The Odd Doctor Out | A Drama | S. 2

206 🩺 Confessed

Mingi didn't know how long they'd been there. Seconds had turned to minutes, and minutes to hours. They'd sat, Yunho against his chest well past the point where Mingi began to feel aches from needing to move. Aches in his muscles began to burn, and the burning soon was replaced with a painful tingling sensation. They sat long enough for the tingles to turn to pins and needles, and then long enough for the pins and needles to give up entirely, his pains becoming numb, heavy aches that his body now seemed to ignore.

But as much pain as it had been for him, the thing that hurt Mingi the most, wasn't his own back. No, it was his heart, knowing that all through that, Yunho was so numb to the world that he hadn't even moved once.

Once his tears dried up, he just sat, still enough that Mingi had thought for the longest time that maybe he was asleep. But every now and again, he would feel Yunho's back and jaw tense, before Mingi worked to relax him. A few minutes would pass, and he would calm down, leaving his body as a heavy weight against him.

But then suddenly, apparently finally ready to surface, Yunho slowly sat up, wiping his eyes as he did so. As his coat began to slip, Mingi caught it and wrapped it over his shoulders more securely, giving him a comforting squeeze.

Allowing himself to stretch his back and roll his wrists, Mingi glanced around the almost entirely empty bar, before he looked at Yunho...

'Thank you,' Yunho suddenly whispered, his voice much more steady than hours earlier. It was soft and delicate and full of emotions that made Mingi's chest pull.

Mingi gave him a soft smile, reaching out to rub his shoulder. 'You're very welcome~.' Shivering a little from the feeling of cold air replacing the spot against his chest that had previously had a human being covering, Mingi pulled his own jacket over him a little more.

'You really didn't have to stay... I'm sorry I-'

'Stop.' The instant Mingi interrupted, Yunho turned his head, looking into his eyes in a way that he hadn't done all evening...

'Yun-ah, you don't need to ever apologise to me. I don't even want to hear it. Sorry, is for when you did something wrong. And you have done absolutely nothing wrong. All you ever wanted was for people to be kind and caring, empathetic and honourable. There's nothing wrong with that.'

Yunho shook his head. 'But you stayed here-'

'Because I chose to. Yunho I didn't have to follow you out of that theatre. I made my own decision to follow you, because I believe that no one should be alone when they're upset. I believe that people need people to be with them, and I frankly find it insulting to hear you apologise to me like you somehow forced me to come.'

Startling him, his mouth shut as he glanced down, biting his lip.

'Yun-ah,' Mingi whispered, urging him to look up at him again. It took a few moments, but he eventually raised his fragile gaze to his eyes. 'Yun, do you want me to call San? Will he be able to help you?'

Yunho didn't move for a moment, causing Mingi to wonder if he'd even heard him. But after a few long drawn out moments passed, he shook his head. 'No...'

'Are you sure? It's okay. You two are close, and I know you'll feel more comfortable with him...'

Yunho shook his head with conviction. 'I'm really upset.'

'I know, Yun. That's why I-'

'I can't talk to San like I talk to you...'

His words rung out between them, surprising Mingi as they did. He watched as Yunho dropped his gaze, unable to sustain it and saw how he seemed somewhat defeated by his own words. His thigh was still against him, and despite it being the only contact between them in that moment, Mingi felt somehow that Yunho was using it as something to ground him back to reality.