front of them.
“Oh, please” Key said smirking “Is it all that you have?”
“I made you laugh, didn’t I?” Minho smiled back “It’s a beginning”
“If you really want something with me, you’ll have to give me your best shot”
“Okay, then how would it be if I tell you that you have a gorgeous smile?” Minho asked, leaning towards Key.
“Better, but it still isn’t enough” Key said, trying to appear indifferent but the blush on his cheeks said something else.
I was surprised. I had been expecting a lot of things from that day, one of which had not been to see Minho and Key shamelessly flirting in the kitchen.
Minho leaned over Key, trying to seize his lips, when I turned to leave.
“Ouch” Jinki said when I hit him.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, pushing him to the hall.
“The same thing you were doing” he whispered too. We heard steps behind us and turned to see.
“It’s alright, you can come” Minho said slightly embarrassed. Jinki and I exchanged glances before walking into the kitchen again.
Key not even looked up as we sat, so we all ate in an awkward silence.
“Are you going back now?” Minho asked Jinki when we finished eating. Jinki stared at me and then to Key, who nodded slightly.
“We must return by Friday” Key explained to Minho “We have a lot of work waiting for us”
Jinki sighed, worried, and Minho frowned.
“Well, then I guess we should be going” Jinki said calmly. Key nodded and stood.
Soon their bags were on their cars and they were ready to go.
“Taemin, you know you can come to visit us, right?” Key told me before hugging me.
“I will” I assured him, retuning the hug.
“Promise me you never ever are going to do something that dangerous”
“I won’t”
“And you should wear a sweater if you go out during a snowfall, and also…”
“You’re doing it again umma” I said chuckling. Key sighed and smiled.
“I’m going to miss you Taemin” he said affectionately.
“I’ll too” my eyes got teary “Take care, Key hyung”
Key nodded and approached to Minho. I smiled as Minho said something that made Key blush. Probably I could do something to help them be together.
“Think about them later” Jinki whispered at my ear while hugging me by the waist. I tried to smile, but a few tears rolled through my cheeks.
“Call me when you arrive” I said, not looking at him.
“I’ll call you everyday” Jinki assured me, taking my hand and writing his number on the palm of my hand. I stared at it, smiling.
“Thank you, Jinki” I whispered, looking up to his eyes. He removed a few strands of hair from my face.
“Listen, I know there must be some really cute girls around here but…” Jinki took a deep breath “Please, don’t date anyone else”
I chuckled.
“It will depend on how frequently you call me” I smirked. Jinki smiled and kissed my forehead.
“Then, I’ll see you soon” he said before walking to his car.
I really tried not to cry as I saw them move away, but once Minho hugged my shoulders I couldn’t help him. Minho didn’t seem happy either.
“Let’s go inside” I told him “You still have to tell me everything you and Key hyung talked about”
“Oh I can’t do that” he said smiling a little “Those are adult themes”
“That’s not fair” I complained. Minho just laughed and went back into the house.
Probably the things would be hard from then on, but there was just one thing I wanted more than anything: hear Jinki’s voice again.
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I'm really greatful with the ones who read this. Please look forward the epilogue!
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We spent around half an hour trying to explain everything to Minho (there was some I had to explain him privately later)
“I still don’t get why you run away” Minho confessed, looking at me half annoyed half concerned “You could call me and tell me what that bastard was doing to you”
“No, I couldn’t” I mumbled.
“Why?” he asked frowning.
“The bad news does not say on the phone”
Minho’s expression softened a little.
“Bad news?”
I looked at Jinki, nervous, and he nodded slightly.
“Minho, mom is dead” I said with broken voice.
“She… she…” Minho’s breathing became uneven. I caressed his back, trying to comfort him when he started crying. Key and Jinki remained silent as Minho tried to get himself together.
“When did it happen?” Minho asked, trembling slightly.
“A couple of months ago” was my answer
“Did he…?”
“She got sick” I interrupted him mid-sentence “But he kept with the house and the money”
“That son of a bitch” Minho mumbled, a little calmer.
For a moment no one dared to talk, but Minho kept staring intently to Jinki and Key.
“I guess I should thank you, for taking care of Taemin” he said. Jinki tried to shrug.
“We were not going to let him there” Jinki said.
“I hope he didn’t cause many problems”
“Not at all” Key said smiling at me “Onew needed someone to beat some sense into him”
I chuckled, blushing slightly.
“And Taemin did it?” Minho asked raising a eyebrow “But he is a little troublemaker”
“I’m not” I said frowning, making Jinki chuckle.
“Oh but he is surely better than Onew” Key said, looking askance Onew “One time he managed to get himself looked on the kitchen”
“But your kitchen hasn’t any lock” I said, confused. Key smirked at Jinki, who was trying unsuccessfully to hide.
“Exactly”
I began to laugh at Jinki’s ashamed expression.
“But… Taemin? Do you remember that time at the department store?”
“Minho, don’t you dare to…”
“What did he do?” Jinki asked eagerly. Minho looked mockingly at me.
“Let’s just say that the place would have seen better if a tornado had been there” Minho concluded. Jinki and Key burst on laughing.
“I’ll be in the kitchen” I announced, slightly annoyed.
The evening went by with Key and Minho trying to embarrass Jinki and me. As soon as they seemed to not be looking at us (they were discussing something that appeared to be related with chocolate cake and football) Jinki and I slipped out of the house.
“Your brother is nice” Jinki said, sitting next to me. I nodded.
“But he is trying too hard to pretend that everything is fine” I sighed “I didn’t want to tell him this way”
“It was better if you did. He needed to know” Jinki reply self confident.
“He needs to know some other things and I’m not sure how to tell him” I confessed sheepishly. Jinki chuckled
“Think about it later” he mumbled before kissing me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It had been a while since Key and Jinki had gone to bed. I knew that they wanted to leave me alone with Minho, and I really had appreciated the gesture.
We were sitting on the couch, my head on Minho’s lap. He caressed my head absentmindedly.
“Today I remembered a lot” Minho whispered
“Do you?”
“I remembered the day we went fishing” he said, smiling.
“When you fall from the boat trying to reach that tiny fish?” I smiled too.
“The time you cried because you dropped the fish on your head” Minho confirmed. We laughed softly at the memory “Mom didn’t want to go, she said yes only because it was your birthday”
“She laughed so hard when she saw the fish on my head that her face turned red ” my voice sounded breathless “Yet she almost cried when your dad took you out of the lake totally soaked”
“She was amazing” Minho’s voice was cracking “She promised me that we will go back to that lake for my birthday”
“We still can go” I told him, trying to sound eager and failing “We can take out your father’s equipment and camp there and…”
“Did she suffer?” Minho asked without looking at me. His eyes were filled with tears and his low lip was trembling. I looked at my brother, truly concerned, fully understanding how he felt. I caressed his cheek.
“She was sleep most of the time” I whispered “She didn’t even know that I was at the room with her”
“What did your father do?” he looked at me intently. I hesitated “Nothing, right?”
“That was why I ran away” I confessed “I couldn’t take more his indifference and the way he treated me like everything was my fault”
“You are safe now” Minho assured me “I won’t let he hurt you anymore”
I smiled weakly, closing my eyes.
“That’s why I was trying to reach you. I needed you”
“I seriously doubt that” he said, chuckling. My eyes opened suddenly.
“What?”
“I believe you find someone else to take care of you” Minho looked over his shoulder to where it was Jinki’s bedroom.
“Did Key hyung tell you?”
“Key told me a lot of details about what had happen” Minho said “But it was kind of obvious when I saw him kissing you”
I couldn’t help but blush.
“He seems to be a decent guy” Minho continued, appearing reluctant “Yet I would prefer you do not become very affectionate here”
“Hyung” I slapped his arm as he started laughing. I was relieved; Minho didn’t seem to have a problem with my relation with Jinki, yet I had to face the fact that I would have to say goodbye either to Jinki or to Minho.
“You aren’t going to stay, are you?” Minho asked, taking me out of my thoughts. The meaning behind his words, he understood a lot more than I had figured out at first.
“I want to…”
“But?”
“It won’t be easy to let him go” I replied, hugging my legs and burying my face into them.
“Are you sure you can do it?” Minho inquired tenderly “Are you sure you want to?”
“It’s not like you are going to let me go with him anyways” I mumbled.
“I would…”
“No you wouldn’t and you won’t” my voice was flat, emotionless “You are acting like this because you don’t want me to see you cry again”
Minho laughed slightly, yet a couple of tears rolled down his cheeks.
“It’s amazing the way you always can see through me” he said wiping them with the back of his hand “I’m going to sleep, you should stay up too long”
I nodded without looking at him. As soon as I heard the door of Minho’s room close, I stood and walked to Jinki’s room.
“Are you sleeping?” I whispered as I entered.
“No” Jinki replied as he sat “Apparently I’m not longer able to sleep without you”
Jinki was smiling, but I couldn’t smile back. He understood that something was wrong and that made him sigh.
“I guess that I should get used to that, shouldn’t I?”
“I’m sorry” I mumbled, sitting beside him. His hand pulled my head towards his chest, caressing it softly. Then I started crying.
“Everything will be fine” Jinki assured me, trying to comfort me but failing as his voice broke “We will be fine. I’ll come to see you every week, and we will have a proper date. You can visit me too; Minho can come if he wants to…”
“Can I stay here tonight?” I asked between sobs. Jinki just nodded and pulled me under the sheets. I took me a while but when I finally fall asleep I could feel Jinki’s lips on my forehead.
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There was an amazing smell on the air. I had smelled it a dozen of times so I knew that it was Minho cooking breakfast. Minho hyung cooked delicious, even better that our mother, but neither the good memories of Minho cooking nor the fact I was starving made me want to leave Jinki’s arms.
He didn’t seem to want to stand, so we remained in the bed, just staring at each other. Occasionally, Jinki bended to kiss me but those weren’t the long kisses I was used to. They were goodbye kisses, short and painful.
“Lovebirds, breakfast is ready” Kibum shouted across the door.
“We’re coming” Jinki replied. Kibum’s steps as he walked away made me sigh.
Jinki tried to get up, but I couldn’t help but held him tight.
“Taemin, we can’t avoid it” he said sweetly “We have to do it”
Gently, he took off my arms from his waist and started changing his clothes. Silently, I left the room towards the bathroom.
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I tried to ward off the thoughts of Jinki leaving as I walked to the kitchen. There was laughing coming from there. I tried to approach carefully to see what happened.
It was Key and Minho. They sat next to each other in the bar, his breakfast forgotten front of them.
“Oh, please” Key said smirking “Is it all that you have?”
“I made you laugh, didn’t I?” Minho smiled back “It’s a beginning”
“If you really want something with me, you’ll have to give me your best shot”
“Okay, then how would it be if I tell you that you have a gorgeous smile?” Minho asked, leaning towards Key.
“Better, but it still isn’t enough” Key said, trying to appear indifferent but the blush on his cheeks said something else.
I was surprised. I had been expecting a lot of things from that day, one of which had not been to see Minho and Key shamelessly flirting in the kitchen.
Minho leaned over Key, trying to seize his lips, when I turned to leave.
“Ouch” Jinki said when I hit him.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, pushing him to the hall.
“The same thing you were doing” he whispered too. We heard steps behind us and turned to see.
“It’s alright, you can come” Minho said slightly embarrassed. Jinki and I exchanged glances before walking into the kitchen again.
Key not even looked up as we sat, so we all ate in an awkward silence.
“Are you going back now?” Minho asked Jinki when we finished eating. Jinki stared at me and then to Key, who nodded slightly.
“We must return by Friday” Key explained to Minho “We have a lot of work waiting for us”
Jinki sighed, worried, and Minho frowned.
“Well, then I guess we should be going” Jinki said calmly. Key nodded and stood.
Soon their bags were on their cars and they were ready to go.
“Taemin, you know you can come to visit us, right?” Key told me before hugging me.
“I will” I assured him, retuning the hug.
“Promise me you never ever are going to do something that dangerous”
“I won’t”
“And you should wear a sweater if you go out during a snowfall, and also…”
“You’re doing it again umma” I said chuckling. Key sighed and smiled.
“I’m going to miss you Taemin” he said affectionately.
“I’ll too” my eyes got teary “Take care, Key hyung”
Key nodded and approached to Minho. I smiled as Minho said something that made Key blush. Probably I could do something to help them be together.
“Think about them later” Jinki whispered at my ear while hugging me by the waist. I tried to smile, but a few tears rolled through my cheeks.
“Call me when you arrive” I said, not looking at him.
“I’ll call you everyday” Jinki assured me, taking my hand and writing his number on the palm of my hand. I stared at it, smiling.
“Thank you, Jinki” I whispered, looking up to his eyes. He removed a few strands of hair from my face.
“Listen, I know there must be some really cute girls around here but…” Jinki took a deep breath “Please, don’t date anyone else”
I chuckled.
“It will depend on how frequently you call me” I smirked. Jinki smiled and kissed my forehead.
“Then, I’ll see you soon” he said before walking to his car.
I really tried not to cry as I saw them move away, but once Minho hugged my shoulders I couldn’t help him. Minho didn’t seem happy either.
“Let’s go inside” I told him “You still have to tell me everything you and Key hyung talked about”
“Oh I can’t do that” he said smiling a little “Those are adult themes”
“That’s not fair” I complained. Minho just laughed and went back into the house.
Probably the things would be hard from then on, but there was just one thing I wanted more than anything: hear Jinki’s voice again.
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I'm really greatful with the ones who read this. Please look forward the epilogue!