Stop | HyunIn

38

"We should break up." 

Hyunjin didn't want to believe what Jeongin was saying. He shook his head, as his eyes began stinging with tears, and he felt that painful lump in his throat. 

"No, no, no... why? What happened?" Hyunjin asked, his voice breaking as he tried not to cry. Why did it feel like all he did nowadays was cry?

"Hyunjin, I love you." Jeongin said, taking both of Hyunjin's hands in his. It was the first time he had said those words to Hyunjin, and it wasn't exactly at the best time in their relationship. "But I don't want to be the reason you become distant with your family." 

"What?" Hyunjin was crying, and he could tell that Jeongin hated what he was doing himself. "Jeongin, I don't care if I'm distant from them!" Hyunjin raised his voice, confused and frustrated. "I only need you." 

"Because of me, they kicked you out!" Jeongin argued back. "Just for now, go back. We can work around it later, ok?" He tried to reason with Hyunjin, but it was obvious that he was getting nowhere. 

"I don't want to." Hyunjin muttered, his voice gentle, as he looked down at the floor. "Why do we have to care about what they say?" 

"They're your parents." 

"They've never acted like parents." Hyunjin already had a horrible relationship with his parents and, now, he hated them more than ever. They never cared about him as a person, he was always just their heir. Not their son, but someone who could take over after them. 

They stayed silent for a while, before Hyunjin spoke up. 

"So, what? You're gonna leave me alone?" Hyunjin asked, making Jeongin shake his head. 

"I'm never going to leave you alone, but I- we have to do this." He corrected himself. "Even if you think that they don't care about you, I know they do." 

"They don't. They never have." 

"When I went to your house today, do you know what your mother asked me?" Jeongin asked, his sudden question taking Hyunjin by surprise. "She asked me if you were ok, if you had eaten anything. She was worried about you." He answered the question when Hyunjin stayed silent. 

"But-" Hyunjin began.

"Please just go home for her. Just so she can see her son and know that you're fine. Please." Jeongin pleaded to Hyunjin, who felt helpless at that moment. He felt another kind of sadness within him after his mother was mentioned, something unexplainable. 

After a long time of standing face to face with Jeongin, struggling to think of ways to fix the mess he had made, Hyunjin agreed. 

"Fine." Jeongin let out a relieved sigh, glad that Hyunjin had come around. "But, after all this is over, let's go back to normal." 

"I promise we will." Jeongin confirmed, smiling. But it wasn't like his usual smile, it was more of a mask than anything and Hyunjin could tell. However, Jeongin wouldn't take no for an answer, so all he could do was wear the same mask and pretend it was all going to be fine. 

"You go home, I'll call you later, ok?" Jeongin said, waving goodbye as he left. 

Hyunjin began walking in the direction of his own house, feeling an overwhelming amount of frustration. Jeongin was right in some ways, but Hyunjin didn't care how distant he was from his parents. They left him alone for years. It was painfully obvious how little Hyunjin's happiness meant to them, especially since their condition for Hyunjin to be let back into his house was to breakup with Jeongin. 

He sighed, walking up to his front door and knocked. How had he come to hate this place in such a short time? His mother opened the door and as soon as she saw her son, her eyes lit up and she pulled him into a hug. Hyunjin stood frozen, not knowing whether to return the hug.