⋆˚｡ Chapter Nineteen: Things We Should've Said ｡˚⋆

“The things they never said came too late. But they said them anyway..."

The hospital room had been quiet all morning.No nurses. No machines beeping too loud.Just the steady rhythm of a boy breathing and a world trying to rebuild itself.

Kyungmin lay propped up on his pillows, silent.

Still weak.Still pale.Still… distant.

He hadn’t spoken.Not to anyone.Not since he woke up.

But he didn’t cry either.And somehow, that made it worse.

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The door creaked open.

One by one, they stepped inside.

Shinyu first.Then Youngjae.Dohoon.Hanjin.Jihoon.

They stood in a line — awkward, quiet, like strangers at a funeral.Except the person they were grieving was still right in front of them.

Just different.

Changed.

Hurt in ways they couldn’t undo.

Kyungmin didn’t look at them.

But he didn’t turn away either.

And so, Shinyu stepped forward first.

He cleared his throat.Then, slowly — like each word hurt to say:

“I thought I lost you again…but this time, I’ll do better.”

His voice cracked.He didn’t try to hide it.

“I don’t deserve your forgiveness. But if you ever…If you ever want to come back home, really come home — I’ll be there. I’ll listen. I’ll protect you.”

He stepped back, hands trembling.

Silence followed.

Then Dohoon took a shaky breath.

He looked at Kyungmin’s hands, not his face.

“I thought you were just quiet…I didn’t know you were hurting.”

“I was too loud to hear it. Too full of myself to notice what you needed. I’m sorry.”

He wiped his eyes before the tears could fall.

Then Youngjae stepped up.

His voice was soft. Like it was wrapped in guilt.

“You’ve always been our brother…we just forgot how to show it.”

“We chased fame and forgot our family. We wanted success and ignored the heart sitting right in front of us.”

“You’re a better person than we ever were.”

Then it was Hanjin.

And when he spoke —his voice shook.

“I’m sorry for not noticing.”

“I’m sorry for walking past you a hundred times and never asking if you were okay.”

“Can I be a better hyung now?”

“Will you let me try?”

And finally…

Jihoon stepped forward.The youngest of the older brothers.The one who had been the cruelest with his words.

He looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Then finally whispered:

"I… I never meant to make you feel like you were nothing.”

“I thought teasing you made us close. I didn’t know I was tearing you apart.”

"You didn’t deserve any of it. Not even once.”

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Kyungmin didn’t speak.

But his fingers clenched slightly in the blanket.

His breathing hitched.

His shoulders tensed — not from fear.From something else.

Something rising in his chest.

And then, quietly…

A tear rolled down his cheek.

The first since he woke up.

He didn’t wipe it away.

Didn’t hide.

He just let it fall.

One tear.Then another.Then more.

And the boys watched him cry like it was the most precious thing in the world.

Like maybe he was still letting them in.

Like maybe he was still here.

Still holding on.

Even now.

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And though he said nothing…

They knew.

He heard them.