stigma | minsung

85

it was now tuesday morning, minho was getting bored without his phone and was honestly missing jisung a lot.

he walked down his stairs and searched his house for his parents. he found them sitting at the dining room table, discussing something in private.

minho walked in, clearing his throat to get their attention.

"yes?" his mother asked with a glare in her eyes.

"when can i get my phone back, im bored as shit here." minho stated and his mother gave him a disgusted look while his father stood up angrily.

"you may be grown up now, but you are under our roof! speak politely or don't speak at all." his father shouted at him before raising his hand to smack minho across the face.

minho winced in pain as he cupped his burning cheek.

minho just walked away, wanting nothing to do with his parents.

his butler, mr. kim, witnessed the entire thing and gave minho a sorrow filled look.

"mr. lee, are you alright?" mr. kim asked the boy.

"im fine mr. kim, thank you." minho smiled.

mr. kim nodded his head as he then walked away from minho, allowing the boy to retreat once more to his room.

minho collapsed onto his bed as he felt the tears beckoning to fall.

he didn't want to cry, he didn't want his parents to have this much power over him. yet, they continued to control his every move.

minho was fearful of what they would do if he left. he didn't care about what they did to his career, or to him at all, he only cared about what would happen to jisung.

the last thing minho needed was for jisungs career to come crashing down because of him. minho knows how conservative korea is, he knows jisung being outed could cause fans to be outraged.

jisungs career was just beginning in the terms of music releases of his own, rather than just producing music for others, and since it was just starting, he couldn't afford any issues.

minho wanted to do everything he could to protect the younger boy, even if it broke minho in the process.

minho heard a knock at his door, "come in." he groaned, not really wanting to be disturbed, but he knew he never really had a choice in that house.

"sorry to disturb you mr. lee—"

"just call me minho, it's fine mr. kim." minho smiled at the man who always showed im the utmost respect.

"right... minho, your parents asked me to give you this." mr. kim handed minho an unfamiliar phone.

"whose phone is this?" minho asked as he looked down at what seemed to be a brand new phone.

"it's yours minho, your parents got rid of your old phone. i-i... i managed to get you one number... it's not jisungs, im sorry, but it's chans." mr. kim said apologetically.

"chans number is perfect, i wouldn't want jisungs right now anyway... but you wouldn't happen to know if my parents texted him, would you?" minho asked curiously.

"t-they did im afraid." mr. kim shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously.

"what? they did? what did they say?" minho asked as he crawled to the edge of his bed in anticipation.

"sir... if they find out i told you..." mr. kim scratched the back of his head nervously as he spoke.

"right, im sorry... thank you for everything. i really appreciate it." minho got off his bed and walked over to give mr. kim a hug.

mr. kim was the only one who looked out for the boy in all his childhood years. he protected minho and cared for him in ways his parents never did.

"no need to thank me minho, i haven't been able to help you much..." mr. kim sighed.

"you've done more than enough, you got me chans number! i really really appreciate it." and with that mr. kim just gave a soft smile before exiting the room.

minho plopped back down on his bed and began typing out a message to the only number in his phone, chans number.

chan

hey it's minho
i got a new phone

minho???
wtf is going on with you??

i got caught up in some shit
please don't tell ji i'm texting you
i just have to know...
what did my parents tell him?

your parents??
oh—
that makes so much sense now!
your parents were the one texting him?

yes
i need to know what they said chan

they said you chose money over jisung
and that you were going to work for
sm now

well one thing is true from that

what would that be?

probably the fact that i'm going to work
for sm
they're definitely going to make me
they found out abou jisung
and threatened me to get me to
leave him
please don't get him involved with this
it's so dangerous for him

okay i won't
but is there anything i can do for you?

no
just keep jisung safe for me
okay?

safe?
safe from who?

from himself
from my parents
from everyone
he deserves to be happy
i know it's hard for him though
i wish i could be there
i wish i could tell him i love him
i never got to...

you love him?

more than anything else in this world

were going to figure out a way to fix
this minho

no we're not
you're not going to tell jisung anything
let him believe i betrayed him
it'll be easier this way

no it won't minho
you two can figure this out together

we can't chan
my parents will ruin him
you cannot tell him i reached
out to you
otherwise this will be the last you
ever hear from me

okay
okay fine
i understand

i have to go now
keep him safe chan, please

i will
bye min
seen

a.n.

i forgot the ideas i had for this story...
and lowkey all my other current ones

i swear i lost my brain

i have like zero memories left in there