Jellyfish | 2MIN FF

ep 22; his name

Jinki was chasing his daughter, playfully yelling at her to give him his phone back. A knock echoed through the inside of the nice humble house. The older ran to the door, telling his daughter to calm down a bit. He opened it to reveal Kibum.

"Jinki, it's been a while! Look who's here", Kibum smiled, shoving me in front of him. I faced Jinki with a panicked expression. He looked different, he had eye bags and his hair was incredibly messy. Jinki ruffled his hair and pulled it back.

I looked up at the taller elder and bowed. He mumbled something but I didn't really catch it, but Kibum laughed and it made me really curious.

"What I said was, you really are like Jonghyun", he smiled and gestured us two to come in. The little girl was hiding behind Jinki the whole entire time and just peeked out occasionally. Kibum and I walked in, having a seat, but I began to question something. "How am I like Jonghyun?"

"Well Taemin, he ran away from his father and became a boxer to make his dad proud. It didn't quite work out too well..", Jinki paused for a moment. "You know, you two are so alike. After he quit, he gained weight because he felt like such a loser. I heard you found him familiar, hm?"

Yeah, I did find him familiar.

—

"Hurry, we're going to be late for the match, dad!", a happy child yelled and ran out the door, carrying a stuffed teddy bear. That happy child was me, when I had my dad, everything was fine. We would always go to boxing matches since it was so popular, especially these matches. Two tough components.

Jinki and Jonghyun. Lots of scandals went through the two and not a single word came from either of them. Everyone thought Jinki could win since Jonghyun was too soft and always saw the positive in everything. On the other hand, no one ever even knew who Jinki was. He had his own story, but Jonghyun was trying to protect his loved one's story, so it wouldn't reach its last chapter.

I sat down next to my dear father and watched the match where the two rivals were basically punching each other to death, well.. one of them was. I didn't even know that was Jinki at the time, it wasn't my job to care back then. All i wanted was to see Jonghyun, my role model, win this match.

Jonghyun was persistent even though his whole body was bruised pretty bad, I overheard his coach say Jonghyun's bones even cracked sometimes. I frowned as I looked up at the ring, not caring wether how close I was. People tried to get my attention and grab me.

"Taemin, you better get over here right now!", my father yelled as I touched the boxing ring and toward Jonghyun. The boxer looked down and smiled, then punching his opponent.

'He noticed me! He smiled at me!!'

That was all I heard in my head and I muted out everything else.

The second round was up, but before that came a small break. I had the guts to walk up to Kim freaking Jonghyun and ask him how did he become that strong.

"I've always been participating in sports and all, kid. What's your name?", he said with the brightest smile in the entire universe. His smile was so pure and could make everyone in his path happy, including me. On the other hand, I saw his rival with the coldest glare. Jonghyun didn't mind it, he said he got those a lot.

"Oh, I'm Taemin!"

"Hi Taemin, let's meet again", his smile faded as he walked back to the ring and I walked to my father, getting scolded. As soon as I walked away from Jonghyun, everything.. didn't go well.

Jinki won, that bloodthirsty glare was invading his eyes. I saw Jonghyun unconscious on the ring's ground and wanted to help him right away.

After that match, no one ever heard from Jonghyun. Including me. How can we meet again? They say he always runs away from his problems, like he did after Jongin passed away. I wonder where he is.. my old friend.

Let's meet again.

—

"Taemin, you okay?"

"Oh.. yeah, I was just remembering him"

Jinki smiled and asked me about it. "He was an inspiration for me and I really liked seeing him box, my dad and I would always go watch-"

"Taemin, I'm adopting you", Jinki interrupted and held me in his warm arms as I cried into his shoulder. How did he turn so soft? I never knew the man I despised after he beat up my role model so bad he had to quit, would be my father..