Murderer || Minsung

Chapter 8

September 27, 11:00am

The boys arrived at the lake that Minho had promised Jisung lived close to, and he was right in the fact that it was close. It was only a 10ish minute walk.

They walked out onto the pier, sitting down right at the edge of it, with their feed dangling only a little above the water.
All was quiet and serine. Void of any annoyances that they'd usually be dealing with.

"I can see why you wanted to come here. This is really nice," Jisung sighed, glancing over at Minho, who looked quite calm aswell.

He nodded, taking a deep breath, "My dad used to bring me here all the time as a kid. It was my favorite thing about the summer, coming and spending the day here."

Jisung bit his lip, his gaze moving over the large expanse of water in front of him, "Cool. coolio. Cooleroony. Cooool-sorry.."

A long silence grew between then, but it wasn't an awkward silence. That quiet was welcomed like an old friend. It was comforting.

Jisung glanced over at Minho, taking in the details of his face. His chiseled jaw, his bright, amber-tinged eyes, and his infectious smile.

'He's..handsome. Wow, like really handsome. And cute haha. Very cute.'

He felt his cheeks get warm and chills go down the back of his neck. Quickly looking away, he took a deep breath and tried to ignore the pounding in his chest. Ok NOW the silence was kinda awkward.

After another couple minutes, Minho scooted slightly closer to him, clearing his throat before speaking,
"I forgive you," he said simply and monotonously.

It took a couple of seconds for Jisung to register the words. His chest constricted, his heart falling into his stomach, "W-what?!"

"I forgive you, Jisung, for what..what you did," he said slowly, putting his hand on top of Jisung's, giving it a little squeeze. He took another long pause; making it clear that it was difficult for him to talk about it, "Hyungmin was my brother, and I loved him...but he wasn't an angel, not like people say he was."

Jisung's breath was taken from him for a moment, he looked at Minho with wide eyes and rosy cheeks, "What do you mean?"

He nodded, lacing his fingers with Jisung's and staring at the water below him, "He was my f-family, so of course I was supposed to love him..but there were times when he would come home in the middle of the night with other people's credit cards..there were t-times when he-when he took money out of my dad's wallet to buy booze..and...he..," he trailed off a little at the end, his gaze following the ripples of the water as if it were going to lead him to the end of his sentence.

"He abused me," he said finally.

"He did?"

"I guess, yeah. Now that I think about it Hyungmin..abused me. I-I always brushed it off like 'oh we're brothers, that's just how it is' but no no..he WAS abusing me!"
Minho rubbed his forehead hard, letting out a slight groan before continuing, "When we were younger, he would..ahem..touch me inappropriately, he would...he stabbed me once..he threw me down a flight of stairs!"

Jisung let out a slight gasp, his eyebrows raising as he focused all of his attention on Minho, "Oh my god..what the fuck-"

"Every time our dad punished him or fought with him, Hyungmin would take it out on me!Sometimes he would use sharp objects..My dad never did much to stop him,,oh my god!" His voice cracked, going up and down in pitch wildly as he went on. Before he knew it, he was basically yelling, "You know how I got this scar right next to my nose?!"

Jisung hummed for him to continue, eying up the faint indented line that trailed from the inner corner of Minho's right eye to his nostril. He tightened his grip on Minho's hand, hoping it would soothe him a little...it didn't.

"I was six and he was eleven. Hyungmin-Hyung got suspended from school one time, and dad grounded him for a month. Hyungmin-hyu-uh-hm-he came upstairs and I started asking him about what happened..he took uh,,he took an eXACTO KNIFE to my f-face.." He took a deep breath, turning to look at Jisung.
Minho's eyes were bloodshot and glassy, with tears about to start falling, "He made my life a living hell EVERY FU-FUCKING DAY!" He rasped, suddenly letting out a loud sob, his body trembling, "I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM I HA-I HATE HIM! I HATE HIIIM!" He yelled, the words echoing out across the expanse of the lake. Another sob escaped his swollen lips, soon followed by another. He slammed his free hand down hard onto the pier, immediately burying his face in his hands, and continuing to cry.

Jisung hesitated, not quite knowing what to do for a second.
He wrapped his arms around the distraught boy, pulling him close, "He-hey.oh.. Shh ok..H-Hyungmin is gone. He's gone and you don't have to worry about him anymore..oh..it's ok, Minnie, everything is gonna be ok.." He cooed in his ear, running his fingers through Minho's hair.

Minho had buried his face into Jisung's chest, his hands wrapped tightly around his waist. His periodic sobs were muffled by Jisung's sweatshirt, "Mmf-I-I'm glad h-he's dead..I'M GLAD HE'S D-DEAD.." He choked out, his throat burning from holding back his tears before.

Jisung would normally say "Oh, don't say that" but he knew it wasn't exactly the right time; he rubbed Minho's back in an attempt to soothe him, his heart hurt seeing Minho so upset. He wished he could just fix everything, but he couldn't.

After a couple of minutes of just staying like that, Minho managed to pull himself together, letting go of Jisung and groaning as he rubbed his eyes, "I'm really sorry about that, Ji. I don't..I don't normally cry like that..hell, I didn't even cry at his fu-funeral...I'm sorry," he let out one last little hiccup, sniffling and avoiding eye contact with Jisung.

Jisung reached up and wiped a tear off Minho's cheek, then rubbed his shoulder sympathetically, "Don't apologize, Min. Maybe it was about time you cried. I mean..do you feel better now? Like you got some of the emotions out, yah?" He pulled Minho in for a brief hug, ruffling his hair like Minho would often do to him.

'Man, his hair is soft, and he kinda smells good. Is that weird to think about? Eh, I'll worry about that later.'

Minho gave him a watery smile, reaching out and grabbing Jisung's hand again, "I do feel better..Thank you for understanding," he whispered, biting his lip to hold back another wave of tears.

"I always will, Min," Jisung replied, tightening his grip on Minho's hand.
They stayed like that for a while; holding hands, watching the water with contented smiles on their faces, just forgetting the world. It was just them.
It was enough.