Victim | Minsung

The End part 3

2 weeks later

When Seungmin woke up, he felt dazed. The soreness on his limbs and in his jaw felt somewhat distant, as if the kidnapping had happened in a dream. There was warmth coming from both sides and he felt a few limbs tangled up with his own, which he had to carefully move away as he got up. He was grateful that the pain was subdued and didn't prevent him from taking a few steps.

The first thing he saw was the dull glow of sunlight coming in through the cracks in the curtains. The window was left open so he took a quick peek outside, noting that snow now covered the garden. Leaning out, the boy took a deep breath and revelled in the fresh air that filled his lungs and helped cool down his heated body.

He turned around and smiled at the boy who was slowly waking up from his slumber. "Hey, Jeongin-ah. Are you awake?" The younger slowly opened his eyes, and Seungmin swore he could see stars in them as Jeonign slowly came to the realisation that his hyung was awake and walking. "I must've woken you up, sorry".

Jeongin shook his head instead of repliyng, dismissing Seungmin's apology. He then rolled onto his side where Hyunjin was still asleep beside him, and started poking his puffy ckeek until the boy woke up.

"Hyung, hyung" Jeongin whispered intimately to hyunjin. "Seungmin-hyung is awake" he continued as he shook the older awake.

"Seungmin-ah?" Hyunjin asked in dibelief as his eyes fell on the smiling boy.

He grinned back at his friend, but then his expression took a dark turn as his awareness came back to him. "Do you remember what happened? I'm so sorry, Seungmin. We failed to protect you..." he said. His voice was rough as he spoke and his broken expression made Seungmin want to do nothing more than grab the older in his embrace.

"Don't worry, Hyunjin. Please, don't be sorry for that. I'm fine. I've probably got a nasty bruise on my jaw but it doesn't hurt at all anymore. I'm... I'm glad I 'm alive, anyway".

Hyunjin frowned as he looked over at the other. "No, it's not fine. I'm so sorry. If I hadn't treated you as shitty as i did, this would've never happened..." He broke down as the other shook his head.

"No, Hyunjin. I was being an emotional teenager and wasn't being careful. We lost a battle, and I'm okay with that. I'm okay with the time I've lost in that cold room, because it was all worth it to me. We lost the battle, and now we've won them all", he repeated, struggling to breathe. He then turned to Jeongin, looked him straight in his starry eyes. "Don't be ashamed of yourself and your feelings, okay? You were robbed of the time that you had to live your childhood, so now you have the chance to catch up on those missing moments. You're so strong to have grown up so fast and already accomplished so much, and I'm so proud of you". he said, relieved to finally being able to tell him that.

When Seungmin had been all alone in that cold room, he'd had a lot of time to contemplate what his last words to his freinds would be if he ever ended up dying. He wasn't dying anymore, but this felt like the perfect time to finally say what he was feeling.

The younger's face lit up at the last thing Seungmin said, and the boy, too exhausted to formulate any words that could express his gratefulness and relief, broke down into a sob.

Seungmin didn't understand the mix of relief and sorrow, even though he felt it in his heart and mind as Jeonjin's body pressed into his. His pains had faded, but he felt as if the boy's joy was fading as well. He felt that Hyunjin and Jeongin's relashionship could not grow as long as he continued to stand in between the two of them. He had long since accepted that he would forever be nothing more than their friend, because what they had in between the two was more beutiful than anything he could ever hope for. Seungmin wanted to hug the younger boy back and tell him everything was going to be alright, but he knew that wouldn't work. So instead, he held on to Jeongin's shoulders, allowing the younger to shed the last of the tears he had, and slowly the younger fell back asleep.