48 hours | minsung

3:09 AM

October 10 – Forty four hours and fifty one minutes before The Tragedy.

Jisung felt absolutely restless even if his eyes practically screamed at him to let them be closed even for a couple of hours.

Hyunjin had already succumbed to the exhaustion brought about by the long hours of crying. He chose to sleep on Jisung's bed, reasoning that he 'doesn't want to leave him alone' and 'they'd still stay together even if the tragedy would happen right now.' The younger man is now out of the floor and back on his desk. Instead of redirecting his attention back to the monitor screen that he had abandoned earlier, he was staring at his phone screen that flashed the conversation box with the person he dreaded talking to the most.

He needed to know how Minho, his beloved ex-boyfriend, was holding up about their situation.

Jisung and Minho were the sickeningly sweetest couple out there back when they were still together. Almost everybody bore witness to how they adored each other, and their friends all knew they'd even be the strongest couple that had ever loved. They were almost practically a married couple in everybody's eyes. They were already the definition of the perfect and desirable relationship anyone would also like to experience. Those still didn't stop their foundations from crumbling, which led to their tragic downfall.

Jisung was always outside and practically unavailable all the time. Minho was always patient and understanding, but he had the worst temper bursts when his limits were crossed.

Jisung was accused of cheating on Minho, Minho was accused of being too selfish with how he treated Jisung. There was screaming, things were shattered and thrown, but the exchange of heartfelt apologies and promises of being better didn't happen. Jisung was the one that left Minho and slammed the door behind him.

"You're so fucking hopeless, Han Jisung," he mumbled quietly to himself while slowly shaking his head. With a defeated sigh, he turned his phone off and placed it down on his desk with the screen down. He leaned back on his chair, staring up at the ceiling as if it was a television that played every news article about their impending doom on loop. He felt lost, like he doesn't know what to do anymore.

What does a person really do when they're hours away from literal mass extinction?

Jisung hears the sheets rustle around behind him, then a soft yawn from Hyunjin. The older man must've already sat up, because he then hears soft footsteps approaching behind them, before he felt a light hand on his shoulder. "Ji, I think you should sleep. We still have more hours to live, we're still going to be alive when you wake up," Hyunjin suddenly says, his voice still a little hoarse from crying and sleep.

"I would wish it was that easy." He groans and slowly stands up from his chair. As he turns around, he catches how the other man's eyebrows furrowed together. Jisung sighs before making his way towards his bed, claiming his spot on the soft sheets. Hyunjin takes his turn to sit on the former's chair. "I just don't know what to do. I'm still scared, I want to believe it's just a cruel joke by those in that stupid organization. Like–"

"Like nothing is real?"

The older man started logging off sites and saving every progress Jisung had made unfinished on his open monitor. Jisung silently thanks him inside his head, as he quickly wonders if he'd ever get the chance of going through each and every one of its contents.

"Yeah. Like they just want to see how we would react, then they'd conduct another observation-thingy on the Earth or whatever."

"The latest one they've publicized was the last territorial observation," Hyunjin said, biting his lip as he looked down on the floor. "I read about it like, two weeks ago. Call me a nerd, but what they've found really means this planet is already giving up on us."

Jisung stared at Hyunjin silently, before moving around to find a comfortable position on the bed. By then, he's already starting to feel sleepy. "I wonder how Minho is doing right now," he softly voices out. Silently, he hopes Hyunjin will have an answer that can keep him away from continuing with his impulsive thoughts from earlier.

"Minho?" Hyunjin repeats slowly, as if Jisung was a five-year old child who had just blurted out his very first curse word. "Like, the ex-boyfriend Minho?"

"Yeah, that Minho. I don't really have any other Minho's in my life." He huffs.

Hyunjin was about to utter out a response, when he suddenly rises up from the chair when the faint sound of their doorbell rings from the front door. Jisung was already starting to fade away, sleep already starting to take over his systems. He couldn't get himself to ask him about who would still ever think of dropping by their place at that hour.

"Maybe Minho would be just as scared as we are right now. You know how he is," Hyunjin finally answers as he makes his way out of the room. He suddenly comes back, his head slowly peeking from the bedroom door, "Maybe it wouldn't hurt to fix things with him before the world ends."

Jisung's brain manages to register his words before finally turning off, letting himself drift away into a temporary space where the thought of the world's end does not exist.

Although he was taken out by sleep, he mentally swears he hears a familiar voice—Minho's voice, to be exact—right outside of his bedroom. Jisung thinks the universe is only playing with his vulnerability at that moment.