The next morning was remarkable, to say the least. Although it looked like the usual morning, Mingyu knew a lot more different things awaited him.
Minkyoung, despite being cautious, made her attempts at starting brief conversations with him, her demeanour a lot more relaxed than what Mingyu was used to seeing. It was weird to witness her this way, but maybe that was just her trying her best to reach out. One thing Mingyu didn't understand was her need to justify herself before becoming much more approachable. She could have still done so, without giving him reasons the previous night.
He, thinking his mother would like the company, decided to stay till breakfast, and then return to his dorm after classes. Over breakfast, he was reminded of Chaeyeon's warnings yesterday, leading him to ask Minkyoung about it.
"I have to be smart about it, Mingyu," she replied. "the latest article that came out wasn't by me either, so I need to think of a way to take that down,"
"You have the money, and position, to do it,"
"I don't need another reminder of what I've lost acquiring all of it,"
"Who was it?"
"Sorry?"
"Who published that?"
"By the looks of it, and based on what Chaeyeon informed me yesterday, it could be Lee Minjun. Then again, I would have known if it was him. That, or he's being discreet,"
"It isn't fair to Chaeyeon, is it?"
"Of course not. She didn't have to find out the way she did,"
Both of them remained silent for the rest of the meal. Mingyu was thankful his mother didn't reach out and make desperate attempts to reconcile. She knew he needed space, and he was glad she gave it to him. Before leaving, Mingyu bid her goodbye, feeling strange as he did so.
As he neared Pledis, Mingyu realised he needed to grab a few things from the dorm, and put away some stuff as well. Making a quick detour to his room, he expected it to be empty. Instead, he found Wonwoo, well heard Wonwoo, inside. Something didn't feel right.
He approached the boy, looking forward to telling him everything that had been upturned and fixed again, but Wonwoo blatantly ignored his presence, and banged the door shut on his way out. Mingyu swore he heard a sniffle or two before he'd left. What was up with him?
--
Mingyu, yet again, was met with an uncomfortable silence after he returned from his classes. Wonwoo wasn't here yet, meaning Mingyu had to loaf around until he did. He felt restless – he had so much to share with the boy.
He anticipated any sign of conversation from Wonwoo's end when he came back, but was left disappointed when Wonwoo, like he'd done in the morning, ignored the second presence in the house. That was when Mingyu decided to take matters into his own hands. Carefully going towards his room, he found the door closed hastily, and tiny whimpers coming from the room. Wonwoo was crying?
"Hey Wonwoo?"
The door was shut and bolted, immediately. After a few minutes of vigorous clearing of his throat, Wonwoo stepped outside, and passed Mingyu once again. Knowing him, there was no way Mingyu could still make casual attempts at getting him to talk, since there was a high chance it would end in getting himself a bruised cheek or nose. Fuck it, Mingyu decided, he couldn't go any longer without talking to the boy.
He found Wonwoo sprawled on the couch with a questionable number of books splayed in front of him. It was easy to tell he was faking to concentrate, as his eyes trembled, contrary to his façade. "Wonwoo? Hey, it's me," Mingyu whispered, crouching next to him.
"I wish it wasn't,"
His words felt like a punch to Mingyu's gut. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"
"No,"
"You've been this way since Tuesday,"
"So have you been this way since Tuesday,"
"I- What?"
"Forget it, Mingyu,"
"No, I can't just forget it. Not unless I know what's happening,"
Mingyu tried to keep the bite away from his voice; Wonwoo's stubbornness was something he was yet to learn how to handle. He knew Wonwoo had a hard time voicing out whatever he had going on in his mind, but that had never been too much of a problem earlier. If Mingyu had managed to make him talk about his sister before, the current situation shouldn't be giving him such a hard time. But it did, and Mingyu didn't know why.
Wonwoo remained silent, letting Mingyu dive deeper into the thoughts running endlessly in his mind. He was so near to Wonwoo right now, yet it felt as though he'd lost him somewhere far away. Like whatever they had between themselves had been broken off, causing them to get disconnected. As though all of Mingyu's efforts of getting closer to, and knowing, Wonwoo had been destroyed, reduced to nothing within a span of forty-eight hours. They were back to square one.
Mingyu genuinely wanted Wonwoo to let him in. If this was first-year Mingyu, he would have barfed at the very idea. But after knowing, albeit at a slow and complicated pace, he'd come to know he found someone in Wonwoo; what, he was yet to find out.
Although outwardly it could have looked like Wonwoo was done with Mingyu's shit, he knew it was quite the opposite. Wonwoo's actions had always spoken louder than what he let on through words.
The very fact that Mingyu wanted Wonwoo to desperately speak to him, told him a lot more, making him realise he had let Wonwoo see all of him.
A slight shuffling sound that came from the boy made Mingyu pay attention to him once again. He noticed his legs had gone numb from being stuck in a crouch for so long. "Is this about the article? You know it's fake, right?" Mingyu asked instinctually.
But then it hit him. Why would Wonwoo have anything against Mingyu's dating rumours? That would be the case, unless...
Mingyu's eyes went wide at the prospect. No, it couldn't be. Mingyu was probably just reading into it too much, although he was left a bit sunken after the denial.
---
Tell me why the plot seems a lot more shitty since the last chapter.
