Don't touch me // Minsung

25. 𝘈𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘯𝘰𝘸

Rain had started pouring over the campus, abruptly ending Sohee and Jisung's lunch together. She had noticed how differently Jisung behaved after his encounter with that strange boy, how he seemed to spend more time in his head rather than invested in their conversation, but as he kept telling her he was fine, she let him be, figuring it would be better to leave him alone with his thoughts. And that was exactly what he did as soon as they parted ways.

He roamed around the hallways, too immersed in his own head to stare at anything but the ground. Headphones loudly on, he did not even listen to the music busting his eardrums. He just wanted to silence his mind, to silence his feelings, to silence his life.

His friends were waiting for him in front of the classroom when he finally arrived, dragging his feet along. He put on an act as soon as he saw them. He acted as if nothing had happened, no matter how much he wished he could rip his own heart out to stop himself from feeling anything. But his friends could see as clear as broad daylight through his mask.

"Are you ok?" Felix asked softly as Jisung stopped the music blasting out of his headphones and took them off.

He only hummed for an answer but kept feeling their eyes staring at him, worried. They all remained silent, hoping for more information from the younger who did not want to say a thing. He would burst into tears if he told them what happened.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Jisung chuckled in an attempt to distract them, hoping they would somehow magically forget the whole matter. But he could not really hide the misery in his voice, no matter how much he tried.

"What happened with Minho?" Hyunjin asked bluntly, arms crossed, not having any time for Jisung's bullshit right now.

"We saw you two leaving together but coming back separately" Changbin added but Jisung only sighed, feeling the harassment coming.

"Nothing happened..."

"Oh yeah?" Hyunjin raised his eyebrow, not believing him at all.

"Why don't you tell us?" Changbin insisted right after his friend, annoying Jisung who glared quickly at them before lowering his gaze again.

"It's nothing really..." he said quickly as he headed towards the classroom, but an arm held him back. He turned around to a particularly concerned Seungmin standing in front of him.

"Come on, tell us now," Seungmin let go of his hoodie, firm in his voice. "Minho didn't look fine at all when he came back and we haven't seen him since."

Jisung stopped breathing for a second, almost dropping his act. He wondered if Minho was doing okay, where he might have gone. To think the older might be skipping school because of him, that he did not even care if his friends or anyone saw his tears and that he just needed to go away as fast as possible. Yes, to think he did that to Minho...

He really did not want to talk to his friends about it but they were not going to let him breathe. So, he just let out a little bit of information, knowing they would force everything out of him right after anyways.

"He confessed to me", Jisung's voice died down.

Silence fell in between the friends, looks were exchanged and some could not hide a smile. But, it was supposed to be some happy news, so why was everything so fucking depressing?

"Ok so where is the problem?" Seungmin wondered, relieved inside that his advice worked on Minho. In a way, it was the only way to go if the older wanted to move forward with Jisung, he just never expected them to fight about it.

"I... I rejected him", Jisung finally admitted, feeling judged by every one of his friends' confused stares. They all gasped, unable to believe what they just heard. They had been waiting for this moment for days now, knowing it was just a matter of time for them to be together, and now he did what? But more than any confusion they might be feeling, they had all witnessed how joyful Jisung was around Minho, and they just felt even sadder for him. He deserved happiness like everyone, why was he rejecting it?