𝕄𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕞𝕖 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝔸𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕖 || 𝟚𝕞𝕚𝕟

08 | Down Bad

As soon as they reached home, Seungmin bolted to his room without a word, slamming the door behind him. Hyunjin sighed, running a hand through his hair. He followed after him, knocking softly before pushing the door open. Seungmin was already curled up in bed, buried under the covers like he was trying to disappear from the world.

"Seungmin-ah," Hyunjin called gently, walking to the bed. "Come on, you need to get out of those wet clothes. You'll get sick like this." There was no response, just the faint sound of muffled sniffles. Hyunjin sat down on the edge of the bed, placing a hand on the lump of blankets that was Seungmin.

"Minnie," he tried again, softer this time, "please. You'll feel worse if you don't change." Still nothing. Seungmin remained unresponsive, his quiet sniffles breaking Hyunjin's heart a little more each time he heard them. He hated seeing his little brother like this—hurt, fragile, completely shut down.

Hyunjin sat there for a few more moments, trying to coax Seungmin out, but when it became clear he wasn't going to budge, he gave up with a heavy sigh. "Fine," Hyunjin murmured, gently tucking the blankets around him. "Just... rest, okay? You need it." 

Hyunjin stood, glancing at the damp trail Seungmin had left on the floor from his soaked clothes. It was a mess, but nothing compared to the mess inside Hyunjin's chest. Their parents were out and wouldn't be back until tomorrow, something Hyunjin was suddenly grateful for. He couldn't handle their mom's worried barrage of questions right now. He glanced back at the bed, watching the still lump of blankets rise and fall unevenly. "I can take care of this myself," he whispered to himself, clenching his fists. "I'll fix this somehow."

𝄞⨾𓍢ִ໋

Next day in school—

Minho walked through the corridor, head hung low. After yesterday's confrontation with Felix,  he couldn't shake the sick feeling that clung to him. He didn't even know why he had acted like that. He had been so angry, so bitter.

"Minho!" The coach's voice startled him, and he froze in place as the man approached. Did he also come to know about yesterday's incident? Was he going to yell at him again?

But as the coach began speaking, his tone was much calmer than Minho had expected. "You don't need to pay for the trophy's damage," Minho's eyes widened in relief at that, only to be replaced by guilt the next moment. "Seungmin explained everything to me the day after it broke. He made sure I knew it wasn't you." 

Minho's heart dropped into his stomach. "What?" 

The coach nodded. "He came to me immediately. I wanted to tell you, but you stopped coming to practice." 

Minho's mouth went dry. The coach left him standing there in the hallway, but Minho couldn't move. His thoughts raced, guilt crushing him like a weight he couldn't escape. Seungmin had already cleared his name, and Minho had still hurt him. He had lashed out, humiliated him, all for something Seungmin had already fixed.

𝄞⨾𓍢ִ໋

It was lunch time now and Minho hesitated at the cafeteria door, scanning the tables for Seungmin. He didn't see him, but Jeongin was sitting at one of the tables alone. Taking a deep breath, Minho approached. 

"Jeongin," he started cautiously. "Do you know where Seungmin is? I just... I want to talk to him."

At that, Jeongin snapped. He stood abruptly, his chair scraping loudly against the floor. "You want to talk to him?" he shouted, his voice shaking with fury. "Do you even know what you've done to him? Do you have any idea how much he's suffering right now?" Minho took a step back, stunned by the younger boy's outburst. "I wouldn't be surprised if he never came back to this school, and it's all because of you!" Jeongin's voice cracked, his frustration spilling out in angry tears.