NAMJOON

"I'M GOING TO VISIT YVETTE," said Jin.

He coughed violently.

Namjoon pursed his lips. "Are you sure you should be going out? You've seemed to be getting worse these past two weeks with that cold of yours."

His boyfriend smiled. He closed his fingers around the door knob. "Thanks for having me over for breakfast. Have a good day at school."

Namjoon walked over to Jin. "Not so fast, you. The doctor gave you a prescription, right?"

Jin wrapped his arms around Namjoon's neck. "Yes, babe. The doctor gave me medicine and I've been doing fine."

Namjoon placed both hands on either sides of Jin's waist. "I wasn't born yesterday. You've been getting worse. I don't think this is just a cold. You should really rest. You can see Yvette another time."

Jin shook his head. "I'm okay," he insisted. "Please don't be worried. I'll be back in a little bit." He gave him a quick kiss before turning the knob and opening the door. "I'll see you later. I love you."

Before Namjoon could say anything Jin was already out of sight. Something was going on and he made it his mission to find out what it was.

"We're late!"

After school of course.

Namjoon turned to Min who came out of her room.

"Did Jin-oppa leave already?" she asked rhetorically. "I wanted to catch him before he left but I'll see him later. Let's go."

"You don't happen to know anything I don't know about Jin-oppa, do you?" Namjoon asked. He wrinkled his nose at the fact that he just said "oppa".

Min tilted slightly to the side, pursing her lips. "Not to my knowledge. Why? Something wrong?"

Namjoon shook his head. "Nothing that you should worry about."

Min nodded, unconvinced, but another thought seemed to get rid of her unsureness. "I can't believe he actually decided last minute that he didn't want to know the baby's sex."

Namjoon shrugged. "Come on. Let's get to school."

"No, no, no," Namjoon whispered to himself as he erased some lyrics off of his paper.

It was lunch and he was having trouble finding the right melody for his song. He sighed in frustration.

A pair of hands rested on the edge if the cafeteria table in which Namjoon was sitting at alone.

"You're Kim Namjoon, right?" said a girl.

Namjoon studied her light brown locks and tan skin. She didn't look like a full-bred Korean.

"And if I am?" he responded. "Who wants to know?"

"I'm Izabel," said Izabel. She looked down at Namjoon's small notebook. "Are you writing another song?"

Namjoon tilted his head in confusion. "Excuse me, but do you need something?"

"No. Not really. But I really like your song Spine Breaker." She offered a smile. "It's really catchy. You guys are really popular here. I saw the music video and I was like, 'Hey! I know two of those guys! Namjoon and Jungkook!' I hope you keep going on with your music career. You're a really good rapper. Consider me a fan. Estas muy guapo, tambien (You're very handsome, too)."

Since their song many people have come up to the boys and praised them for their good music and hilarious video. At first Namjoon didn't like all the attention, but he waslearning how to get used to it.

Namjoon nodded, taking in her compliments. "Gracias."

Izabel looked taken aback. "Me entendiste (You understood me)?"

He nodded. "Estudio español el año pasado (I studied Spanish last year). Pero no entiendo mucho (But I don't understand a lot)."

She smiled. "Yeah. I'm half Korean, half Mexican. I like you, Kim Namjoon. You're cool. Maybe we can hang out sometime."

"I'm taken," Namjoon informed her. "But if you want to be friends I guess it wouldn't be completely repulsive."

She laughed. "It's a shame your taken. Okay. That's fine with me."

The school bell rang.

"Excuse me, but I should be going now." Namjoon managed a friendly smile and left the cafeteria.

As he was walking down the hallway something caught his eye. He slowed his pace and looked at a poster pinned on the wall.

It said:

FATHER DAUGHTER DANCE!!!

All fathers and daughters are welcomed to participate in this meaningful night. Have bonding time with your dad while enjoying refreshments and food and dancing the night away!

Location: School Gym
Time: 6:00–8:00
When: Friday, May 19th

Namjoon frowned at the poster. Everyone had been talking about the dance all last week. All the girls were talking about what to where and how delighted their dads were to attend.

Min's friends have probably been talking about it nonstop to her, Namjoon thought, which made him feel guiltier that she couldn't have the same luxury as the other girls.

He moved along with the guilt still heavy in his chest.

Sighing, Namjoon dropped his bag and crashed on the sofa. Min followed after him, but she sat down slowly with a straight posture and her hands in between her closed legs. She didn't even bother to take off her backpack. Her expression was nervous and indecisive. She looked like she was a girl trying to decide on what outfits to keep because she didn't have enough money for everything.

"What's with the posture and the face?" Namjoon asked, examining her moves. "What did you do this time?"

"Nothing!" she said defensively. "I wanted to ask you something. I've been wanting to for a while."

Namjoon sat up a little straighter as well. "Go on."

Min looked down at her lap. "Um. . ."

He softened at her shaky voice. "Min, what is it?"

She moved some hair behind her red ear. Even if she was looking down her ears always got red when she was about to cry.

"This isn't easy for me, but. . ." She huffed and looked up at the T.V, sniffing and wiping the tears from her eyes. "The father, daughter dance is this Friday a-and all the girls are going. A-And even thought my father isn't here, I realized that my real dad is right in front of me." She looked at him with a trembling lip. "A-And I was wondering i-if you wa-wanted to go with me?"

"It would be my pleasure," Namjoon cooed, deeply moved by her words.

She burst into tears and lunged herself at Namjoon. "Th-Thank you!"

He held her tight, rubbing her back.

"I-I was j-just so em-embarrassed!" she confessed. "I thought I would look li-like a dork if-if I went with you!"

Namjoon laughed slightly. "It's okay. I'm glad you asked me."

"Thank you for always being there," she whispered.

"Thank you for being my sister," he replied.

She pulled away once she finally got a hold of herself. Through her tears she smiled at him.

"You didn't have to cry, you big baby," he said.

Min twisted her face in disgust and hit him. "Jackass!"

He laughed. She laughed. It was a nice moment.

"Hey, I'm going to Jin-oppa's place for a bit. Then I'll come back and we can order pizza and watch a movie. How about it?" said Namjoon.

"If I have to," she said, rolling her eyes, but grinning afterwards.

"Yeah, you have to you little bitch. Do your homework."

She nodded happily. "Have fun. I love you."

"I love you, too," Namjoon said.

He stood up and walked over to the door. He took one more glance at his little sister and for a second when she waved at him she was back to the little chubby three–year–old with short ponytails. He waved back and left the apartment.

He knew Jin wasn't home because he was working so he took out his keys and let himself in.

"All right, hyung," he said, "what are you hiding?"

He began searching Jin's bathroom for any clues. He opened the mirror door and looked at his pills in the cabinet. Nothing seemed to stand out. However, something in the trash caught his eye. He took out a tissue covered in blood. He closed the cabinet and made his way back into the bedroom.

Namjoon began rummaging through Jin's drawers and his desk where his laptop sat. Nothing he found in the drawers, so he opened up Jin's laptop and to his dismay there was a password. He pursed his lips. With a bit of coding and refreshing, he managed to hack into his computer.

Namjoon went straight for his web history. There were some fashion articles, movies Jin searched up, and recipes, but again, nothing that stood out. That is until Namjoon found a search on kidney cancer.

He held in a breath, his heart pounding. He moved over to Jin's mail and began scrolling through it. It didn't take long to find a bill mailed to him by his doctor. The bill informed him about the expensive of a type of treatment. Namjoon grew more nervous as he kept checking later mail. After several minutes of going through weeks worth of mail, a letter from Jin's doctor was spotted. He bit his lip as he clicked the document.

Everything he read from the doctor was only skimmed over. He stopped at the big bold letters near the end that said: STAGE III KIDNEY CANCER

Namjoon sunk back in his seat and stared at those words in disbelief.

This was ten months ago.

He flinched when he heard Jin's front door open. He quickly exited out all of the tabs and erased any trace that he had left and shut down tthe device.

He took a deep breath and made his way out of the room.

Jin had set a few groceries on his table. When he looked over at Namjoon he jumped in fright.

"Aigoo! You scared me, Namjoon!" he scolded. "What are you doing here? I told you I wouldn't be home until seven."

"How'd the visit with Yvette go?" Namjoon asked calmly.

Jin shrugged. "It was good. She was good. The usual—"

"It's funny how the center let you in when they don't allow visitors six through eight on Tuesdays."

Jin looked taken aback. "How'd you—?"

"You must not know me enough to figure that I might do some research on that place. So why'd you do it? Why did you lie, hyung?" Namjoon interrupted. "You never lie to me."

Jin didn't say anything for a while. His eyes misted over slightly as he eyed the younger boy.

He swallowed. "I think you already know."

"Do I?" Namjoon asked.

Jin was slient, any hint of light his eyes held lost in the dark.

"When were you going to tell me about how serious this little 'cold' of yours was?" Namjoon hissed, his blood boiling by the minute. "Admit it," he said maliciously. "You saw the doctor today."

"Namjoon, I—"

"You're dying!" he cried. "You only have one kidney left! You donated the other one to your brother when he was in a similar situation! Remember you told me that? Or were you lying about that, too?"

"It's true," Jin whispered, unable to look Namjoon in the eyes. "Only one left."

"Ten months!" he exploded. "You knew for ten months! Why didn't you tell me?"

Jin bursted into tears. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? All you have to say for yourself is sorry? Why are you crying? Why are you the one crying?"

All he did was sob harder. "I—I c-can get through this. I-I kn-know I can."

"I feel sorry for you," Namjoon said. "I feel sorry for the baby. You're going to have a baby for Christ sake and you don't even know if you're going to be around for the first two years of its life!"

"I-I can do it."

"No, you can't, Jin! Wake up! You can't! This is reality and you're dying!"

"I know!" he yelled. Then, he repeated in a broken voice, "I know."

Namjoon shook his head and marched to the door. "Have a nice time figuring this out."

"N-Namjoon!" Jin grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?"

"Away from you," Namjoon said.

"Namjoon, please! Don't do this!"

"Don't do what?" he shouted, pulling his arm away. "Leaving a liar who played with my emotions and made me think we would live happily ever after? How horrible of me!"

He swung the door open and walked out. Jin followed him out and fell to his knees.

"Namjoon, p-please d-don't. Please! Do-Don't leave!"

"This is your doing," he growled, but saying all these things to him made every piece of Namjoon's being ache.

Jin tugged on his shirt desperately, endless tears racing down his cheeks. "Namjoon, please! I'm sorry! I love you! I love you so much! Don't leave me please."

Still, he pried Jin's hands oof, opened the door to his apartment, and shut it on the only person he's ever had true feelings for.

Aw! Were you unsatisfied with the way things ended? Then stay tuned! It only gets worse from here!