ꜱᴄᴀɴᴅᴀʟᴏᴜꜱ - ʜᴇᴇᴊᴀᴋᴇᴋɪ

✦ ᴇɪɢʜᴛᴇᴇɴ [ᴍ]✦

warning: mature content 🚫

Jake - March 19th, 2026

I was surprised by how calm the drive to Heeseung's place was. He decided he would go get his car in the morning, that he'd just catch a ride with Sunoo and pick it up later.

It was mostly quiet for the first half of the ride until I suddenly remembered something I hadn't even considered yet. "Don't you have a roommate?"

"Jungwon? Ah, don't worry about him," Heeseung waved it off.

"Weren't you guys having issues, though?" I asked while keeping my eyes fixated on the dark road, barely illuminated by my headlights and a few street lamps.

"We're working it out," Heeseung shrugged, and I could feel his eyes on me. "What's he gonna do? Stop us?"

"I'm not worried about it," I grinned. "I was just curious."

Heeseung suddenly pointed to an entrance on the right. "There."

I nodded and followed his instructions, slowly pulling into a cramped parking lot. It felt tiny, and only a single space was left reserved for his specific apartment. I shut down the car and opened the door, careful not to bash my door into the vehicle next to me that was barely parked properly. I stepped out onto the cracked, wet concrete, my shoes creating a light splash sound that was partially concealed by the crispy wind.

Heeseung was already waiting for me as I shut the door and stepped onto the raised poorly paved walkway. Without another word, I followed him to the second floor, waiting as he unlocked the door. I made sure to remove my shoes along with him as we entered, trying to ignore the man seated on the old couch and staring at us.

"Heeseung? Who is that?" The guy asked, shooting me a weird look at the same time. I felt like I'd seen him before. His sharp features and hair that were meticulously done were ringing a bell, but as usual, I struggled to remember his name.

"Nobody," Heeseung muttered back as he yanked on my wrist, forcing me forward into his room which was only a few feet away. I gazed around the area as he locked up the room. Even though it was small, it felt warm and inviting. There were white fairy lights that lined the wall above his bed and numerous amounts of photographs that left nearly no space untouched. Comfortable was the perfect description of it.

We hovered around the door, eventually shooting each other a glance once the silence had gone on for far too long. I wished I'd come up with something to say before him because his words filled me with a familiar sadness.

"Why'd you have to be married?" he chuckled, but I could sense his tension dripping in each of his nearly whispered words.

I wanted to reassure him. I desired to tell him how I really felt about him. But it felt like my tongue was numb, cut off from ever speaking another word. I stood there and stared back at him with my dumb confusion, only able to muster a few words that had become regular in my vocabulary. "...I'm sorry."