The following day, San decided he would try and reach out to Mingi. He never met him personally, so San figured that Seonghwa would be a good place to start.
"Hey, Seonghwa! Can I ask you something?" San said, walking out of his room for the first time that day. Seonghwa was busy getting his stuff together to go to work, since one of his coworkers called in sick mere minutes before her shift. Seonghwa figured that it was extra money, and volunteered to go in. He gave San an awkward smile while racing across the kitchen.
"Sure? Make it quick though because I need to go into work today," he said, looking everywhere for his phone which always seemed to be lost. He was in a bit of a hurry, and San felt bad for asking him in the first place.
"Do you have Mingi's phone number?"
Seonghwa stopped looking for his phone and laughed out of confusion. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his phone wedged between the couch cushions and went to go grab it. San remained standing in the doorway to his room, his hands awkwardly at his sides.
"Why do you want his phone number?" he asked, now ready to leave for work. He hoped that San would stop bothering him so he could leave. San looked down, embarrassed, thinking of an excuse to have his number that would make sense to his older brother. He really hadn't thought this through enough.
"Fine. I'll text it to you, but I need to go now. I'll be back around five tonight," Seonghwa stated, really just wanting to go. San gave him a smile and he was out the door faster than lightning. Barely thirty seconds later, San had Mingi's number.
---
Mingi let out a loud sigh as he tried to think about the math problem he was currently working on. Having been gone for many years, he had lots of catching up to do on his schoolwork. Especially since most places wouldn't hire anyone his age without a high school diploma. And he needed the money.
The question he was stuck on had something to do with long division (which he struggled with before disappearing, as well) and after about twenty minutes of staring at it blankly, he called it a day. Mingi closed his notebook and his laptop and he dragged himself to the fridge. Once he decided on some leftover chicken and noodles, he heard footsteps from around the corner.
"Did you give up on the math already?"
"Jongho, you know I absolutely do not like math, right?" Mingi said in an exasperated tone, waiting for his food to heat up. Jongho shook his head in disappointment as he continued to snack on his chips. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the time and almost choked on the food in shock.
"You gave up after fifteen minutes?!" he said before laughing to himself. Jongho then turned away and walked back to the comfort of his own room, leaving Mingi by himself, feeling bad about giving up so early.
Mingi was hurt by the comment but decided not to say anything. Besides, his food was now finished and he was excited to eat the tasty food. Mingi grabbed the steaming plate and brought it to the crystal-clear glass table where the two boys would normally eat. Once he sat down, he grabbed his phone and put some soft music on to set the mood for his meal. To put it simply, he was adjusting to his new life just fine.
Not even ten minutes later, Mingi was done with his food and whistling as he cleaned up the kitchen. For the last few weeks, he was staying with Jongho and contributing what he could around his place. He didn't have money to pay rent and he couldn't get a job without finishing school. So, here he was: finishing as much school as possible over summer. When he was just about done cleaning, he heard a loud ding from his phone. His whistling halted and he dropped what he was doing in order to see who messaged him.
Hi Mingi! I'm San, Seonghwa's brother! Would you want to hang out sometime?
The messaged confused Mingi, since he never met San and he apparently wanted to meet him. He contemplated calling for Jongho to question him, but Mingi ultimately decided against it. He began to type out a lengthy response about how confused he was when another message came in from San.
I understand my message is likely sudden LOL I'm just looking for some friends to hang out with over summer :)
When he received the message, Mingi stopped typing momentarily. The more he sat and thought about it, the more it made sense for Mingi to make some more friends during summer. He deleted his previous response and typed up a new one, much shorter this time.
Sure! I need some more friends too!
---
A/N: Apologies for the super late update, I had to take a bit of a mental health break. Back to the regularly scheduled updates!!!!!
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ateez - in his mind
Fanfiction"The world no longer feels like itself," Kai said out of the blue. Jongho turned to him, not physically being able to feel the same empathy which he did. Yes, he was scared, but not for the same reasons as the boy next to him. "What do you mean?" "L...
