Highway to Heaven 🔞

40. 슬픔

It was getting kinda boring in Jiwoong's place, because Matthew had been waiting alone. He had been there since early morning, as he sneaked his way in, then slept through the breakfast. Jiwoong had tried waking him up, but he was too tired, he had spent the previous night studying for the upcoming finals. Finding no other way, his boyfriend left for work, leaving a note saying his food was on the table. They had long stopped texting over phone, even calling one another. Jiwoong would call Hanbin and tell him through some key words if he needed to talk to Matthew. It had become really difficult, but they were holding on well.

They promised not to let go no matter what.

Matthew woke up at around 11 in the morning. He found the note, then reluctantly finished his routine before eating what Jiwoong had prepared beforehand. Then, with a nice cup of coffee, he sat down to study a bit more, but he couldn't focus.

He wanted to know when his boyfriend would be back. Too bad, he could only wait.

He spent about an hour trying to study. I mean, it did work to some extent, until he realized that he should take a break. He turned the TV on, went through Netflix but found no will to start anything. He scrolled through his feed, texted some of his friends and got back to studying again. Jiwoong wasn't there yet.

Matthew's patience was running out. He was thinking about calling Hanbin and hearing from him when his lover's time of arrival would be, that's when the door clicked and Kim Jiwoong walked through. Matthew beamed in happiness.

"Hyung!" He sat up, gave a hug to his boyfriend who had set some packs of lunch on the table. Jiwoong smiled, "Hey babe, sorry to keep you waiting."

"Don't bother." Matthew grinned, "How was work though?"

Jiwoong pursed his lips, "Pretty tough." He chuckled, it sounded bitter. "I'll take a quick shower first, hm?"

"Okay..." Matthew sensed something weird coming from him man. Usually he'd talk about how his day had been, or if anyone gave him a hard time. "I'll get the lunch ready then."

"Hm." Jiwoong replied with a nod. He quickly moved inside, leaving the younger to wonder- what had happened?

Keeping his worries at rest, first, Matthew arranged the lunch table. Jiwoong had bought a lot. He probably bought dinner too, which Matthew kept stored. He sat down on the couch, waiting for Jiwoong to finish. He was lost in thoughts, because he couldn't shake off the bad vibes. Was he paranoid? Or that he knew his boyfriend a bit too well?

Jiwoong walked out several minutes later, in a black tee and grey sweatpants. He wet his hair, so no more schedule for the day? Matthew looked forward to it. Lately, their time together had been so short, that the night cuddles together seemed like the only tension free time they could be together.

"How's it?" Jiwoong asked, pointing at the lunch, "I got your favorite."

"Yeah, thank you." Matthew cutely said. He expected a kiss of adoration or a look of fondness, but Jiwoong just pulled a chair to sit on. He followed suit, sitting across from the older male.

"So, what did you do today?" Matthew asked, "Had a rough time, right?"

"Hm." Nodded the other.

"And?" Matthew asked, "Anything in particular?"

"The same old." Jiwoong sighed. "What keeps happening everyday."

Matthew put his spoon down, looking at Jiwoong with a steady concentration. He found the latter's hand on the table, put his smaller one on top, "Jiwoonie hyung, tell me what happened."

"What? Nothing serious." Jiwoong took his hand away, as if the physical contact would give away everything he was hiding. He didn't know that Matthew knew him like the back of his palm- he could read his man's every move.