the one that got away | seongjoong (✓)

• IX •

as the weeks went on, things began to change. hongjoong stopped coming to starlight cafe and didn't send anyone to get him anything, which saddened seonghwa. little did he know, the reason was that hongjoong's depression was beginning to take over again and he simply didn't have the energy to try. the younger wanted his drink again badly, but he just didn't feel like putting in the work to get it.

outside of hongjoong's halt in visits to his cafe, seonghwa was doing quite well. business was booming and he had been looking into hiring two more baristas, as well as another manager and a supervisor. life in his apartment with yeosang was still pretty normal, however jongho visited often (mostly for yeosang, but he enjoyed getting to see seonghwa so often as well). seonghwa had heard from san that he was "temporarily" moving in with wooyoung so he could be closer to everyone, which was great news for the oldest, as he loved seeing things go well for everyone.

the only person whose love life didn't seem to be flourishing was him, and that saddened him a bit, but he knew his business was important and it would be best for him to put it first anyways. love would find him when the time was right, and as much as he hoped it would be hongjoong, he knew he had to keep an open mind.

"hyung?" a voice called from behind seonghwa as he wiped down the glass of the bakery.

seonghwa quickly turned around to see mingi with a slightly sad smile on his face.

"mingi..."

"hi... i need to tell you something."

"is everything okay? what's wrong?" seonghwa asked, beginning to get nervous.

"um... is there anywhere a bit more private we can go?" mingi asked, looking around at the few customers and chuu with a nervous look in his eyes.

seonghwa nodded.

"follow me."

the two boys headed back into seonghwa's office, where the older locked the door and they both sat down.

"what's up?"

"hongjoong sent me to get him his drink. he's been really down lately... i-i don't know if you remember how he used to get sometimes where he wouldn't want to do anything at all, but that's how he is right now. it was a miracle he even called me to ask me to do this for him..."

"is it bad? is he eating?"

"yunho's been staying with him, somewhat against hongjoong's will. he's been making sure he eats at least once a day, i promise you have nothing to worry about."

"but you're telling me this... it's bad isn't it?"

"hwa... i'm telling you because i know he had been somewhat regularly coming in or sending yuyu to get him something and then stopped suddenly. i knew it would upset you, even if you didn't want to show it."

"mingi... is it bad? that's all i want to know."

"it's worse than i've seen him in a couple of years... i think this is the first time i've seen him like this since before he even debuted."

"oh... poor thing..."

"i promise we're taking care of him."

"thank you for telling me, min... hey, do you want a drink too?"

"i'm okay, thank you though."

"i'll give you two for joong. one with ice and one without, just make sure that you put ice in the other before he drinks it, yeah?"

"are you sure?"

"absolutely. it'll comfort him a lot."

"how do you know?"

"we dated for three and a half years, min. not to mention that this isn't even a drink from our menu, it's one that he got at the cafe we used to go to that he was obsessed with."

"so every time he's come in you've made him that?"

"personally."

"and he still doesn't know you own this place?"

"my baristas give it to him, i just make it."

"do you do that on purpose? because personally, i think that joong would enjoy getting to see you and catching up."

"i've thought about bringing it to him but i usually chicken out."

mingi nodded, processing what seonghwa had said a bit.

"i miss him a ton, min... i just... i don't want to hurt him again."

"i thought he said you guys broke up mutually?"

"it was mutual, but it wasn't pretty... we fought a lot. a college student and a trainee dating can get messy."

"i know how dating a trainee goes..."

"what?"

"yunho was a trainee... we dated for a bit but things got hard and we broke up. we stayed friends, but we were a bit distant for a while. eventually he left the company he was under while i was in school again and we were both studying practical dance... that's where we really reconnected and became friends again."

"have you thought about dating again?"

"i personally have, but i don't know about him. we've hooked up a couple times but we were never sober when that happened. we live together though, it's nice."

"do you know why he left the company and went back to school?"

"never asked. figured it might be a touchy subject, especially if he was let go by the company."

seonghwa nodded, sighing a bit.

"i'm sorry for taking time away from your work, hyung..."

"min... don't be sorry, i appreciate you confiding in me."

mingi simply nodded, then looked at the time, which seonghwa was quick to notice.

"let me make you those drinks. do you want any snacks? you can bring a couple of things for yunho if you don't want anything yourself."

"i'll take a few. i'll probably give them to joong and yuyu, but we'll see."

"sounds good. you go sit down somewhere, i'll bring them over when everything's ready."

the two left seonghwa's office and the older quickly got to work on the drinks for hongjoong, then he went over to the bakery case and put together a bag of things that all three boys would enjoy. when he finished, he walked over to mingi and set the tray of drinks and bag of goodies down.

"here's everything. and if joong needs more of those drinks, call me and i can have one ready for you to pick up any time."

"you're the best, hyung. i'll text you later, okay?"

"sounds good. hopefully he starts to feel a bit better soon, have a good rest of your day, min."

the two parted and seonghwa went back to his office when he noticed how slow things were, sighing and running his hand through his hair. he remembered exactly how hard things could get when hongjoong's depression got bad, and he knew that it was probably even more difficult considering that now he was an idol and still had schedules to attend.

so as he thought about the younger, he made a small wish that things would go smoothly and the bad would pass as quickly as possible.

seonghwa still loved him, and he wanted him to be okay.

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merry christmas!!! i'm going to try & double update today! i hope you're all doing well today <3

qotd;; what's your favorite gift you've gotten this year? (doesn't have to be christmas since not everyone celebrates!)