Ateez Roommates - Seongjoong

Please. Leave

"Seonghwa?"

Seonghwa froze. Hongjoong watched his face, trying to read it. Desperately wanting to know his reaction.

He didn't turn around.

He stared straight at Hongjoong.

Hongjoong stared back, unsure of what to do. He looked back at Seonghwa's mother, and he could see the panic in her eyes. She started to back away.

"Seonghwa," Hongjoong managed, looking straight into his eyes.

Seonghwa was unmoved.

Seonghwa's mother didn't know what to do. She had expected this reaction but it hurt a lot more now that she was facing it.

She tried one more time.

"Seonghwa?" she nearly whispered.

"Please. Leave."

Hongjoong was frozen now.

Seonghwa's mother took a light step towards him.

"Stop. Please. I'm asking nicely. Please, just go."

Tears streamed from her eyes but she nodded and walked back to her car, quickly.

Hongjoong stood up to chase after her and Seonghwa didn't move.

"Seonghwa! I don't under—"

"Please, Hongjoong. Can you give me a moment alone? You've done enough."

Hongjoong looked over at what he had expected to be an icy expression but saw Seonghwa's pleading eyes brimming with tears.

He was so startled that he just nodded and walked after Haewon.

He approached her car as she started to back out and quickly stopped her, tapping a hand on her window. Between sobs, she opened it and looked up at him.

"What just happened? I thought he would be so happy—"

"I told you he wouldn't even want to see me. And I understand," she said with a pained smile and started to reverse again.

"Wait—maybe he just needs time to process it! Let me talk to him! Give me—give me a week, okay? I'll get him to meet up with you. He should at least talk with you first. Before you leave."

She hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"Okay. I trust you."

He nodded back to her and she finally pulled out of the parking lot. As he watched her go, his heart sank to the bottom of his chest. How had things gone so wrong? He had anticipated a bit of adjustment but Seonghwa hadn't even looked in her direction!

He remembered Seonghwa's sad eyes and quickly ran back to the bench to check on him, only to find that he wasn't there. Where could he have gone?

He looked around frantically, knowing it couldn't be far. He figured he must have gone up to his room so he walked towards the dorm building when he heard a car start in the parking lot.

Seonghwa had a car.

He started running towards the lot but after a few steps he saw the black Porsche slip out of the lot and drive away down the road.

He came to a halt, staring after it.

What had he done?

———————————————————————————

Seonghwa couldn't stop the tears from flowing. As he drove, he tried his best to keep his vision from blurring over but after ten minutes he decided to pull over.

He laid his head on the wheel, the sobs finally breaking out of him.

He couldn't even explain why he was crying.

Part of it was the feeling of her voice, the memories it brought back. The memory of a mother he'd lost long ago. It made him want to run to her, to be her precious star once again.

But along with the happy memories came the bad ones. When she woke him up in the middle of the night to give him a kiss on the cheek—something she never did—and the morning after when she was gone.

He wished he would have gotten out of bed and pulled her back to him, stopped her from going. He wished he could have asked where she was going so he could have found her. He wished he would've snuck into her car and gone with her. But she just left him.

She never even explained herself. All he'd ever heard were his father's lousy complaints so he'd had to piece it together on his own.

But as much as he wanted to hate her, he couldn't do it. He wanted to run to her so badly but told himself to stay back. He couldn't risk getting attached when he didn't even know if she'd stay this time.

If he saw her face he would have been drawn to her immediately, magnetized by the vision of his own mother. So he couldn't let it happen. It was too dangerous.

He needed to stay strong.

If he ever lost her again, he didn't think he could take it.

Finally, his tears ran dry and nothing was left but a few whimpers. He tried to take a deep breath but the air kept quivering.

He felt a buzzing in his pocket and saw that Hongjoong was calling him.

Hongjoong.

Had he really set it all up?

How did he find her?

Why did he do it?

He could tell Hongjoong must have thought it would go differently. He felt awful for leaving him confused but how did he not see that coming?

He pressed 'ignore' and was about to set his phone down when he saw he had ten calls from Hongjoong.

He bit his lip, wanting to call him back and apologize but his anger took over. He had every right to ignore him.

After all, he'd been the one to foolishly expect the situation to go well. A son and a mother reunite and all is well.

He meddled in a situation that he knew next to nothing about.

Who was he to know how Seonghwa would react? They'd only been dating a month or so and before then they were mostly enemies.

He took a deep breath and started the car. He wouldn't take it out on Hongjoong. He was really trying to do something nice for Seonghwa, he could tell that much.

But if Hongjoong just expected him to invite her into his life—which was going pretty well considering she had no part in it—he was mistaken.

Seonghwa had to be the strong one. He couldn't expect her to help him anymore. She had her chance and she wasted it. There was no winning back his trust. Because he knew she would break it.