#kim jongae

our precious Kim Jongdae will once again show his gorgeous voice to the world through the OST that I already love with all my heart lord i can't wait to hear i miss so much

03: The Truth

Word Count: 1,763

Warning(s): This chapter is almost nothing but angst.

The Cheshire grin never left Jongdae’s face for the entire day. He stuck by your side, grabbing a hold of your hand whenever Jongin looked your way. No matter how hard you tried to pull away, his death grip made it impossible, only setting you free when Jongin’s frown had deepened and he’d turned away to dance more. Your heart hurt seeing the hurt look on your face, but you refused to believe that look meant anything other than being hurt that you’d defy your brother’s wishes, or that you didn’t tell him that you were dating one of his best friends. Still, the hurt look rattled you every time you saw it. But things only got worse when you got back to the dorm.

Everyone was quieter than usual. Baekhyun and Chanyeol weren’t creating chaos and giggling together. Junmyeon wasn’t running after any of his “children” like a mother duckling rushing to keep her kids in line. Sehun wasn’t trying to bribe anyone into giving him money for ice cream. Kyungsoo, well, he was always quiet unless he was yelling at Baekhyun or Chanyeol. Jongdae was too busy wearing a permanent smirk to allow words to break through his sealed lips. Jongin was half moping around. And Minseok was glaring at just about everyone. 

It was you that finally decided to break the silence, tired of the unnatural quiet. You were far too used to eight wild men running around the dorm disturbing the peace.

“What do you guys want for dinner?” you asked.

No one turned to look at you. They just began going in their own directions.

“Make chicken,” Minseok said, his voice quiet, but more stern than you were used to.

Something was definitely going to go down. Minseok only requested chicken when he had something important to talk about as a group. Chicken was one of everyone’s favorite dishes, which created a soft cushion for whatever blow the group was going to take.

You nodded, visibly gulping and headed into the kitchen to prepare the chicken you had stored in the refrigerator, meant for another day. 

“Hyung, is everything ok?” you heard someone ask.

By the sound of the voice, you knew it was Sehun that had dared speak. You felt sorry for the younger. This was undoubtedly your fault... well, yours and Jongdae’s.

“We’ll talk about it at dinner,” you heard Junmyeon answer for Minseok. 

This was worse than you thought. Minseok only ever got Momma Junmyeon involved if he couldn’t handle a situation on his own.

“This isn’t going to be good,” you heard someone mutter.

You finished preparing the raw chicken before getting everything together to cook it up. You knew better by now than to make a controlled amount. No matter how much food you made, you almost never had leftovers. It was more often that someone was left still hungry and you’d have to make half another meal to sate their hungry stomachs. Tonight was going to be the night of nervous eating. 

You opened the refrigerator in a spare moment to let the chicken cook and peered inside, counting the number of beer cans and bottles were slid in the drawers. The guys didn’t drink often. Only when they needed to unwind. Sighing in relief when you counted 20 beers, you shut the door and went back to the chicken. Two beers apiece should be enough to get through dinner and whatever else Minseok and Junmyeon had planned. 

Outside the kitchen, all was quiet. There were either boys in their rooms or boys sulking in the living room waiting for the food to finish cooking. The door of the dorm opened, alerting your ears that the ninth member had finally arrived. 

“Hyung! Your back!” you heard Baekhyun shout gleefully.

Loud stomps of running feet raced to the door where you were sure Yixing was taking off his shoes before he was engulfed in hugs from his EXO brothers.

“How’s noona?” Sehun asked him.

Out of all the members, Yixing was the only member that had a girlfriend. She was an American named Jade that he’d met when she moved to Seoul two summers ago to teach Korean children how to speak English.They had begun dating shortly after she’d moved, and you had to say, she was the closest thing you had to a sister.

“She’s great! She baked you all cookies,” Yixing’s cheerful voice beamed. 

You heard shouts of joy and you felt yourself slowly feeling relieved. Yixing truly was a healing unicorn. He could fix almost every situation, sometimes without even knowing it was going on, like tonight. You felt a smile creep onto you cheeks as you focused on the chicken. It hadn’t occurred to you that you hadn’t heard one voice in particular go to greet Yixing. 

“Why did you choose Jongdae?” Jongin’s voice startled you when he’d spoken.

You whirled around, staring at him with wild eyes as you allowed yourself time to process the question. 

“Why did you choose Jongdae? Out of all the people in Seoul, you had to choose him!” he said.

Oh boy. This was definitely not a happy Jongin you were dealing with, not that you had expected much happiness from him today. 

You let out a sigh and made plans to make Jongdae pay dearly for this.

“Jongin... I’m not...” you couldn’t find the right words. 

How was one supposed to tell the guy they were crushing on that they got sucked into the guys best friends plan to fake jealousy so the guy you liked would like you back?

“Your not what?” he asked, louder this time. 

You sighed again. This was going to be such a hard conversation.

“We’re not da-”

“Is the food ready yet? We’re starving!” Baekhyun ran in, disrupting the conversation.

You didn’t know whether to hug him or choke him for ruining the conversation. Jongin scoffed and walked out. You rested your head against the counter and groaned. Now he really never would like you after what Jongdae was putting you through.

“(Y/N)! Get you head up and pay attention! The food’s about to burn!” Minseok’s voice broke your thoughts.

You snapped up pulled the chicken up, putting it all on a plate. 

“Someone set the table,” you said, carrying the chicken over. 

Kyungsoo came to set plates out and you got the beers out, putting two at each chair except for your own.

“Boys, dinner,” Junmyeon shouted, sitting down in his seat at the head of the rectangular table. One by one, fast feet made their way into the kitchen, thanking you and sitting down at the table, some taking a bite of chicken, some starting by sipping a beer. You pulled a few pieces of chicken on your plate, but your appetite was almost gone, being replaced by fear, regret, and guilt.

Halfway through dinner, Minseok cleared his throat and slowly, everyone silenced. You gave your brother a weary look, afraid of what was going to come out of his serious lips.

“It has come to my attention that two of you have taken special interest in my sister,” he announced.

Oh no. This was not going to be good- wait... two people?

“With that said, I would like to remind everyone that dating her is strictly off limits! I trust you all, but she in my baby sister. She doesn’t need to have to deal with our schedules more than she already does,” he said.

For some reason, this made your blood boil. You were going to fall for who you were going to fall for. You couldn’t help your feelings for Jongin. It was your turn to stand, enraged.

“You have no right to control my life like this!” You half yelled at him.

You saw everyone’s face pale. You and Minseok rarely fought, but when you did, it was catastrophic. 

His face grew red with anger. 

“I am only protecting you!” he yelled back.

“You have no right to dictate who I fall for!” you snapped. 

“How could you fall for Jongdae?!” a new voice entered the argument.

Oh fack. Now you were going to have to hash this out with both of them.

“You’re dating Jongdae?!” Minseok yelled louder. 

“No I-”

“Yes she is! I saw them holding hands all day!” Jongin accused. 

You felt offended, bewildered, mad, and sad all at once. 

“No Jongin I-”

No one would let you finish.

“Jongdae?! You fall for Jongdae?!” Minseok yelled, half laughing.

“Rude!” Jongdae’s voice yelled somewhere in the mix.

And then chaos broke lose. Everyone was yelling at everyone. You couldn’t take it anymore. There was another reason you never liked going along with Jongdae’s plans. You couldn’t keep a secret. Even when you wee younger, you always tattled on yourself. 

“JONGDAE AND I WERE FAKING TO MAKE JONGIN JEALOUS!” you screamed above all the yelling.

Everyone froze, all eyes on you. You felt about two feet tall as you shrunk under their gazes. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Jongdae slap his face into his hand at your confession. 

The next second, the room was filled with gasps of disbelief, laughter, and lots of criticism. 

“You sided to do a plan with him?! Are you stupid?!” Sehun cackled. 

That hurt but you were more worried about what your brother and Jongin were going to say. You were far too scared to look at their faces.

“I can’t believe you would do something this dumb. I’m so disappointed in you,” Minseok said. 

There it was. Minseok pulled the disappointed card on you. You hated disappointing him.

“I can’t believe I ever liked you...” you heard Jongin mumble before getting up. “I thought you were different. The cool girl that played just as hard as the boys, the girl that was strong and independent. But your not. You’re desperate and just like everyone else.”

With that, he left the table. You felt your heart snap in two. That was the worst thing you could think of to hear him say. You felt crystal pools fill your eyes, but you were already embarrassed and ashamed. Leaving your plate behind, you made a beeline for the hallway, escaping to your room.

Once you were there, you locked the door and crawled on your bed, burying your face in the pillows and crying as loud and as hard as you needed too. You were already embarrassed. May as well add to that fire now.

You didn’t know how you were going to show your face around the dorm ever again now.

Previously: 02: The Plan