36 MINUTES TO FALL, jaemin ✓

23 | warmth and closeness

❝ How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people's?❞

"We used to be close, before...you know," Yumi sighed, playing with Jaemin's fingers absently. "My childhood was pretty average, I'd say. Nothing remarkable."

"What about the rest of your family?" Jaemin questioned.

"We didn't talk much to begin with, but they're happy to see me every time they visit," she admitted. "My cousins and I are well aware of the unspoken-of rivalry between us, so it's mostly my aunts and uncles, I guess, and the adult cousins."

"To tell you the truth, my extended family understands me and cares more about how I'm doing than my parents and sister," he said with a weary sigh. "That made my childhood pretty happy, since we were with each other often. My cousins and I are wild about each other. When we were younger, we used to throw actual, full-on temper tantrums when we couldn't stay over at each other's houses."

"That's so cute," Yumi cooed. He made a face, unimpressed by her obviously teasing display of affection.

"There was this one time a bunch of us were having a barbecue out on the beach when I was about ten," he recalled. "I'd been begging my parents to let one of my cousins stay the night. Before we could get the barbecue completely underway, the rain started to pour so heavily you couldn't see anything beyond a few feet ahead of you. We had no choice but to break it up.

"This said cousin had had pneumonia before, and his mom was terrified he might get sick again, so my sister and I walked with him to our house just a block away. He had to stay the night because it was storming the whole night and there was no way his mother was removing him from the safe warmth of our house until the storm ceased."

"So you got your wish, but your family fun was ruined," Yumi said. "One of those ups caused by a major down."

"Exactly!" he agreed. "On the other hand, the next question really isn't fun..."

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WORD COUNT: 358