no regrets 。taekai 。

ix

"pleaaaaaaaaseeeeee." taehee begged as jongin made breakfast.

he flipped the egg once again before turning to taehee, "no use pleading to me, your brother is coming here later to get your stuff, you can try asking him."

"ugh, he's never going to let me stay here until my parents come back." taehee grabbed her hair in frustration, "you don't understand jongin, taemin's house is filthy and he can't cook! he makes tasteless everything and eats it like its fine! c'mon! here i get a clean room and someone that cooks the best fucking food i ever ate in my life!"

jongin shook his head chuckling, dropping the egg on taehee's plate, "your brother must miss you, you can come visit anytime you want, i'm getting a new house soon-"

"oh my god yes! can i move in with you? can i legally become your sister? i can't live without this food!" she exaggerated, eating her eggs with toast and pancakes with nutella a little faster than she should.

jongin chuckled and looked over to her almost empty plate in amusement before the door echoed with the sound of lazy knocks on the front door.

"it's open, taemin!" jongin shouted, getting the pans and the empty plates from the table and putting them on the sink.

taemin opened the door and slipped into the dorm, smiling at jongin and turning his head to scowl at taehee.

"why are you still in your pajamas? c'mon, you have three minutes or else i'll force you to walk in your pajamas until my house." taemin crossed his arms and taehee simply rolled her eyes and went to her room, not even bothering to bring up the question of if she could stay with jongin until her parents came back.

when she'd come back into the living room, taemin and jongin were chatting away in the kitchen, the taller one seated on the kitchen island and the smaller on one of the stools.

"there, here i am! woohoo, i'm so fucking happy that i'm going to that barn again." sarcasm dripped furiously out of taehee's mouth.

"ha ha. very funny and watch your language, i don't want mom and dad blaming me on you being a potty mouth." taemin stood up and took one of the luggages off of taehee's hold and heading towards the door.

"thank you so much for putting up with this thing, i swear i'll pay you back other time. this time with no sweet pancakes." taemin patted jongin's stomach which was a bit awkward, but jongin just smiled at that.

"no worries, she was an angel all through her stay."

"ha! right. if you're gonna make a joke at least make it funny." taehee punched taemin's shoulder which made him let out a loud 'ouch!'.

"thank you, jongin! i swear i'll pass by everyday here if you don't send me some of your food once in a while." taehee smiled innocently and pulled herself out the door, "then, i'll go now. bye!"

she was out the door and making her way to the elevator. taemin once again thanked jongin and smiled at him, biding him farewell and making his way to follow his younger sister. not before turning back to wave at jongin one last time and closing the door.

。。。

it was 11pm and jongin was the last one in the dance practice room. he was going over some difficult moves from their new album's choreography and he couldn't seem to perfect this one part from their main track.

their album was scheduled to release in only one hour and the next day, they would present it for the first time ever in an event show.

jongin was nervously picking at his hair while staring at the mirror in front of him, trying to figure out which part o his body was protesting and making it more difficult for the latter to master this single part.

in his head, he could draw it perfectly. move by move, line by line, it was crystal clear to him but his body just wasn't cooperating with him that night.

he'd try the move again, his mind playing it beautifully across his head but as soon as he would look in the mirror the spark would be gone, just a lifeless dummy doing some lively moves, it just didn't go together at all.

when he finally chose to give himself a break, it was already 11:47. he sat down on the ground and felt the contrast of his warm and sweaty body touch the polished cold ground and that somehow made him relax.

subconsciously, his eyes wandered to the door to the studio reflecting on the mirror. he stared at it for a few seconds and then finally looked back down and sighed.

this was around the time when jongin would overwork himself to the extreme to the point his limbs would numb but a certain someone would always cheer him up. tell him to sleep so he could wake up early fully energized and continue doing what he was doing, but that would not happen again - for just a little while at least, jongin still had hoped.

sehun wasn't here anymore, but jongin still wanted to have that little hope he would come back to them. the younger was there for him more than anyone ever was and his absence took a unimaginable toll on the older one.

shaking his head to rid himself of thoughts that would distract his goal at the moment, he quickly got up from the floor and went towards the speakers. he drank a gulp of his bottle water and started playing their song again, practicing it again, again, again and again until he had been sure it was imprinted on his mind like a tattoo.