Sometimes Sweetly, Sometimes Achingly

Chapter 4

“It’s just chocolate, hyung,” Jaehyun remarked dryly.

“It’s not just chocolate! Tennie brought it back for me from Thailand, and I planned on rationing it out so it could last longer. But then Jeno just snuck into my apartment using a copy of my key—I don’t even know when he had the opportunity to take my key and get a copy—and he goddamn knew everything. He stole my chocolate, Jaehyun!”

Jaehyun snorted. “Okay, no need to be so aggressive. Shouldn’t you have some kind of older brother power over him? Like, doesn’t that just come with being siblings?”

“It doesn’t work,” Taeyong pouted. He slumped against the car window and gazed outside wistfully, dreaming of all the Thai chocolates he could have eaten during Netflix marathons. Alas. “Jeno’s too much of a smartass.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t really work with us, either. Sooyeon has all the power even though hyung’s older,” Jaehyun agreed. “We're always taking Yunho-hyung’s stuff, but no one dares mess with Sooyeon.”

“You don’t seem like someone other people would want to mess with, either,” Taeyong blurted before he could stop himself.

Instead of addressing Taeyong’s statement, Jaehyun switched the topic to the first and last time he’d gotten drunk with his siblings(“There’s a very big difference between getting high and getting drunk, mind you, hyung.”), and how although it was not quite as memorable, Soojung did end up breaking her wrist after attempting a cartwheel.

When he stopped next to Taeyong’s apartment complex, he said, “I guess not, hyung.”

It took Taeyong a while to figure out what he meant by that.

November 10th

One second Taeyong was innocently walking down the hall to check in on Taeyeon’s voice class, and the next thing he knew a pair of arms had snatched him and dragged him into an unused office.

“What the hell!” Taeyong shrieked, his voice about two octaves too high. “What’s going on?”

“Relax, Taeyongie,” Yoona, an acting assistant, shushed him with a slender finger. “We’ve only brought you here to ask a few questions,” she smiled with way too sweet of a smile for someone who’d just kidnapped him.

Taeyong made a face as he scanned the room. Yoona sat him down in a chair while three other women stood before him. Taeyeon had her arms crossed with a face that meant all business, while Sooyeon and Soojung replicated her stance.

Wait.

“What are you doing here?” Taeyong stared at Sooyeon and Soojung in disbelief. “Neither of you work here!”

Taeyeon waved a hand dismissively. “I invited them,” she replied as if that made everything make sense.

“Noona, aren’t you supposed to be teaching a class right now?”

“I sent Soonkyu to take care of it,” she shrugged.

Resigned to his fate, Taeyong sighed and glanced at the three women. “Okay, what’s going on?”

Soojung smirked. “Taeyeon-unnie told us she’s seen Jaehyun driving you to work these past few days. Then Yoona-unnie mentioned that he’s even been picking you up after work, too.”

Taeyong shot her an unamused look. “You dragged me in here just to talk about Jaehyun?”

The two sisters leaned in up close. “Well it depends on what you have to tell us about our little brother,” Sooyeon winked.