Past Me was a Fool (2min)

There

"I know I said I'm gonna tone it down but I can't anymore," Hyunjin nudged his sides as they walked to class. "Why have you been driven to campus now? Please give me a legit answer cause I've been dying to ask you since Monday."

Seungmin recalled the conversation he had with Minho during dinner last Friday, before shrugging as nonchalantly as he can, "Minho said it'd be less of a hassle for me."

"Wait hold up–" spluttering and almost choking on his own spit, Hyunjin gaped at his best friend. "Your husband asked you to? Like out of the blue? And holy shi- did you just call him Minho? Kim Seungmin what have you been keeping from me!"

They reached their seminar room for the day and took the middle seats. Seungmin shrugged his bag down on the carpeted floor and pulled out his phone from his pocket to deposit it on the table. All the while feeling Hyunjin's eyes on him, obviously very curious of the sudden...change.

He would not call it an improvement, Seungmin does not think it suits their situation.

"We talked– kinda, I don't know, last Friday," the younger shrugged, eyes trained on his fingers fiddling with his phone. "He made it clear of what he agreed getting himself into and we decided to get along until well, we're...done. That's the gist of it, anyway. And no, Minho has been telling Hojun-ssi to drive me to places but I've been refusing until Friday happened."

Although Seungmin directed his stare at his non-lit phone, he could feel his best friend's eyes on him. Hyunjin is probably trying to fish for any minute changes of his expression. The taller usually do that when he is suspicious or skeptical of him and Seungmin waits to hear his findings.

"So your– he, doesn't know that you asked his assistant to deliver the lunches you ordered to him, that you specifically requested to suit his taste, isn't just 'to get along', does he?"

Seungmin chuckled, not because it was funny, but because his best friend came to that conclusion means that Hyunjin now knows the one thing that Seungmin has yet to tell him– doesn't know how to tell him. And that is a little endearing.

"Are you saying I have another motive?"

Scrunching his face dramatically, Hyunjin then landed a smack on the younger's arm, "Stop shoving down your feelings, Kim Seungmin. It might not be the genre you expected and – let's face it – not the one that you want, but it's still...there."

Seungmin brought his gaze to his best friend, just in time to witness the softening of the edges of his close lipped smile and the slopes of his eyes, as he said the one thing Seungmin wished to be kept locked in the depth of his core.

"Your affection for him. It's there, so don't–" Hyunjin ruffled the younger's hair exasperatedly, and Seungmin just chuckled as he let him. "Don't act like it's not, when you're with me."

Right before the professor came in, his best friend also calmly added, "If you wanna rant about him, or if you wanna be disgusting about him, just do it. I might judge, cause of course I can't help it, but hey, I don't want you to keep it all in that tiny head of yours, sweetheart. You hear me?"

"Why are you being extra gross today," grumbled Seungmin with no actual heat, while fixing his hair on the camera app. "You need help with the assignment again, isn't it?"

Hyunjin pulled him into a semi headlock, squished his cheeks with one hand, and aimed the opened camera close to his silly face. The burst of the camera made Seungmin whined and wiggled to break free.

"That's for being a brat to your sincerely, genuinely caring friend. And this," Hyunjin snatched the phone before Seungmin could delete any of the silly-looking pictures, and dropped the device in his backpack for him to send the pictures to his phone later. "This is for assuming I didn't finish my assignment."

Seungmin huffed and rolled his eyes, appearance all properly fixed, and switched on his laptop, "You haven't."

"I haven't," nodded the taller while he clicked on his iPad. "But you didn't have to be loud about it. Now serve your punishment, Seungminie."

It was only after their classes ended for the day that Seungmin finally received his phone back from a smug Hyunjin. His best friend looked like he was having the time of his life showing off to Seungmin's face, the new blackmail materials he has in his gallery.

Inside the car, Seungmin decided to check his phone after greeting Hojun. To his bewilderment, there were a lot of missed calls and text messages coming from Minho's assistant.

Notifications

5 missed calls from Han Jisung (Minho's PA)
23 messages from Han Jisung (Minho's PA)

Rereading the text messages quickly, Seungmin found that Jisung had been trying to reach him since half an hour ago. The panic in his texts asking if he was in trouble and that if he should go to Seungmin's campus, sent an adrenaline rush throughout his system. He hurriedly typed a few replies before Jisung actually goes to his university.

Han Jisung (Minho's PA)

Jisung-ssi! >
I'm sorry for not responding but
Im really fine! >
My friend took my phone as a joke and only
gave it to me just now >
You dont need to come! >
Im sorry if I caused you trouble >
Was there anything urgent? Im really sorry >

< Oh my goodness Seungmin-ssi
< That's a relief that you are fine
< I almost head over there because you
were not answering
< Luckily! There is a bit of traffic so you
replied just in time!
< There is no urgent matter but Director
wanted to know if you want something from
the bakery
< We are on our way home now but no fret!
< Director bought a variety of pastries and
cakes for the both of you!

Alright, thank you for telling me >
Take care on the way home >

< No fret!
< Arrive safely Seungmin-ssi!

To say Seungmin's heart did not flutter would be a lie. He had to even suppress a smile just from imagining Jisung being asked by Minho on what would Seungmin wants from the bakery. Learning that Minho bought a variety of the goods, assuming, because he would want Seungmin to have choices, is bad for his heart.

There has been a change in their routine and truthfully, Seungmin still finds it hard to adapt to. Before this marriage happened, he used to come home to his empty apartment, aside from Hyunjin's occasional visits. After he is married and moved into this huge place, Seungmin used to come home to the maids and butlers, and ending his evening with waiting for his husband to come back from work.

Now, Seungmin needs to accept that he would come home either to Minho waiting for him in the dining room, or to his butler urging him to wash up because Minho would be home soon and that dinner would be served. Today it is the former since Seungmin's class ended a little later than the allocated time while Minho has wrapped up his work earlier than his planned schedule.

Minho had told him the first time he came home early, that it is because he wants to try getting along with Seungmin too. It was bad, then, for his heart, when he heard that.

"You're home, Seungmin," Minho looked up from his phone when the younger said his greeting by the dining door. "Go freshen up. The cook will be done in a few."

There are sirens ringing in his head to look away from Minho's small, but welcoming, smile and give a reply, but Seungmin found himself staring at his husband's tired, yet still very much pleasing, face for a few seconds longer. From his smile, to his sparkling eyes, to his slightly tilted head and to his bangs lightly caressing his eyebrows from the movement.

"Okay. I'll be down soon," he forced himself to pull his bearings together and offered his own content smile, welcoming the butterflies dancing in his stomach with glee.

••••••••
A/N
I want the time to stop ~ for us ✨