rewrite the stars - jaywon

chapter 22

Jungwon woke from a peaceful slumber to a text from Sunghoon. He frowned, but opened it without hesitation.

from: sunghoon

can we meet up today?

i understand if you don't want to

Jungwon set his phone down and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He didn't remember how he'd gotten to his bed. He only remembered falling asleep in the car on the way back.

He looked, and saw his father's flannel hung up on his bedpost. Jungwon guessed he must have found his way upstairs somehow, despite not remembering it.

He shook his head, and stretched, feeling grateful that Beomgyu had limited his alcohol consumption the night prior. His head hardly ached at all.

Jungwon glanced at his phone. Sunghoon probably wasn't faring as well. He sighed, and composed a response.

to: sunghoon

yeah sure

is the park ok with you again?

Sunghoon responded so quickly, he had to have been standing by, watching his phone.

from: sunghoon

yeah of course!

of course it's ok

cya soon jungwon

Jungwon watched the little gray bubble indicating Sunghoon was typing another message blink on and off the screen. When no message looked to be incoming, he flicked his phone off and tossed it face down onto his bed. He sighed, and looked at the shaft of sunlight that had somehow found its way through his curtains, painting a column of his room in bright light that stood out even more in contrast to the rest of his room, in shadows.

Jungwon's mother was in the kitchen, preparing her lunch, by the time Jungwon finally emerged from his room.

"Hey, sweetie!" She greeted him, far too brightly, "Your father told me about your arcade date with Sunghoon. How'd that go?"

"Wasn't a date," Jungwon said gruffly. He was parched. He shuffled to the cupboards to fetch himself a glass.

"Of course, darling," his mother said indulgently. Jungwon shot her a look out of the corner of his eye.

"It wasn't," Jungwon said, filling his glass up in the fridge. Jungwon had a brief, visceral vision of himself coming straight out with it, confessing precisely why Jungwon wouldn't have gone on a date with Sunghoon. That he had feelings for Jay, their robot butler.

He took a sip of water. He eyed his mother over the rim of the glass. She was frowning as she picked over her lunch. It looked nice, nicer than anything Jungwon could remember having at home before Jay came along-- but it was in a tupperware container.

Leftovers, then. Something Jay had labored over the night before. Only to have to keep working, after. Slaving away, cleaning up dishes. Performing thankless tasks, fetching Jungwon's father's beer. Polishing all the old wooden objects in the home, systemically, until long past everyone had fallen asleep.

Jungwon set the glass of water down, harder than he'd intended, drawing his mother's attention away from the food she had been picking over.

"Sweetie, you've been crushing on that boy for a while now. It's fine to celebrate." She looked tired.

Jungwon almost felt bad that he was probably about to make her feel a little bit worse. Almost.

"Hey, Mom. It wasn't a date. I don't like Sunghoon-- I haven't for years!"

His mother dropped her fork into the tupperware. She was frowning, looked as if she was about to admonish Jungwon the moment he paused for breath. So he didn't pause.

"I like Jay," he said, brightly. He laughed. That had felt better than he'd thought it would. It felt like a whole weight had been lifted off his chest.

But it didn't feel quite right. 'Like' felt flimsy. It paled in comparison to what he felt, when he looked at Jay. To how he felt, when he thought of Jay.

"Wait, no," Jungwon grinned, as he landed on the right word,

"I love him."

It was one thing to confess his love to a near-stranger in the night, all buzzed and emotionally unstable. It was another thing entirely to confess it to his mother, in broad daylight, sober as hell.

"I'm in love with the robot. Okay?"

Jungwon watched his mother's mouth drop open. She said nothing in response, looked to be at a loss for words.

Jungwon ran his hand through his hair, still feeling oddly weightless after his confession. His mother's nonresponse hadn't fazed him at all.

"Okay," Jungwon exhaled, answering his own question. He had a broad grin on his face, so wide his cheeks hurt.

He started for the garage door, lifting his keys from their hook by the door.

"I'm going out to the park with Sunghoon-- not on a date! I'm still in love with Jay," Jungwon laughed again, wondering if he'd ever tire of saying that phrase, if it'd ever stop making his heart race.

"I'll be back before dinner," he assured her, as he cracked open the door, "Please don't tell Jay what I told you, okay? I want to tell him myself."

— the end of chapter 22 ♡

YAAAY JUNGWON HAS FINALLY
REALIZED HE LOVES JAY WOOOH

i can't believe he first confessed
to his mother tho 😭

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story? let me know your thoughts in
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also, i will update again after
this reaches 140 votes ^_^