The Glitch (Box #1)

7

Thunder rumbled through the night air as though warding off the remaining fools wandering in the rain.
Indeed, several people had long fled the streets, desperately trying to escape the rain. A few others had calmly walked under the protection of their umbrellas, yet their steps had been just as determined. Staying out and facing the rain head-on was never key. After all, rain never did more wonders than hand out free colds for all.
Staying in the rain meant having a special reason to do so.
Only fools would stand there with no reason whatsoever.
Only fools would ignore the alarm bells ringing through their minds.
Only they would choose to stay put.
Only Lee Chanhee and Lee Byunghun.
Even in the confines of a warm and dry place, they could have this conversation.
Yet the thought never crossed their minds.
Especially not as Byunghun looked down at Chanhee.
Though raindrops adorned every corner of his face, he had never been more captivating.
"The Mad Hatter does not suffer from madness, he enjoys every minute of it."
Indeed, never had Lee Byunghun seen a more beautiful empty shell.
"Never have I spouted finer bullshit."
Lee Chanhee seemed so lost.
"I was ignorant."
Unknowingly, Lee Chanhee had perhaps opened up to Lee Byunghun more than he had ever done to anyone else.
On several occasions, he had allowed himself to cry in front of him.
On several occasions, he had allowed him into all of his insecurities.
Yet.
Never had he seemed so vulnerable.
So much so that Lee Byunghun had to fight every part of his being not to pull him into a hug.
"I despise every minute of it."
Needless to say, the dark chuckle that left Lee Chanhee's lips chilled Byunghun to the bone.
"I hate myself for not doing what I said, only to be happy the following minute."
Tears or raindrops.
That was the question.
Yet it remained unanswered as Lee Chanhee shook his head.
"Then I get angry for not saying what I did yet doing what I said. Does that even make sense?" Chanhee cackled as he slightly threw his head back. "Does throwing you away yet desperately holding onto you, throw me away as well? Does holding onto you, throwing you away, throw Minsoo away as I desperately latch onto him? Are we all nothing but rubbish then? After all, we've all been thrown away."
Nonsensical words kept on falling from his lips.
Clearly, there was some logic to them.
There seemed to be a pattern in it all.
One that Lee Byunghun should have caught.
However he could only gape at him.
Ever more than slightly puzzled.
"Lee Chanhee." Byunghun tried as he slowly cupped one of Chanhee's cheeks. "Where is this coming from? You're not making any sense to me, you..."
"Yes." Chanhee nodded as he slightly sniffled. "I'm not making any sense."
The answer to Lee Byunghun's questions lay in the trembling frame before him.
Even more so, this time there was no denying the tears welling in Lee Chanhee's eyes.
"I don't want to make sense because making sense would mean admitting that I haven't been making sense all this time. It would mean saying that though I've been making sense, I've not been making sense. So then, what have I been making?"
"How the hell am I supposed to know that?"
Frustration could not even begin to define Lee Byunghun's current state of mind.
He knew that he should have been understanding Chanhee's rambling.
He knew it damn well but he just couldn't grasp it.
Especially not when his chatter abruptly came to an end.
Thus only leaving them with the thundering pitter patter of the rain.
It danced around them, filling the space Byunghun had taken away from Chanhee.
Indeed, through it all, he had stepped back.
A hand raised to his forehead, he couldn't help but sigh.
His headaches had come back in full force and seemed ready to have his head.
Or would Lee Chanhee beat them to it?
"I don't know."
Slightly sniffling, Chanhee brought a hand to his lips as he shook his head.
"That's the worst part." His voice caught as he lightly bit his bottom lip. "I do not know."
Neither did Lee Byunghun.
At that moment, the only certainty in his mind was that he was tired.
All of this had practically drained the life out of him.
He desperately needed to sit.
"What?"
Not that Lee Chanhee would let him.
"Can I not even sit?" Lee Byunghun could only let out a defeated sigh as he tried shaking Chanhee's hand off of him. "What now? What. now?"
He could be guided towards the bench now.
He could be pulled into Lee Chanhee's arms now.
He could allow his head to rest in the crook of Lee Chanhee's neck now.
He could.
"All I do know is that I don't want you to leave, Lee Byunghun."
So he gladly did.
"All I do know is that I want you here with me."
Or did he?
"Even if just for tonight, don't leave and simply be with me."
Naturally, he had breathed in all of Lee Chanhee.
Naturally, he had let himself curl into his embrace.
However.
He stilled at those words.
He stilled at Chanhee's tone.
Just as pleading as always.
"How can you nonchalantly ask for one night?"
A light chortle escaped Byunghun's lips as he slightly shook his head.
What was that?
What in the pure and utter hell was that?
"How can you even ask me that, Lee Chanhee?" Byunghun insisted as his hands slid to Chanhee's torso. "How can you even look me in the eye and ask me that?"
"Because I don't have the slightest clue how to keep you around, Lee Byunghun!"
Lee Byunghun simply found himself trapped in Lee Chanhee's gaze as the latter cupped his cheeks.
"I don't know how but I want you here with me." He nodded as he softly caressed Byunghun's cheeks. "Therefore I'll ask you the same question tomorrow."
"What about the following day?" Byunghun scoffed as he tried pushing him away.
"I'll ask again." Chanhee pushed on as he kept on holding onto Byunghun.
"You have Minsoo!" Byunghun snapped only to be ignored.
"Then the day after that!" Chanhee insisted as he rested his forehead against his.
"Will you cheat on him?" Relentlessly Byunghun let his fists fall against Chanhee's torso as he shook his head. "Again?"
"Then the day after that!" Chanhee insisted all the more as he tightly closed his eyes.
"Consequently cheating on me?"
The words had shot out of Lee Byunghun before he could stop himself.
Just as the loud sob that escaped his lips.
"You have Minsoo but who do I have?"
Letting out another sob, Lee Byunghun could only let his head fall onto Lee Chanhee's shoulder.
To any outsider, it would have seemed that he had given in to this madness.
It would have seemed that he had accepted defeat.
"I only have you, Lee Chanhee."
Quite on the contrary.
"Or should I say I only had you, Lee Chanhee?"
True.
His tears seemed to rattle his whole being as he shook against Chanhee.
Yet this was in no way sadness.
This was anger at holding himself back for this asshole's happiness.
This was frustration at this asshole for failing to understand the problem at hand.
"We broke up." Byunghun sniffled as he gripped the front of Chanhee's shirt. "We weren't even in an official relationship, so can we even call it that?"
"We were."
"I was sharing you, Lee Chanhee!" Scoffing, Byunghun pushed against Chanhee. "Scratch that, I was borrowing you from someone else! How can you ask me to go back to that? How can you even ask me to willingly walk back into a love triangle where my position has already been decided? Which position, you may ask? The distraction."
"You were never a distraction, Lee Byunghun."
"Which was why you had the guts to answer your calls in front of me?"
Lee Byunghun hadn't meant to.
His hand had acted all on its own.
Yet.
The tingling feeling in his hand was not unwelcomed.
Quite on the contrary.
Slapping Lee Chanhee had never felt quite as gratifying.
For a split second.
"Which was why breaking up with Minsoo never crossed your mind yet you didn't even blink when I broke things off?"
"I hadn't expected you to do so." Lee Chanhee softly whispered as he held a hand to his cheek.
Indeed all it had taken was that downcast gaze of his for Lee Byunghun to completely disregard his newfound joy.
"I hadn't expected such a thing." Lee Chanhee repeated as he slightly cocked his head to the side. "How can I then believe in a future between us if I can't even see where we're heading?"
"Because for the past whopping 6 years or so, you've already seen yourself growing old with Minsoo?"
"Don't patronize me, Lee Byunghun."
"Do let me patronize you, Lee Chanhee." Byunghun snapped as he got to his feet. "Do let me remind you that life does not work that way. Just because your parents..."
Maybe it was all in the way that Lee Chanhee oh so calmly folded one of his legs over the over.
"Yes?"
Maybe it was all in the way that Lee Chanhee oh so blatantly glared at him.
Still.
Lee Byunghun completely ignored the obvious warnings.
"What about them?"
Never had Lee Chanhee eagerly chosen to talk about his parents.
The simple fact that he was now pressing the matter should have stopped Byunghun short.
"I will not be changing the subject, Lee Chanhee."
                                                      "What is the most precious thing to you?"
                                                                              "Our son's smile."
"Does it look like I'm asking you to, Lee Byunghun?"
                              "Our son's smile whenever he receives a gift from our trips.
                                                              It is the most precious thing."
"Should I hand you a mirror and let you see for yourself?" Byunghun pursed his lips as he took in Chanhee's frown.
                                                              "It makes everything worthwhile."
Translation.
Pure and utter bullshit.
Spout pure and utter bullshit.
That was all his parents ever did.
To this day, Lee Chanhee could still recall his grandmother reading that very article aloud to him.
That had not been the first time she'd done such a thing for him.
However.
It had been the first time she had ever shown him how frustrated she was with her son and daughter-in-law.
At the time, Lee Chanhee had been 6.
It had been 3 years since he'd last seen his globe-trekking parents.
Of course he had received gifts but none other than the postman had ever seen his reaction.
Only he had seen Lee Chanhee's downcast expression whenever he was handed yet another colorful box.
Only he had seen Lee Chanhee throw the box aside and hopingly look back up at him.
Wordlessly pleading for a letter replying to his countless postcards.
Childishly hoping for his parents to pop out of the postman's bag.
Blindly believing his parents' promises to be back this time.
Blindly holding on to this small thread of truth they'd always given him.
All until the day they had come back.
"You brought them up." Chanhee whispered as he slowly looked away from Byunghun.
"I needed to."
"We're talking about us." Chanhee shook his head. "How do my parents fit into that equation?"
"Because you compare everyone to them!"
In a way, Lee Chanhee regretted ever wishing for them to come back.
After all, wistfully dreaming about a family reunion had always filled him with joy.
Unlike the bittersweet one he had been given.
On his 9th birthday, the postman hadn't been the one to hand him his present.
His parents had been there in the flesh: His father, full of affection, had called him 'son'. His mother, glowing with joy, had pulled him into her arms and repeatedly kissed him.
However the illusion had only lasted an hour or so.
Soon he had realized that his father only used such an endearing term because he had forgotten his full name. His mother, on the other hand, had showered him with so much love, in so little time, all because it was the only amount of time she could give him. Indeed, two hours after their grand entrance, his parents had been off again.
"You expect everyone to be as whimsical as they are."
Overtaken by emotions, Lee Chanhee had ran out after his parents.
In a moment of craziness, he'd thought that he'd catch up to their car.
He'd thought that they would stay.
"You expect everyone to get up and leave."
That had been the plan.
He would no longer live with his grandparents.
He would be reunited with his parents.
They had promised not to leave him alone ever again.
They had promised.
"You disregard everything that you cannot control."
Yet instead of catching up to them, Lee Chanhee had only ended up sweaty and thirsty.
He'd only ended up in front of the neighborhood mart with 2 other little boys.
Unlike his parents, they had been captivated with him from the get-go.
Gruff, one of them had relentlessly stolen several brief glances towards him.
Frail and slightly feminine, the other had blatantly gaped at him.
True, an ice-cream had then changed things around.
However one thing had been sure.
Lee Chanhee had forever mesmerized those two.
They would never leave him alone.
"In order not to get hurt, you follow a distinct route."
"Lee Byunghun..." Chanhee started but Byunghun cut him.
"I can't guarantee our relationship." Byunghun slightly whispered as he knelt down in front of Chanhee. "I don't know what the future holds for us. I don't know what I'll be doing tomorrow let alone in two hours."
In two hours Lee Byunghun would be finishing up his article.
Point done.
Of course, uttering the words aloud, would only make Lee Chanhee out to be a smartass.
However it would stop Lee Byunghun from forever breaking his heart.
Wouldn't it?
"You..."
Wouldn't it?
Though Lee Chanhee had started speaking, he never quite reached the end of his sentence.
"Still all you need to do is believe in me, Lee Chanhee."
Instead, he found himself holding on to every bit of Lee Byunghun's bittersweet words.
"Have you ever, even if for a second, believed in me?" Lightly biting on his lower lip, Byunghun laid a hand on Chanhee's. "Have you ever seen yourself growing old with me, Lee Chanhee?"
                                                                              "Get married?"
Lee Byunghun had once joked.
                                                                                      "Let's!"
Lee Chanhee had always answered.
Always.
Even more so than with Bang Minsoo.
Lee Chanhee has always seen himself growing old with Lee Byunghun.
Always.
Yet.
If he dared admit this now, would Lee Byunghun even listen?
"I can't hold on to this hand if you don't believe me."
Wouldn't he simply continue crushing all of his hopes?
"I cannot and I will not willingly go back into your arms just to go through the same pain, Lee Chanhee."
Wouldn't he simply finish what he had clearly set out to do?
"I cannot."
Wouldn't he simply deny him of a mere smile?
"I'm back as your friend." Byunghun sniffled as he slowly got to his feet.
Wouldn't he simply deny him of a mere look?
"Your friend that's worried because you're going to be dead tired on your first day at work." Byunghun awkwardly chuckled as he slowly brought his hands against his chest.
Wouldn't he simply deny him of a mere touch?
"Your friend that loves you and wants nothing but your happiness."
Wouldn't he simply deny Lee Chanhee of every right to love him?
"However this isn't it." Byunghun softly cleared his throat before nodding towards Chanhee. "Whatever this is, it is not happiness, understand, Lee Chanhee?"
The irony of it all.
"If you do." Byunghun slightly paused before ever so softly smiling at him. "Then goodnight."
Lee Chanhee had been shattered all the way down to his very core.
He could hardly speak to defend himself.
Yet there stood Lee Byunghun.
Strutting on his high horse.
"I'll see you around." Byunghun nodded before heaving a small sigh.
He could throw his petty friendship around for all to see, yet proudly proclaiming his love for Lee Chanhee.
He could lean forward, clearly breaking through Lee Chanhee's personal space, all for the sake of retrieving his scarf.
He could look Lee Chanhee dead in the eye as their noses momentarily brushed.
He could awkwardly smile as he hurriedly stood straight.
"Why?"
Lightly biting on his lower lip, Lee Byunghun had been too preoccupied with covering his reddening cheeks to hear Lee Chanhee.
"Why can't I?"
Lost in thought, Lee Byunghun had been too preoccupied with scurrying away to notice Lee Chanhee following him.
"Why can't I touch you?"
Adjusting to the rain, Lee Byunghun had been too preoccupied with blinking away raindrops to see Lee Chanhee at his side.
"Why can't I love you?"
Blinded by a coat, Lee Byunghun had been too preoccupied with squealing to notice Lee Chanhee's arms gently falling over his shoulders.
"Why, Lee Byunghun?"
Needless to say, Lee Byunghun's eyes had nearly popped out of their sockets in the space of those few seconds in darkness.
"Why?" Lee Chanhee softly repeated once more as he readjusted the coat above both their heads.
Needless to say, Lee Byunghun's nonsensical yelps had soon died down to faint whimpers as he looked straight into Lee Chanhee's eyes.
"Why?"
His hands now free, Lee Chanhee allowed his fingers to gently brush against Byunghun's jaw.
Just as gently as his nose as he slowly leaned into him.
"Wh..."
Not that the latter would comply.
No words could explain the string of swear words that escaped Lee Byunghun's lips as he swatted Chanhee's hands away from his face.
"This is the second time you've tried to kill me tonight, Lee Chanhee!" Byunghun clucked his tongue as he thrashed against the coat.
"Kill you?"
"Why else would you throw your coat over my head." To no avail, Byunghun thrashed as he continued. "Emphasis on my head." Letting out a frustrated groan, Byunghun could only glare back at Chanhee. "Right before I made my way down a flight of stairs?"
"To do this."
A simple awkward bump of their lips.
That was what their first kiss had been.
All the way down to the slight cut it had left on both of them.
Tingling, the latter had seemed to taunt them every passing day.
All until they had given in once more.
At the time, stinging pain had replaced the slight tingle.
Then pleasurable chills had masked the pain.
Just as they now did.
Though their lips now held no bruises, the kiss hurt all the more.
Though they naturally molded into one another, pain coursed through them.
Raw and unexplainable, it seemed to tear at every bit of their being.
Just as their fingers as they explored bodies seemingly forgotten.
A lewd moan escaped Byunghun's lips as Chanhee's hands slowly slid up his torso. All before he retaliated, gently biting on Chanhee's lower lip as the latter dared chuckle at him. His chuckles slowly dying down, the latter then allowed himself to softly cup Byunghun's cheeks and pull him into another feverishly slow kiss.
Henceforth leaving Byunghun breathless as they reluctantly pulled apart.
"Did..." Byunghun started only to pause as he relentlessly tried catching his breath.
To make matters worse, Chanhee's coat only seemed to emphasize the sound of their scattered breaths.
Consequently taunting Lee Chanhee to pull Byunghun into another kiss.
Not that the latter would comply.
"Did you not hear a word I said?" Byunghun clucked his tongue at him as his hands clutched the front of his shirt.
"Maybe." Chanhee whispered as one of his arms wrapped around Byunghun's hips.
"Lee Chanhee!" Byunghun snapped only for his voice to die out in a faint gasp. Slightly trembling, his hold tightened around Chanhee's shirt as he shook his head. "What the hell are you thinking?"
He wanted to pull him against his chest once more.
He wanted to steal a kiss from his lips once more.
They both damn well knew that those were the only thoughts coursing through Lee Chanhee's mind.
Therefore the latter was in no way acting out of line as he simply chose to ignore the question at hand.
Instead, he slightly leaned forward.
His gaze slowly trailing up Lee Byunghun's frail figure.
All before meeting his defiant gaze.
"I repeat." Byunghun started through gritted teeth.
"Friends hug." Chanhee stated as he let his hand trail down Byunghun's arm.
"Did you not hear a word, I said?" Byunghun snapped though there was no denying his reddening cheeks. "You can hug me all you want as your friend. But kisses?" He could only scoff as he glared down at Chanhee's hand wrapping around his. "Friends do not kiss. At least we don't."
"I know that."
Hold that thought.
"You know that?" Byunghun slowly repeated.
"I may not know many things but I know what friendship is."
"Oh do you?"
"I don't need anyone redefining it for me."
"You don't, do you?"
Truth be told, Lee Byunghun had been oozing with more and more gusto as each second flew by.
However it all came down to a screeching halt as Lee Chanhee lay the softest of kisses on his forehead.
"You're the first person that I've willingly kissed over the past 3 months."
Didn't that simply mean that he had been going rampant prior to that?
"Trust me, Lee Byunghun."
Didn't that simply mean that he'd somehow grown tired of his beloved boyfriend?
"I know what friendship is and I don't want yours."
It was said that distance made the heart grow fonder.
Was Lee Byunghun to believe that this was what had occurred?
Was he to believe such lies?
"What do you want from me then?"
Lee Byunghun's voice had come out as a faint whisper.
Soon stolen away by a smooch.
"I'm serious." Byunghun tried as his gaze locked with Chanhee's.
Followed by another.
"Lee Chanhee." Byunghun faintly whispered as he slightly arched away from him.
Only to fall into another kiss.
To his nose.
"Are you even listening to me?"
Lee Byunghun's only answer came in the form of Lee Chanhee's nose.
Affectionately rubbing against his.
All before he rested his forehead against his.
"I know that I shouldn't but I do."
Unexpectedly.
Naturally.
"It scares me to death but I do."
Lee Chanhee's voice gently wrapped around Lee Byunghun.
"I love you."
To say Lee Byunghun had momentarily lost any notion of his surroundings would have been an understatement.
So much so that, as he slowly regained composure, the small squeak that left his lips was more than justified.
Had Lee Chanhee perhaps lost his mind?
After all, those words had never left Lee Chanhee's lips.
Byunghun had read them in his eyes but he'd never heard them.
"Lee Byunghun."
He'd never heard them.
"I love you."
Yet.
It had never mattered.
"I don't want to hear that."
He knew that Lee Chanhee loved him.
He knew it from the bottom of his heart.
"I don't need to hear that."
Those words were not what he needed.
"Say something else, Lee Chanhee." Byunghun whispered as he slowly shook his head.
"I love you." Chanhee replied just as softly.
"Anything else."
"I love you."
Lee Byunghun's request was simple.
All he needed was a thousand words.
A thousand words for the broken pieces of his heart.
A thousand words for the tears that he had relentlessly shed.
A thousand words to believe that things would be different this time around.
Yet.
All this blithering idiot had given him were three words.
Three measly words that said much more than a hundred words ever could.
So much more.
"I hate you."
Therefore Lee Byunghun's small hiccups were more than justified.
"I despise you."
Followed by small sniffs perfectly paired with small punches.
"I loathe you."
Ending in a tender kiss.
"I really do."
Restarting in a warm embrace.
Thus allowing their record to run smoothly once more.
Glitch-free.
Unlike Minsoo's.
His hand tightly wound around his phone.
He stared ahead.
The operator saying in his ear what he saw with his very own eyes.
"The blub is ringing!"
Lee Chanhee was ignoring his phone call.
No.
Lee Chanhee was ignoring his phone altogether.
"It ate Chanhee!"
Now.
Ahn Daniel was cute beyond words as he crazily waved his arms in the air.
Still it had in no way stopped Minsoo from hitting the back of his head.
Hard.
"Though intoxicated." Minsoo noted as he dialed once more. "Anything you say, will be held against you in my Court."
"Last time I checked, you fled Law Degrees like the plague."
Second hit? Check.
"Denial becomes you." Niel whined before massaging his head. "Will you also deny that there are two pairs of legs under that talking coat?"
"Is it no longer a blub?" Minsoo deadpanned.
"Don't play cute with me." Niel made a face before cocking his head to the side. "I'll barf."
"You already did, dumbass!"
There was only one culprit for the stench coming off of Bang Minsoo's shirt.
He was currently blinking back at him with as much innocence as a nearby lamp post.
"It was a token of my affection."
"I want none of it." Minsoo clucked his tongue back at him. "If it were up to me, I'd shove it back down your throat."
Oblivious to the harshness of his tone.
Uninterested by the pained expression washing over Niel's face.
Bang Minsoo stared down at his phone.
Lee Chanhee illuminating his screen.
Even as his thumb pressed down.
"Answer your phone, Chanhee."
Even as he brought his phone to his ear.
Lee Chanhee's bright smile remained.
Just as the static at the other end of the line.
"Chanhee, please."
Frustration could have pushed him to tearing his phone to pieces.
Financial awareness stopped him from doing so.
However it in no way stopped the questions coursing through his mind.
They had been standing there.
They had simply been standing there.
What in the world did they think they were doing?
"They're covering their heads from the rain."
His coaxing himself into denial had been supposed to remain in the confines of his mind.
Yet the words had shot out of him before he could stop himself.
Much to Niel's bewilderment.
"Is that a question or..." Niel started before letting out a small gasp. "The coat's about to fall!" He cooed before turning back to Minsoo. "What will you do if they're doing something that they shouldn't be doing?"
"What would that be?"
Minsoo's more than calm tone should have tipped him off.
Still Niel charged, full-speed ahead.
"Like changing their phone batteries under the pouring rain."
There were words for people like Niel.
There sincerely were.
Not that Minsoo could muster them as he let out a frustrated groan.
"Instead of spouting your bullshit." Minsoo snapped as he flicked his forehead. "Shouldn't you be overreacting and going over there, running rampant, like the resident cockblocker that you are?"
"I love you too." Niel scoffed, clearly hurt.
Much to Minsoo's indifference.
"You should be doing just that!"
His rant had started and it didn't seem to be ending anytime soon.
Especially as he shook his head back at Niel.
"You should be doing just that but you're calm." He repeated before pausing. "As though this were normal."
Incoherent attempt at covering the blatant truth? Check.
"I love Chanhee."
Pained gasp with a dash of a broken heart? Double Check.
"I've loved him for a long time now." Minsoo nodded as he looked down at his phone screen, his thumb gently passing over Chanhee's face. "I trust him."
"Then go over there and lift that coat."
It was Niel's pained heart that had spoken.
He had had nothing to do with the words that had just left his lips.
He had had nothing to do with the hurt lingering in Minsoo's gaze.
Nothing at all.
"They're friends."
Right?
"They haven't seen each other in a long time."
Right.
"They're just chatting."
Niel had nothing to do with the hurt in Minsoo's gaze.
Nor the bullshit he had just uttered.
That was all on him.
"Daniel."
Especially as he relentlessly tried to wipe away raindrops.
Oblivious to the fact that those were indeed teardrops.
"What do I do when that coat falls?" Minsoo whispered.
"You're a grown ass man." Niel sighed as he gently patted his back. "You know what to do."
"Should I really?" Minsoo mused before slipping his phone back in his pocket. "Byunghun's so frail that I might actually send him to the hospital."
The chill running down Niel's back had nothing to do with their proximity.
Hell to the no.
"Straight to the morgue."
More to the murderous glint in his best friend's eyes.
"I said grown ass man not a murderer!" Niel snapped back at him, appalled. "Just a minute ago, you claimed to trust Chanhee."
"How can I trust him when another man is clearly in his arms right in front of me?"
One could have clapped.
It had seemed as though Bang Minsoo had finally regained his intelligence.
However doing so would have been pathetic.
"The coat could end it all."
It would have meant overlooking just how blissful his ignorance had been.
"Either my Chanhee will finally let me hold him once more or I will have lost him."
"He's your best friend." Niel shook his head back at him. "You can't lose him, Minsoo."
"I'll lose a part of him."
At that moment.
A cord seemed to have snapped within Ah Daniel.
If it wasn't Lee Chanhee's cowardice.
"When have you ever had that part of him?"
It was Bang Minsoo's blindness that grated on his nerves.
"You won't exactly be losing much."
"The fuck did you say?"
Bang Minsoo had all but pushed himself away from Ahn Daniel.
However the latter only stepped closer.
"You guys have been feeding me platonic bullshit for the past months or so."
And closer.
"Clearly, whether Chanhee or I kissed you, it would amount to the same thing."
And closer.
"He hasn't kissed you in so long, you'd just be glad for anyone to kiss you."
All before Minsoo gave him a hard shove.
"The fuck did you say, Ahn Daniel?"
"Shove me as much as you want!" Niel snapped as he caught onto his hands. "I said!"
Unable to stop the momentum, Niel found himself crashing into Minsoo's chest.
"What if I kissed you?"
Yet his determination remained.
"Would you remain indifferent?"
His gaze never faltering.
"I've been around just as long as Chanhee!"
To the point of flooring Minsoo.
"I repeat."
To the point of rendering him speechless.
"What will you do if I kiss you?"
The point had been for Bang Minsoo to push him away.
Not wrap his hands around his shoulders.
"You puked." Minsoo tried despite it all.
Only to purely and utterly fail.
"That's not a valid answer."
The point had been for Bang Minsoo to lean back.
Not stay rooted in his spot as Niel leaned in.
"What would you do, Bang Minsoo?"
The coat had fallen.
However.
The question was now much different as the glitch occurred.

"What would you do?"