strawberry shortcake

5. guilt

"We need to stop by a pharmacy and get more gauzes and some cream." Hongjoong added a few protein bars to the cart, grabbing some bottles of soju in the process.

"Why?" Yunho asked, pushing the cart full of food closer to the cash register, expecting anything but Hongjoong's next sentence. "Wooyoung relapsed last night... does he like these?" Hongjoong held up a bag of wall-nuts and Yunho gave him a 'what is wrong with you' look. "He's deadly allergic to nuts, HJ, you should know that." Yunho said, Hongjoong's first sentence playing on repeat in his head.

Wooyoung relapsed..?

"He's not allergic to San's though-" Yunho interrupted Mingi's sentence by elbowing his side and shoving him aside. "You've got no shame." Yunho muttered, his mood worsening the more he thought of what must've gone wrong for Wooyoung to relapse.

It had been so long since it happened and it had been because of his parents' disapprovement of his sexuality and the fact that he found himself a boyfriend. They were unbelievably homophobic, it was almost absurd.

"I'm just saying... if he wanted to kill himself wouldn't it be easier to just eat some nuts..? Not San's per se, but..." That gained even Hongjoong's attention and he was quick to scold Mingi by giving him a little slap on the back of his neck.

"We almost lost a friend, what is wrong with you?" He hissed throwing a bag of chips into the cart. "Fucking insensitive." Yunho huffed under his breath and nudged his shoulder again.

Mingi just dismissed Yunho's grumpy behavior and made his way to Hongjoong. "I didn't mean for it to come out as offensive. You know I care about him hyung, it was just a thought.."

"Keep thoughts like that to yourself then. They could be harmful." He muttered, passing his black card to Yunho who gladly took it and continued his way to the cash register.

He would never admit it but he was silently listening on their conversation, trying to get as much from it as he could. He felt guilty, guilty for not being there for Wooyoung when it happened. Maybe if he wouldn't be so sensitive he wouldn't had ran off to his room to cry.

Or maybe if he tolerated Wooyoung's fawning a little bit longer he could've had prevented him from doing it. He had no idea what had lead Woo to hurt himself again, but he couldn't help but feel horrible about not being there for the latter.

He should've been there for him.

"I need to buy some clothes for Lee and also something for Hwa. Wait in the car." Hongjoong took his card back from Yunho and helped him load the groceries into their car before he ran off back to the mall.

That left Yunho alone with Mingi and no one else to maybe stand up for him when things got heated. He felt vulnerable being around the yellow-haired man and he hated it. He hated liking him but he couldn't help it.

"Imma go for a smoke." Mingi mumbled reaching to his pocket for a lighter and a pack of cigarettes before he climbed out of the car and walked away.

Yunho's eyes followed Mingi until he was gone before he pulled out his phone and immediately called the one number he was itching to call since he got the information about what had happened.

"Hi Yunho hyung!" Wooyoung's voice made Yunho's lips stretch into a big smile. He's better now. "Hey Woo, how are you feeling?" He asked carefully, firstly trying to find out if he's talking to little Youngie or not. It wouldn't be surprising for him to slip into his little space after what had happened.

"I'm doing very well! Even though my arms hurt and I can't really move them, but Sannie decided to spend today with me and he wants to cuddle so I'm very happy! He doesn't cuddle me often." Wooyoung pouted at the end of his sentence, carefully turning on his belly to be able to lay the phone on the pillow and put Yunho on speaker. San was downstairs anyways.