travellers || Woosan

24 | rocky

"And you're really sure?", Chan asks, leaning back in his desk chair and turning it with one foot to face his friend who is currently sitting in the huge beanbag in his room, "Like, you can still change your mind, you know?"

Hongjoong looks up from his laptop to face Chan as well, his short self almost sinking into the comfortable cushion he is currently in. And even though Chan has a second bedroom in his dorm flat like everyone else, just that his is still unoccupied because he never found a roommate, Hongjoong has slept in this very beanbag pretty much since the night he left Seonghwa.

He knows Chan is worried about him. He knows Chan knows how hurt Hongjoong really is, knows that Hongjoong loved and still loves Seonghwa more than anyone else. So Chan being the perfectly caring friend he is, is just deeply concerned about Hongjoong, hoping he would not regret any of his current, hurt filled and lead choices later on.

"I'm sure, Chan. This is a huge opportunity and I will not let anything get in the way of me doing something for myself for once. Not for anyone else.", he says, "So thank you for worrying and also for telling me about this program in the first place. You're a great friend, Chan."

"Okay.", Chan says after a little bit of silence, nodding and smiling at Hongjoong as well, "I'm glad you are moving on then. Or at least trying to. You deserve to be a part of this, mate. You really have talent and I think we can really make it big there too."

Hongjoong smiles back at him as well, glad to have such a great friend in his life.

Ever since the night he first stayed here, Chan has never made him feel like he was the bad guy in any of this. He never pressured him into telling him what is up either, simply waited until Hongjoong was ready to tell him himself, which happened to be during breakfast the next morning. Sure, Hongjoong left out everything regarding Aurora, but generally included everything else with Seonghwa and his parents that was relevant to the story and explained why he suddenly stood in front of his door, asking to stay at his place for a while.

Then it all just progressed rather slowly. Or at least that is how it still feels. Hongjoong's feeling of deep betrayal stayed consistent to an extent where he has not yet been able to feel ready to talk to Seonghwa. So instead, he has just started to ignore Seonghwa's existence entirely. Whenever he would see him somewhere, any means necessary to not have him or any of the other boys notice him, would be made use of. He has even used his powers multiple times, either turning invisible, using his ability to move in complete silence or otherwise use his heightened senses to detect and avoid Seonghwa successfully. All Hongjoong knows after being with the man for years is that anything the younger might tell Hongjoong at this stage, would not be satisfactory for either of them. Seonghwa is not ready to stand up to his family and Hongjoong knows that.

It hurts to know, but it makes sense to constantly remind himself. Because he also knows he will have to move on soon in order to have a proper new start.

Still, when his phone suddenly rings in the middle of his ongoing conversation with Chan, he is most definitely very surprised to see the caller ID.

He picks up the call, talks with the caller for only about a minute before hanging up and excusing himself to Chan and telling him not to wait for him with dinner. He might not have told Chan who has called him, but Chan can still tell it has to be someone rather important, considering how Hongjoong so easily let himself be persuaded into leaving his temporary dorm and go meet whoever the caller was just now.

To Hongjoong, this is all just really confusing though. Confusing, but still too important not to act upon. So he only puts on his shoes and grabs his keys, deciding to leave his phone here before saying goodbye to Chan and leaving his place right after that to walk along familiar paths to his destination.