ANOTHER BOOK WENT FLYING ACROSS THE ROOM.

"Not once! Not once did you visit her in the last two months, Oppa! In the last two months! Her last two months! How do you think that made her feel, huh?" Min threw a pillow at Namjoon and he caught it.

Tears were streaming down her face. Her long hair swung back and forth as she threw any more objects she could find in the apartment.

"I understand you're upset," Namjoon tried, dodging another book that came his way. "I'm sorry! I should've been there!"

"SO WHY DIDN'T YOU?!" she exploded, giving up on throwing things and attacked him with her fists, pounding on his chest like a child wanting out of her room. "DO YOU REALIZE HOW HARD IT WAS TO WATCH HER?! TO HEAR NOTHING BUT NAMJOON THIS AND NAMJOON THAT! ALL SHE WANTED WAS YOU! SHE DIDN'T CARE ABOUT ME!"

Namjoon engulfed her in a hug, remembering that it was scientifically proven that an embrace calms a person down when they're upset.

"Don't touch me!" his sister cried as more tears ran down her damp cheeks.

She sunk to her knees. Namjoon went down with her.

"You're wrong, Geong Min," he said, tangling their arms and legs together so it was hard for her to escape his embrace. "She loved you with all her heart. Okay? You were the one by her side. She loved you very much."

Min's attacks got weaker, to the point where she just lightly kept hitting Namjoon's chest in slow motions.

"Why. . .?" she wept. "Why, Oppa, why?"

The worst part was that he couldn't provide an answer for her, not one that would make sense. Guilt punched his heart and squeezed it.

He felt very ill indeed.

The truth was that he was scared. He hadn't fully admitted it to himself, but he was scared. He didn't want to watch his mom die. He didn't want to see her healthy hair turn into frizzy straw. He didn't want to see her skin turn anymore pale than it already was. He wanted to pretend everything was okay. He wanted to picture his mother healthy and beautiful before she was diagnosed.

He would never tell Min that.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he kept saying. He whispered soothing words in her ear, hoping that those were enough to put a temporary reassurance spell over her.

Before he knew it Min was asleep in his arms.

Sighing, Namjoon got up and carried her to her new room. He gently laid her on the mattress and took off her shoes and tucked her under the blankets, remembering her as a five–year–old, soundless and still; calm and steady. She looked exactly the same as ten years ago when he used to tuck her in every night.

He moved his thumb and wiped her cheeks dry, frowning. It was hard to imagine what she was going through. Namjoon had always been self–centered, but he had a little sister to watch over now. He knew he had to put her first as his parents did before him.

He needed air.

He carefully got up and left the room, not forgetting to close the door. Dizziness and nausea hit him where it counted and he had to stand in front of the door for a few moments to wait for it to pass.

When he was able to swallow down the feeling he left his apartment. In front of his door there was an outside hallway. A roof was over Namjoon's head, but he was able to see the outside and take in the air from the openings in between the pillars. A decorated structure of a fence stood at the width of the floor he was standing on to keep him from falling over board, resembling a balcony.

He leaned over the balcony and listened for birds that chirped in harmony. He looked at the old, big trees, sucking in the oxygen they offered through his nostrils. He just needed to be alone for a while.

"Namjoon!"

He tensed, knowing exactly who the voice belonged to.

So much for wanting to be alone.

He turned his head and watched as Jin approached him, struggling with all the groceries he was carrying, but still managing to smile.

Namjoon nodded, offering no smile in return. "Hyung."

Panting, he dropped his groceries on the floor when he finally got to the younger boy.

"What's up?" Jin asked.

Namjoon just shrugged and looked back out the balcony.

It was silent for a few moments. It was as if time stood still; frozen. In the corner of his eye he could see Jin standing there, staring at him. All he could hear was the senior's rhythmic breathing in a steady pattern. In, 2, 3, out, 2, 3, in, 2, 3, out, 2, 3.

The pattern was interrupted when Jin spoke. "Hey, you want to help me with my groceries?"

Namjoon looked back at him with a dull expression. He scanned the brunette, letting his eyes wander from toe to head before he replied. "No."

Jin laughed softly in chopped up beats. "Come on, Namjoon. I'm your senior. And it's proven that giving kindness makes you feel better, especially when you're upset."

Namjoon tilted his head and knitted his eyebrows together. "How'd you know I was upset?"

"I didn't, but I do now."

He cursed under his breath.

Jin laughed again. "I'm kidding. I could tell. You're not yourself. So. . . You going to help me and maybe tell me what's on your mind?"

Namjoon leaned away from the fence and crossed his arms. "Are you asking me or are you telling me?"

The hyung shifted his weight so his left leg could support him. "I'm asking you as if you have a choice, but there is a right answer."

Namjoon sighed. Jin was stubborn, and when he wanted to make something clear he could do it.

Namjoon picked up a couple of grocery bags in his hands.

Jin smiled and carried the rest to his apartment door. "My place is kind of messy still so I just wanted to warn you." He put his bags on one arm as he fished for his keys in his pocket. His face went pale. "U–Um. . ." He began to laugh nervously. "It appears I may have misplaced my keys."

"Hyung. . .," Namjoon trailed off, shaking his head. "Here."

He set the groceries down and pulled out a ruined staple that had been straightened out from his jacket pocket. He placed it inside of the lock in the knob and after a few tries the door clicked open.

"Wow!" Jin beamed. "Thanks, but I'm sleeping with one eye open tonight!"

Namjoon rolled his eyes and took the bags inside the cramped apartment filled with nothing but boxes.

"So, you want to tell me what has you so distressed?" asked Jin.

After they had finished putting the groceries away Jin served them both tea and they went outside to the hall balcony again.

The bitter breeze stung Namjoon's cheeks. "Do I have a choice?"

The brunette shrugged. "I guess this time you do. I'm not going to force you to tell me."

"Then I prefer not to."

Jin pursed his lips, letting his eyes explore the outside and reach as far as they could away from the complex. "I think the most annoying thing isn't when people bug you about what's wrong with you. I think it's not having someone who cares enough to bug you about it."

Namjoon looked at him. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," replied the eldest, meeting his eyes. "As a little boy I would get bullied a lot and when my mom asked if I was all right I always got annoyed with her. It's not that I didn't appreciate her asking; it's just that I didn't want her to worry or sometimes I would just be too angry to talk so I always snapped at her. Then one day she just stopped asking. And I got even more annoyed."

"Then what?" Namjoon asked.

Jin looked back at the trees with a heavy sigh. "One day I finally cracked. I came home from school and broke down in front of my mom. Everything I had been holding in had finally just came out. It was like water in a broken dam. I learned that day that one way or another, you're bound to crack at some point. It's better to let it out bits at a time rather than hold it in until you've passed your breaking point. Trust me, Namjoon, I know you don't like talking about things like this, but it'll only hurt you more if you hold it in."

"Okay," he said, "but I barely know you. I'd be confiding in a stranger."

Jin's eyes found their way back to him. "Do you have anyone better?"

Namjoon didn't answer immediately. He stood there, balancing on a rope, deciding if he should just keep walking or allow himself to fall, but the rope was thinning. It was getting harder to maintain his even weight. Finally, the line got so thin that he gave up and tipped over the edge.

"My mother died from breast cancer yesterday," he said. "They did surgery and she couldn't take it. Too weak, they said. My sister came today. She's my responsibility until she turns eighteen."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Jin said. "How old is she? What's her name?"

"Fifteen," he replied. "Her name is Geong Min."

"And your father?"

"Dead."

"That's terrible. I'm so sorry." Jin gently touched the dongsaeng's elbow in comfort.

Namjoon went numb at the contact. "It happens. Things happen. I wasn't really that close to them. My sister was, though. More with my mother."

"I see. Well if there's anyway I can help let me know please," Jin said.

"Sure," said Namjoon, though he wasn't sure if he was ready to ask for help.

Silence covered over them. It wasn't comfortable, nor awkward. It was just silence for a long time. The only sounds that could be heard were the slurps of the tea from their cups.

"Let's go out to eat," Jin announced, breaking the quiet. "My treat."

"No. That's all right," Namjoon declined.

"Please. Allow me. Then you won't have to worry about feeding your sister."

"No, no. It's not necessary."

"Fine. You pay."

"Really, hyung?"

"Well you may not be going but I will. I'm starving," came a third voice behind them.

They both whipped around to find Min peeking her head out through the door. Her long black hair was tossed out of place and her eyes were bloodshot. She wasn't too pale, but light skin was the dominant gene.

Namjoon sighed. "Min—"

"I want to go!" she snapped.

Jin respectfully remained quiet, seeing as this was between Namjoon and his sister.

Namjoon stood there, unmoving, deciding on how to take her outburst.

She let out a shaky breath and quietly reworded her desire. "Can we go please? I would appreciate that. It'll make me feel better."

With a hard swallow he slowly nodded.

"Well," Jin told Min with a warm smile, "you can pick where we go. Deal?"

"So is he your boyfriend?" Min asked her brother.

Namjoon nearly choked on his noodles and Jin laughed.

He swung his arm around the younger boy's shoulders and smirked at her. "Why yes I am."

Min's eyes doubled their size. Obviously she hadn't been expecting that answer.

"No," Namjoon spoke as soon as he cleared his throat and swallowed. He elbowed Jin in the ribs and caused the eldest to retract his arm to his side while wincing at the pain.

"Just neighbors," Jin said, meekly. "We've only known each other for a few days."

Min nodded carefully.

"Hey, Min," said Jin, "I have a nephew who's about your age. You said you were fifteen?"

"Yes," she replied.

"So is he. Well he's almost sixteen. He's a bit older. You're a freshmen and he's a sophomore, but you said you liked art and anime and G Dragon, right? He likes all those things, too. I think you two would get along just fine."

Min nodded again. "What's his name."

"Jeon Jungkook," Jin replied.

Sorry this was so short, guys! Promise the next chapter will be better because stuff about Jungkook gets thrown into place. Thank you for reading! Bye!