Youth | Gyuhao

- 33

| Chapter Thirty - Three — Electronics |
| suicidal thoughts warning |

Minghao's been texting Mingyu.

He knows he shouldn't, and he knows he should be doing everything but try to contact the man, but he simply can't take this anymore.

He can't take the fact that Mingyu's gone— that he's actually disappeared and he's never coming back.

The texts weren't super detailed, just common.

It was— How are you?— or maybe, —I miss you, Gyu.—Minghao would let that one slip in his pleads for Mingyu to come back every once and a while. He shouldn't be doing that, but he can't help it.

He'd usually end up texting Mingyu all night long, only to get a the same response.

Delivered.

It hurt Minghao's heart to see it— to know fully that Mingyu has him blocked, or just isn't reading his messages at all.

Maybe he threw his phone off a bridge, maybe he watched it hit the riverbank with a victorious smile, Minghao doesn't know.

He doesn't know because Mingyu's gone. And Mingyu has been gone for a total of 25 days now.

Not like Minghao's keeping count.

Sure, 25 days doesn't seem long. But every day that passed, Minghao felt a little more torn.

He just wants to know where Mingyu is.

Minghao meets up with Jihoon and Wonwoo in a state of his usual frenzy every few nights, crying for them to tell him where Mingyu's gone.

Sure, he'd be embarrassed in the morning, but he was somewhat grateful he at least got answers.

Only, it was the same one each time.

He's okay, that's all we can tell you.

It was all Minghao had, it was all he could hang on to. And it wasn't enough. It truly wasn't enough.

Minghao's friends were worried about him. As Seungkwan said, it was almost like a rule to worry about people you love, so of course they'd be concerned, especially with how much Minghao cried.

He wailed, and sometimes, his friends joined him.

One night, Junhui was trying to calm him down during one of his hysterical fits, and Soonyoung unexpectedly burst into tears in the corner of the room, holding his hands to his ears to drown out his best friend's cries.

Because frankly, there was nothing else he could do but listen.

Eventually, Soonyoung stopped visiting.

He just couldn't do it.

It hurt. Bad.

But Junhui still came every time Minghao needed him. He patted his back and hugged him despite the own tears that trailed down his face. He told him everything would be okay eventually, and that Mingyu was definitely 100% okay if his own friends said he was.

Seungkwan and Chan showed up here and there, too. Not as much as Junhui, but still enough.

Jeonghan and Joshua just called. They never once stopped by. Minghao didn't know how he felt about that. He didn't know if it hurt or if he were somewhat grateful he didn't have to deal with additional people.

Minghao took an extended leave off work.

He couldn't stare at his desk midst his little cubby, knowing that was one of the places Mingyu visited him most, and he couldn't make his way to work and pass the very street he had met Mingyu on.