⋆₊˚₊‧꒰ა Chapter Five: The Day It Cracks ໒꒱‧₊˚₊⋆

✧ “It’s okay if they never hear me. I’m used to whispering.” ✧

There was something wrong with the way the morning felt.

The sky was too blue, the sun too bright. It was the kind of day people called beautiful — the kind of day where everything felt too normal to notice anything breaking.

But Kyungmin was breaking anyway.

He brushed his teeth in silence. Packed his school bag in silence. Walked past the others in silence. His steps didn’t echo. His presence didn’t register.

He sat at the table where his brothers had just eaten breakfast and picked at the leftovers — cold rice, one piece of egg, and no one asking why he was eating alone.

In the hallway, he could hear Dohoon yelling about forgetting his charger.“Check the practice room,” Jihoon said, annoyed.“I did!”“Then check your own pocket, genius!”

Their voices filled the house like light. Like noise. Like everything Kyungmin wasn’t.

He looked up, just for a moment, just in case someone might look back.

No one did.

⋆˙⟡

When they left for the studio, Kyungmin was left behind again. Shinyu had texted the group chat to remind the boys not to be late. He didn’t text Kyungmin. He never did.

Kyungmin sat by the window and stared at the sidewalk until they were all gone. He watched them laugh their way into the van, tossing snacks at each other.

Not one of them looked back at the house.Not one of them checked if he was watching.

So he turned away.

And that was the moment.

That was the quiet crack.

⋆₊‧˚₊‧⋆

He didn’t go to school. He didn’t go outside.

Instead, he sat in the middle of the living room — a space that never truly belonged to him — and looked around. The couch where they all laughed. The rug where they played games. The family photo still framed on the shelf. Six smiling faces.

Not seven.

He went to the kitchen, poured himself water, spilled some on his shirt, didn’t bother wiping it. He walked to the staircase, slowly climbed up, step by step, holding the railing like he was sleepwalking.

Then, he opened Shinyu’s office door.

The room smelled like coffee and printer ink. The desk was cluttered, untouched since the night before.

He placed something gently on the surface.A folded paper.

Another drawing.

This one was different.

He had drawn himself sitting on the edge of a table, looking at an empty chair. No words. No labels. Just stillness.

Just silence.

He didn’t know if Shinyu would find it.He didn’t know if anyone would.

But this time, he didn’t care if they did.

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Dear Diary,I think today I felt something break.Not loudly. Not dramatically.

Just… quietly. Like a whisper.

I didn’t go to school.I didn’t feel like pretending I was fine.

I left another drawing.Maybe it’ll stay there forever. Maybe it won’t.Either way, it doesn’t change anything.

No one’s listening. But I’ll write it anyway.Because you always hear me.

—Kyungmin

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When his brothers returned that night, they were tired and sweaty. Dohoon complained about his back. Hanjin tripped over his own shoes. Youngjae went straight to the shower.

Jihoon noticed the living room light was still on.

“Did we leave that on?” he muttered.

No one answered.

No one checked the office.No one asked, “Where’s Kyungmin?”

⋆⭑˚⊹₊

Upstairs, Kyungmin sat by the window in the dark.He didn’t cry.He didn’t speak.He just existed.

Like a shadow cast by a home that forgot he was still part of it.

And outside, the sky remained too blue.Too bright.Too normal.

Even as something began to quietly fall apart.