texted | c.sy

twenty-eight

[slightly matured content ahead.
please proceed with caution.]

seungyoun works himself all day and night in front of his laptop, barely gotten any sleep or even a good minute of rest. it has been weeks since yeoreum had broken up with him, citing her impending move abroad as the reason. he sips on his coffee absently, the bitter taste matching the turmoil in his heart. though, he cannot shake the feeling that something is off, that there is more to the story than yeoreum has let on.

as he stares at the music sheets on his desk, lost in thought, seungyoun hears the sound of the doorknob being twisted. he looks up to see seungwoo walking in then sitting down on the bed across of him. the leader's face reflecting a mixture of concern and pitiness.

"seungyoun, snap out of it." seungwoo confronts the latter. seungyoun stops whatever he is doing with his computer before looking at seungwoo. there is a profound gaze in seungyoun's eyes, but the second he sees seungwoo, his tensed expression softens.

"taking your frustration out by overworking youself is not going to solve the problem. you will only hurt yourself." seungwoo gently states.

seungyoun's head ducks down to look at his fidgeting hands as he mumbles, "i'm sorry."

"take a rest. if you continue being like this, you will start to worry the other members." seungwoo commands, his unwavering authoritive tone sends chills down seungyoun's back.

seungyoun feels a hand on his shoulder, realising that seungwoo is giving him a pat, tears start to gather in his eyes. seungwoo notices it, feeling sorry for him. "take your mind off things. since we are taking a few weeks break after the promotion ended, i want you to go home and sleep. it's an order."

"yes, hyung." seungyoun nods at seungwoo affirmatively as he packs a few of his belongings and weakly walks out of his room. he can feel some pairs of eyes boring on his back when he leaves the dorm but he is just too tired to make any explanations so he pay less mind to them and marches down the path that leads him to his car.

the other members who just saw seungyoun quickly seek answers from seungwoo with alarming stares, and the leader manages to calm them down by saying their hyung needs a restful me-time.

once seungyoun climbs into his car and drops his bag at the passenger seat, he hears dashing steps growing louder, indicating that someone is running towards his car. he looks outside and sees yohan stopping right beside his car, scrouching and panting.

"yohan, what's going on?" seungyoun asks as he rolls down the window of his seat, perplexity clouding his face.

yohan, trying to catch a breath, quickly hands his phone to seungyoun. "haerin wants to talk to you!"

"haerin? do you mean..." seungyoun's eyes widen as soon as he realises something.

"haerin's currently on the line, and she seems... desparate? please take this call, hyung." yohan grabs seungyoun's hand to put his phone in the latter's grip.

"haerin-ssi..?"

"seungyoun-ssi, we need to talk about yeoreum."

his chest tightens at the mention of her name. trying to find composure, seungyoun asks, "what about her? isn't she moving to europe?"

"no, seungyoun-ssi. she is still here."

"what?!"

"that's not the whole truth. she didn't break up with you due to some study abroad program."

"then why did she?"

"she thought she was protecting you..." seungyoun can sense the struggle to proceed behind haerin's voice. "i would love to explain it all to you but i think it's best if you hear it from yeoreum herself."