CH 5.2 - Malignant Manners (PU)

Even after returning home, Jaehwan just didn't seem alright. He often stared at his phone, his face blank. He was quiet and subdued, almost like he was still in shock. Of course, it piqued Aki's concern but he dared not ask about it because he knew that Jaehwan was in a really sensitive and emotional state of mind. It was best to give him the space he needed.

What was surprising enough to Aki was that when he held Jaehwan's hand, he could tell that the silver ring Shujin gave him had gone missing. He didn't know if Jaehwan had lost it or if Shujin forcefully took it back from him but he did know that something must have gone down between Jaehwan and Shujin. What else could have built up enough stress to trigger his chest pains? What's more, Jaehwan refused to answer any calls from Shujin.

"Babe? Your phone's ringing,"Aki said while he was folding their clothes in their closet. "Oh,"Jaehwan groaned and sat up from the bed. He looked at his phone and huffed. "It's from my Master,". He set the phone to silent mode and tossed it under his pillows, drowning out the persistent vibrations of his phone. "What? You're not answering it?"Aki gasped, looking up from the neat piles of clothing. "I'm not in the mood to speak to him,". Jaehwan curled up in bed, covering himself with the blanket, shivering. "I haven't been feeling well lately. I feel sorry that you have to do most of the housework,". Aki got up and handed Jaehwan a sweater, shaking his head. "Not at all, babe. Though, I am really worried about your health. Should we call Dr. Yoo again?".

Jaehwan shook his head in response. "Nah, it's not necessary. I've just been getting chills and a slight fever. I'll be okay soon,". His appetite worsened as well and it was enough for Aki to make kittens. Jaehwan refused to eat and would just stare into nothingness, his face tear stained. Aki wanted to be as considerate as he could possibly be because he knew how painful it was when someone you trusted your whole life with betrays you but he didn't want Jaehwan to look emaciated. Goodness me, it'd be a miracle if he even had the strength to get out of bed after this.

"Jae, I know that there's a wound in your heart that's bleeding. But please, for the sake of your own health, have something to eat. Please,"Aki pleaded one afternoon, nudging him with a tray of his favourite jeon pancakes and pickled radish cubes. Jaehwan glanced at the food and burst into tears, covering his mouth to muffle his unsteady breaths. "A-Aki, I'm sorry t-that you do so much for me, e-even going as far as to cook my favourite food, yet, I can't even p-pick up my chopsticks and eat it,"He whimpered, his body shaking like a tremor. Aki's heart dropped when he saw that and he embraced Jaehwan at once, feeling as if he was about to cry himself.

"I don't want to have to force you to eat. But, like Dr. Yoo said, your weight is already dangerously low. I know that that bastard did something to hurt you, but I think that you should be kinder to yourself,". Hearing Aki speak to him with such a gentle tone felt as if a careful hand was gingerly picking up the pieces of his broken heart, patching it up together again. Jaehwan sniffled and put his arms around Aki's neck, trying to stabilise his breathing. "P-Please take me to the bathroom. I'll wash up and eat what you've p-prepared for me,". Aki knew that Jaehwan was trying to pick himself up and tried to encourage him. "That's my babe. Come on. Your comfort foods will make you feel much happier in a jiffy,".

Cheeriness like Aki's were hard to resist. He just beamed with so much positive energy, he could invigorate a room full of corporate slaves without trying. Jaehwan washed his face for the first time in a while and he couldn't have felt fresher. While he was doing that, Aki had left the room to heat up his food on the stovetop. He was quite wary of the front door because Sumi, his older brother, had moved to Japan because of work. He was living with their grandparents and could finally spend a good amount of time with them. He shrugged but his ears just itched.

Funny, why was the door rattling? Fuck's sake, was it a thief? But there was no way. The security in the condominium was so tight. Heck, the door itself had to be opened with a passcode and a key. So how? Did they have a stalker? Surely not. Even so, it'd be impossible for Sumi to come without ringing the doorbell since he didn't own a key to their house. Aki groaned to himself, flipping the pancake out of the pan and onto a plate. There was only one person that it could be.

The door was thrown open and black polished shoes were slipped off, being placed neatly at the entrance. A rather large, muscular man peered around the room. On his face, he wore quite a beseeching look. Peering around the room before heaving a loud sigh, he stepped into the living room, car keys and a mobile phone in hand.

"Jaehwan? It's me, your Master. I felt like we should talk this out,".

Sure enough, this egotistical bastard, with an ego so big he might as well ride it to work instead of being chauffeured around, had the audacity to step foot into Jaehwan's home. Even after taking 11 years of trust and throwing it into the bin as if it had gone off. Aki just couldn't believe what he was hearing and seeing.

How fucking dare Shujin try to get his ratty face closer to Jaehwan once more.

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When he was met with silence, Shujin bit his lip and headed for the kitchen, catching Aki by the island. "Ah, Nakanishii-kun..."He began awkwardly, freezing when he noticed Aki's look of contempt. "How has Jaehwan been these days?". Aki looked at Shujin and then to the pan before he put it in the sink and let the water run. "He's been crying and refusing to eat anything. His heart has been causing him a lot of pain too,". He began washing the dishes noisily, trying to drown him out. "I don't know, I figured you'd have something to do with it. He's been like that since I found him stranded on the highway, on the verge of fainting while on the way back from your place".

Averting his eyes to the ground, overflowing with guilt, Shujin just took a seat at the dining table. "Well, it is true. I do have something to do with it,". Aki sighed and pulled the cleaned pan out of the sink, setting it back on the stove to dry it after patting the bottom dry. "I'm not a psychic, Sir. I can't read your mind. You need to tell me what you did to him,". Shujin grumbled and furrowed his brow. "It's not easy to explain...I don't know...maybe I wasn't aware that Jaehwan could be so sensitive,". The way Shujin beat around the bush whenever he was being confronted didn't sit well with Aki. "Oh? You said something that he didn't take too well?". He caught Shujin's low "mhm" even though he was pretending to pay no attention to him.

Setting the pan aside, he leaned against the counter and sighed. "I can't do much if you're just going to be vague with me. I need a piece of the pie with the filling, not just the crust alone,". Shujin kept fumbling around and Aki grew fed up, picking up the plate. "I'm going to deliver this to him. That should give you plenty of time to think about what you're going to tell me,". Shujin stood up at once and held out his hand. "I'll hand it to him,". Aki shook his head, the plate of jeon and a pair of chopsticks in hand. "Not a chance. He'll lose his appetite if he sees you,".

Speeding up the stairs, Aki delivered the jeon to him safely. "Babe, I'm going to wait for Sumi downstairs, okay?". Jaehwan's response can be heard echoing from the bathroom. "Okay. Thank you, Kiki!". It's been a moment since Aki had heard Jaehwan respond with such chirpiness in his voice. He knew that if Jaehwan was aware that Shujin was downstairs, he'd be launched into another round of misery. So he just went downstairs without another word. Heading into the kitchen, he folded his arms. "Did the cat get your tongue, Sir?".

The older one of the two sighed and looked to the stairs. "Can't I at least go and talk this out with him? This ordeal isn't any of your business,". Aki glared at him as he walked to the other side of the kitchen. "What? It's not my business? Is it not my business to know why you're the one causing my boyfriend to spiral into depressive episodes?". He got a glass and filled it with warm water, continuing to speak. "How is it that when Jaehwan was beginning to go out with me that it was all your business when it's his personal life? But now, when you treat his heart like a pincushion, causing him so much emotional distress, so much so he's had to take his medication more frequently, that all of the sudden it's not my business to know why when I'm the one involved in his day-to-day life?".

Gritting his teeth, Shujin clenched his hand into a fist. "Because I raised him. I'm his guardian,".

"Then act like one,"Aki scoffed.

Testing the temperature of the water with his lips, he smirked to himself. "Sir, don't you think it's funny to claim that you raised him when all you did was condition him to fear you?". Shujin growled and stomped up to Aki, raising his fist. But, Aki was plucky and only laughed. "My, you're getting all defensive. It must be true,". He looked Shujin dead in the eyes and jeered at him. "Go ahead, Sir. We've been here before. But I'm not afraid of you anymore. You can do whatever you want. But if Jaehwan finds out, I'm afraid the only talk you'll have is him wanting to cut ties with you,".

Lowering his fist, Shujin sighed in defeat. It was true. Jaehwan did already say that he didn't want anything to do with him anymore. "You're right. I'll tell you what I did to him,". Blurting everything out, without leaving a detail behind, Aki felt as if he'd been struck by lightning. No wonder Jaehwan was feeling like a sack of cow shit. The old bloke's been deceiving him and even going as far as to choosing the new lover over him. Aki could understand Shujin getting a lover of his own. Yeah, it was bound to happen. But what he couldn't compute was the fact that Shujin had been lying to Jaehwan about being busy and chocked up with work all so he could snog another man while Jaehwan was ill. Would it have bruised his pride so much to just sit down and discuss this with Jaehwan? Or would he have rather bruised Jaehwan's heart by letting him discover them on his own?

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Still unknowing of the situation downstairs, Jaehwan was on the line with his best friend, Yuto. He took a few deep breaths before he chirped a greeting in as happy of a voice he could manage. "Good evening, Kirishima. So, what's the verdict?". He could hear Yuto cooking on the other side of the phone and patiently waited for a response. "You can come over tomorrow,"He whispered in his usual soft voice and Jaehwan squeaked on the other side of the phone. "Yay! That's great news!".

Clapping a lid onto the pot loudly, Jaehwan knew that he was busy in the kitchen. Well, what else could he expect when Yuto was the only one who could cook in his household? He could hear his friend set a wooden cutting board down before asking a question. "Is there anything that you want to eat in particular? I'll make it for you,". Jaehwan chuckled and thought for a bit before getting back to Yuto. "There's no need for that. We're not very picky with food. Just make what you usually make,". "Okay,". Jaehwan could hear his knife skills from the other side of the phone and decided that he should probably leave Yuto to cook for dinner. "Hm, I should probably allow you to prepare dinner in peace. I'll see you tomorrow, Kirishima,"He chirped and Yuto wished him goodbye before hanging up.

Sitting on the edge of the bed while he had his jeon, he smiled at the thought of being able to see Yuto tomorrow. After all the misery he'd been through, he did want to meet with him. It'd do him good to spend time with Yuto and laugh with him again. To go out grocery shopping and have tea together while they enjoyed confectionaries. Dear me, he did miss going out and having fun. Well, he should buck up and brighten up for tomorrow. Using his chopsticks, he tore the pancake apart deftly, munching steadily. He was grateful that Aki could cook beautifully and even going to the extent of making food he was familiar with.

Taking his sweet time, he ate his jeon, oblivious to the bitter state of the other two in the living room.

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While Aki was in disbelief, Sumi had rang the doorbell. Letting his older brother in and relaying what had happened, Sumi followed suit in a state of shock. As if the clusterfuck sandwich couldn't have gotten any more charred on both sides, Shujin's phone rang. And of course, in a syrupy sickly sweet voice, it was his lover trying to convince him to not go to Jaehwan's place. Aki couldn't actually hear the conversation properly but phrases like:

"Why would you even bother about him? He's a mongrel from that forsaken country,"

"Surely that Korean dog can't be any better than me,"

"But, aren't you looking for something more exciting? Why are you going back to him?"

were thrown around and it was enough to make his blood boil. He was so tempted to snatch Shujin's phone from him and scream at the other man for just being so brutally racist towards Jaehwan. So what if Jaehwan was ethnically Korean? He was born and raised in Japan. He had been granted the stamp of approval as a Japanese citizen. He is Japanese. If not by blood then by mind and heart. He'd been raised with their culture, language and traditions. For that asshole to just go ahead and stomp over truths just to make Jaehwan look like a foreigner made him enraged.

And the cherry on top of this whole hullabaloo sundae was that Shujin didn't seem to be defending Jaehwan. Sumi held Aki back, aware that his younger brother was seething in anger.

The audacity. The. Fucking. Audacity. Shujin has to 'support' and 'love' Jaehwan but he couldn't even tell his new lover off for being a racist piece of bigoted shit. For slandering the boy that he questionably raised for 11 years. The boy that he had the audacity to hardwire to fear him and to obey his every command. But what is there to fear when his balls are literally the size of pea? He didn't have the balls to stick up for Jaehwan. He didn't have the big fat balls to tell his lover off for calling Jaehwan racist slurs. But you know what? Aki did.

Marching up to Shujin, who was standing in front of the goldfish tank, the audio of his phone leaking out because he had put the call on speaker, Aki was ready to bark at Shujin's lover when the old man himself promptly hung up. "Are you fucking stupid? How dare you?!"Aki hollered, his face red from anger. "How dare I what?"Shujin asked, slipping his phone into his pocket. "How fucking dare you! Buying a ticket to board the bullshit train by saying that Jaehwan is your life and that he's your everything and that you'd to anything to protect him yet when your fucking 'lover' called him an uncountable amount of slurs, you don't even have the gall to defend him?!".

Jumping up and pulling his brother aside immediately, Sumi pat Aki on the back, trying to get him to cool off. "That's enough from you, Aki. I'll handle it,". He put himself between Aki and Shujin and cleared his throat.

"What's going on?".

All of their eyes were pinned to the stairs, Jaehwan teetering down slowly, a white ceramic plate in hand.

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Scanning the situation downstairs, Jaehwan's eyes landed on Shujin and his gaze darkened. "Oh, hi Master. You're here..."He muttered, averting his eyes away from him as he walked down the stairs. Shujin gulped and pulled a black velvet box out of his pocket, following Jaehwan into the kitchen. "I noticed that the ring you threw the other day immediately broke in half. It wasn't very sturdy, was it?". Jaehwan gave Shujin a side eye as he popped his dirty plate into the sink. "It was never meant to last anyway....".

Washing his plate solemnly, Jaehwan just kept his eyes on the sink. Aki and Sumi just stood by the entrance, watching the situation unfold. "Right. Because I've bought a new one for you,". Shujin pulled the glimmering ring out of the cushion in the box, glistening in all its splendor. "It's a 24 karat diamond. Only the best for my darling,". Jaehwan bit his lip, putting the dish on the drying rack. "I don't want it,". Shujin sighed and took his handkerchief before pulling Jaehwan's hand and dried it carefully. "Come on pet, don't be like that. I'll make it up to you, okay?". He held up the ring and slipped it on Jaehwan's ring finger, putting his hand to his lips. "I even had it fitted to your size. I can't possibly do anything else with it,".

"Do you want to know what you can do?".

Everyone's breath hitched. Shujin was eager for a response and Aki was afraid. Of course, he knew that Jaehwan still had a soft spot for the bastard. He just couldn't help it. Shujin knew that too and could be using that to his advantage to manipulate Jaehwan into taking him back. After all, once a manipulator, always a manipulator.

Kissing Jaehwan's hand again, Shujin held his hand to his cheek. "I'm all ears, darling. I'll do anything you want,". The corner of his mouth edged upwards, Jaehwan pulled the ring off and dropped it back into Shujin's hand.

"You can go and take the ring and resize it to fit that other man's finger. I don't need it,".

Almost as if Jaehwan had slapped Shujin across his face, the silence buzzed in the air. Nobody had expected Jaehwan to defy Shujin like that. No one had ever thought that Jaehwan would even talk to his Master like that. He had always been as obedient as a dog but even dogs bite sometimes.

"Jaehwan, baby, don't be so difficult-"

"I'm not in the mood for this, Master. Please, go home,".

Shujin shook his head and reluctantly looked at the door but Sumi jumped to Jaehwan's rescue. "Pardon me, Sir. But, I think Jaehwan just told you, as politely as humanly possible, to 'fuck off'. You should leave him alone,".

Heaving a heavy sigh, Shujin slammed the velvet box shut and headed for the door.

"Jaehwan, I hope that you'll give my words some weight. I've realised that I just can't live without you. So please, I want you to take me back,".

With that, those polished black shoes disappeared as the door closed behind them.

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Silence had become a blade so sharp it could have pierced the whole unit. It was quiet enough to make them uncomfortable. Jaehwan's eyes were locked on the door, frozen. Aki and Sumi didn't have the guts to say anything, especially because of how pale Jaehwan had become. Aware of how much willpower it took to reject someone who'd been a part of your life for so long, Aki sympathised with him. After all, it had almost been 7 years since he was disowned by people he thought would celebrate him coming out of the closet.

It really took everything Aki had to admit to his parents that he was doing fine, despite struggling to make ends meet at 17. He rejected any advances of pathing back their relationship or even returning home if he promised to be a straight man. To him, if they truly wanted to be his parents, shouldn't they support him every step of the way? Shouldn't they be trying to embrace his individuality instead of forcing him to conform to their ideals? He's their child, not a subject of mind-control to a villain in a superhero trope. There were times that he wished he could go and see his parents again but he always realised that getting disowned was probably for the better.

Sometimes the only way to stop the poison from spreading is to part from the source and start anew.

As if he'd come out from shock, Jaehwan's body flinched violently and he held onto the dining chair to support himself, his partner rushing over to help him out. "Aki, I'm fine. I'm just a bit shocked, that's all,"He smiled, wringing an arm around his waist. "You should go back to bed, Babe. Your body is still weak,". Sumi agreed and put Jaehwan's other arm over his shoulder, helping him along. "He's right. You need to get enough rest,". Helping Jaehwan back into bed, Sumi had some good news for them.

"Okay, I have some positive news for all of us,"He chuckled, sitting on the edge of the bed as he clapped his hands together. "I'm moving to Japan permanently. The law firm I work with decided to open up a branch here,"He chirped and Aki beckoned his brother with a hug. "No way! That's amazing!"He gasped and Sumi hugged him back, a grin on his face. Jaehwan could see their invisible puppy tails wagging uncontrollably. "That means I get to spend more time with both of you, as well as watch Suna-chan grow up,". Jaehwan smiled, clapping his hands softly. "I guess the guest room'll get a bit of action now. I should clean it up when I've recovered,".

Fluffing up the down pillow behind Jaehwan's back, Aki shook his head. "That's off the table. We're doing it together,". Sinking into the pillow behind him, Jaehwan sighed contentedly as he refuted. "No, you've already had so much housework to do since I fell ill. On top of that, you're still going to work. At least let me feel useful around this house,"He joked, letting Aki take his hand and stroke it to comfort him. "It's not like you chose to fall ill, right? Some things just can't be helped,". Aki gazed into Jaehwan's kind hazel eyes and pecked him on the forehead tenderly. "I chose to be with you, it's my responsibility to take care of you until I die,".

"I'm sure you will, judging by how you treat him,"Sumi laughed, standing up. "Right, I should give you lovebirds some space. I'll wait downstairs for you, Aki,". After he left the room, Aki began massaging Jaehwan's shoulders. "You should get some sleep, darling. We're visiting your friend tomorrow, right? Are you sure you can drive there?". Jaehwan groaned as the tension in his narrow shoulders was being massaged away. "Yeah, I can. Don't worry about me,"He giggled, feeling Aki's large hands press on all the stiff parts of his neck and shoulders. Aki smiled to himself, glad that Jaehwan was going to start living his life again.

He hadn't gone out in a while and it would do him good to see his friend again.

Halting the massage session with a kiss on the cheek and some cuddles, he left the room to let his beloved get some shuteye.

But when you've successfully stopped the flow of those dreaded toxins, you often find newer and better support systems that make you even stronger than you once were.