Salvation

Chapter 17

How did you all enjoy the curveball last chap? Probably very lol. But you love me and you know it.

...

"A brother?" Junmyeon asked in disbelief. What he couldn't comprehend, even at seven years old, was how his mother even managed to have another kid. His grandmother smiled, though Junmyeom noticed it wasn't necessarily a happy sort of smile. "I have a baby brother?" Junmyeon asked again.

"Yes," his grandmother replied. Though her voice sounded strained. Like it was taking everything in her to keep it together. "Your mother had a baby boy a few days ago." Junmyeon waited for more. When he could meet the baby. Maybe even when he could see his mother, a request he wished for every birthday and on every shooting star he came across. But that was all the information his grandmother would share, and the beginning of a lifetime of disappointment blossomed in Junmyeon's small stomach.

The two grew up knewing of each other but never quite connecting like siblings. Junmyeon's mother never changed her ways, still sleeping around and cheating and drinking and just generally wasting her own life away. The only difference was she absolutely ADORED Sehun. She did all those things less frequently with the baby around, always showering him in compliments and gifts. Family members clamored over each other in an attempt to watch him for the day. They took him on lavish holidays. They drove him around Korea to stay at cabins on beaches. And by all accounts Junmyeom should have been jealous beyond belief. Here this child was, getting the love he craved so badly.

But he couldn't ever bring himself to be. That was still his little brother. And it wasn't Sehun's fault that his family chose to love him over Junmyeon. The only thing Junmyeon wished away was the feeling at the end of the night when he laid in his bed at his dad's, all alone and forgotten. The feeling of failure. That he never did anything that impressed them, no matter how hard he tried. He was never good enough in their eyes. But Sehun was the golden boy. The one everyone loved beyond all measure.

And Junmyeon was nothing.

...

"Junmyeon?" Said male peeked up tiredly, feeling bags under his eyes. All week nightmares plagued him. Of his past. His family. Sehun. His brother he hadn't seen in several years. He often wondered how he was doing. What all he'd accomplished while Junmyeon spent his life fighting tooth and nail for everything he had. His nurse frowned at his distrsught look. All the progress they made week after week seemed to come unraveled and they would start from scratch. "You okay?" she finally asked lamely. Of course he wasn't. And she knew that. But she wanted to give him a chance to express that himself. Junmyeon's face screwed like he might cry, but no tears fell.

"I want out of here," Junmyeom finally answered. Straightforward as always. Junmyeon had no time for sugary, flowery words anymore. His whole life centered around getting straight to the point. Once upon a time, of course, that wasn't the case. What felt like a lifetime ago he would get lost in his pages, pouring out his heart onto neatly spaced lines. Jotting down his thoughts before they ran rampant on his mind, round amd round and round like a racecar on an endless track. "I want to go home." But where even was home? Not with his father. Not with his mother. Not even with his friends anymore. Junmyeon had nowhere to go. No one to turn to.

"Someone is here to see you," his nurse said instead. Junmyeon's eyebros retreated into his hairline. Naturally he assumed no one even remembered he was here. But when Baekhyun stepped sheepishly into his room, looking uncomfortable and embarrassed, about a thousand different emotions exploded inside Junmyeon. Relief. Sadness. Rage. Disconnect. Did he even know this man anymore? "Remember you have AA today," his nurse reminded him as she retreated out of the room. The two men stared each other down.