it's now around taeyong's due and he haven't once heard from his parents. they're just not going to care anymore, huh? taeyong thought but he shrugged it off too quickly. a lot has happened since then. jaehyun proposed, of course, and when taeyang knew about it, he went wild. jaehyun's family was also happy with their decision and after that, they already made taeyong part of the family.

he decided not to room with jaehyun until their marriage. but his room was decorated by the maids. taeyang sometimes slept with him and other nights it would be with jaehyun.

after the proposal, jaehyun had his room arranged since taeyong will be there after the marriage. he moved half of his clothes compressed in his side of the walk in closet. taeyong thought he had too many clothes but in reality he only used a few of it. some other clothes were kept just for special occasions so he kept those and a lot of his dress shirts were kept as well.

jaehyun decided to sell some of it, and the other batch, he sent to his relatives and for donation. the space was going to be occupied by taeyong's belongings. but since taeyong didn't have much good clothes and only dress shirts were left as well, jaehyun figured they could go shopping some other time for him.

of course, taeyong would refuse, but he just can't with jaehyun.

right now, jaehyun was off of work since a week ago to prepare for taeyong's due. they relaxed on the soft cushions of the family couch as they watched whatever was on in the tv.

as usual, the baby would be gone with krystal. jessica was back in new york and was set to come back home the minute she hears about the baby.

they were relaxed and peacefully eating on the couch when suddenly, a phone rang. it was taeyong's. since he was busy eating, jaehyun answered for him instead.

he picked up the phone from the center table and slid on it.

"hello?" jaehyun said. suddenly, he heard an unfamiliar voice coming from the other line.

"hello, is this mr. lee?"

"uhh no, he's eating. may i know who's calling?" he said.

"we're calling from ******* hospital. mr. lee taeyong is the contact person for lee hyeonju and lee sunghoon. there's been an accident and they were admitted about an hour ago." jaehyun furrowed his eyebrows. he didn't even know who they were so he had to ask taeyong.

"taeyongie, you know lee hyeonju and lee sunghoon?" jaehyun said from beside him. taeyong quickly sat up and looked at him.

"they're my parents." he said.

the first teayong heard, he quickly pulled jaehyun to rush in the hospital. he was getting stressed again and it was dangerous. but no matter, taeyong would want to see what happened to his parents.

when they reached the hospital, they were already dead.

taeyong felt like he was dipped in ice water. he wasn't moving at all. he stared at two corpses and felt a break to his whole system. it's like his emotions were taken away from him and he felt absolutely nothing.

"i'm sorry, mr. lee. they were dead on arrival. there were too many stab wounds to the chest and they both lost a lot of blood. we couldn't save them."

the doctor's words were like a slur of wind passing his eardrums. it entered the right and exited the other.

what freaked him out inside was the fact that he didn't cry. no tears were left for them. through all the years of pain and sacrifice for them that they didn't even acknowledge, not once, it was all gone for taeyong. every single tear was wasted in the past that he didn't have any left for the present.

jaehyun looked at him confusingly. he stared right in the two bodies like it was air. nothing surprised taeyong. he somehow felt this coming, he just didn't have the energy to even care anymore.

"taeyong..."

and as jaehyun spoke, that's when he only squeezed his hand lightly. it was the first time he moved since he got in the place. "can you leave me to talk to them?"

jaehyun squeezed his hand back tighter than he did and kissed the side of his head. "i'll wait outside."

as jaehyun left, the door was closed and taeyong finally had the urge to move his feet.

he walked closer to the two bodies on two tables. he went next to his mother first. her face was cleaned from all the blood on her head. she was already getting pale. taeyong got there too late. and so he caressed her face one last time--for the first time even.

"thank you for not putting me up for abortion." he started. he pursed his lips and closed his eyes. slowly, the tears he waited to feel were finally welling up his eyes, but he didn't let them out just yet.

"if you didn't, jaehyun wouldn't have found me. that's the only thing i can be thankful about." successfully, he was lucky to stop his tears from flowing.

for so long that he waited to let them out, he suddenly didn't want to.

"i'm sorry you had a hard life. but even though you hated me, i wanted to make it up to you so bad because you're still my mother." he sighed deeply and studied her features.

"i'm not putting a funeral for you. i know no one would want to come because you hated people and they hated you too. but i'll have your buried away from dad because i know how much you hated him. hmm, you told me that once when i was a kid, i remember it vividly. it's the most i can do for you because you didn't do much for me anyway."

as he stopped his eyes on her eyes, he moved his hands to her chest close to her heart before leaning down. softly, he placed a kiss on her temples and whispered, "i love you slight."

"mama! do you love me?"

"i love you slight." hyeonju said next to the 6-year-old taeyong.

taeyong thought it was sarcastic. they used to play everything sarcastically. he thought it was still a joke. but his mother didn't even look at him when she said that. she was serious, and still, taeyong didn't know that.

and he giggled before saying, "i love you slight too then!"

he pulled back away and caressed her cheeks one last time before walking away.

when he reached his father, he was also pale. his lips were the lightest of pink and his face was whiter then his original color.

"hey old man." taeyong forced the slightest smile he can. "no use in calling you dad anymore. you didn't really act like a father to me."

"until now, i still couldn't understand why you knocked up my mom twice even if you hate her. on top of that, i don't understand why you lived with her when you could've just rejected us like you always did." like his mom, he slightly caressed his cheeks from one side and he studied his features.

"i don't even know you." he added. "you were just some guy i lived with in a cramped space in the slums." 

he sighed and kept all emotions caged inside. he couldn't bear crying somewhere he's alone with his parents. so he decided to keep it all in.

"i'll send you back to your family in mokpo. i know they didn't want you too, but you're dead anyway. you're better buried away from mom and with your own relatives." he retracted his hand away from the father's face and placed them on top of his chest.

"i don't love you too." he whispered.

"papa! papa!" he chased his father until they reached the house.

taeyong just got out of school and he remembered what they tackled in class. family love. and so taeyong had to ask his dad why he hasn't said the three words to him before.

"why haven't you said i love you to me yet?"

his dad stopped to turn and look at him. he smirked and said, "i don't love you."

as for the playful taeyong, he thought it was just another joke. the smirk added up to it and so he thought his dad was just fooling around. roughly translated, it would mean the opposite. for his innocent mind, of course.

"okay, i don't love you too."

he decided to take in their last look before he made up his mind and left the room.

when taeyong reached the house, he felt exhausted with nothing. he barely did anything but he was worn out. he didn't even say anything the whole ride home, he didn't say anything when they got home too.

jaehyun just asked his maids to bring food for taeyong inside his room. he was definitely weirded out that he was just asked to stay by his side.

they laid on the bed with open television and a tray of fruit bits and sweets. taeyong haven't touched his food yet and he kept sighing since they got in the car.

suddenly, taeyong reached out for the remote and turned the tv off. he snuggled closer to jaehyun and the latter caged him in tighter.

"anything bothering your mind, baby?" jaehyun whispered from beside him.

taeyong let out a soft hum and let out another deep breath. "do you think i'm cold-hearted?"

it made jaehyun turn to look at him. the grief in taeyong's face was evident and it shattered jaehyun's heart by pieces. "no, baby. of course not. i'm sure you had your reasons why you did all of that and why you said all of that."

"i wanted to cry for them." taeyong started. "i wanted to show them the last drop of sympathy i had left. but everything came rushing back just how it was."

"they didn't care for me, they didn't love me. i don't even know them anymore. it was like i was birthed without anyone. i had no one all my life before i had you." slowly, the tears began escaping.

"but even if they hated me, i kept wanting to prove something and make them accept me. it was impossible. there was no hope at all so i just let them be and we all lived in the same house like we were college dorm mates." jaehyun wiped his tears with his thumb gently.

"i don't even know how i'm gonna send them back to their family. i didn't even give them a proper funeral." he sobbed in jaehyun's chest.

"shh, it's all being taken care of, you don't have to worry about it. now, don't cry it's bad for you and the baby." jaehyun tried to calm his taeyong down and somehow it worked.

taeyong let out exhales slowly and held onto jaehyun's waist tight. he was comforted with jaehyun's presence next to him that he wanted him there all the time. it must be all of the pregnancy thing.

"you did what was only right. it was the most you can do because you don't owe them anything and they owed you everything. you loved them even if they didn't give you that same amount back. you were brave for them, and you sacrificed a lot, you're compassionate and selfless. you gave it your all. you did just enough, baby."

and with the last kiss on his temple, taeyong fell asleep in jaehyun's arms.

(A/N: icb it's april already)