After Us

Chapter 7

Minho falls laughing against Felix's side while Chan turns the shade of a tomato across the table. He never would have imagined drunk Changbin as a Britney enthusiast, but even more surprising is that drunk Chan was moved to tears once over a burger with a slice of pineapple on it.

"It's not that funny..." The man mumbles before taking a bite of jjajangmyeon.

Felix laughs hiding his smile behind a hand. "I swear babe, it was cute! Also a good lesson. When getting takeout I should always check to make sure the order is right."

Laughter dying away Minho returns to his own meal ignoring the weight of Jisung's cow-eyed gaze coming from next to Chan. It's a look the young producer has been sending him since Sunday morning when Minho had overheard his conversation with Felix. The man probably thinks Minho is upset, and he is, but he is also grateful. The poor timing on Jisung's part was the universe intervening to save Minho from doing something stupid.

Waking up Sunday morning at his friend's apartment he'd shuffled into the living room half awake and sporting a tiny hangover. Whiskey and pills were never happening again. Upon entering the main room he was struck dumb by the figure sleeping on the couch. Jisung, stripped to nothing but a pair of boxer briefs was gently snoring on the sofa. The blanket he'd been using tangling in his legs left his chest and hips bare.

With miles of flawless tan skin on display, Minho had stared for longer than he would like to admit. If Jisung's proportions had been enticing when he was in college, then the body revealed to him now was damn near the picture of sin. Regular lifting had made the size difference between his shoulders and waist even more dramatic. The toned broad chest leading to hips that would suit a woman better than a man, had him gulping back the drool pooling in his mouth. Minho had held lovers all across the globe but never had he found someone whose body tempted him so.

The intense desire, the want from the previous night had returned, and with it the insane push to throw caution to the wind and feed into it. His bruised heart and soul be damned, Jisung was everything he'd been craving but had never found anywhere else. Minho had been seconds away from reaching out to trail his fingers down the v-shaped lines that led to the man's cock when noise from the bedrooms down the hall had stopped him.

With extreme force, he'd brought his hand back to his side and left to start breakfast before he lost all control. Still, he could not prevent his mind from wandering down the path of "what if".

What if he could hold Jisung again... touch him, make love to him? What if he allowed himself to taste one more time the heaven that only the younger could give him? Since their first time at Red Lights Minho had been hooked. An addict the instant Jisung had first laid hands on him, Minho had been chasing the high of their chemistry around the globe.

What if things could be different? What if the man his ex has become, now has space in his life for Minho...the capacity to care for him... Would he find only a few hours of relief in the man's arms or could Minho finally know what it's like to love and be loved in return? Mind twisted in a knot by the younger he'd snapped and headed back to the living room. One taste...one touch to satisfy the relentless want or increase it until it consumed him, he didn't care anymore...

The universe, as much as it loves to hurt him had saved him that morning...

"asshole vibe isn't my thing. You know I am looking for the one and Minho isn't it..."

The devastating blow the words had dealt him couldn't compare to the self-abuse he submitted himself to after he'd returned to his apartment. Fool, worthless, naive, weak, hopeless... truly he must delight in self-mutilation for he carved the words into his mind and let them become the fuel for a new outlook. Having the hopelessness of any lingering feelings confirmed by Jisung while piercing, had been the push he needed. He won't stay in Korea, if he can survive the next few months he will leave for LA and never look back. An entire country isn't enough distance to keep his irrational desires at bay... there is not enough space in Korea for both of them.