locked [chanbaek and kaisoo]

Chapter 28

Chanyeol stared at Taemin, unable to believe what he just heard.

Taemin, the nice kid. Taemin he watched over ever since he started his internship here, in PKO, and whom he always had the best relationship with. Taemin, who was always smiling, and who was always ready to do everything to help with any tasks Chanyeol needed his help with, and whom he really trusted.

He couldn't comprehend it.

Jongin looked just as shocked as Chanyeol was, if not more. He just stared at Taemin, not saying a word, and not looking away even for a second. As if looking at him could give him any kind of answers.

"Oh?" Taemin tilted his head mockingly. "I probably spoiled the answer, didn't I? Aw, I'm sorry. I thought you already had it solved."

He chuckled to himself.

Seemingly the only one unaffected by the unexpected turn of events, Kyungsoo took a step forward towards Taemin's desk. He crossed his arms on his chest, and narrowed his eyes at the smiling male.

"You're admitting to the fact that you're the culprit just like that?" he asked seriously. "It's kind of suspicious, if you ask me."

"There's just no point in hiding it anymore," Taemin shrugged. "I'm tired of hiding, it's been weeks and weeks since I started to. I already knew you were on my tail when you found out the traitor was from marketing. This whole thing with Baekhyun hyung was really just a try, I kind of knew that it's not going to work, but there were other reasons for me to reveal that deal, so I just went and did it."

"What the fuck, Taemin?" Jongin growled, moving past Kyungsoo and burning the younger with his eyes. "How can you sit there like this and talk so happily about this, when you did it to us? We were always treating you like family, like our fucking own baby brother! And now you just stabbed us in the back, and smile about it like it's nothing!"

Watching Jongin yell at him, Taemin stopped smiling. His eyes turned dark.

"I just picked others over you," he answered the other in a low voice. "Just like you have, Jongin hyung."

Jongin scoffed with disbelief.

"What are you even talking about?"

"Who. Baekhyun hyung," Taemin leaned back, staring at the other, with mockery in his eyes. "Think, Jongin hyung. You're not dumb, right? You can do it."

For a moment, everybody stared at Jongin, and Jongin only looked at Taemin, looking nothing but enraged and frustrated. But slowly, realization fell upon his face, and Jongin's eyes turned from furious to shocked.

"What?" Kyungsoo asked, taking a step to stand in between Taemin and Jongin protectively. "What's going on, Jongin?"

Kangjun also stepped forward, close enough to shield Kyungsoo if Taemin attacked him from the back while he was looking at Jongin. That move made Taemin laugh.

"What has Baekhyun got to do with all this?" Chanyeol asked, big eyes moving from Taemin to Jongin and backwards. He couldn't really understand what was going on in here, but as soon as Baekhyun was mentioned, his whole body tensed.

He didn't want to hear anyone blame Baekhyun again, he had enough of that already. Chanyeol just wanted to protect Baekhyun, so that no more would be put on his shoulders.

So that he could be calm and happy, and reach his dreams in the music production like he always wanted.

Although everybody was waiting for him to speak, Jongin didn't answer anyone. He didn't seem to see everyone's eyes on him, and didn't look like he felt Kyungsoo's gentle touch on his elbow. He just kept silent.