Jellyfish | 2MIN FF

ep 20: uncharismatic

"Hello, Lee Taemin. You've been running away from the foster home a lot lately. Has everything been okay?"

The therapist questioned me. His acting was terrible, seeming all worried and shit. It was just his job, he didn't care about kids like us. Say something, just to make him go away later. Don't say anything too personal- "Well, I've been worried about my friend at school", I muttered.

"Can you tell me about it?"

Tell you about it? All these questions seemed scripted, but I fell for it. Only because I needed to get things off my chest. "Throughout these past months, I met a lot of great friends and quit doing danger to my own body, but there's someone who is worrying me the most-"

Choi Minho.

I told the story to my therapist and he seemed to understand. This is how it all went.

—

The most charismatic basketball player in our school, Choi Minho. He was also my dear best friend. The boy I've started having feelings for, maybe just in a caring way. Minho has always been there for me and we have history along with tons of chemistry.

Ever since Lucas has gone missing, he wouldn't stop looking for him. His father became so concerned and always asked where Minho was. Minho stopped eating whilst being too distracted on the search for his other dear friend. He didn't know if Lucas was dead or alive.

He knew Lucas was alive.

Paranoia took over his healthy brain and later turned into the basketball team's big loser. Minho was going crazy over this. Not even I went that insane when Jongin passed away and I knew he was dead. Was it even this situation making him go this crazy? His body wasn't as strong as it used to be, but he still seemed to have a little bit of muscle left.

Minho couldn't even stay up for more than twenty minutes. His arms were starting to get scrawny as well. The charisma he always had is now all gone. How can Minho be uncharismatic? Is he even Minho anymore? What could be going inside his head?

I shrugged everything off and decided to visit his not so humble home. His home used to be so happy and warm, but ever since Minho turned into a zombie, every single thing has been dark.

His parents let me inside and told me to go check on him, knowing that he would open the door for me. I could hear his painful and shaky voice asking who it was and just if it was a stranger in his home. I laid my hand on his bony shoulder. "Minho it's me, Taemin..", I had slightly whispered to him. He twitched a bit and then started to calm down.

"What are you doing here?", Minho forced a painful smile on his pale face and ignored the state he was in. His breaking point was so hard to just watch. "I heard you quit the basketball team. Minho, I'm worried about you.. Lucas is going to be fine, I promise you that-" "I know he is. He is fine, all we need to do is find him!", he looked out the window while talking. I back hugged him, knowing he needed it just for a single second.

"I know you really want to find him, but what about basketball? That's your passion", I held his slender waist, what used to be muscular. "Basketball Can wait"

That answer made me grit my teeth. I hate seeing him like this so much. It makes me want to rip out my heart, give it to him, and run away. I'd do anything to make him get out of this hellish state. The horrifying words that would soon come out of my mouth made me regret everything.

"Minho, why can't you understand that he's not coming back?", I yelled at him as I felt tears falling on my sleeve. His voice cracked as he couldn't get the proper words to come out of his throat, causing a stutter. "g-get out now..", Minho softly said while pushing me out of his room. I said I would never hurt him. Damnit Lee Taemin, why can't you do anything good?

I slammed on his door, yelling his name over and over again to make him open the door. "Minho, please open the door! This isn't funny.."

His sobs could be heard from the other side of the door. It made my heart break into trillions of pieces. "Let me heal you. Can't you understand how much I fucking love you?", I stopped and sighed. Minho slightly cracked open the door, but I was already out of his home. I did it in order to not explain what the fuck I just said.

No I don't love him as a friend.

I love him as something more.

That's when I started to search on my own and ran away from foster home.