bittersweet

4

wonwoo backed off, allowing mingyu to stand to his full height, effectively towering over the older of the two.

"how's.. how's life been for you?" wonwoo hesitantly spoke up, the memory of seeing mingyu's panicked expression in the elevator with minghao present in his mind. something hit him that day, seeing mingyu like that. it hurt his heart, but it also spiked another feeling in wonwoo.

something similar jealousy.

mingyu's mouth opened slightly, before closing it again. hesitance.

"it's been okay. same as always." mingyu said stiffly. he didn't expect to run into wonwoo at this time of night, especially on a random saturday out of all days of the week.

wonwoo glanced at the packaging held in mingyu's hands.

"i'll pay for that, let's go on a walk together." mingyu paused for a second, but wonwoo tugged the packet out of mingyu's hands gently, two bottles of soda clutched in his other hand. mingyu trailed after wonwoo, mind running through several scenarios and all of them didn't end very well on his own part.

he only watched in silence as wonwoo paid for both their items, thanking the male behind the register with a small bow and a smile before gesturing for mingyu to follow him out of the store.

wonwoo passed mingyu the packet of chips the younger picked out, and for a while, the two of them walked side by side together in silence, neither knowing how to speak up to address the clearly rocky relationship the two had ended up in.

"we broke up." mingyu choked on his chips when he heard wonwoo say that. wonwoo didn't speak, only passing mingyu one of the bottles, having already uncapped it in a hurry. mingyu took a few gulps of the beverage, no longer on the verge of choking again.

"you- what?" his voice came out raspy, receiving the cap of the bottle from wonwoo to twist back onto the bottle opening to make sure the drink didn't spill out as they walked.

towards the exact park mingyu remembers seeing the now ex-couple in around a month and a half prior.

"it happened i think- last week? we both sat down together and- it was already distant before we talked, but we both came to realize we no longer liked each other." they walked into the park as wonwoo was talking, the older taking them to a bench under a lamppost, the two of them sitting down with a small space in between them.

wonwoo glanced at mingyu's side profile, the taller staring down at his bag of chips, almost seeming like he was afraid to look at wonwoo.

"mingyu-ah... what happened to our friendship?" mingyu's head snapped up, turning immediately to face wonwoo, the eye contact he got almost scaring him.

"we... i-i don't know." mingyu swallowed the lump in his throat, vocal cords closing up suddenly and his mouth grew drier by the second. he fiddled with the cap of the bottle of soda before twisting it off and chugging half the bottle in a feeble attempt to quench the imaginary thirst. i don't think i'll like to know.

wonwoo said nothing, only turning away to look at the sparkling water under the lamp lights from around the lake. the two continued to sit in silence, the gap between the two never lessening.

minutes passed, neither of them knowing how to speak up with each other anymore. if this were about a year ago, wonwoo would be sitting on the very bench, listening to mingyu talk his ear off about his day but he wouldn't have complained about it.

heck, he would listen to everything the younger would say with a small smile on his face.

but that was a while ago, and it has also been a while since he's even been able to speak with mingyu like this.

the two of them both stared off into the lake of the park, neither speaking but neither getting up to leave either. it's like they both wanted to be together again but didn't know how to fix their relationship.

"do you still have my number?" wonwoo asked, always the one with a certain stability in his voice that calmed mingyu several times. "of course- unless you changed it that is." mingyu's voice wavered slightly half way through the sentence, feeling slightly nervous as the conversation continued on.

it was for no reason as well, why did he become so nervous around wonwoo? what happened in him to want to avoid the older so much?

mingyu shook off that odd feeling arising in him, every part of his being wishing to becoming close with the older once again while simultaneously wanting to be far away from wonwoo as physically possible.

"i didn't change it, but i did need a new number for other reasons. it's easier to reach me on my new number rather than that old one." wonwoo explained, mingyu looking down at his own hands as he tried to calm the nerves building up in the pit of his stomach.

"i see..." mingyu spoke up after a beat of silence, hearing wonwoo sigh made him tense up again. "give me your phone gyu." wonwoo instructed, no bad intentions hidden behind his voice.

sometimes mingyu just needed a bit of prompting for everything to go well.

mingyu took out his phone, passing the device over to wonwoo with little hesitation. wonwoo took the device, noticing mingyu's slightly shaking hands. he quickly punched his new phone number into the younger's phone and handed back the device.

mingyu reached out for the phone, only his hand to be grabbed by wonwoo's and held onto. a sense of familiarity washed over him, a thread of the past the two shared.

wonwoo would always silently hold the younger's hand without prompting whenever mingyu was nervous or anxious.

a drop of rain fell from the sky.

and followed by it, several more. soon it was a light rain, mingyu pulling wonwoo's hand along as he guided the two to a covered area.

"that-" wonwoo huffed a bit, trying to regain his breath after running after mingyu to get under the cover. "warn me next time gyu." wonwoo complained with a gentle meaningless glare at the younger. mingyu grinned, feeling the safety wonwoo always provided him with.

they fell silent again, staring out of the small covered alley between two buildings they stood in. mingyu hesitated slightly, glancing at wonwoo shortly before stepping out into the now pouring rain, the droplets falling from the sky immediately drenching the clothes he was wearing, the rain gently pattering on his face when he looked up.

after all, you can't tell if someone was crying or if it was just the rain this way.