Indestructible Chap. 8 : Minho II

[kumo_is_kumo]

Title: Indestructible

Pairing: SHINee-OT5; Jongkey; hinted!2min

Genre: Friendship, Angst, Drama, Slice of life, Semi-Romance

Length: Series

Summary: Jinki and Jonghyun got hurt because of him. Minho and Taemin left because of him. What was the use of living for Kibum? There was nothing left to him. Or that was what he used to think until four people that he loved the most were coming back. This was a story of broken friendship between five young boys who tried to mend the bond once again.

Chapter 8: Minho II



He was surprised when at one day Taemin came to him saying: “Minho hyung, come with me. We need to do something that we should have done since four years ago.”

Minho had been waiting for the right time to go back and when Taemin offered him that, he could only nod his head, not really believing his voice to answer as his heart was bursting in happiness. They had been stuck in here, far away from their homeland and Minho was seriously missing it.

It had been four years. It sure was a long time. A very long time since they had seen their good friends.

Minho remembered his desperate state at the time his mother told him he was going to move to America. He wanted to talk back. He did. But he could never win his mother. Without Jinki hyung behind him to tell him what to do, Minho was unable to defend himself. Without Kibum to tell him to ‘do-whatever-that-makes-you-happy’, Minho was empty.

Kibum. He missed his same-aged friend.

They had been partners in crime. They had been a pair of odd friend arguing and then at the same time they understood each other very well. Both of them were very hard-headed. Their arguing wouldn’t be over in a while. It took them a few days before finally they would apologize to each other.

Minho was seriously missing him. His old good friend.

He couldn’t forget the time he sent the simple message to Kibum; the last time before his mother cut all of his communication ties with Kibum. He wanted to bark, to yell, to scream, to question; but in the end all Minho could do was nodding his head to all of his mother’s words like a good-obedient dog he was.

He glanced at the nervous Taemin who was squeezing his jacket for the past hour. All he could do was only holding onto Taemin’s hand and comforted him, as if telling himself to calm down as well.

The whole ride from the villa to Kibum’s place was silent. Taemin was thinking in his mind and Minho did the same. To think that Kibum was probably still living in the same place was kind of giving Minho a hope that they could find Kibum sooner than he thought. But the thing was also giving him a slight uncomfortable feeling to think that Kibum was alone in that empty place.

The old building came to their sight and Minho squeezed the steering wheel tightly. He couldn’t believe that they would come here again. After four years.

Would Kibum be there? Or could he move away already?

Taemin kept on questioning as to ‘what if’ and Minho honestly didn’t know the answer to all of his questions.



To say that he hoped Kibum would be happy to see them again was kind of an understatement. But he also didn’t hope Kibum to stay mad at them.

But what was Minho thinking; Kibum would be happy or angry to see them?

Boy, he was wrong.

Kibum changed a lot for the past four years. He was not their friend.

They saw their best friend, Kim Kibum, with a pair of blank, empty eyes staring back at them.

“Who...?” murmured the voice that was once happy, that used to ring around them, angrily nagged at them to clean their messy bags, that used to laugh from their tickling torture on his slender waist.

The light was gone. Nothing left in his once so alive eyes.

When the words left his dry lips: “Who are you?”

Minho felt his breath stuck in his lungs. No matter how many times they argued before until Minho had the urge to throw Kibum away into the Han River, he didn’t expect Kibum to be like this. He wanted to step forward, holding onto his shoulder and shook him, telling this stranger to give him back his cry-baby friend, Kibum.

He knew how much Kibum treasured his appearance. He would always stay nice in front of everyone. He wouldn’t let his skin dry and wouldn’t let them touch his hair, which was the thing that Minho loved to do since he was taller than him.

This was not Kibum that he used to argue with. Kibum was so noisy; he didn’t know when to shut up. But this Kibum... He was different. There was no more stylish Kibum.

“Oh, you.” Murmured Kibum breathlessly and it managed to stop them from breathing too loud.

“I don’t need your pity. Go away.”

The door closed softly in front of their face, no more words exchanged between them. Fists gripped tightly, heart clenching in pain, eyes closed from the unshed tears.



It was between the reality and a really bad dream to see Kibum like that. Minho stared emptily at the closed door; a tear rolled down his cheek from his right eye.

He quickly wiped it away when he heard Taemin’s sobbing. They couldn’t be weak. Kibum needed them and Taemin was already a crying mess now.

Minho watched as Taemin weakly pounded on the wooden door, trying to make him open the door again.

“Kibum hyung, it’s me, Taemin! Hyung, please open the door!”

He knew he had to do something. “Kibum, open the door!”

Taemin was crying as he clutched onto the wood. Minho desperately knocked on the door, calling his name again and again.

“Kibum-ah! Kibum!”

“Go away...”

Minho heard the voice and he felt his heart twisted in the most uncomfortable way. He missed Kibum’s voice, for God’s sake. The voice was so hoarse and weak. This was not his voice anymore.

“Hyung! Please!” Taemin wailed in front of the door.

“Don’t you get the part of I don’t want to see you!? Stop crying like a kid, and bring that tall freak away!”

That tall freak. Yeah, Kibum loved to call him like that before.

Minho had this sudden hope, even though it was really small.

“Kibum, please, don’t be like this,” murmured him while lifting Taemin up from the dusty ground.

“You don’t tell me what I do!” grunted Kibum from inside.

Minho was in loss for words. What Kibum said was true. They had no right to tell him what to do.

In the end, he could only sigh heavily and sat down in front of his door. They waited. They waited for hours outside his door. Kibum didn’t show any sign of opening the door for him and finally Minho sighed.

“Let’s get going, Taemin. He wouldn’t open up for us in any moment. We will come back tomorrow. It’s kind of late.”



***



They woke up early. It was not like they slept anyway. The sight of Kibum’s face was haunting their mind. Minho could hear Taemin’s muffled sobs from the other room at night and Minho rubbed his face angrily.

The both of them were driving back to Kibum’s place, only to find the said friend was walking along the empty road alone. Taemin clutched onto his hand and Minho slowed his car, slowly following him from behind. He stared at Kibum’s slumped back; the way he lifelessly walked gave a painful pinch in his heart.

Kibum suddenly stopped, however, in front of the magazine standee. He stared at the cover of the magazine for a while, before walking away again. Taemin told him to stop in front of the standee as he wanted to see what Kibum was looking just now. At the sight, Taemin cried again and Minho closed his eyes. It was the picture of Jonghyun hyung with his current girlfriend.

When Minho was feeling this way after seeing that, then how did Kibum feel for this whole time?



Kibum entered one small market, walking behind one of the paying counters before sitting down. He stared out the glass door, and kept on doing that for a very long time.

“Hyung, can we go down?” asked Taemin softly and Minho didn’t know the answer.

“I... don’t know, Taemin-ah. I mean...”

“Please?”

Taemin was begging him like that and Minho could never refuse him. They got down, slowly pushing the glass door and Kibum looked up to find them. However, he then looked away and kept his stare outside again. Minho quickly pulled the youngest to slip in between the aisles, picking up some random snacks before making their way to pay.

Kibum took the snack and counted it, murmuring the price with hoarse voice. Minho nodded, paying the money and opened his mouth.

“Kibum-ah, can we—”

“Thank you for coming.” Kibum cut him off before standing up, walking to one of the aisle to pretend on looking at something. Taemin quickly walked after him and started blabbering, “Hyung, please. Talk to us...”

Kibum stayed silent, hands moving to putting the things on the aisle on their right place. Minho gripped his fist, watching Kibum acting like this was hurting everyone.

“Kibum hyung. Please talk to me. I... I miss you so much, hyung.” Taemin whispered softly. Kibum stopped moving and closed his eyes.

“It’s too late.”

“Hyung, please. Nothing is too late! We... We are here now! We are back and, and we—”

“You were not here when I needed you the most. I didn’t know what happened to you and you didn’t know what happened to me, and I would like to keep it that way.”

He was talking softly as if the words were not going to hurt him, but Minho knew Kibum better. He knew how much the words were hurting him.

“Kibum, let’s talk. We really need to talk.”

“There is nothing to talk. We all moved on. You can’t keep on staying around me because you have duty to do.”

“We are not—”

“I’m tired. I’m really tired of all of this. Please go.”

Kibum walked pass them and Minho had to grab onto Taemin’s wrist to stop him from following Kibum. “Hyung? Why?”

“Give him time, Taemin. We couldn’t just come back and ask him to take us back easily. It was hard for him, we know it.”

Taemin nodded with a sigh before they got out, not before Taemin whispered: “See you soon, Kibummie hyung.”



***



It was about a few weeks later when Minho then started to lose hope. They had been doing this repeatedly; coming to Kibum’s place, to his working place, trying to talk to him and Kibum would mostly ignored them.

He had replied them a few times, and Taemin was so happy about that. But sometimes things just got too hard for Minho to handle. He was tired.

That was why Minho was sitting in his room after letting Taemin sleep for a while, holding onto his phone hesitantly. He was staring at the contact in his phone, debating with himself whether to call him or not.

But then Minho pressed the dial, and not long after a few tones, the call was answered.

“Minho?”

“Hyung. Did I disturb your sleep?”

“No, you don’t. What is it?”

“I... I don’t know what else that I should do, hyung. It’s... depressing. I can’t stop Taemin from crying and I can’t make him open up. Kibum would never open up to me...” Minho murmured weakly, one palm closing over his eyes as he cried. He had never let Taemin saw him cried. He had to be strong in front of the youngest boy.

“Minho... Hang in there. Because I have good news for you.”

“Good news?”

“Yeah. That good news.”

“Hyung? Are you saying...?”

“Yes, Minho.”



***



Minho took a deep breath before knocking on the door. “Kibum, can we talk?”

“No.” The answer came too quick and Minho had expected him to answer that. It was not like Kibum would suddenly say yes and open the door for them. Taemin sighed behind him and rubbed his face.

Minho gripped his fists, turning around to see the person behind him before stepping away.

“I tried.”

The person nodded with a smile, patting him on his back. He stepped closer, with Minho watching him from behind. The person gently knocked on the door, waiting for any response from inside.

“Go away.”



“Kibum-ah.”



The voice was so calm, so warm, and so gentle. It could send you warm feeling for an instant. Minho watched as he once again depended on someone else, not able to finish something properly. Taemin held onto his hand, fingers intertwined with his fingers as if to say ‘you did well’.

There was a soft ‘thud’ from inside and Minho held back his breathe. The handle of the door was being turned and Minho stared at the person in front of him. He had this smile on his face even though Minho knew he was as sad as them.



“Can you open the door for me, Bummie?”



It was silent for a few minutes before the door was slowly creaked open in the slightest gap, letting the light from outside entering the dark apartment. Minho could see Kibum’s face from the slight gap and his hoarse voice calling hesitantly: “J-Jinki hyung...?”











***








A/N: Hooo, Jinki is out in the frame! The big brother is back! <3
Okay, so, I'm currently in the middle of exam weeks but I will try to update as usual :D
Please leave a comment and tell me what you think about it :)

Comments

[minimi0129.livejournal.com]

I thought I'll be broken with Kibum's pov but why Minho's effect is almost worst?? ㅠㅠ He wanted to be strong yet he can't handle it on his own, and Taemin too :'( shizzz, I don't want to cry but I can't help it.. thankfully Jinki is now there, I hope he make things better..

[midoyotvxq.livejournal.com]

yes, i cried the most while writing minho's </3 thanks for reading ^^

[jjongluvbummie.livejournal.com]

Yay jinki is back in the scene.hope he will be able to do something good.minho and taemin tried but kibum was way too hurt but yup our angle jinki is here.now it's jonghyun we are missing.

Enjoyed it.thanks for sharing and waiting to know more��

[midoyotvxq.livejournal.com]

thank you so much for reading this <3