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2.3

Lee Minhyuk

"Wait, so you're actually serious about this?"

"Yeah, I just thought I should let you know." I said, closing the door behind me.

"Well, if not even your Dad could stop you, who am I to stand in your way," Kihyun chuckled. "keep me posted."

"Oh, relax, I'm gonna stop by the hospital before."

He paused. "Don't, I'm not there."

"Okay, I'll go to your house-"

"Not there either, Minhyuk." Said Kihyun, far too slowly and far too carefully for me to even consider it not suspicious. I heard a second sigh, faintly, but it had been around me for most of my life, it was hard to not recognise.

"Changkyun?"

"How did you even know?" he groaned. "Also, Mom And Dad are gonna kill you."

"They won't - you'll be telling them." I smirked

"Why do I have to be the one facing the beasts? But fine, whatever, call us when you can."

"Of course, see you later," I hung up, sliding the phone in my back pocket before climbing into the passenger seat of the squad car, Hyunwoo behind and my Dad at the steering wheel. "I'm all good, let's go."

"You're mad - tell me Mr Kim, did he get the rash decision-making from you?" Hyunwoo sighed, pulling the seatbelt over him. I simply flashed him a cheeky smile via the rearview mirror, hoping the gesture would at least stop my hands from shaking, reminding myself that this is what I had to do.

"You can't fault a man for following his heart, I wish I did the same myself," he replied, eyes never leaving the road. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks." I grinned.

However, the initial buzz and excitement died down with the small talk we made soon after we left the main city, the highways to the airport congested. I rubbed my palms on my jeans, taking a deep breath.

"Relax, Minhyuk, we'll get there on time." Dad reminded me calmly, the car inching forward.

"I don't mean to make you stressed, given that this is very kind of you, but we won't with this traffic," I turned to him. "please bend the rules this one time, I know it's not an emergency but I have to make it there before he boards the plane."

He looked at the traffic ahead, Hyunwoo looking between the two of us. He spared me a glance, "You owe me," he reached aside, flicking on the sirens & lights, cars parting in front of us. "but buckle up."

"I'll make it up to you." I grinned, the car speeding ahead, the planes taking off and landing suddenly becoming closer and closer as the airport came into view.
I hopped out of the car at once, Hyunwoo and my Dad following closely, coming to a stop at customs.

"I can't go without my-"

"Minhyuk, use your badge to get past customs fast, we'll hold our end over here," he pulled me into a tight hug. "keep us updated."

"And don't forget us," winked Hyunwoo. "go on, now."

"Thank you, I'll see you soon."

So I took off, flashing my badge at any airport security who came my way, finding the first class lounge of the next flight to Paris, after a solid 10 minutes sprinting. I stopped at the door, taking a heavy breath before being met with questionable glances from passengers, who were on their way to board the plane.

Amongst them I found him, and at that point, not even my legs could carry me fast enough.

I abruptly stopped just inches from Jooheon, throwing my arms around him to stop myself from falling. Initially, he remained frozen, before slowly craning his neck behind, frightened eyes meeting my own as I lamely panted.

"Minhyuk?!"

"Wait.." I fell to my knees, still breathing far too heavily to get a proper word out. "don't go..yet."

"Oh, my God, Minhyuk, are you okay?" He lowered himself, helping me to my feet. "How did you even-"

"This," I held the letter up, his eyes immediately glassing over. "this pushed me back into my senses. And made me realise that letting you go would be the most epic mistake I would make in my life."

"Minhyuk, I-"

"No, you're doing your apology face, but you have nothing to apologise. I do; I had no reason to lash out at you the way I did. Not even everything going on in my life could potentially serve as a good enough reason for me to even think of being that way towards you. You, out of anybody in my life, deserves as much love and affection as possible, and I know it could be asking too much, but Jooheon I messed up, and I never ever wanted to hurt you, because I love you more than anything."

Initially, he didn't react, an unreadable expression in his face, until he reached for my hand. I froze.

"I was going to say I miss you, Minhyuk," Jooheon said softly. "and I want to apologise too, yes. Whilst it gives no excuse, I shouldn't have sprung the news up on you so suddenly and I make it feel like I was leaving you; and I shouldn't have expected you to drop everything and leave. But, I love you beyond words, and this time apart really reminded me of that."

"Me too. I miss you humming around the house, or how you have a habit of taking your pepperoni from the pizza and eating it first and all the 400 million other tiny, ridiculously adorable things you do, but most of all, I miss how you make me a better person." I said, no hesitation in my words.
And then he smiled, and I knew I had finally done everything right.

"It may take some time, Minhyuk, but I love you, and I'll forgive you," he said, stopping as his name rang out through the lounge, empty apart from the two of us. "but as you can hear, I have to go. I can't let my Mom go alone. And I'm gonna need time; I need to learn how to trust you again."

"I know."

"Why are you so calm about it?" He blinked.

I took a deep breath, a smile taking over my face. It wasn't what I thought was right, but it was the right thing to do. "Nothing."

"Minhyuk," he reached for my hand. "what's up?"

"What you said just now. You're right - you have to go - you have to go. Not me," I said. "I had this crazy plan, to just take off with you to Paris, but you know what, I think we both need this; I especially need this. I need to work on myself before I can fully love someone else, to make sure I never ever hurt them again."

"Will you be okay?" He asked quietly.

"I may call at random hours of the day because I miss you, but I'll get through it. You may be across the globe, but you're still my home, regardless," I smiled. "I want to make sure I can be yours too."

His eyes twinkled before a wide smile took over his face, and he pulled me into a tight hug. "I love you."

I grinned. "I love you too."

*THE END*

SIKE ACTUALLY the epilogue is on its way hehe
I'll do a proper thanks there but thank you so much to everybody who read, voted and commented on this book, you truly have made my day for these past months and I'm eternally thankful for you all ♡
EDIT: hi everybody!!!!
idk when some people will read this, but it's been a few months since I finished the book and upon reading it back, the last scene really didn't sit right with me so I decided to edit it - previously, Minhyuk apologised, Jooheon accepted it and everything was fine but I realised that things just don't work that way, especially when something so serious went on between the two of them, so I changed it to them having a kinda break-up (in case it was kinda ambiguous) (call it a "break") but being on good terms, which I think is better than jumping right back into how things were!
but never fear, don't lose hope on the ship just yet hehe