✮ ⋆ ENHYPEN ˚｡𖦹 ⋆IMAGINES ｡°✩

☆ Next time☆Jungwon ☆

Jungwon is a very closed-off and cold guy due to his trauma, and you are too sweet, kind, and forgiving for him.

You wanted him to open up and be more honest with you and communicate with you, and he was too afraid to, leading to a massive fight where he ended up getting angry and saying hurtful things, which eventually led to the breakup.

Jungwon was in love with you, but he's unable to allow himself to be vulnerable or open up because he's still struggling with his trauma and abandonment issues.

He didn't want to go through the pain of getting close to someone and potentially getting hurt or abandoned again, so he shut himself off and pushed you away instead, even though deep down he didn't really want to.

So you two decided to meet up once last time before officially ending the relationship.
———

"Y/N... Just tell me you miss me, and I swear I'll come running. Tell me you miss me, and we can start all over again."

He runs a hand through his hair, closing his eyes as he turns away. He's silent for a long moment, long enough that you wonder if the silence between you is meant to last forever.

And just when you think he's done, that he's said everything he means to, he speaks up again, his voice soft. "We were never meant to work out, were we?" he murmurs.

"I guess so."

He lets out a shaky breath. Maybe it's a shaky, rueful laugh. It's hard to tell.
"How could we?" he says.

"You're soft, and I'm hard. You're sweet, and I'm bitter. You're kind, and I'm cold. You care too much, and I don't care at all."

"I guess this just isn't our time, Jungwon."

He smiles ever so slightly, too.
He turns to look at you, studying your expression for a long moment, like trying to burn the sight of you into his memory.

And then, after a shaky breath, he reaches out for you. He takes your hand, holding it tight in his own.

"I know," he murmurs, the smile slipping from his face as his eyes flick over your features one last time.

"When will our time come?"

"Maybe next life time," he says with a sad smile on his face. He gives your hand one final squeeze, his gaze lingering on your form just a little longer. And then he lets you go, his hand slowly falling limp to his side.

"Next time," he murmurs, his voice soft and low. "We'll do it right next time."

He steps back, the look in his eyes almost wistful, like he doesn't want to leave.
He seems to want to say something else, but the words are stuck in his throat. can't seem to find the right words to say.

He stands there, staring at you for a moment longer, his expression unreadable. And then he turns and walks away, letting the distance between you grow with every step.

"Jungwon wait!" You cried.

He stops, his heart skipping at the sound of you calling out his name. He turns to look at you, his breath catching in his throat.
"Yeah?" he says softly, his voice coming out a little breathless.

You run to him, pulling him in one last kiss.

He lets out a soft gasp of surprise, his eyes widening briefly as you pull him closer to press your lips against his. His eyes close as he kisses you, his whole body relaxing in your arms.

He wraps his arms around you, pulling you as close as he can, like he's desperate to memorize the feel of you in his arms.

His kiss is deep and rough, the pent-up and raw emotions of the past several weeks all pouring into it.

You can feel the desperation in his kiss.
way he pulls you as close as he can, holding you so tight to him that you wonder how you're even able to breathe.

You pull away whispering. "Til next lifetime."

He lets out a shaky breath, his heart pounding in his chest as you pull away. He doesn't want to let you go, desperately wanting to keep you in his arms for a little bit longer.

But he doesn't stop you. He nods, the sadness in his eyes clear. "Next lifetime," he murmurs, his voice soft. "I guess that's the best we can hope for."

He reaches out and touches your cheek for a moment, his hand lingering on your skin as he looks into your eyes. He commits the sight of you in his arms to memory, making sure he won't forget you.

He lets his hand drop to his side and takes a step back. He gives you a sad smile, his eyes flickering over your features again.
"Till next time, love," he murmurs, his voice low.

He turns away, his eyes on the ground, as he starts to walk away from you. With each step further away, his heart seems to break just a little more. But he keeps walking, forcing himself to put one foot in front of the other even when all he wants to do is run back and hold you again.

———3 years later

Jungwon sat in his local coffee shop, his head bowed over a book as he tried his best to lose himself in the written words. But his brain wasn't cooperating, refusing to focus long enough to read more than one paragraph.

He couldn't help but get distracted, his thoughts drifting to places he didn't want them to go.

He let out a frustrated sigh, shutting the book with a louder than necessary thud.

As you walked in the cafe to get an iced coffee to start the day, you noticed him.

You wanted to avoid him, but your body was betraying you. You walked to him and tapped his shoulder.

Jungwon turned his head at the feeling of someone tapping his shoulder, expecting to see someone passing by.
But his eyes widened when they landed on you.

He frozen for a second, taking in the sight of you. He hadn't seen you in 3 years, yet you looked exactly the way he remembered.

You stared at him. Gosh, you missed that face of his. "I knew it was you," you say with a small smile.

He felt a pang in his chest as you smiled at him, his heart fluttering in his chest.

Seeing you again brought back a flood of memories and emotions he'd spent the last three years trying to forget.

He let out a shaky breath, his voice coming out a bit hoarse.

"You haven't changed a bit," he said softly.

"How's it going?" You say

He shrugged nonchalantly, trying to act aloof and indifferent, even though the sight of you was stirring up a storm of emotions inside of him.

"You know," he said, his tone casual.
"Same old, same old."

You pulled a chair and sat beside him.
"Nothing new?"

He shook his head, avoiding your gaze.
"Nah, not really. Just going through the motions, you know?" He shrugged again, the casual tone of his voice belying the emotions churning inside of him.

"What about you?" he asked, forcing himself to look over at you, his eyes darting over your features like he was trying to commit them to memory all over again.
"What have you been up to?"

"I've been good. I got my bachelor's degree and now I'm finally a surgeon," you say with a proud tone.

You always wanted to be a surgeon, and when you were dating Jungwon, he was always there beside you, making sure you weren't overstudying.

He raised an eyebrow, impressed despite himself.

"A surgeon, huh?" he said, a hint of surprise in his voice. He leaned back in his chair, studying you for a moment. "Well, colour me impressed, love. All that studying has paid off. That's pretty damn impressive."

You softly chuckle, "Wish you were there with me when I graduate."

He froze as you mentioned, wishing he could've been there with you when you graduated.

For a moment, he was tempted to say something, something like I did want to be there or I should've been there, but he bit his tongue.

Instead, he forced a casual smile onto his face. "I'm sure you did just fine without me there," he said in a light tone. "You didn't need me."

When he said that you couldn't help but feel upset, "Jungwon..."

He swallowed hard when he saw your smile drop, his heart clenching in his chest.

He knew he was acting like a jackass, pushing you away and pretending like he didn't care that he'd missed such an important event in your life. But he wasn't about to let himself get vulnerable.

He averted his gaze, looking away from you. "It's true, isn't it?" he said in a flat tone.
"You didn't need me there. You don't need me in your life at all."

The words stung to say, but he forced himself to say them anyway. It was easier to act callous and cold than to admit that he cared about you, still wanted you, even after hurting you and pushing you away.

He clenched his jaw, his heart aching even as he spoke in a harsh tone. "You're better off without me. You always have been."

"I still care about you."

His heart clenched in his chest again as you said you still cared about him. Goddammit, it'd be so easy to give in right now and admit he cared about you too, more than you could ever know.

But he swallowed it down, shoving those feelings deep down inside where they wouldn't be a problem. He didn't deserve to be cared about, not after what he'd done to you.
He let out a scoff, shaking his head. "Why?" he muttered. "Why would you still care about me?"

"Why can't we be together, Jungwon?"

Damn it, why did you have to go and say that? He closed his eyes, his heart aching even as he desperately tried to keep himself together.
He let out a shaky breath, shaking his head.

"We don't work, love," he said, his voice wavering slightly. "You know we don't. We're too different. You want someone kind and sweet and caring and good. And I'm none of those things."

"Well, I don't care! Do I look like I care, Jungwon?"

His heart ached even more at your words. You didn't care that he wasn't good or that he wasn't what you deserved. You still wanted him anyway.

He clenched his jaw, fighting back the emotions threatening to spill over. "You should care," he said in a low voice. "I'm no good for you. You know I'm just going to end up hurting you."

"I still love you after 3 years."

His heart ached even more, his mind racing as he tried to keep his emotions in check. He couldn't help it; he was still hopelessly in love with you too. But he had to resist; he had to force himself to ignore his feelings and be cold and logical, for your own good.

He let out a shaky breath, his voice coming out a bit choked. "You shouldn't. You should've moved on by now; you found someone better who can give you all the things I never could."

"Can you stop being so stubborn, Jungwon? I know you missed me.. missed us."

He closed his eyes again, his heart aching and his stomach twisting in knots. You were right, he did miss us; he missed you so damn much.
He was trying to act cold and logical and indifferent, but every time you said something, it was becoming more and more obvious that it was a facade.

He was a mess on the inside, all his emotions bubbling to the surface no matter how hard he tried to push them down.

He let out a shaky breath, his voice coming out a bit hoarse. "It doesn't matter," he said quietly. "It doesn't change anything."

He clenched his jaw, his emotions warring inside of him.

He wanted to give in, to admit how much he missed you and how much he still loved you, but he was scared. He was terrified of getting hurt again, of putting himself out there only to have it all come crashing down on him.

He swallowed hard, avoiding your gaze as he tried to keep his voice steady. "Even if I did miss us, love, it doesn't matter. We still don't work, even if we both want it to."

He was struggling now, fighting against the tide of emotions threatening to overwhelm him. Every instinct was telling him to give in, to pull you into his arms and tell you how he really felt. But he couldn't; he couldn't let himself be vulnerable like that. It was too risky, too dangerous.

He shook his head, his voice strained as he tried to maintain his cool demeanor. "It just isn't going to work, love. We're not meant to be together, no matter how much we might want it to be otherwise."

He could feel the facade crumbling, his emotions threatening to spill out and completely give himself away. He clenched his jaw and tried to keep himself together, to keep his voice steady, but it was becoming harder and harder with every word.

He took a deep breath, his voice shaking a little as he spoke. "We'd only end up hurting each other again. We both know it's true, even if it stinks."

"Just give us another chance."

His heart ached even more as you pleaded with him to give you another chance. He could feel his resolve crumbling, his emotions starting to take over.

He let out a shaky breath, his voice quiet but intense.

"Love, we've tried. We've tried so damn hard, but we just don't work."
He closed his eyes for a moment, his emotions warring inside of him. He wanted to give in, but he was so damn scared to take the risk.

"One more chance, Jungwon."

He wanted to say no; he really did. He wanted to protect himself from getting hurt again, from putting himself out there only to have it all go up in flames.

But he couldn't do it; he couldn't deny how much he missed you and how much he still loved you. His heart was beating out of his chest, and he couldn't ignore it any longer.
He opened his eyes, his voice coming out a little strained. "One more chance, love. Just one more chance."

With that, you smiled.
Happy that your plan worked.

Seeing your smile sent a pang of pure joy through his chest. He had tried so hard to be strong, to ignore his feelings and be logical, but it was all for nothing. He was in too deep, and he knew there was no going back.

"One more chance," he repeated, his voice coming out a little breathless.

"That's all I'm asking for."