Promise Me ➳ Taebin ✔

20. Everybody Was Right

Date: August 21st

The few days of Taehyun being sick was absolutely excruciating. Soobin was literally checking him every two seconds to see if his fever has gone down or up, constantly soaking the rag in cold water again to place on Taehyun's forehead, and making sure he was hydrated at all times.

Luckily he was fine after a few days, and Soobin left to go back to his house for the first time in a while.

"So what do I have to do?" He asked his dad who was getting ready for work.

"You'll just assist the designers and things like that."

Basically, Soobin wouldn't be getting paid. It was like an internship. But he was still getting money from his parents since... they're his parents.

This was literally just to give him something productive to do.

Once they got to the company, Soobin went upstairs to his dad's office. He had been here a lot as a kid, but it's been like a year since his last visit.

"Soobin! Good, you're here! I need a tall, handsome man to use," a designer said, dragging him out.

"This is um... interesting," Soobin said, looking down at the colorful outfit he was wearing.

"You don't like it."

"No. I like it. It's just... not my style."

"Well, luckily it's for other people, not you," the guy said, looking him up and down. "Is it comfortable?" Soobin nodded. "Too tight fitting? What size are you?"

"In what?"

"A dress."

Soobin giggled.

"I don't know, but this isn't a dress."

"Well I know that, you adorable ball of fluffiness." Soobin started laughing, gasping when the guy lightly grabbed his waist. "Hm... it's fitting. I need your size, but I'll figure it out."

The man was probably in his mid-forties, but acted so much like a gay teenager that Soobin kept laughing the entire time.

It was kind of throwing him off, but he loved the energy of this place. Everybody was just... kind. Even the "rude" ones were just plain funny.

At the end of the day, he went into the room where everyone was talking to say goodbye.

"Soobin, you were really great today," one of the girls said.

"Thanks..."

"You're twenty, right? You should be a Calvin Klein model or something."

Soobin's eyes widened and he panickedly shook his head. "N-no. I don't have the body for that. I'm kind of... squish."

"Well..." one of them started. "You could work out."

He shrugged. "I mean my boyfriend works out, so I could get tips from him-"

"How tall is he?"

"Uh... 5'10"."

"Is he sexy?"

"Extremely."

"You should tell him about it then."

Soobin nodded and looked down. "I will... well it was nice meeting all of you. I'll be back in a few days."

He walked out and then drove to Taehyun's house, seeing the nurse's car in the driveway again.

They had gotten to know each other, and Soobin started trusting her after the first few questions about her. Well first of all, she had a wife. Second, she was a night owl, meaning she could be here in case of emergencies. And third, she had her master's degree in nursing and had been doing it for nearly six years now.

So yeah, she was pretty trustworthy.

He walked inside and tilted his head when he saw her in the kitchen.

"Do they pay you to make food?" He asked, setting his stuff on the couch.

"No. But they said I can help myself to anything I want."

He nodded and went to Taehyun's room.

"So, in my twenty years of living, I got the privilege of having wealthy parents. So I never had to work, but today, I went to work. It was so great Taehyun," he said excitedly, walking over to sit on the edge of the bed. "They said I should be a model for CK, but I would have to be shirtless to do it. And then they said you should do it since my beautiful boy has abs. But I know you don't want to. You don't wanna be a baseball player either. You wanna help animals."

He looked at the black and white kitten that was sitting on the windowsill, staring out into the dark void.

Lucky.

That was his name.

Because just like Taehyun, he was lucky.

There was a fire at the animal shelter when his mom was still pregnant with him and his siblings, and they got his mom out. All of them survived. He was a lucky cat.

Taehyun survived a horrible car accident.

He was lucky too.

Soobin walked over to pet the animal, smiling at how he lifted his head for Soobin to scratch under his chin.

"I can't wait for you to meet Taehyun," he said, looking back at the brown-haired boy while still petting the sweet feline. "He loves animals, especially cats and snakes. He's gentle, sweet, and he's always there for me." He started crying a little bit. "And I need you to be there for him, okay? Because I'm gonna need to leave at some point. And I need you to take care of him like he takes care of me. He's asleep, so cuddle with him. Kiss him. Just love him while I'm not here, okay?"

Soobin walked back over to Taehyun to cry into his chest, the cat quickly following to curl up in the sleeping boy's lap. Soobin's lips quivered and he covered his face, not wanting to accept the fact that at some point, he wouldn't be able to keep his life on pause any longer.

Everybody was right.

He would need to leave.