HIS TOUCH || JAEYONG

Chapter 24 dear

Jaehyun paced around the room thinking hard. He felt so frustrated and nervous as he didn't know if it would be a good idea to go to the dinner. Ji-Eun had texted him that he should be there by 7 PM but the time was passing too fast.

"Dude, stop doing that!" Mark was trying to do his homework and Jaehyun annoyed him by pacing around and letting out frustrating groans.

"Mark what should I do?" Jaehyun asked him sounding desperate.

"Go outside and stop bothering me?" He knew what Jaehyun meant as he had told him earlier about his concern but he decided to play dumb hoping that he'd take his suggestion into account.

Jaehyun just gave him a warning look. He was not in a good mood for jokes. "Look, Jaehyun. If you're even considering to go, then you really should go. Why are you even so nervous about it? They're just your parents. It's not like you're going on a first date or anything..."

Oh, yeah, Jaehyun didn't tell him about the Taeyong part. That was the reason he was so anxious. He still couldn't think of a reason to why would Taeyong be there. Had Ji-Eun invited him or something? Why? Nothing just made sense. It wasn't like his sister would lie to him about something like that so he believed that she was telling him the truth.

He looked at the watch on his wrist. He should hurry or he would be late if he even decided to go. "You know what, I'm going."

"Finally." Mark muttered to himself and turned back to his work.

***

Jaehyun stood at the front door and waited to be brave enough to ring the door bell. He didn't have the key to the house anymore as his father had taken it away from him when he was kicked out. Now that he stood there all kind of memories flooded in his mind. He wondered if his room wound still look the same when he left a year ago. Probably not.

He regretted deciding that it would be a good idea to come here. He didn't want to see his parents' disappointed faces again. At the same time he was curious to know why they wanted to talk to him in the first place.

He was lifting his hand to the door bell but then the door suddenly flew open. He was startled at that and stumbled backwards.

"Jaehyunie what are you doing outside? You're late," Ji-Eun took a hold of his arm and pulled him inside. "Mom, dad, Jaehyun is here!"

"Ji-Eun I don't think I should be here after all," Jaehyun tried to wiggle free from his sister's grasp and nervously glanced back at the door. He was starting to freak out for some reason.

"Nonsense, man up will you?"

Just then their mom and dad appeared in the room. Ji-Eun let go of his arm. Both of them looked exactly as he remembered. He didn't see hate or disappointment on their faces as he had expected. Just something he couldn't be sure about what it was.

"Jaehyun...good to see you again. We, your father and I, need to talk to you about something. We can talk over the dinner?" Their mom asked. Jaehyun looked from her to Ji-Eun. She nudged his arm to encourage him to answer.

"O-Okay, sure," he stuttered facing the floor.

"Great! Your sister's boyfriend is already waiting in the dining room. We should hurry before he'll get bored of waiting," She tried to say something funny to lighten the awkward atmosphere but Jaehyun was just confused about her words.

Ji-Eun didn't have a boyfriend. At least not that he knew about. He saw their parents disappear in the dining room. Ji-Eun was about to walk after them but Jaehyun was fast to stop him.

"Why didn't you tell me that you had a boyfriend? And that you'd take him here with you?" Ji-Eun only grinned and flipped his long hair.

"I did. Just see for yourself," She pulled him with her to the dining room. He had not expected this. He had not expected seeing Taeyong sitting there around the same table with his parents. Was he supposed to be Ji-Eun's boyfriend? How did that happen? It just didn't make any sense.

Jaehyun stared at the raven haired boy in pure shock and then he was finally noticed by him. Taeyong stood up abruptly and bowed to him. Really bowed to him, as if he had never met him before.

"Hello, you must be Jaehyun. I'm Lee Taeyong, Ji-Eun's boyfriend," Taeyong introduced himself making Jaehyun dumbfounded. Was this some kind of a joke? Taeyong looked at him with so emotionless expression and it looked so real. As if he actually just introduced himself for the first time to him.

Taeyong sat down again and ignored him again. Jaehyun sat next to his mother and looked annoyingly between his sister and Taeyong who sat on the other side of the table. He couldn't remove his eyes from the boy that sat in front of him and he almost didn't hear that his mom called his name.

"What?" His head snapped to her direction.

"How's school?" His mother asked. He glanced at his father that had not said a single word since he saw Jaehyun. He was expecting his answer with an unreadable expression.

"Can you please stop making me pass every course? Don't you see how much I don't want to study there? The teachers hate me too because of tha-"

"Jaehyun, you're going to change schools," his father finally spoke up.

"What?!"

"Jaehyun dear, listen," his mom began. "It took us time to accept and understand your situation but now we do. We're sorry. We shouldn't have made you leave home and study in a school we wanted you to. We shouldn't have planned your life for you...When you didn't live with us anymore, we realized that our family isn't complete without you. You can choose where you want to study and we're going to support you in whatever choice you make."

"Is this some kind of a joke?" Jaehyun's voice broke a little. He didn't know what to say. "You can't just say something like that after so long time! Do you now expect me to just forgive you and move back in like that? Do you even know how scared I was to come here today? I was scared that you'd give me those disappointed looks again! You can't just- you can't just-..." Jaehyun broke in tears and hid his face in his hands. All the emotions he had held back for so long flooded out. He didn't know what he should feel now.

He felt a hand stroking his back in circular motion and then he was pulled in hug. He immediately could tell that it was his mom.

"Shh, shh, mom is sorry. So sorry...It's okay to cry," her soothing words calmed him down.

"Mom...I'm sorry," Jaehyun said after he had stopped crying. He raised his head to meet her teary eyes. She wiped the tears away from his eyes and caressed his cheeks lovingly. It was so nice to see the her looking at him lovingly like a mother at his child. Jaehyun felt hopeful that maybe everything could be right again.

For a moment Jaehyun had been so immersed in other things that he had forgotten Taeyong, who had just witnessed something he never imagined that he would. When Jaehyun turned to face him again, their eyes met briefly before Taeyong looked away pretending like he had never been caught staring.