Fifth Floor - JooHyuk

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October 26

Minhyuk and I stayed on the bathroom floor until I forced myself to stop crying. It was one thing to have the older see me crying, but it was another when he was in the bathroom helping me while his friends sat in the living room after all of them witnessed Vivian's scene.

When I had suppressed the weeping to sniffles, Minhyuk moved away to make me look at him. It was kind of his way to comfort—having me look him in the eyes as he told me it would be okay or whatever else he had to say. I didn't know if it was his method with everyone, but it usually worked for me. When he did that, it made me feel safe knowing the older was there saying those things with eyes showing nothing but the truth.

After Minhyuk tried wiping the remaining tears away, he brought me up to wash my face.

"Do you want me to have them leave?" Minhyuk asked, handing me a towel to dry my face.

"No," I mumbled through the towel, unable to speak very loudly in the first place. I knew Minhyuk heard me, though, when I looked at him in the mirror. His look at me was full of worry.

"Are you sure?" he finally asked when I turned to look at him and not his reflection.

I didn't feel strong enough just yet to say more than one word at a time so instead, I nodded my head. Minhyuk seemed unhappy with my decision when he sighed, but he didn't say anything else when he nodded too and motioned towards the door with his hand.

As the two of us walked into the room where the four other men were still sitting, they all turned to look at me. All clearly wanting to ask if I was okay, but knowing I wasn't.

Minhyuk and I sat down again and it was Changkyun who broke the uncomfortable silence. "This would be a great time for a cat, Kihyun." This simple statement, with the memory of Changkyun saying his husband thought he was enough to handle, made the corners of my mouth rise into a ghost of a smile. So small and almost invisible yet the CEO noticed it.

"You are so lucky Jooheon smiled at that," Kihyun said, holding back from whatever he truly wanted to say.

"Kihyun, how do you know Vivian?" Chunghyeop asked the question that everyone, myself included, was wondering. The mention of her did feel like a tug in my chest, but I wanted to know.

"I, uh, dated her in high school. Quite briefly, though, because I caught her cheating. After she did it to another guy that kind of became her image throughout the rest of the year until she moved—a cheater," Kihyun stopped in thought before continuing, "I'm just gonna say it. She's a manipulative bitch and you're better off without her, Jooheon."

My heart hurt terribly, but I held myself together. All I could do was nod as I stared at the table with my hands under it picking at the skin around my nails again. The habit was going to make me bleed at some point.

I had dated and built a year around a person who was known for betraying people. "How stupid can I be?" I thought over and over until Minhyuk spoke.

"I think the bitch part rubbed off on you, Kihyun."

My heart stopped hearing Minhyuk say such a thing to the CEO. The fact that they were friends was so strange on its own, but their bickering—that was what astonished me. The more important thing it did was break away from the awkward atmosphere.

~

Kihyun had taken Changkyun and Hyunwoo home after everyone had eaten and it had gotten late. That left Minhyuk, Chunghyeop, and I cleaning up which became only Chunghyeop when everything was in the kitchen.

"Hey, Jooheon," Minhyuk lightly called, stopping me from going to help Chunghyeop, "Do you think you'll be okay tonight?"

I knew I wouldn't be, I couldn't lie to myself about that, but glancing at Minhyuk's boyfriend kept me from confessing this. The pit of my stomach was saying it was wrong to make my neighbor babysit me another night. "Uh, yeah. It's not like anything will happen, anyways."

"Are you sure?" Minhyuk asked for the second time in one night. "I can stay longer if you need me to."

It was becoming annoying how Minhyuk seemed to not trust my decisions that night. "No, it's fine. I'll be alright." Even though Minhyuk was right to not trust them.

"I don't believe you."

"What do you want me to say, Minhyuk?" I wanted to scream, but my throat wouldn't let me. "No, I won't be okay and I'll likely cry myself to sleep as soon as you leave. But I can't depend on you forever. I couldn't depend on my family or anyone else in my life—which all started from depending on Vivian. I can't even trust myself not to get involved with someone like her again." My lungs were begging for air at this point and the tears I had been holding back betrayed me as they ran down. "Just... you shouldn't be investing so much time on someone like me with nothing to give in return. At least nothing good."

I had succeeded in making the most talkative person speechless as he looked at me in shock. Minhyuk broke from his frozen state to hug me without saying a word. His hold on me was tighter than every time before. It felt as if he couldn't let go when he buried his face into the crook of my neck.

Bringing my arms up, I returned the hug quite weakly compared to him. The warmth and security of his hugs were phenomenal to the point I wanted to live in them. This thought didn't last when the sounds of Chunghyeop cleaning started again and my guilt returned.

Minhyuk's hold loosened as he stepped back to cup my face in his hands. "Jooheon, Vivian is out of the picture, now. That means you can fix the relationships she tried to break," Minhyuk's eyes were so assertive yet comforting, "and you can depend on me to help you through it. Even more, you can depend on me to do everything I can for you to be happy again."

The older let go of my face, and my head dropped down with my eyes to look at anything but him. It was something I wanted to believe—what Minhyuk said—but it was hard to. What reasons had I given him to be there for me? I was only a neighbor he wasted time on, but Minhyuk had done everything he could to make me not feel alone. "Thank you, Minhyuk, but that shouldn't keep you from sleeping in your own apartment and spending time with your boyfriend."

"Minhyuk and I can find time to spend together," Chunghyeop cut in still standing in the kitchen, "So don't worry about that. Or about him sleeping at home. Once, when Kihyun and Changkyun got into an argument a long time ago, Kihyun was really upset so Minhyuk stayed with him the whole month Changkyun stayed with his parents."

"I just wish they had told me sooner that they had made up, but what he's trying to say while also, possibly, getting slapped by Kihyun in the future is that it's the least of my worries. So, I'm going to stay here tonight and however much longer you need."

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Word count: 1263