heartsick | junhao

15

"feeling so lonely because it's not enough,
missing you only ever since we fell in love,"
touch, cigarettes after sex

minghao walked to the store vernon worked at, carrying a bag of all of his favorite snacks to eat during his shift. he knew that his parents didn't take care of him, so he was super excited to surprise him with this.

every night had usually been quiet and empty, but the air moved differently that night. it was still, and it felt off. the air was thicker than usual,

minghao saw a few guys walking in his direction, both of them were rough looking. he made sure not to look at them so he didn't cause any problems,

as he neared closer, he felt an arm wrap around his neck. he dropped the bag of snacks for vernon as he brought his hands up and started clawing at the arm that choked him.

"you got him in jail," one of them said, leaning his face closer to minghao, who was barely able to breath. he guy looked away from him and looked at the guy who was choking him, "stop choking him," he said.

minghao felt the man's arm come from around his neck, but he grabbed both his arms and pulled them behind him just as quickly. "you got sangyeon in jail, you know that?"

minghao gasped for air as his eyes widened, he tried to keep a brave face as he talked to these men. "he deserved it," he said, his voice still gone from being choked.

minghao felt his neck crack from how hard he was punched, his head swung to the side as he felt a heartbeat form where he was punched.

the guy behind him came up and kneed him in the stomach, knocking the air out of him once again as he fell on the floor, not able to fight back.

"thought you were such a hardass, huh?" the guy spat, "why aren't you fighting back now?" he said as he kicked minghao over and over,

minghao wished for someone to come and save him, but the only thing that was heard throughout the street was the sound of his pain.

-

vernon stood behind the counter, waiting for minghao's arrival. he usually came around by 11:30pm, but it was 12:15am.

usually, vernon would shrug it off by assuming maybe he was caught up in traffic, or he had something to do beforehand. but he just felt like something was wrong, he had a gut feeling it wasn't that minghao was busy.

the time was 12:48am, and he was worried sick. so, vernon temporarily put the sign on the window as closed as he turned off the lights to go look for minghao.

he walked the streets, looking in every corner and every alley way for where the boy could be. he looked specifically in the direction minghao's house was,

minghao didn't know it, but vernon would watch him from afar as he walked home. vernon would never admit it, but he hated it whenever him and minghao would part from each other.

he would try and get home as quick as he could so he could talk to minghao sooner.

vernon looked longer until he found what looked like a body on the concrete. he ran up to see minghao on the ground, not moving and barely breathing.

vernon's heart raced as he took out his phone and shakingly called the police for an ambulance, his voice shook as he talked to the dispatch who tried to keep him calm.

vernon felt sick as he looked at his friend, whose face was swollen and bloody. he felt like he was going to throw up whenever he realized how much blood was on the floor and in minghao's hair.

"it's okay," vernon said quickly, "if you can hear me.. there's help on the way... you'll be okay,"

he didn't know if he was trying to convince minghao that it was okay, or if he was trying to convince himself. but either way, it wasn't working.

-

"the pain of losing you is nothing like the pain of loving you, so please, stay with me"

junhui sat on the couch beside chan, they were watching a show and eating all the different foods they had failed to make since they couldn't get anywhere since the convenience store was closed.

"ah, one second," junhui said as he pulled his phone out, "somebody is calling me."

"hello?" junhui asked, "yes this is wen junhui..."

chan watched junhui's face as it turned into a different expression from before, "yes, yes, i'll be there soon," junhui finished as he hung up the phone and got up quickly.

"what's wrong?" chan asked, confused.

"minghao.. he's... he's in the hospital," chan frowned whenever junhui mentioned minghao's name. "i'm sorry channie, baby, maybe we can continue this tomorrow night.. but minghao is in critical condition."

chan smiled the best he could, "no, it's okay. i understand,"

"do you want to come with?"

"no, i'm feeling pretty tired anyways. i'm going to go to sleep,"

-

junhui walked into minghao's hospital room, and saw him with a bandage around his nose and tons of bruises all up and down his body.

he felt tears prick into his eyes as he sat beside minghao. he swore to himself he didn't want anything to do with the boy, but here he was. crying beside him,

and there was nothing else to blame other than the fact that junhui loved him so deeply.

junhui felt bad for leaving chan at the house like that, but he would've felt even worse if he didn't come to the hospital and something were to happen to minghao.

junhui found himself over the night move closer to minghao, and he slowly interlaced his hands with minghao's.

a boy came into the room, a boy junhui had never seen before. his name was vernon, a friend of minghao and also the same guy who saved him.

junhui said endless "thank you"s to the boy. he was shocked whenever vernon asked if junhui and him were dating, he didn't know what to say.

he said simply that they were sort of something, but minghao decided to leave again.

-

vernon already knew who junhui was, considering he was all minghao ever talked about. he also knew junhui because of the fight,

he wondered how junhui was still there for minghao after everything that happened. he must've been an amazing person if he stuck around for that long, knowing everything that had happened.

vernon came in and out of the room throughout the night, but junhui never moved away from minghao.

even the next morning, junhui was beside him. holding his hand, tears still in his eyes and staining his cheeks. vernon was becoming worried for him, considering he hadn't eaten at all.

vernon offered to take junhui somewhere to eat, but junhui refused to move from minghao. he was terrified something were to happen to him, he said he wanted to be beside minghao in case these were his last possible moments with him.

he refused to move from his side until he knew he was going to be okay.

——

i lost my chapstick again