[3.5] God Bless This Mess | Hongjoong [SEQUEL] [Ongoing]

two.iv | JOONGIE's screwup goes beyond the point of recovery

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"JOJO?"

HONGJOONG WASN'T APPROACHING ANYMORE. He stopped when he saw her slip out the bathroom, through the crack large enough to fit her body. The relief of Minchan coming through had worn off. What sustained now was the yen for escape. Hana has left the building. It was only fitting JoJo went in tow.

   In case Hongjoong standing there meant he was thinking up indulging a late morning Story Time—over eggs and orange juice for breakfast (the orange juice store-bought this time in order to reset those boundaries that were crossed over the weekend). Hongjoong needn't give his account of what was better safeguarded between him and Hana. Nobody wanted it.

   Plus that hangdog expression he wore wasn't hiding anything.

   Hongjoong's countenance. Jojo could not tell whether this was supposed to be him communicating the visit had gone anywhere but north, or this was an appearance guilty took these days. At this rate she would be willing to settle for help in any form coming from Seungmin. Faking a smile for the occasion—this one in particular—was harder.

   But thank God she didn't cry—how does one go about explaining red eyes? Hongjoong wasn't going to fall for a soap-in-my-eye tale, even if he was quite the expert when it came to extricating himself where he'd rather not be involved.

   However, it seemed today was going to be different. Hongjoong might do anything to keep JoJo from leaving. There was a bad note hanging over them and it dropping was as good as inevitable.

   JoJo sucked in breath. "You had company." Breathe out. "I thought it best to stall back here." Not like she'd rehearsed her lines fifteen times in the past forty minutes. No. JoJo got it on the fourteenth try—the moment her voice cinched it could zip through eleven words on even breath, a two-second respite in between. Unfortunately, it wasn't over and it registered to JoJo that she'd only prepped her opening statement. Her responses in the upcoming back and forth laid dormant somewhere in her head she couldn't reach.

   At least, not with watchful Hongjoong, whose doing nothing wasn't giving JoJo any push to do something. Her superior (neither friend nor suspect lover, for now) either cared that much or attempting to cater to the injured (her)—he definitely didn't look like someone who knew how—was his idea of damage control. In closing, and without momentum, she said, "I didn't want to interrupt."

   In five steps, give or take, Hongjoong would be within the axis of personal space. JoJo imagined another kiss in the nearest future. A forehead kiss, likely. A peck anywhere above the eyebrows would be like a don't read too much meaning and this is a serious issue, I will comfort you kiss in one. A dual-kiss. Two-in-one. If it did happen, it was going to call attention off Hongjoong's ignorance of how situations like these were handled—what comes out first, an apology or go straight to the point. Standard small talk, like picking up where they left off pre-JoJo goes to the bathroom, Hana comes knocking. Or the big questions, those types that herald life-altering answers. JoJo swallowed.

   She didn't have life-altering answers to give.

   How long, she wondered, was this going to continue for? Standing and doing nothing worked better in the movies; off-camera—in a lightsome hallway, in front of a toilet—it was more gut-wrenching and a bit annoying. But. Maybe it didn't have to be that unbearably bad a thing. It was then JoJo stumbled upon the salvageability of the moment. All she had to do was slip out while Hongjoong posed as dazed and confused. An apology to Minchan was also in order.

   JoJo started to take her leave. Her footfalls reverberated throughout the hallway, startled Hongjoong out of his head. He came to and grabbed her by the wrist; she didn't expect this.