𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐄? // 𝐉𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐍

𝟎𝟎𝟒

Jake barely heard Sunoo's words, their reassurance slipping through his mind like water through his fingers. The echo of Sunghoon's voice-cold, distant-played on a loop, rattling around in his head. Love isn't always enough. Those five words felt like a death sentence, one he hadn't prepared for.

The cool air bit at his skin, but he didn't move. Sunoo and Ni-ki lingered nearby, their concerned eyes tracing his every movement, but they were out of focus. The real world felt distant, like it wasn't happening to him. All he could see was Sunghoon walking away, each step like a piece of his heart being ripped out.

Ni-ki cleared his throat awkwardly, breaking the silence. "You should go after him, Jake."

Jake shook his head slowly, his voice brittle when it finally came out. "What's the point? He's made up his mind." The hopelessness in his tone was unmistakable, and it felt foreign to him, like he was listening to someone else give up. But that's what it felt like-giving up. It wasn't supposed to end like this, not after everything they'd been through together.

Sunoo opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, unsure of how to respond. The atmosphere was heavy with unspoken tension, the weight of what had just happened pressing down on all of them.

Heeseung emerged from the dining hall, clearly sensing the shift in mood before he'd even reached them. His eyes moved between Jake and the direction Sunghoon had gone. "What happened?" he asked, though it was clear from Jake's hollow expression that things had gone wrong.

Jake couldn't bring himself to answer. He looked down at the ground, his hands clenched into fists, trying to contain the frustration, the regret that was now bubbling to the surface. He had thought that confronting Sunghoon would help, that if they just talked about it, everything would make sense again. But nothing made sense now. If anything, it felt worse-like Sunghoon had walked away not just from the conversation, but from them.

Heeseung stepped closer, placing a hand on Jake's shoulder. "Jake... what did he say?"

"He said he doesn't know if we can fix this," Jake whispered, his voice breaking at the edges. "That love isn't enough." The last part came out like a bitter confession, one that tasted wrong on his tongue. He had always thought that love would be enough to hold them together, that no matter how far apart they drifted, they could find their way back. But now? Now he wasn't so sure.

Sunoo winced, the pain evident in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Jake."

Heeseung's grip on Jake's shoulder tightened briefly before letting go, his face set in a hard line. "Sunghoon's not the type to make rash decisions. Maybe he just needs time to think."

Jake wanted to believe that. He wanted to believe that this wasn't the end, that Sunghoon just needed space to figure things out. But the way Sunghoon had looked at him-the resignation in his eyes-made Jake feel like there was nothing left to hold on to. No matter how much time passed, Sunghoon had already let go, and Jake hadn't even realized it.

"Time won't fix this," Jake muttered under his breath. "I don't even know if I can."

The rawness in his voice startled even him. Admitting that out loud felt like a betrayal to everything he'd been clinging to. He thought about the days when being with Sunghoon had been easy, when their relationship hadn't felt like it was teetering on the edge of collapse. Those days felt so far away now, like they belonged to someone else entirely.

The cafeteria door opened again, and Jake caught a glimpse of Sunghoon in the distance, walking further into the night. There was a moment-just a fleeting second-when Sunghoon stopped and looked back, his face shadowed by the dim campus lights. Jake held his breath, waiting for something, anything. Maybe Sunghoon would turn around, come back, say that they could fix this after all.

But Sunghoon didn't. He stood there for a moment longer, then turned and disappeared around the corner, leaving Jake standing in the cold, the finality of it sinking in.

Jake's heart clenched painfully, the realization hitting him like a punch to the gut. Sunghoon wasn't coming back. This wasn't a fight they'd walk away from, a rough patch they'd laugh about later. This was something breaking-irrevocably-and Jake had no idea how to stop it.

Sunoo and Ni-ki stood by, silent and awkward, unsure of what to say. Heeseung's face was unreadable, his jaw clenched as if he, too, was trying to understand how things had spiraled so quickly. The group felt fractured, and it wasn't just Jake and Sunghoon. The fallout of their unraveling seemed to extend to everyone, the tension rippling through their friendships, touching everything.

Jake finally spoke, his voice quiet but laced with pain. "I don't think there's anything left to save."

Heeseung frowned, shaking his head. "You don't know that for sure. Things could still change."

Jake's laugh was humorless, the sound hollow in the empty courtyard. "I saw the way he looked at me, Heeseung. He's already gone."

The words sat like a stone in the pit of his stomach. Saying it out loud made it feel real, more real than the silence or the distance ever had. Sunghoon was gone, not physically, but emotionally-his heart wasn't Jake's anymore. And the realization of that felt like a slow, painful descent into something Jake wasn't ready to face.

The others watched him, their concern evident, but Jake felt miles away, disconnected from the world around him. He felt like he was drowning in the aftermath of something that had been unraveling for months but had only just now fully torn apart. How had they ended up here? How had they gone from everything to this?

"You can't just give up," Sunoo said, his voice soft but firm. "Sunghoon's been a part of your life for too long to just walk away now."

"I think he already walked away," Jake said bitterly, his gaze fixed on the spot where Sunghoon had vanished. "I just didn't see it until now."

No one knew what to say after that. The air was thick with unresolved tension, the weight of the moment hanging heavy on all of them. Jake wanted to scream, to cry, to do anything that would release the pressure building inside him, but he couldn't. All he could do was stand there, staring into the empty night, wondering how he had let everything slip away.