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SHINWONDIDN'T go see Jindeok the day after. In fact, he didn't even leave the house all day. He felt different, he felt sick without actually being ill; in the back of his mind, he knew what it was, he simply didn't want to admit it, so he insisted it was just his head being crazy, as per usual. They had last been together on a Friday, and Sunday was Jindeok's day off, the day they'd most certainly spend together. But she found his absence on Saturday out of habit, and decided to go meet him up on her day off instead of waiting for him to come by.
( ... )
N O V E M B E R 15, 2 0 1 5
At three in the afternoon, Jindeok was at Shinwon's doorstep. She tapped her foot on the floor, impatiently waiting for him to open the front door after she knocked three consecutive times. When he finally opened the door and peaked out, Jindeok furrowed her eyebrows at his appearance. His hair was all disheveled, his t-shirt seemed like it had never been ironed in its life and the sweatpants he wore were old, very old (she recognised them from at least four years ago). It was quite the surprising sight, Shinwon always looked his best, even if he was just at home, relaxing.
"You okay?" She inquired him, as she made her way in, not even waiting for him to invite her in.
"Y– Yeah, why'd you ask?" His voice cracked a bit when he first spoke, maybe due to not speaking to anyone in a day.
"You didn't go see me yesterday and you look...well, messy." She said sincerely, sitting down on the couch.
He sat down next to her, head down as kept his eyes on his hands, which were on his lap, fingers fidgeting with each other. "Sorry, I didn't feel like leaving the house yesterday." There was a brief moment of silence before be spoke again. "Shouldn't you be at work right now?"
"Today's my day off."
"Oh, right, sorry, I totally forgot. I'm a shitty friend." He laughed dryly, leaning back against the couch.
"It's okay, don't worry about it, you have your own stuff to think about." She smiled at him, trying to cheer him up, grabbing one of his hands and caressing the back of it with her thumb. "Speaking of which, when are you going to look for a new job?"
He shrugged. "Tomorrow or so. I should probably get on that as soon as possible, but lazying around all day sounds so much better."
She chuckled, as she nodded. "True, but you also need to be able to pay for a roof to be lazy under, and in order to do that you need a job. And one you can keep for more than a month." She side-eyed him, playful smirk on her lips.
It was his turn to chuckle now. "Hey, it's not my fault no one seems to appreciate my talent at anything I do." He draped one of his arms over her shoulders and pulled her closer to his side, resting his head on top of hers. "Jinnie, wanna go out later? Like, at night?"
"What?" She turned her head slightly to get a good look at him. "Why?"
"Just to clear our minds, I guess. You know, just like the old times." He smiled sheepishly at her.
"The old times? You mean back when our life revolved around clubbing and crashing at each other's places?" She said, frowning at her own words.
"We still crash at each other's places, the only difference is that we don't go clubbing anymore." He remarked, looking up at the blank white ceiling above them. "It'll be fun, we don't even have to go to any clubs, just hang around town."
It took her a while to finally give in with a sigh. "Fine," She accepted his request. "But we can't stay out too late, I have work tomorrow morning."
"You got it, captain." He winked at her, causing her to laugh.
Despite all their chatting and laughter, Jindeok still felt like something about Shinwon was off that day. She felt as if he was hiding something from her, which hurt her to think about, since they always told each other everything. The girl thought she knew her friend like the palm of her hand, and, usually, she could always tell what was wrong, even if he didn't speak up about what was bothering him. But that day, things weren't like that: Shinwon was as closed off as Pandora's box, and she wasn't too sure if cracking him open was a good idea. Normally, whenever Shinwon hid something (well hidden), it resulted in trouble. And she adored Shinwon with all heart, she truly did, after all he was her best friend, but sometimes she wished Shinwon carried less commotion with him.
"What's on your mind?" Shinwon asked out of the blue, making Jindeok snap out of her thoughts.
"Yo– Chicken." She mumbled out, almost actually speaking her mind.
"Yo chicken? What is that?" He inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"I tripped over my words, okay? I just wanted to say chicken." She made up an excuse and hoped he'd fall for it.
"You're hungry? We can order something." He suggested, reaching out for his phone.
She went along with it, despite not being in the mood for eating. Shinwon too had his mind running wild, going along with anything Jindeok said, just for the sake of not seeming too strange – which, little did he know, he was failing at miserably.
On one end of the couch, Jindeok worried about what he was keeping to himself, and on the other end Shinwon worried about not keeping to himself enough and leaving her suspicious. Their bodies were there, sitting next to each other, but their minds were in a whole different galaxy, light years away from one another, trying to find a way to get back to each other, struggling to even breathe.
Who knew managing your only friendship could be so hard, so worrisome. Who knew the weight of caring could be so heavy.
// note; thischapterisn't as long as the previous one whichI'm sorry for but I felt like it'dbetootiring and boring to prolongit any further, I feel like itwas good enough to give y'all a betterinsight on Shinwon & Jindeok'sfriendship
