anti-romantic, haechan

chapter three

꧁ꕥ꧂

The group of five was silent at first, not expecting to have run into their old friend.

Donghyuck noticed the slight awkward tension between everyone but decided to ignore it and turned to his two friends. "Mark, Chenle, this is Jeno, Jaemin, Renjun, Jisung, and Minyeon."

The two boys smiled, greeting each of them politely.

"So, what movie were you guys going to see?" Donghyuck asked, noticing everything they were holding.

Jeno looked down at their tickets, his brain going blank after the unexpected interaction. "We were about to go see The Conjuring."

Chenle smiled, "oh, we were actually just about to go see that movie as well. What are your seat numbers?"

"We have seats H11 through H15. You guys?"

"H16, 17, and 18," Donghyuck answered.

"What a coincidence," Jaemin smiled. "We should head inside before the movie ends up starting without us."

Everyone agreed, turning towards the entrance and walking inside. Chenle was already starting up a conversation with Renjun and Jisung while Mark and Donghyuck conversed behind everyone else.

"I thought out seats were J21 through J23?"

Donghyuck nodded, his eyes still forward as they walked inside. "They were."

"Did you cry?"

Jeno scoffed, shoving Donghyuck playfully. "All this time and I still didn't miss all the teasing," he joked, shaking his head.

"Of course you did," Donghyuck smiled, side hugging the boy. "Did everyone enjoy it? I liked it a lot, I'm excited to see the second as well."

Jisung nodded, tossing his empty drink into a nearby trash bin, "I didn't jump as much as I thought I would have."

Everyone looked at him with raised eyebrows, amused smiles on their lips. "As much as you expected? Every time I looked towards you, you were hiding behind Jaemin," Minyeon pointed out.

"Alright well I don't know about you guys but I really need to use the bathroom. I think I drank my soda way too fast."

Everyone agreed with Renjun and followed him over to the restrooms. Minyeon was the first to step out, the girl's bathroom being practically empty so she didn't have to wait for a stall or sink.

The first of the boys to walk out was Donghyuck.

Man, I really thought I had more luck than that.

There was an awkward tension shared between the two- the memories of their past together before Donghyuck left seemingly haunting over both of them.

Both seemed to try to form a question or something to share and looked towards one another, but when Minyeon stared into his eyes with her lips parted to say something, all she could see was regret.

Her lips immediately closed and she looked back towards the bathroom doors.

Donghyuck's heart sped up at the eye contact and his brain fell into a flurry. Everything he had prepared to say managed to just run away and his throat went dry. "Min-"

Her brain snapped, not ready to hear the nickname the boy had come up with when they were younger. She launched herself off of the wall, not looking back as she neared the restroom once again. "Sorry, I think I left something."

Donghyuck frowned, watching as the door closed behind her.

"Hey, you okay?" Jaemin asked, walking out of the boy's bathroom. He noticed where Donghyuck was looking and sighed. "Yeah... she's still a bit upset over it all."

Donghyuck scoffed, shaking his head and looking down to stare at the patterned floor. "Yeah, and she has every right to be."

"Donghyuck, you were sixteen years old and excited. You can't blame yourself."

"Wanna bet?" Jaemin stayed silent yet still watched Donghyuck. He pitted his friend but knew there was nothing he could do that could change the past.

"Recording and stuff was fun, super fun really. But I wish I would've put more thought into leaving," Donghyuck confessed. "It would've been a better experience if I had you guys."

"I'm sure it would have been," Jaemin nodded, his lips forming a small smile. "But that's not what happened and there's no way to go back now. All we can do is live in the present. Don't worry about Minyeon, she'll come around and get comfortable again soon. You just have to give her some time to accept it all."

"Honestly, I don't think she knew if you even wanted to still be friends with us," Jaemin continued. "We were talking the other day and she was just so persistent about how we shouldn't expect you to still want to come around."

It was like the cherry on top of the sad cake for Donghyuck. He would do anything to tell her that he regretted the past but Jaemin was right, all they could do was focus on the present.

He still hoped for the chance to apologize for his past mistakes but he knew it would be a while before the two would get to have alone time.

"Guess she's grown up a lot more than I expected. The rest of you still act the same from before I left," Donghyuck smiled.

Jaemin nodded, "after... you know... she's stepped up to fulfill more roles. Even if she's technically younger, she still acts like the mother of the house. And even around the other guys. I'm pretty sure she just sees us all like annoying little kids but she still takes good care of us. Sometimes I wish we could repay her but it's a lot easier said than done."

"How so?"

"Like I said, she acts like the mother of the house- always working and taking care of everyone. Since you've left, she's kind of shut out her world of relaxing and fun. I think it's just her way to keep her mind busy. She's just recently started opening back up again. We hope she'll finally let herself go and just have fun soon. And with you back, it could possibly help. Really."

Donghyuck nodded, "hopefully."

° A N T I - R O M A N T I C °

sometimes when i'm writing, i have to ask myself why i purposely make myself sad. like i really wrote that "she stared into his eyes and saw regret" line and was like... i really do this to myself huh

anyways might be doing daily updates on this book but i'm not completely sure yet. we'll just have to see i guess 💃🏽