Tears (1/1)

Taemin clutched the banana milk tighter in his hands and almost cracked the plastic container. “Key hyung, you better come look at this.”It was the morning and Key was busy scribbling away in his sketchbook like always but this time, it was for Chaeyeon’s upcoming birthday. So far, the intricate sketch showed a pretty girl under a tree in a meadow full of detailed flowers.“Hmm…?” He was engrossed in making the finest lines to fill in the hair that framed the pretty face. Not one line could be off.The eyes of the other three opened wide at what Taemin had seen. It was not really a good idea to show Key but they figured it was inevitable.Key looked upwards at his frozen friends. “Cat caught your tongues?” He smirked but the half-curved mouth dropped to a frown right when the sight hit him.Chaeyeon and Myungsoo. Holding hands. Tickling each other.“Are they-“ Taemin started, looking sadly at his noona.“A couple?” Key finished quickly. He looked down and squeezed his eyes to stop from sobbing like a five year old but a few tears slipped out the corners of his eyes. He wanted to disappear from the face of the Earth right then. Just leave. Never to have existed.But, of course, reality didn’t work like that.It felt as if the hollowness in his chest was swallowing him whole. He couldn’t stop this dark cloud from consuming him.His friends watched without a word as the motionless Key would sometimes shudder as waves and waves of sadness hit him. Onew, being the oldest and the most “mature”, crawled across the grass and took Key in for an embrace.Key hugged his hyung back tightly and tried to inhale his familiar scent in order to take his mind off of the situation.After a few minutes, he broke out and stared blankly at the piece of art he was so proud of just a few moments ago.He now noticed every flaw. How one eye was slightly bigger than the other. The lips weren’t as similar to Chaeyeon’s as he thought it was. Some flowers had an extra petal or had incomplete shadowing.Key growled quietly under his breath and ripped the page out of the sketchbook in one swipe.“Wait, no!” Jonghyun reached a hand out to stop his best friend from destroying the incredible sketch but he was too late.The art had a big tear through the middle and the pieces kept dividing as Key ripped them into smaller pieces.The four looked on speechless as the small papers fluttered to the grass and blew everywhere.Key got up quickly and wiped his moist eyes. Without even saying goodbye, he turned and ran as fast as he could in his fancy, studded shoes.   His messenger thudded heavily on his tired legs. His lungs were burning and his legs felt like jelly.Key’s mother knew it had been a bad day for her sun right when he stormed loudly through the doors. She had seen the beautiful drawing he was working on 24/7 and how it was his token of confession on her birthday. Once she saw the sacred sketchbook was no longer in his hands, flipped to that exact page, there was definitely something wrong.Key turned towards his mother and noticed her worried eyes and wringing hands. He broke down completely at the sight. He cried “Umma!” and ran to her like he did ten years ago. Even though he was quite taller than her now, it still felt better to be held by his mother.“Kibummie, what happened? You can tell your mom.” She held her slobbering son’s face upright and swiftly wiped his tear-streaked face.Key fought to catch a breath. “Chae-Chaeyeon is going out with that guy I told you about! I don’t even have a chance.”She frowned slightly remembering the olden days when she too had been ready to confess to a guy she liked but he ended up dating the most popular girl in school. “Oh Kibum… I’m so sorry.”Mrs. Kim soothingly patted her son’s back and waited patiently for the sobs to subside.“Thanks m-mom.” He leaned away from her and sniffed sadly and dried up the rest of his tears.She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry alright dear? Things will be better. Maybe she wasn’t meant for you in the first place. Perhaps there’s someone better out there somewhere. You just have to find her.”Key stared down. He highly doubted his mom was right about that but it was a comforting thought. “Yeah… maybe.”   “Don’t be such an idiot!” Chaeyeon angrily whispered to Myungsoo.He had taken advantage of the small distance between seats in the movie theater to attempt sneaking a hand onto her shoulder. It wasn’t working…yet.Myungsoo’s hand almost made it past her neck before a stinging slap struck it down.“Ow… that one really hurt.” He muttered but he still kept a smile on his face.Chaeyeon sighed in frustration. Who knew Myungsoo had this side in him? To be honest, she kind of liked it.  The Infinite boys tried not to gag each time their fellow member snaked his arm around Chaeyeon. It was wrong. It was disgusting.“Oh my god, did he learn this from you?!” Hoya avoided looking at the sight and narrowed his eyes at Woohyun.Woohyun, in turn, held up his hands in a backing away position. “No, he didn’t get this stuff from me.”Sungyeol “hmphed” and slouched in his seat, refusing to look at his soul mate act all cute and loving to another person. “I won’t have this.”He was about to stand up but five pairs of strong hands held him down.“Are you crazy? We need to see what happens and he’s going to be super pissed is he finds out we followed him all the way here.” Dongwoo exclaimed.The uncle-aged man from the next seat over leaned forward with menacing eyes and his index finger touching his lips. “Be quiet young ones.”Sunggyu, being the mature one, answered immediately with a slight bow. “Sorry that we’re being too loud. We will quiet down. Please continue to enjoy this film.”The uncle nodded stiffly and turned back to face the screen.“You guys, be quiet. Express your disgust for the Chaesoo couple in your heads please.” Sunggyu stared with even more menacing eyes than the man.The guys were silent after that.Sorry for the VERY late upload. I have a huge science project with even more end-of-the-year tests that are coming up in the next few weeks ;____; I'm am truly sorry if I miss a week's upload. I will try to upload another chapter this week but don't count on me. Hopefully there will be more updates in the summer but I have summer school (not that I failed a class or anything, it's because I want to get ahead) and a lot of relatives are coming from Asia. I have swim team as well... omg my summer is packed. Sorry again <3