Heart threatening to thunder and tear open his chest, Mingyu whisked through the rest of the work at hand, hoping Wonwoo just stayed where he was.
Mingyu wiped his hands, changed out of his work clothes, and finally ran from the back door to enter the café from the regular entrance.
Wonwoo stood a few feet away from him. Mingyu closed the distance between them both and held him close in a hug.
"It's okay. I'm here. You just need to hear her out, okay? Isn't that what you wanted?" he whispered in his ear.
"Yeah. Okay,"
Mingyu loudly pulled a chair for Wonwoo and himself at the table Chaeyeon had claimed, making her fix her attention on the boys sitting across from her.
"Hey," she said, in a tone so light, it would have nearly been mistaken as friendly, if not for both Mingyu and Wonwoo knowing all the shit she had done.
"Get to the point, you retar-" growled Wonwoo, when Mingyu had to interfere and clamp his palm over his mouth to prevent any interesting vocabulary from making an entrance.
Chaeyeon looked disturbed by Wonwoo's hostility, while Mingyu found himself having a hard time staying in check due to the volcanic fury that he could feel coming from him.
He made sure he had a hand clutching Wonwoo's for the whole time the upcoming conversation lasted.
"Wonwoo, you have to see what she has to say,"
"I'm fucking trying, Mingyu,"
"That's good,"
Mingyu gestured for Chaeyeon to begin speaking. The same exact thing she'd told him, she told Wonwoo. Except Wonwoo didn't seem to be taking it as civilly as Mingyu had. Disgusted snorts and disbelieving scoffs left his mouth every few moments as he seemed to whisked through the words Chaeyeon had to say.
She sighed, defeated, once she was done relaying everything. It was clear Wonwoo found it ridiculous to believe her, but Mingyu reassured him enough that whatever he heard was all the truth.
"I don't believe it," Wonwoo spat at Chaeyeon, after several minutes of awkward silence, "there's better ways to get your friend talking, you know? Not fucking disrupt his life, and that of the people around him,"
"I know sorry doesn't cover it, but I am keeping my distance,"
"Sure you are, after getting your job done. Great way to turn peoples' lives upside-down,"
Mingyu noticed the way Wonwoo trembled in his grip. Oh shit, not now.
"Wonwoo-"
"Give me a minute, Mingyu, I'm trynna do something here-"
"Wonwoo please don't- Wonwoo you're angry,"
Wonwoo banged a fist on the table. "YES I'M ANGRY, I'M FUCKING FURIOUS!"
That was the exact moment when the negligible throbbing in the background took over as a splitting ache erupting inside Mingyu's head. His hand over Wonwoo's involuntarily loosened itself, and reached up to palm the sides of his head instead. He sputtered something undecipherable, falling weakly on the tabletop, hoping the contact counteracted the ache.
Mingyu faintly recognised Wonwoo's, and probably Chaeyeon's, attention being shifted to him. "Oh shit, oh shit," Wonwoo's voice sounded muffled, but noticeable enough.
Mingyu lifted himself off of the table, looking around enthusiastically at the vaguely new surroundings. He didn't happen to recall this place quite well – then he realised he'd never been here before.
