Mr. Ex

3. The Breakup

"I'm home."

Yoon Jeonghan, your boyfriend just came home from his last class. He is currently in his final semester at University, so he's been taking extra classes to prepare for his upcoming exams. The same goes for you—you've worked on many group and individual projects. The university stuff was really tough on both of you—it was clear from the dark circles under the eyes you both had. Not only that, it also slowly begin to affects your relationship with Jeonghan.
Let alone going on a date, even setting aside time to sit down and talk feels so scarce. When you woke up, he was already gone. When he's finally home, you already fall asleep. It started from days, turning into weeks, and has been going on for months.

"Today's class finished earlier than usual?" You asked, after seeing it's only 10 PM--taking a sip of your water in between. Usually he would be home around midnight.

"Mm." Jeonghan hummed in response, throwing his body onto the couch followed by a groan.

Every day you two talk less and less. Sometimes it's just a few short text messages, sometimes nothing.
Of course you've tried to fix it. You keep trying to find topics to talk about but Jeonghan doesn't show the same enthusiasm—which of course over time it makes you wary. When you ask him about his day, he only responds with "good", when you tell him about your day, he only responds with "I see".

Living with Jeonghan became very difficult. You no longer find his warm embrace when you sleep together. Used to hug each other—now it's just back to back. His hands that used to hug your waist are no longer there. You've almost forgotten what a sweet kiss on the forehead feels like before drifting to your dreamland.

"Jeonghan." You called, putting your mug aside. "Can we talk?"

"Mm?" His eyes were glued to his phone, "I'm listening."

"Yes you're listening but you're not focusing." You added, taking a few steps closer to the couch.

"I am, I am." Jeonghan run his fingers through his hair. "Just talk, Y/N. I'm listening."

Your lips trembled for a moment, unsure whether you should say it or not.

"Don't..." You took a deep breath, gathering courage, "Don't you feel tired?"

"Of course I'm tired." Jeonghan simply answered.

"See. You're not getting it." Apparently your footsteps were loud enough to make Jeonghan glance at you for a second.

"No. I mean us." You said again with more emphasis. "Don't you feel tired of us being like this?"

Jeonghan didn't answer right away. Instead. he let his phone slump onto the couch then let his arm rest over his eyes.

"Y/N do we really have to talk about this now.... We've talked about this before."

"Well yeah but nothing changed since that. Meaning the problem isn't solved yet, no?"

"This 'problem' is because we're both so busy, Y/N."

"Which is why I asked a little bit of your time for us to talk now."

"Which we can also do tomorrow or maybe over the weekend."

"So it's that hard to spend ten minutes for me but it's easy when it's your friends?" You tone slightly rose expressing your frustration.

The accusation made Jeonghan frown, displeased with what you just said. In return, his tone also rose.

"You've got excellent score on your study so I'm sure you're smart enough to tell they're my study mates?" You sensed a little bit of sarcasm in his reply.