keeping up with the lees || svt

twenty: things better left unheard

s e o k m i n

screaming, yelling, cursing, and fighting were all seokmin could hear from his room. he watched the moon that lit up the sky that lead the stars to shine just as bright.

he thought he would never hear the terrifying sounds of his parents fighting ever again. it felt horrible.

oceans of negativity swarmed their household and even the sun himself, was not able to keep shining.

seokmin hugged his knees for the feeling of being held. during times like these, sll he wanted was to be held.

the sound of a breaking plate reached his abode. in fear, he flinched and closed his eyes. he just wanted it to end.

he grabbed his guitar which was conveniently laying right next to him. positioning his trembling fingers to form a simple g major wasn't so simple this time.

he strummed his blue guitar that matched his feelings. blue. a perfect description of the emotions he's unable to put into words as of the moment.

seokmin sang, in hopes of the crashing and yelling going away. his beautiful voice masked all the noises he didn't want to hear but how come he could still hear them in his head?

they were replaying in his mind, echoing back and forth. he sang louder, in hopes of finally blurring everything out.

each note was beautiful. precise, sharp and flawless. it sounded painful. he expressed all his emotions perfectly through the notes he hit. the melody brought straight from his heart conveyed everything.

and as the song finished, so did the voices.

c h a n

chan has never experienced what was happening. he has no distinct memory of his parents fighting since their father left with his siblings when he was only a year old.

luckily, his room was further from the living room. the sounds were muffled so he couldn't hear much.

he didn't know whether he should be thankful or not for not being able to listen to the fight.

a part of him wants to listen and the other part tells him to just sleep.

and so he fell asleep to the sound of his parents fighting.

-

"HOW DARE YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO BRING MY SON HOME AT THIS TIME" mrs. lee screamed at their father who looked annoyed as ever.

"HE'S MY  SON, HANYOUNG. I RAISED HIM"

"BULLSHIT"

jihan looked at her twin who was facing the ground. typical.

sighing, she said, "mother, father, seokmin and chan are probably sleeping by now"

"you're right" her mother sucked in a deep breath, in attempt to calm herself. "why do you keep messing me up, jake?"

"and you think you don't mess me up?"

"you've always been messed up" she replied. "what can i do to cancel her betrothal?"

mister lee only rolled in eyes, "look at us, we married each other. don't you see how successful we've become?"

"and unhappy"

mister lee crossed arms, expression blank as always. "then divorce me"

those words shocked jihan and jihoon but did not faze their mother. their parents have always been legally married, just separated on their own terms. divorce was for some reason, never an option for them.

"trust me, if i could i would" their mother replied. "i would have long time ago"

"still stuck in the past" he groaned, annoyed. "you keep bringing the past up as if it's going to change anything. you're still fucking delusional. we're not in highschool anymore hanyoung, we're in our forties"

"there's no reason i'd want to relive highschool, you horrible foul mouthed cockroach"

at this point, jihoon and jihan were absolutely curious. they never brought up their past so this was definitely a new thing.

"that's a shame" their father scoffed. "because your highschool lover moved back into the neighborhood"

their mother tensed up, it was visible; the way her shoulders stiffened and jaw clenched. "i've heard"

"unfortunate, isn't it? that guy is happily married while there's you, still stuck in the past"

concerned, jihan walked towards her mother who was at the verge of breakage. they have never seen her like this, she was always firm in front of them.

"go get some rest" she said to her mother before turning to face her father. "will you stay for the night?"

"i'll be taking my leave. see you children in a while" their father said before calmly exiting thw scene.

it always surprised the twins; how calm yet hostile their father could be.

"are you okay?" she asked her mother.

her mother sucked in a sharp breath. her eyes that were always so fierce, displayed various emotions jihan was not able to pin point. she was sure about one thing: her mother was vulnerable.

"i hate your father" she replied. "so much"

jihan and jihoon's hearts dropped at the sight they were witnessing.

their mother was crying.

—

jihoon knocked on seokmin's door yet received no response. he twisted the doorknob and surprisingly, it rotated fully.

he wearily pushed it open. the only source of light was the small nightstand lamp and the bright moonlight since his curtains were fully open.

he spotted seokmin laying on his carpeted floor, in front of his enormous window.

he walked towards his brother who was seemingly asleep. although the room wasn't well lit, seokmin's tear stained cheeks did not go unnoticed.

"it must've been hard hearing all that, huh?" he smiled sadly at the figure of his sleeping brother. he walked towards seokmin's bed and grabbed his wool blanket.

'cute', jihoon thinks and chuckled lightly. seokmin has had that blanket since he was young and the fact that he still uses it is adorable.

quietly and gently, jihoon wrapped the blanket around his brother, careful not to wake him.

he walked towards the window and shut the curtains closed. 

he then turned to seokmin,

"i hope you understand. we're sorry"