Satisfaction [NCT]

11.

Taeyong's house was empty when he arrived home. The only sign of life was outside on a leash. He couldn't help but feel sad, Ruby helps him feel better, but now it reminds him of a time where he felt so low. In the back of his mind, Taeyong always knew he was being used for his body. When the time came for Ten's wishes to be apparent, it still hurt. He hoped Ten would be better. He hoped he wasn't being used. But hope is different than reality.

Taeyong felt lonely, for the past couple of days he stayed later at swim practice, allowing him some more time to swim and to make sure all his teammates got a safe ride home. He usually would text his teammates after school to make sure they weren't still at the school, it was one way he showed he cared about their safety. If anyone of them was still there past 5 he would offer to drive them home or take them somewhere safe for a while. The school was not on the safest road to walk on, Taeyong would worry if anyone on the swim team walked home and would practically force them to get driven home by Taeyong. Some may think it's annoying, but most of them understand the concern for safety and would become concerned for Taeyong if he didn't text them after school.

Everyone was a bit suspicious of why Taeyong was staying late every evening but didn't feel like bringing it up with him. Most people didn't question Taeyong, knowing he did whatever he wanted. Only Taeil decided to text Taeyong, asking what was different now. Of course, Taeyong didn't tell him the real reason.

TY: I'm just wanting to get better so I can be a better captain

TI: okay, I understand, I thought something might've happened, especially with that Ten guy

Taeil had been watching Taeyong carefully since he heard about him going over to Ten's apartment after school. He would watch for any changes in Taeyong's behavior. This was one of the changes he observed.

TY: what about Ten?

TI: idk, I just overheard something a couple weeks ago, he seemed to hang around you a lot so I thought maybe that had something to do with it. sorry for asking

TY: no it's okay Taeil, he hangs around me because I was his first friend when he moved
TY: I'm just curious but what conversation did you overhear?

TI: yeah, I get that, but it felt different than just his first friend, it lasted for a while.
I don't really remember, you were apologizing and then said you would go watch movies at his house

TY: oh
TY: There's nothing going on between me and Ten, don't worry.

Taeil allowed Taeyong to go on without any more questions, he believed that Taeyong was telling the truth, that nothing was going on. To a point, Taeyong wasn't lying, there really was nothing going on between them anymore.

———

After Jaehyun's mom drove him home, she went to their home office to finish up her work. Jaehyun was left alone with their house therapist. His parents hired her to keep an eye on their son and help him through the moving transition. They wanted to make sure he wouldn't follow in his friend's path and wanted to make the transition as easy as possible. It might have been expensive, but in their eyes, they would rather be broke than have their son die.

"How was today?" She sparked a conversation with Jaehyun in English. He shrugged, taking time to look back on the day and see if there's anything bad he wants to talk about. There was.

"No, not really." Jaehyun lied like usual.

"Well, walk me through what happened today." She tried to encourage him to speak more.

"I woke up, went to school, got Math and Korean homework, went to swimming, then my mom drove me back home, now I'm here." Jaehyun explained, making sure his annoyance was shown through his words.

"I think you forgot some details." She smiled at Jaehyun, attempting to lighten the mood.

"I got the things that matter." His voice was monotone.

"No, you got the normal things. You left out the things that are actually important. Like did you eat breakfast? Lunch? Did you take your medicine this morning? Any big shifts in your mood? Anything particularly bad happen? Anything particularly good happen? You didn't include all the things that I'm here to listen for." She said.

"Well, yeah, I had lunch and a bit of breakfast, took my medicine. But the rest was just normal, nothing happened and my mood was neutral all day." He spoke in his same voice as earlier.

"What'd you have to eat?" She asked, pushing the conversation.

He thought back to earlier, trying to remember everything he had. "For breakfast I had a some of our leftover vegetables from last night. For lunch I ate everything the school gave me and some of my friend's soup."

"Who did you eat with for lunch?" She asked.

"I sat with Winwin and some of his friends." He answered honestly.

"Did you enjoy it?" Her question only had one answer Jaehyun could say.

"Yeah, it was fun."

"It's good to hear you're making friends." She said with a smile.

"Yep, I'm trying." Jaehyun spoke. "If you don't mind though, I'm going to do my homework." He said picking up his phone and preparing to get up.

"Go ahead, I'll check up on you in about an hour and a half." She dismisses him. Jaehyun faked a smile back to her and left. Instead of doing homework, Jaehyun went to his room and worked on speaking Korean. Making friends and being able to speak their language was much more important to him than doing his homework.

Mind- 23
Physical- 82
Spirit- 40
Relations- 39
Love- 47
Finance- 94