⋆˚｡✩ Chapter Twelve: Not Wanted Anymore ✩｡˚⋆

✧ “If you really don’t want me here… just say it.” ✧

The morning sun crept into his room like a ghost, casting pale gold on broken pages and bruised silence.

Kyungmin didn’t move.

He hadn’t slept.

He lay curled under his thin blanket, holding his sketchbook like it could protect him from everything — fists, words, stares. He knew it couldn’t. But it was the only thing that hadn’t left him.

The only thing that hadn’t said he was the problem.

⋆₊˚⟡˖ ࣪

Downstairs, Shinyu sipped his coffee.

The mug shook slightly in his hand. His face was unreadable, lips pressed into a line.

The boys moved through the kitchen like shadows. No jokes. No laughter. Not today.

“Where’s Kyungmin?” Dohoon asked quietly.

Shinyu didn’t look up.

“Still sulking?”

Silence.

Then, suddenly — Shinyu stood.

Without warning, without a word, he marched up the stairs.

Kyungmin heard the footsteps. He sat up slowly, wiping at his swollen eyes.

The door slammed open.

“You,” Shinyu said flatly. “Out.”

Kyungmin blinked. “W-What?”

“You heard me.”

Shinyu’s voice didn’t shake. It was cold, final, like a judge reading a sentence.

“I’m done. I’m not dealing with your drama. The school. The rumors. The drawings. The lies.”

“I didn’t—”

“You never stop causing problems. You’re always in the way. And I’m sick of it.”

Kyungmin stood frozen.

His voice cracked like thin ice:“Are you… kicking me out?”

Shinyu stared at him.

“I’m giving you what you’ve always wanted. You don’t want to be part of this family? Fine. You’re not.”

The silence after was so loud it buzzed.

Kyungmin’s breath hitched. “I never wanted that… I just wanted you to—”

“Get out.”

Shinyu threw an old backpack on the floor.

“Take whatever you want. You’re not staying here tonight.”

He left the room without looking back.

⋆˙⟡⭑⋆˖ ࣪

Fifteen minutes later, Kyungmin stood outside the house.

No one stopped him.

No one packed him food.No one gave him a jacket.No one asked, “Are you okay?”

He looked back once. Just once.

The door had already closed.

So he walked.

Not fast. Not slow. Just… forward.

Like a dream he couldn’t wake from.

Like a story he didn’t belong in anymore.

⋆˚｡⋆

And the worst part wasn’t the ache in his feet.It wasn’t the sky getting darker.

It was the fact that deep down, buried in the softest, smallest part of his heart—

He still hoped they’d come running.

Even now.

Even after everything.

But no one did.

And so, for the first time in his life…Kyungmin was completely,utterly,alone.