When Love Is Not Enough, Chapter 1
Title: When Love Is Not Enough
Author: trieze0713
Pairing: Yunho/Jaejoong
Length: Chaptered
Genres: AU, Drama, Angst, Romance
Warnings: Foul languages, child abuse
Rating: PG 13 - NC 17
Chapter 1
Yunho - age 12, Jaejoong - age 15, A Promise
"Hey, sport, what are you up to?" The handsome boy ruffled his already messy hair.
"Jae-hyung! Stop messing with my hair!"
"Why," he messed it up even more as Yunho tried to slap his hand away from his head, "you look better all messy this way." And he laughed.
The other boy scowled, "Stop acting like a big boy, you're only 15!"
"And you're only 12... I'm still your hyung." He smiled smugly.
"3 years is not much of a difference."
"It is to me... at least I'll be 18 faster than you, and then I can leave the house."
Yunho frowned at his words and looked at him worriedly, "Hyung..."
"Hm?" He laid himself on the grass and closed his eyes.
"Are you..." He saw Jaejoong opened one eye at him, "Why don't you move to my house? You know Mom & Dad really cares about you... and y-"
Jaejoong laughed, "Silly boy... thanks for your concern, but no thanks.”
“Hyung…”
“Stop talking and let me enjoy the breeze…”
And they were lying side by side upon the green grass at the park. They understood how each other’s feeling even without the exchange of words. Words were not needed. Words would only shatter the serenity of the moment.
Yunho opened his eyes and silently turned his head to gaze on the older boy next to him.
“Stop staring at me.” Jaejoong told him without opening his eyes.
“I wasn’t staring at you!” He retorted and quickly changed his mind. “I can see your bruises, you know. So much for hiding them.”
The older boy chuckled, “They didn’t hurt much anymore, though.”
“But still, I think-“
“Stop thinking. You just won’t let me enjoy this moment, will you?”
“I-“ He resigned, there’s no use in talking with Jaejoong when he’s not the in mood to answer. “I’ll keep silent.”
“Good. Now be a good boy and massage my head, I’ve had a bad headache since I woke up this morning.”
Yunho moved himself to sit next to Jaejoong’s head. As he started massaging his head, he couldn’t help himself to speak once again.
“Just want you to know that Mom and Dad are more than happy to take you in… That’ll make me happy too… at least to know that you-“
“Thanks, Yunho. Really… I’m glad to know. That’s enough for me… to know that you, Aunty and Uncle care. That’s enough for me…”
And that’s the cue for him not to say anything anymore. Not another word.
But that day was the last day that he saw Jaejoong’s sweet smile again. The next year would be a painful year to remember, but two years after would be a year that would almost lose his life.
No one prepared… nothing’s predicted… how reality would change the best in a person into a haunting nightmare.
~o~o~
Yunho - age 15, Incidents
The phone rang in the living room and Yunho yelled from his bed.
“Mom, the phone!” It still rang.
“MOM!! Phone’s ringing!”And suddenly he remembered that his mother was out for a custody case.
Working as a social worker, his mother often had to leave him alone during the day to go to the police station or the orphanage or just for a visit. But she always checked up on him every now and then, so it might be just her calling to check whether he had done his homework.
He swept the phone from its cradle, “Hello, Jung family house.”
“…” BAM!!! A sound of a door being slammed.
“Hello… hello… hello!!! Who’s t-“
“Hyung!” He recognized the voice, his ten year old cousin, Changmin. BAM!!! Another deafening noise.
“Hey, Changmin, what’s-“
“Daddy! It’s Daddy… Is Aunty Soo Mi there? Uncle Jin?? Hyung, Daddy got in the house! Mom was outside but I don’t hear her anymore!” He cried and Yunho could hear someone shouted from afar, ‘Where the hell are you hiding boy? You can’t run away from me!’
“Hyung…” Sound of steps. And the phone was clicked shut.
“What the…” He frantically tried to call him back to no avail. He then tried to call his parents, but none answered their phones. He’s the only one who could help Changmin now.
He only let himself consider for 10 seconds before he ran to take his cap, hurriedly put on his shoes and ran two blocks away to where Changmin’s family lived.
Yunho eavesdropped when his parents talked about Changmin’s step father. When his Aunt - his father’s sister - married for the second time to Uncle Kyung Min after Changmin’s biological father died in a crash; his parents had shown their dislike toward that man. They kept saying that he wasn’t a good man but she wouldn’t listen. Changmin was 7 when he got a step father.
Since then, he rarely saw the boy around the family. And when he did, Changmin looked like he hadn’t washed up for days on end and he ate like he hadn’t eaten that long too. Aunt Ji Min would look distressed but she kept saying that they had a good life and Uncle Kyung Min took care of them well.
His parents didn’t buy a single word, but unless there’s proof of negligence or abuse, they couldn’t do anything. That was until 6 months ago.
Aunt Ji Min showed up on their doorstep in the middle of the night a bruised face and broken arm, dragging Changmin who was barefooted and bruised in several spots as well. His father reported Uncle Kyung Min right away and filed for restraining order. And he had never showed up.... until now.
'Oh god, oh god, don't let anything happens to Changmin before I get there!' He kept praying while running as fast as his two feet could take him.
Just as he was nearing his cousin's apartment complex, he saw a little crowd outside. And when he got closer he noticed that all of them are women. Of course, most of the men should be working, especially in an industrial housing complex like this one.
"What happened?" Yunho asked one of the older women standing and staring at the stairs that goes up to the second floor where Changmin and Aunt Ji Min lived.
He didn't get an answer cause right at that time there was screaming coming from the stairs and two ladies were running outside yelling, "He killed her! Oh my god, he killed her!! Where's the police?? The boy, someone save the boy please!"
Without a second thought, Yunho ran up the stairs. He could still hear the gasps and shocked exclamation from the crowds as he pushed his way towards Changmin's unit. And the sight was something that he would never forget for the rest of his life.
It scarred him deeply, both physically and mentally.
Aunt Ji Min was lying in a pool of blood by the door. He almost threw up but then remembered that his little cousin was still in the house with Uncle Kyung Min.
From there everything was a blur to him.
He remembered seeing Uncle Kyung Min's horrified look as the man turned around with a knife on his stomach.
He remembered Changmin's lifeless eyes staring back at him with tears running down his cheeks.
He remembered the way Uncle Kyung Min grabbed his hair and threw him across the kitchen floor.
And he remembered the sound of sirens as he was trying to stay awake to save his little cousin. He was here for Changmin, but why did his head hurt so much?
And then darkness.
~o~o~
The next time he opened his eyes again everything was white around him. And then there was someone that he hadn't seen for the past 2 years.
"Jae-hyung..."
The said boy turned around to face him and he felt like crying. Well, he cried right there and then...
His parents ran inside with a nurse, his mother was weeping as she held face in her hands, his father was breathing deeply in relief...
He head still hurts, his whole body still hurt. And he wondered how was Changmin.
But that's not the reason why he cried.
He cried because of what he saw in Jaejoong's eyes.
There was no more warmth, no more smile, no more kindness... just a dark empty hollow that's shot right though his heart.
Have he really lost him?
He didn't have the answer as darkness claimed him once again.
Somehow he could faintly hear a whisper in his ear, 'I'm sorry I can't help you...'
Then again, maybe he's just dreaming...
~o~o~
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