ACT OF LOVE | gayeon

POSSESSIVENESS: 15

Four days before Junhan's departure, the nine of them met together for the last time - after this meeting, there was suddenly a void between them, but more on that later.

"Jiseok, Jiseok, come on..." Jooyeon muttered, nudging his shoulder while he played his latest favourite song on the guitar - 'In The Lap Of The Gods' by Queen. He shook his head to stop Jooyeon from disturbing him from the incredible concentration he was in and allowed himself to play some more.

"Done." he smiled gently at him, noticing a hint of amusement. He placed the guitar on the stand that was placed in front of his bed, giving him easy access to it whenever he desired it.

"Will you be like this every day now?" he asked when Jiseok finally parted with his treasure and got out of bed, heading to the hall to put on his shoes.

"You don't like it? Didn't you buy it yourself?" he replied, rolling his eyes. Jooyeon shook his head from side to side, standing at the door with the intention of opening it.

"I'm not complaining," he argued. "After all, you are my private rockstar." he laughed, closing his eyes and imagining Jiseok on the big stage; playing guitar with a silly hairstyle and singing in some famous band on tour around the world.

"I'll give you a private concert someday, you'll see." he announced in thanks and gave him a thumbs-up sign that he was ready to go. "I don't know much yet and some chords are impossible to perform! How am I supposed to make an F chord?" he frowned, trying to make the position with his fingers in the air - they just twitched uncontrollably and he groaned.

"I don't even know what you're talking about." he sighed with a resigned expression. "Practice as much as you can and you'll get it." he threw up his arms.

"Your advice is always the best," he replied as they were heading down the stairs to the girls' room.

"I know," he laughed and after a while, he asked him a question. "Do you think I'll argue with her today?"

"God, why are you so afraid of this?" he snorted, placing one hand on his hip. The constant mentions of Sooyun in their conversations were annoying him. 

"I don't know, I'm fed up with all these talks with her - they're always about the same thing and never result in anything," he replied and his gaze fell on the cracked tile that was right under his leg. "I have a bad feeling about this meeting." he merely said and Jiseok waved his hand.

"Come on, it won't be bad, just don't talk to her and that's it."

"I'm trying, but you know it's impossible when you're in the same group of friends," he said and Jiseok knew he was right. It was inevitable that they would have to talk to each other sometimes.

"You didn't have to start it like that if you knew it was risky," he stated and threw a fleeting smile in his direction only to get a surprised look and no response. "You know, what I mean. But Sooyun aside, I am positively geared up for this evening, everything has been going smoothly lately." and Jooyeon just laughed.

"Did you transform jokes aside to Sooyun aside?" Jiseok nodded, not understanding his amusement. "Well, after all, she was a big joke." 

They entered the living room, everyone was already sitting there except Seungmin, who said that he might be a little late because he had to go to the city to take care of some paperwork.

"How are you all?" Jooyeon greeted, sitting on the sofa next to Junhan, who was playing sudoku then he hugged his arm and watched him play carefully.

"Just don't touch me, or you'll be gone," he warned, to which Jooyeon just laughed and, not caring about it, turned towards Eunkyung, who was wearing a long green dress. It suited her hair perfectly.

They exchanged smiles and then she sat on the couch, squeezing herself between him and Jiseok.

"What are you so dressed up for?" Jooyeon asked curiously, watching with his eyes as the dress rippled against her body.

"I went out, nothing important." she waved her hand, announcing that there was no point in delving into the topic and Jooyeon, with a nod, decided to agree to this condition and did not ask for more details.

At one point, Sooyun went to the room at the request of Harin, who was hanging around in the kitchen, to bring some food, and when she returned, she put some card and board games on the table, intending to play them all evening.

So everything passed without any major problems, because apart from arguments while playing, nothing bad happened. Jungsu left first, saying that he was a bit tired and would rather go to bed now than stay there almost falling asleep (by the way, his roommate reached everyone about an hour before 5 p.m.).

As night approached, everyone slowly started going back to their rooms, or rather, four people were heading towards the exit, because Gunil was staying with his girlfriend that night. This way, Junhan had the entire room free from himself - and he thought it was a good thing because no one would snore at night and he would be able to get a good night's sleep the last few evenings before leaving.

If they were all honest, they felt so sad at the thought of Hyeongjun leaving that even because he was with them for the next few days, Jooyeon cried.

Before Junhan disappeared behind the door, he hugged him tightly and, feeling as if his heart was being squeezed by some imaginary hand, he closed his eyes, breathing anxiously.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna come back..." he whispered, not knowing what to do with himself at that moment, he wasn't used to such situations and the mere sight of the crying boy made him feel tears in his eyes too. "It'll be fine... I'll come back, I'll visit you soon."

"Not soon at all," he replied, letting go of him and rubbing his eyes.

"In five months." he specified, Jooyeon nodded. It was an awfully long time, but he didn't want to think about it, so forcing a small smile, Junhan waved at them and the other three boys did the same. He blinked very quickly to get rid of the annoying tears from his eyes. "Come on, bye-bye, sleep well," he said goodbye to them. Then Seungmin climbed up to Jungsu and Gaon and Jooyeon headed to their room.

"I'm going to miss him so much." Jooyeon replied, leaning against the brown wall and glancing sideways at the painting of a woman that Hyeongjun had once given them.

"I know, but we'll see him again soon, it's not like he died and you'll never see each other again." he also sighed as he looked at the painting. The woman looked as if she represented the entire cycle of life, on one hand, her face looked very young - like a child's, but the skin was clearly old and wrinkled, her hands were smooth and very beautiful, while her body was that of a mature woman. She held a rose in her hands, and its bloody petals spilled a sea of blood on the ground - symbolizing love and the end of life.

"We should be happy for him because it was his biggest dream to go there, right?" Jooyeon asked, but his voice was shaky and unsure. He wanted to believe his own words but it was extremely hard.

"Now he has a chance to make it come true." they exchanged glances, longing and sensitivity pierced through them and they felt the need to be closer to each other. As if mutual touch would get rid of all their negative feelings and allow them to calm down their emotions. 

Jiseok took the first step towards him, and Jooyeon was still leaning against the wall, trying to smile at him again and again. After all, Gaon mentioned that everything had been going so perfectly lately - he felt like this was his chance to finally try to make something work.

Being face to face with him, Jiseok felt as if butterflies had hatched in his stomach, and he felt an equally strong desire to pass those butterflies to Jooyeon. In the next second two things happened, their hands met and the door to the room opened.

"Jungsu is dead."