Switchblade - 23
Masterlist | Notes | Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24
There was a strange man in the house. The stranger was talking to Taemin's mother in the kitchen, but Taemin was sitting right outside of it, curiously listening in. Taemin was about to be ten and he knew very well what strangers at the house could mean. Generally, it was nothing good.
His mother had the same dragging, slurring voice that she usually had in the morning. She talked so quietly that Taemin couldn't understand, and the man talked in big words that he could only barely understand. It had something to do with money, as he could have guessed.
After a short while, the man stood up and said, "I'm sorry for your loss, once again."
What did they lose, Taemin wondered with rising panic. His mother was standing up, walking the man out of the kitchen through a second doorway. Taemin stood up, moving into the kitchen in a hurry. There was a small box and a couple of papers left on the table. He didn't look at them. He waited calmly until his mother returned. When she saw him, she asked with a sigh, "Do you need breakfast?"
"I ate breakfast," Taemin told her shortly, glancing at the empty doorway behind her. "Did we lose something, mama?"
"What? No, no," she dragged her feet, moving through the kitchen towards the coffee pot, "No, we didn't lose anything.. we got a gift.."
"But that man said he was sorry though," Taemin followed her, "What was he sorry about?"
"That was about your grandfather," she told him with a sigh. She poured a shot of whiskey into her mug before she added any coffee.
"What about him?"
When he asked, his mom looked down on him with wide, startled eyes. "He's sorry that he died. I told you he died already, didn't I?"
A second didn't pass before Taemin broke into sobs and tears streamed down his face. His mother was obviously flustered, setting her mug down and bending in front of him to try comforting him with short phrases and awkward alcohol-scented hugs. She told him, "He left you something special. It's all yours."
Taemin is so deeply lost in his memories that when someone knocks on the door, he jumps. "Uh, come in," he says while his heart is still calming from the fright. IU doesn't fully open the door, just slips partially in through a crack in order to peer at Taemin, "I brought you your bag."
Immediately, Taemin throws his feet off one side of the bed, sitting on the edge of it. "Great. Thank you."
"Well, I thought you might want some new clothes," IU says, stepping over to Taemin. She does carry his bag with her, and she hands it over to him quickly. "I can show you where the shower is if you want to take one first."
Taemin isn't thinking of showers and clothes just yet. He talks to her while hurriedly unzipping his bag and feeling for his bottle of blood, "You really know everything, don't you? How did you find out about a place like this?"
IU beams at him pridefully, "I've made very good connections. I work hard at what I do."
"Well you're in trouble now," Taemin says under his breath, withdrawing his bottle and unscrewing the top. He takes gulps as IU talks to him.
"At first I was upset, but it was bound to reach this point sooner or later. It's probably for the best that I'm here now."
The vampire blood is like liquid calm, and Taemin feels a million times better by the time he's putting the cap back on. "You could show me the shower now?" He looks at IU with a smile.
"Oh, sure. But, also, Minho and Jonghyun wanted to talk to you. I think they're on the way."
"They want to talk to me... both of them?"
"All two of them," IU smiles nervously, "They should be coming right away, so if you wanted to put the shower off for just a minute.."
Before Taemin can decide if he'd like to put the shower off or not, his door swings open without the warning of a knock. Jonghyun steps in, as expected. Minho moves in more slowly behind him, avoiding looking at anything other than the floor.
"You," Jonghyun greets in a not-so-cheerful tone.
After a long look at Minho, Taemin determines that he's not going to do any talking, and gives his attention to Jonghyun. With narrow eyes, he asks, "What do you want?"
"To know what you want," Jonghyun crosses his arms, "You saved us, so, what do you want for it?"
"I don't want anything from you," Taemin says, without being particularly bothered by Jonghyun's attitude. It doesn't matter if he did save him, he can't expect anything more from him.
"Good, because I was going to make Minho do whatever you wanted anyway," Jonghyun says with a roll of his eyes.
"You can't just make Minho do things," Taemin mutters in a quiet voice that manages to be very angry.
Jonghyun glares at Minho, as though he was the one who said it, before he looks back at Taemin, "Just tell us what we can do for you so we can go. We're not gonna be sitting ducks in a place like this."
"I just don't want Minho to die. Even if he already did," Taemin says without emotion, this time avoiding looking at Minho himself. He can, however, see Minho in the corner of his eye - finally looking at him.
Jonghyun sighs, a heavy groan of a sigh, and crossing his arms over his chest he admits, "We came to say thank you. You could have made that a lot easier, you know."
Taemin decides to shrug the shorter vampire off, turning his attention fully on Minho now. He's full of hope when he asks, "Don't you remember me at all? Anything?"
Minho's gaze drops from Taemin, and he sounds genuine when he says, "I'm sorry."
"Then," Taemin swallows, trying to keep his voice calm, "do you remember Onew?"
"Not much," Minho says slowly, "You knew him too?"
"I still do know him," Taemin responds and stands up, holding onto his bag. "Sayu was about to show me where the bathroom is. If you just wanted to thank me, then..." Taemin trails off as an idea blossoms in his head, and he looks towards Jonghyun, "If you want to thank me, then get my switchblade back to me. I lost it saving you."
"That sounds annoying," Jonghyun says, rolling his eyes again.
"Saving you was annoying too," Taemin reasons.
"Fine, whatever, weird human," Jonghyun turns quickly, grabbing Minho's arm. "Let's go."
Minho looks at Taemin one more time, and then the two leave the room in a hurry.
Next