[EDITING]
When Jeon Jeongguk's sister gets engaged to his friend's brother, almost everything changes.
Desperate to hold onto a fragile friendship, Jeongguk is willing to get himself into sticky situations--even to the point of ruining his sister's...
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Chapter Twenty-Four: Boys Don't Cry
The daylight woke him up. It pushed against his eyes, muscled itself under his head, whispered in his ear until his eyes fluttered open; he raised himself up into a sitting position, looked beside him at the sleeping boy and cringed.
There was a pebble inside his stomach, another one in his heart. He felt it, lodged inside his chest, not exactly pulling him down, nor making him heavier; more so lighter. His head was light. He felt dizzy. As if he were floating on a cloud, but with a fear of heights.
His back hurt from having slept with too little space on the bed. Sure, he could have slept closer to the other boy, there would have been more than enough space with his head rested on his chest and his arms wrapped around his waist, but of course, that hadn't been possible. Despite their youthful sleepovers––even though they had slept as close to each other as kittens in a box, now his mind couldn't handle the proximity, so he willed himself to sleep as far away from the other boy as he could, which meant he'd slept uncomfortably.
He turned around and looked outside the window. It was bright and the day sounded through the city with beeps from cars, sirens and distant chatter. It sparked one question within him. What time was it? He rubbed his eyes and then, very gently so as to not wake Taehyung up (not that he needed to be gentle, the boy slept like the dead) he moved the sheet and checked the floor. He spotted his phone down near Yeontan's bed, where it had presumably fallen during the night. He slid off the bed and picked it up. Yeontan looked at him, tilting his head and Jeongguk prayed silently that he wouldn't bark. He didn't.
He made his way into the middle of the room and turned on his phone.
It was almost 11 o'clock.
He had 7 missed calls.
And a few text messages ... he wrinkled his forehead. From Jimin. Not too long ago.
Jimin (10:03) Guk. Somethinfg's happenedd. Can you come over?
Jimin (10:22) Ppls pick up I don't knoqw what to do
Jimin (10:37) Guk I'm literally freakzxing out rightn ow
Jeongguk felt his blood turn cold. Questions swarmed his mind yet he didn't move, frozen to the spot, not knowing what to do. Oh god. What to do?
Go to Jimin, of course. Idiot.
Before he managed to overthink it he looked at the sleeping boy one last time before sneaking out of the bedroom. He didn't need to say goodbye, he could explain later. Taehyung wouldn't want to be woken up anyway.
Besides, he didn't really want to talk to him. Didn't really want to look at him.
He didn't really know what he had been expecting when he entered the apartment hallway. The aftermath of the party was evident yet the apartment felt less messy than he had been anticipating. Perhaps Taehyung had cleaned a little bit before waking him up last night. The smell wasn't gone though, that smell of alcohol and sweat.
