ＳＷＥＥＴ ＣＨＥＲＲＹ

fifty three

seungmin was sitting in a coffee shop, americano by his left hand, a cappuccino laying on the other side of the table, waiting for his owner, while his leg was bouncing up and down.
he was nervous, and scared.

after a long, long time, he finally decided to do something that he was terrified of.

the door of the coffee shop opened, making it clear someone walked inside.

"hi seungmin. sorry I'm a bit late, the bus wasn't there on time. thanks for ordering the coffee."
jisung said, sitting down on the opposite side of seungmin, facing him.

"it's okay, I-"
seungmin cut himself off when he noticed a beautiful engagement ring on jisung's finger.
"wait, did minho propose?"

jisung smiled.
"yeah, around a week ago."
he said, showing the ring more clearly.

seungmin looked at it, a smile on his face.
"it's really pretty. I'm happy for you guys. are you already planning something? I mean, where you will get married and things?"

jisung shook his head.
"not really. I mean, we just got engaged, it doesn't mean we have to get married immediately. we didn't really talk about the wedding itself yet."

"do you have any wishes? where you'd wanna get married?"
seungmin asked.

"hmm, I'm not really sure. I mean, we can't legally marry in Korea, so that's completely out of the question. but if I had to pick a place, it would be Spain."
jisung smiled.

"Spain is a beautiful country, I think minho would love that suggestion."
seungmin said.

"yeah, maybe. but like I said, we didn't really talk or thought about it yet. we're just letting it lay low for now."
jisung said, taking a sip out of his cappuccino.
"but now, why did you call me here? you said there was something you needed to talk about."

seungmin could feel his heartbeat quickening.
"yeah, uhm....there has been something that I...wanted to tell you for a while. I was just too nervous to do it."

jisung nodded, a bit confused.
but he could see it was stressing seungmin out.
"take your time. tell me when you're ready."
he said, giving seungmin a small reassuring smile.

seungmin nodded, looking down.
he wasn't able to face jisung while saying this.
"you know...I work with hyunjin in the same office, right?"

jisung nodded.
"of course. I mean, he introduced yourself as his coworker when you came over with minho while I was still dating him. besides, minho talked about you being his coworker as well."

"and you know that the person he was cheating on you with was his coworker right?"
seungmin said.

"minho said something like that, yeah."
jisung said.

seungmin took a deep breath.
"I...I was the one he was cheating on you with. I'm the affair partner."

jisung's eyes widened.

"I am so, so fucking sorry jisung. whenever I saw you, I felt so fucking bad. hell, even now when you're sitting in front of me. all you ever did was treat me nicely, with respect, while I was actually the cause of your suffering. I'm so sorry."
seungmin hung his head even lower.

jisung just sighed. never in his life would he thought that the affair partner was seungmin.
he felt like he was supposed to hate him right now.
but as he was looking at him, all he could feel was pity.

he took a deep breath.
"seungmin, I'm not mad at you. even tho I should be, I'm not. because while you say you were the cause of my suffering, it's not true. hyunjin was the cause of my suffering, not you. finding out I was being cheated on was one of the worst pain I have ever experienced, but in a way, I'm glad that it happened. because if he never started a relationship with you, or if I never found out, I would still be stuck in that awful, toxic relationship with him. so, I'm sort of thankful to you."

seungmin finally looked up, his eyes big and glossy.
"you...you're not mad at me?"

jisung shook his head.
"maybe I'm a little disappointed. but...I want to know...how did it even start?"

seungmin sighed.
"it was in a business trip. all of us went into a club and got extremely drunk. me and hyunjin slept together that night, and we just never stopped I guess."

jisung pressed his lips into a thin line, before finishing his cappuccino in one go, standing up.
"thank you for telling me. I know that it must have been hard. but let me tell you something, as a friend, not as an ex of your boyfriend. break up with hyunjin. I know that you don't see it, but he's not a good boyfriend. let me guess, you can't express your feelings without him dismissing it, he's forcing you into stuff you don't want, leaves you alone when you most need it, tells you over and over how to act to be a good boyfriend, but gives nothing in return."

seungmin's eyes went wide.

jisung sighed.
"he did the same things to me. he was my first boyfriend, so I thought relationships work like that, but they don't. when I left him, I felt hopeless. but now, I found myself a man who worships the ground I walk on, loves me and cherishes me in a way hyunjin never did. he treats me as if I was a prince. and seungmin, I want you to know that after me and him broke up, he kept sending me messages. whenever I blocked him, he just created a new account to harass me with. please break up with him, for your own good. you deserve someone better."
he said, before leaving the coffee shop.

•~•

jisung was still in a bit of shock as he opened the door of his apartment, taking off his shoes and walking inside slowly, deep in thought.

"are you okay?"
minho asked when he noticed how out of it jisung looked.
"what happened?"

"thank god I told you to stop with that plan of yours to fire hyunjin and his lover."
jisung said.

minho furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, making his way towards jisung, putting his hands on jisung's waist.
"what do you mean by that?"

"seungmin is the affair partner minho."
jisung said.
"he has been dating hyunjin this entire time."

minho's eyes widened.
"you're kidding right?"

jisung shook his head.
"he texted me if i could meet him in a coffee shop. he told me everything."

"so his terrible boyfriend..."
minho said in disbelief.

"...was hyunjin all along."
jisung finished his sentence.

"fuck I'm so sorry."
minho suddenly pulled jisung in for a hug.

"hey, it's okay. I forgave him."
jisung said.

"what?!"
minho pulled away.
"why would you do that?"

"because if he never started anything with hyunjin, I would never be living the wonderful life I'm living now, with you."
jisung said, putting his hand on minho's cheek.
"so how can I be mad at him?"

minho sighed.
"what do we even do now? seungmin was one of my closest friends."

"we do nothing. seungmin IS still one of your closest friends. maybe he did something bad, but I could tell he felt terrible for everything."
jisung said.
"I told him to break it off with hyunjin."

"do you think he will listen?"
minho asked.

jisung shrugged.
"I don't know. it's his choice."

•~•

seungmin opened the door of the apartment he suddenly hated so much.

all of his way here, he has been thinking about jisung's words, unable to forget them.

taking off his shoes, seungmin made his way further into the house, seeing hyunjin sitting on the couch, eating chips while watching a movie.

"where have you been seung? it's getting kinda late, and I was bored here all alone."
hyunjin said.

"I want to break up."
seungmin said, looking straight into hyunjin's eyes.
"let's stop this."