There is no universe where Taehyeon would have liked this evening to go the way it has gone, but he does have some notes for improvements should this misfortune befall him again.
Naturally, Taehyeon would feel much better if Bada wasn't crying. Seeing Bada bawl his eyes out automatically makes it impossible for Taehyeon to stop crying. His headache is getting too heavy to ignore and there's no way Bada is enduring this pain-free.
Something needing to be changed more urgently is the audience for this ordeal. Haneul is lying on Bada's bed, flipping through a civil engineering textbook and eating an apple very loudly.
Seemingly noticing Taehyeon's eyes on him, Haneul grins and waves his apple around in a way that is apparently meant to be disarming. "Don't mind me. I'm not listening, I swear. I'm just worried about my poor baby brother. Think of me as emotional support."
"You're not being very supportive to your brother," Taehyeon points out. He cringes at the sound of his own voice but he has heard much worse things today. He's not just saying all of this because he and Bada have been relegated to the floor. This really needed to be said, so Taehyeon really needed to hear his own stupid stuffy and strained voice.
"I'll wait till you're finished. There wouldn't be much point in me calming him down and making him feel better when you still have more stuff to tell him. Go on. I'm not here."
Bada turns to look over his shoulder at his brother and Taehyeon sees Haneul struggle to hold back a smile. He nods and mimes putting something over his ears. "See, I just put them on. I can't hear a thing."
Apparently satisfied with whatever that was, Bada turns back to look at Taehyeon with a very flimsy impression of composure on his face. His nostrils are flared and his breathing is falling into a jolting pattern but he's stopped wailing. He tries to say something but that is enough to set him off again.
Taehyeon tries to hold back his own tears but he fails when he gives in to the uncoordinated hug Bada pulls him into. Rehashing the details isn't at all enjoyable but Taehyeon is glad he has Bada to commiserate with. More than that, Taehyeon finds himself relieved in an odd way. There's no need to feel guilty about anything now. They're both heartbroken, pathetically and miserably heartbroken.
"I think I hear mom. You two keep that up, I'll be right back."
The fact that Haneul is leaving is a relief but all Taehyeon can do is keep crying about it. This isn't the day he thought it would be. And Taehyeon can't totally absolve himself of guilt. Even thinking about Bada's situation, that was Taehyeon's fault too. Taehyeon is the one who thought Siwoo liked Bada, and he is the one who thought Woobin liked him. To think he was so proud of himself for maturely going to speak to Minjun about not being friends anymore. This is humiliating. Taehyeon might have to live in Bada's bedroom forever.
Haneul returns right when Taehyeon is searching for a clean tissue to blow his snotty nose. This is enough to top off this awful day. There is no need to keep embarrassing himself. He'll try again in his next life.
"Your sister brought over some clothes for you," Haneul supplies before flopping back onto Bada's bed.
Taehyeon remembers back to Bada's heartbreak sleepover and how Haneul sat with his brother to comfort him. Taeri is very clearly not in this room. "Did she just go home?"
"Yeah. As soon as she saw me she screamed and pulled her hood up. She dropped all your stuff on the floor. And some nice apples too. Nobody bothered to wrap them so they might all be bruised. This one seems okay so far."
Bada sniffs loudly. "Was there only one apple? That's not the same one you were eating earlier."
The question is a strange one considering everything Haneul just said indicated lots of apples. Haneul pauses mid-bite then hurriedly slurps up the juice and swallows a chunk he clearly hasn't chewed.
"You want an apple? I'll get you an apple right now."
Haneul trips over himself as he flees the room. Bada rubs his eyes and looks blearily at Taehyeon like this is a shocking incident.
"I can't believe he forgot to bring anything for me."
"Why can't your brother be normal? Your legs are fine. You could have got yourself an apple."
"I'm sad," Bada reasons.
"More sad than me?"
"Not more sad. Maybe, the same amount of sad."
Taehyeon can't begrudge Bada that. His heartbreak must still be fresh even after a few weeks. The prognosis isn't looking good for Taehyeon then.
"Sorry. You haven't tried to speak to him recently, have you?" Taehyeon doesn't want to say Siwoo's name but he knows that Bada understands.
Bada shakes his head. "He blocked me anyway so even if I wanted to apologise to him I wouldn't be able to."
"Why would you apologise?" Taehyeon knows he's being too loud but he can't help it. Bada is oddly infuriating about things like this. "We're going to have a fight if you keep saying things like this. You didn't do anything wrong. You have nothing to apologise for. Especially not to someone like him."
"Maybe."
"Definitely! You know what, those Eoleunjeol boys need to be taught a lesson. How dare they take advantage of you? What should we do to get revenge on them?"
Bada pouts for a moment or two and shakes his head. "I don't know. I think they'd need to care for revenge to work."
"You're right," Taehyeon agrees. "They're evil. They're… weren't you talking to them all for a while before you introduced me to them?"
"We were texting for a few weeks."
"And they just ditched you like that?" Taehyeon only realises after he said it that tactless thoughts are better left inside his head. "I mean—"
"You're right," Bada mutters. "They don't want to be friends with me at all. I'm going to leave the group chat. Are you going to leave it too?"
"What? Me?" The look in Bada's eye is a clear indication of what Taehyeon's answer should be. Things are simply moving faster than expected. Of course Taehyeon is going to do whatever his best friend in the whole world wants. Still, he asks, "What about Pilgyu?"
"What about Pilgyu? Have you been talking to him?"
"No, no. Not really. We just played Dynasty of Destruction together a couple of times. I should stop. You said he was really close with Siwoo, right?"
Bada loosens his grip on his phone. Thank goodness he stopped holding it like a weapon because Taehyeon was sure his life was about to be cut short. Then again, he should have just let Bada bludgeon him to death if the alternative is to look so forlorn.
"They're best friends," Bada says. If Taehyeon was a suspicious person, he'd think Bada was lamenting the fact he doesn't have a friend as close as Pilgyu and Siwoo. As Taehyeon is extremely secure in this friendship if nothing else in the world, he pats Bada's shoulder reassuringly.
"I should have known. If Minjun knows, of course Siwoo told Pilgyu. Then it's settled, let's leave right now."
Taehyeon's phone flies out of his hand and skitters under the desk on the far side of the room. Considering he's the culprit, Bada doesn't look apologetic at all.
"What did you just say? Minjun knows? Third year Lee Minjun? The one in class 7?"
"Oh. Yes, him. Did you not know? I thought I mentioned this to you before."
Bada looks especially pitiful, puffing his cheeks and blinking back tears in his bloodshot eyes. Taehyeon swears he told Bada the same day he found out. Watching Bada drag a pillow off his bed makes Taehyeon wonder if he is wrong about this.
Bada buries his face into his pillow and screams.
"I'm sorry."
Haneul bangs into the door as he rushes into the room. The tray in his hands rattles but he is careful as he places it on the floor.
"What happened?" Haneul hisses whilst holding Bada tightly. Taehyeon can only stammer and shake his head. He knows what the problem is but he really doesn't want to give Haneul a reason to hate him.
"Badabada Kim Bada, have some apple, " Haneul offers gently. "I cut them up like little bunnies just like your favourite."
Bada at least lifts his head from the tears and spit on his pillow. He doesn't say much, unless Haneul can understand the language of sniffing.
"Is everything okay? You seem a bit…"
"My life is over. A third year knows about me getting dumped. I might as well just die now."
"Oh," Haneul says, not even disguising his confusion. "I see. Drink some water, here you go. I thought Taehyeon was the one who got dumped today."
"He did, but the person who dumped me told a third year at my school. That means people from two schools know what happened to me. I can't leave the house ever again. I'll have to be a shut-in for the rest of my life and you'll be my only contact with the outside world. Can you do that for me?"
"Of course I will," Haneul smiles, apparently unperturbed by how tightly his brother is clutching his arm.
"You're supposed to talk him out of things like this," Taehyeon says. "Anyway, I don't think it's that bad. Minjun wouldn't tell anybody about it. I told him not to just take the other person's side and he knows that it's not the sort of thing he should spread around. He wouldn't gossip about something I told him is sensitive. Besides, he's not even coming to school anymore."
"Yeah, because you dumped him! Now he has no reason to listen to anything you say!"
Taehyeon very reasonably and calmly does not throttle Bada. Putting his hands on Bada would only lead to him being attacked by a glamorous and sophisticated university student. The press of nails is sharp against Taehyeon's palms and he breathes in a totally natural and normal way.
"What the hell are you talking about in front of your brother, Bada?"
"He's just exposed you for the dog you are," Haneul laughs. "Isn't today karma for how ruthlessly you rejected this other guy? Quickly, Badabada, the air is going to get to the apples. So his guy was from a different school, who dumped you, Taehyeon? Was it that mean boy? To think you defended him from getting punched and he didn't even like you. I knew it wasn't worth it."
Whilst Bada happily nibbles at artfully sliced apples, Taehyeon is stumped. He is beginning to think Haneul has seen just about every text message, not just the ones Bada apologised for not hiding the other day.
"Why are you talking about boys?" Taehyeon asks. "Why would I like a boy? Are you just picking on me right now because you know I'm already upset?"
"Then you got dumped by a girl who goes to an all-boys school?" Somehow the fact that Haneul doesn't sound facetious makes this harder to handle.
"What makes you think anybody is talking about boys at all? Why would we get dumped by boys?"
"Oh. Well, you guys said it. Am I not supposed to know?" Haneul asks. He looks between Taehyeon and Bada for a moment and attempts a smile. "How about you get everything out today and from tomorrow, when you're feeling better, I can pretend I don't know."
Taehyeon isn't sure about that at all.
"You'd really do that for me?" Bada asks.
"Of course I would. You know I'd do anything for you. I just want you to be happy and if you can't be happy, I at least want to be there for you so that you don't bottle everything up."
Taehyeon is getting tired of how affectionate Haneul is. Not that he is jealous or anything. Taeri is nice enough, as older sisters go. She is only three years older than Taehyeon but she loves to tell him off for not studying hard enough as though she was the brainiest kid in school. She isn't the type to comfort Taehyeon about his non-existent love life. He wouldn't want her to know anyway. The fact that Bada apparently tells his brother everything is almost sweet aside from all the information Bada is sharing about him too.