The Roommate

38.

Jihoon pov

"Oh no Lee Jihoon you don't get to say that. You were the one who slept with me and then decided to call it a one night stand. You were the one who cuddled me on the hospital and told me it was a dream."

"So don't call me an asshole because I want to move on. The day we slept together I asked you if you wanted to be with me and you said no. Now I'm here taking my shot at finding love again and you don't get to stand here and tell me not to do it. You lost your fucking chance."

Lost your fucking chance

The words reverberate in my head. I had fucked up everything. He had tried to make things right but I completely fucked it up. Royally fucked up actually. After realizing I had been silent for too long, I give him a long overdue apology.

"I'm sorry."

He was panting after finishing his speech.

"What?"

"I'm sorry Soonyoung. I know I royally screwed any chance I had of being with you. It's not your fault. You just caught in the crossfire of my extremely fucked up thoughts. I know I have no rights to ask you for a chance again. How could I possibly? If that person makes you happy then I want you to take your chance there Youngie."

His breath hitched at my use of his nickname by which I called him in high school.

"So you'd be okay seeing me with Jinwoo?"

"How could I Soonyoung? How could I think about you with someone else? Going on dates with him, touching him the way you touched me. Just the thought drives me mad. But it's always been your happiness above mine for me. I can do anything for your happiness. You know that Youngie. So if you being with other men makes you happy, then I'm gonna accept the fact that I'm gonna insane at the thought of you being with someone else. Because that's how much your happiness means to me."

By the time I finish my little speech, I am severely out of breath. He has not said a word to me the entire time. After what feels like an eternity, he comes close to me. So close to me that I can smell his familiar scent.

"Look at me Hoonie."

I look up and without a warning, his familiar lips are on mine.

Seungcheol pov

As we all sat around the samgyeopsal restaurant with Dasom firmly attached to me, I felt very proud. Very proud of everything that the kids had achieved so far. Chan and Hansol were engaged. Wonwoo and Jun were co parenting a beautiful girl. Minghao and Seokmin had very weird energy aroud them but they did not seem unhappy. Just a little frazzled. Jihoon and Soonyoung too seemed very different. I would pester them and find out. Joshua seemed at peace with the world as usual. Mingyu had opened his own daycare centre and seemed to start to move on from Seungkwan.

Speaking of Mingyu...

"Where is Mingyu?" I asked everyone.

"He was gonna come after locking up. I don't know why he still isn't here." Seokmin answers for me.

"I offered to wait with him and give him a ride but he told me to go ahead." Jun chimes in.

Just as I was going to call him, Mingyu emerges in the restaurant. He sits down and grabs the nearest bottle of soju and nearly chugs the whole thing down.

"Slow down tiger." Jeonghan attempts to take the bottle out of his hand.

"I am the tiger though." Soonyoung says and a collective sigh is passed through the table.

"Not this again." Jihoon silently mutters.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Soonyoung fires back.

"What happened Mingyu?" The voice of reason Joshua asks a Mingyu who was chugging down a second bottle of soju.

"I met Lee Minho." He slurs back.

A bitter taste rises in my throat at his name. He fucking took Seungkwan from us. He took our brother from us.

"So what did he say?" Seokmin asks.

A very tipsy Mingyu finally manages to tell us everything that's happened.

Mingyu pov

"Kim Mingyu?"

"Lee Minho."

This was a man who had effectively ruined our entire group's life.

"How are you?" He lights a cigarette and takes a deep drag.

"I'm good. How are you?"

"I'm a better person now. Here's the thing Mingyu. Me saying sorry can't bring back Seungkwan. Me saying I'm a better person won't reduce the pain I caused you. But I'm here to say sorry. I'm so fucking sorry for everything I did. If I could go back in time and undo what I did, then I fucking would. But I can't. But I really am very sorry Mingyu. To you and to the entire group. I took someone precious from you. All of you actually. I know there's nothing I can do to make things better. But I hope that you'd find happiness in your life."

I had said nothing the entire time. I could not find any words to say.

"Bye Mingyu." And then he mixed in with the thousands of Seoul citizens outside at that time.

Back to the restaurant

"Is it just me or was his apology perfect?" Jihoon hyung says after I finish my story.

"What do you mean?" My voice is way too slurry.

"I mean he apologizes and takes responsibility for his actions but realizes he has no right to ask us to forgive him. He apologized from his side and now has left the next course to action to us. I don't know why but I find it perfect."

I would have taken his explanation more seriously if he wasn't making a perilla leaf wrap the entire time.

"I'm sorry hyung but I couldn't take you seriously while you are making a wrap." Minghao says and the unspoken tension is diffused.

"You little shit." Jihoon hyung curses

"That's literally what I was thinking." Seokmin and I say at the same time.

"The 97z are so in sync over the weirdest things." Jun hyung says and just like that the situation becomes normal. All of us go back to out normal dynamic. As the night progresses, we become more drunk, all except Seungcheol hyung who has to look after his kid. The jeongcheol couple are the first to leave. Seokmin and Soonyoung hyung soon follow, stating classes as their reason. As Seokmin and I live together, I take the same cab too. I heard the others making plans for karaoke as I was leaving.

"Are you okay Mingyu?"

"I'm alright Seokmin. But I felt some very weird energy between you and Minghao."

"Do you think everyone could tell?"

"Everyone with functional eyes."

"He told me he's gonna fight to have me back. Because he loves me and can't live without me."

"That's great." I truly was happy for him.

"It scared the shit out of me."

"Why?"

"I'm having the exact same conversation with you that I had with Wonwoo hyung."

"Then just tell me about that conversation." Before we could continue the conversation, Soonyoung's apartment is here and we somehow manage to deposit him in his apartment before making our way to ours.

"So tell me about your conversation with Wonwoo hyung."

I love having so much time to spend on this fanfic. I'm working towards wrapping this up. I don't know how many chapters it'll take though.