Minseok - Good and Bad Ne (1/2)

//Minseok//"Minseok? Minseok, come here, we have something to tell you." Mom yells up the stairs at me.

I roll over in bed and groan. It's only 8am, what the hell is she waking me up this early for?

I rub my eyes and stumble out of bed, pulling on a crumpled Tshirt and the nearest pair of jeans. I fix my hair sloppily as I stumble down the stairs, yawning widely.

"Minseok! In here." Mom calls again, voice clearly coming from the kitchen. When I get there, Mom, Dad and Junmyeon are congregated in the kitchen, stood round the island. I raise an eyebrow as they look at me almost gravely.

"What's with you all? What's happened?" I say, confused.

Mom pats the chair next to her and throws me an apple. I pull a face of disgust at her; she should know by now that I despise green apples. Instead, I grab a pack of chocolate biscuits from the cupboard and start munching on those instead. I know Mom will be irritated by my decision, because she's always nagging me to eat healthier. But I have a great metabolism, I know that eating six or more biscuits in the morning won't affect me at all.

I sit down, swallowing my first biscuit. "So? What's up?"

Mom looks at Dad, and he clears his throat. "Um... Son... You know your Gran?"

I nod. "Gran in England?"

"Yeah," Dad confirms. "Well, um, she's been a little bit... ill, I guess you could say." He coughs awkwardly, and Jun pats his back in comfort.

"Ill? What?" I say, confused. I shove another biscuit in my mouth and frown at my parents.

Dad sighs and scratches the back of his neck. He's never been great at this kind of thing although it must be bad if he's this unsure.

I sigh. "Jun? What's wrong?" I ask, knowing that he'll be a more direct source of the news.

Jun clasps his hands together, a sad look on his face. "Gran is dying." He admits bluntly.

I gasp. "What?!"

Jun nods. "Exactly. We only just found out too. It's a surprise to the whole family." He says, and I withhold a laugh that's creeping up at his spiel. It sounds so rehearsed, so fake, and the look on his face is almost becoming sarcastic. But that's my brother for you; always overly sympathetic to the point where you don't know if he's being genuine or not anymore.

I groan. "So now what?"

Mom shrugs. "I don't know. The old dear hasn't popped her clogs yet, so we're on standby. I think they're inviting us to pay a last visit though." She says, a look of contempt flash across her face.

Mom was never fond of Dad's parents, and actually the feeling was really rather mutual. The bond didn't exactly strengthen either because she lives in England, which is a whole twelve hour flight away from here and Gran didn't have the strength to do it, and my parents didn't have the motive. Dad never got on with his Mom anyway.

"So when are we going?" I ask, concerned. Despite Mom and Dad's crappy relationship with Gran, I had a soft spot for her - and she had one for me. We got along well, me and Gran.

Mom shrugs. "Whenever. As soon as I've found us somewhere to stay, I guess. Unless you know a place, Seok?"

I blank for a moment. Why would she ask me? I've never been to England.

I'll have to ask Jongdae, I think to myself.

Wait.