Intricate: Our Bittersweet Love | MARKNOMINHYUCK(bxbxbxb)

Chapter 10

C H A P T E R  10 : Nothing has changed

-----Jeno-----

"Are you sure it's okay to come over to your house?" I ask.

He turns his head around, his hand still on the doorknob. He smiles at me brightly and nods quickly. "My parents said I can invite my friends whenever I want! It should be your parents you should worry about, don't you think?"

"I just need to call my older brother." I smile back at him joyfully, the worriedness from seconds ago vanishing. 

"Welcome to my home." He smiles nervously as he opens the door and walks inside. "It's nothing compared to your mansion, I know, but it's..." he shrugs and laughs. "Home."

There was something special about his house. It probably had something to do with it looking like a family actually lived here unlike my house; there were portraits all over the house and not everyone was neat. It wasn't like those pictures pasted in magazines. It was homey. The complete opposite of my house. The house was warm and lovely while my house was cold and lonely. I had always hated the vibes in my house (except when Taeyong-Hyung was around, of course) coming to his house just made me hate the place I called home even more. 

"So. What do you want to do first?" The smile on his face was sweet and genuine as he sat on the living room couch and signaled me to do the same. His smile seemed so real and I was real good at telling the difference between fake and real, believe me. "Oh, hey, dad. I thought you weren't home yet."

I turned to look at the man who had walked into the room. He was looking at his son but he introduced us and he looked at me. I can clearly remember the chills that ran through me as he extended his hand for me to shake. Hesitantly, I took his hand but I instantly moved closer to my friend.

There was something wrong, I sensed it.

I woke up startled. My eyes opened in panic and I looked around for any signs of danger or anything out of the ordinary, thank god that what I came to see were three faces that instantly brought me comfort instead of something more unpleasant. 

I was ready to relax and head back to sleep when I heard a noise coming from outside the room. At any time of day, I would have easily come up with the conclusion that it was one of the maids but noted by the lack of light in the room, it was past hours. I glanced at my boys one last time before slowly getting out of bed, carefully untangling Mark and Jaemin's arms from around me.

I tiptoed to the door, wanting to avoid any of the boys waking up. Regardless, I grabbed a bat from my room and walked out, slowly but surely. First, I looked left and right but there was no one around so I stepped towards the stairs. I came closer down, I heard some noise in the kitchen. Whoever it was, they were looking for something but I still couldn't think of who it could be so the safest assumption was that it was someone uninvited or in other words, an intruder. 

I was ready to swing the bat but when the person turned to face me just as I came into view, we both jumped back and screamed in surprise, both of us with wide eyes and panicked expressions. 

"Shit!" He screams, dropping the jar of milk in his hands. "What's wrong with you?!"

"What's wrong with me?! I'm not the one coming home unannounced and scaring the shit out of their younger brother!" I scream in reply, pressing my hand to my chest, trying to calm down my heartbeat.

"Well! There's something called surprises!"

"Can you stop screaming?" I ask in a whisper, remembering that there were other people in the house.

He raises his hands in defeat and laughs. "You're helping me clean this up," he says, going on his knees and picking up shards of the jar from the floor. 

I was about to casually go get a broom and the trash can when I realized. "Holy shit," I whispered, widening my eyes and turning to look at him. "Hyung."

"Yeah?" He asks nonchalantly, looking up at me, looking tired.

"Holy shit, Taeyong-Hyung! What the fuck are you doing here?!" I exclaim, pulling him to his feet.

"Hey, what you just did was dangerous. I could have slipped and fallen onto the glass," he frowns.

"Just respond!"

"Weren't you just telling me to keep it down?!"

Right. "Right. Let's be quiet or they'll wake up."

He instantly looked confused. "Who will? I know mom and dad aren't home."

"Can you just respond to my question? You were supposed to be back until Friday!" I whisper-shout.

He smirks. "Surprise, little brother."

I snort, letting a smile escape. "You scared the shit out of me. I thought a bear was raiding our kitchen or something."

"Well. I just got out of a 13-hour flight and was hungry, can you blame me?"

I hadn't seen him in years yet it felt like it was just yesterday that I said goodbye to him at the airport. He looked just the same, maybe his features had matured just a little, and he was wearing a formal shirt and pants. But besides that, he was still Taeyong-Hyung. My older, dependable, playful brother.

Without thinking, I pulled him into a hug. "I missed you. A lot."

He laughed a little. "I missed you too," he says lowly, putting his arms tightly around me.

There's a long silence, us just embracing and taking in each other warmth and happiness. But of course, it was broken.

"Now, who is in this house?"

A/N: I know that this chapter is really short compared to others but I feel really bad for not having uploaded in a long time so I wanted to come up with a chapter asap. Considering that I'm writing this at 12:30 AM, I sorta just wanted to get it over with. However, don't fret! I have some new ideas for the story and if all goes as planned, there will be a new chapter out tomorrow- or more like later.

Also, say hello to Taeyong, yall!! Finally!! I was lowkey waiting for this moment hehe.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed today's chapter! Love you all!!