Conceal

9. Problem

There were a few moments during the bus trip where both Jooheon and Wonho wanted nothing more than to strangle the driver for driving so slowly.

It took them 15 minutes to arrive at Kihyun's apartment door, panting, out of breath, and sweaty. They took a moment to slow down their breathing, but even after that, their hearts were still hammering against their rib cages, as if berating them for taking too long. Way too long. A small part of them reasoned that Jongho could've spoke up the very first day Kihyun missed work, but the bigger part argued that, as best friends, they had the responsibility to keep in touch no matter how busy they were.

Wonho straightened up as he swallowed the multiple swear words that were practically prying his mouth open and begging to come out. "We should've known. When Dawon got arrested...we're so stupid." He shook his head and scratched his head in frustration, messing up his hair in the process.

Jooheon held Wonho's wrist and gently pulled them away from his hair. "Now's not the time to say these things," he said while fixing Wonho's hair. "Let's just go in."

Wonho nodded and knocked on the door. He shouldn't be nervous, but he was, and that just made him even more nervous. As if reading his mind, Jooheon patted his shoulder and they shared encouraging smiles.

Wonho was starting to think that it was taking too long for the door to open. He worried that Kihyun might be in a condition that made it physically impossible to let his friends in, and that thought made him panic, but before it could get any worse, he heard the door being unlocked.

Jooheon half expected to see dark circles around Kihyun's eyes and lips so pale it was the colour of snow, but what was actually behind the door was even more surprising than seeing a perfectly normal Kihyun, which implied how Jooheon and Wonho were so utterly pranked by their silly friend.

The person who opened the door was Shownu. "Oh, hi, I was actually waiting for you." He didn't seem to notice the confused and shocked expressions on his guests' faces.

Wonho, who was closer to Shownu than Jooheon was, asked, "Hyung? Why are you here? I thought you're still working overseas."

"Come in first." Shownu replied.

Jooheon and Wonho were led to the dining table in the kitchen. The room farthest away from Kihyun's room that could be served as a guest room, Jooheon noted. Shownu prepared coffee and placed the cups on the table. No one touched them, and it wasn't only because it was already 6:45pm in the evening.

"Kihyun called me. He wanted me to come back." Shownu explained.

Jooheon thought asking the question would only emphasize the fact that him and Wonho were not being really good friends, but he asked anyway, because anything was better than an awkward silence. "When?"

"Monday." Shownu replied curtly.

Jooheon didn't even have to think. Dawon was arrested that day, which meant Kihyun stopped going to work the same day. That was when he began to avoid Shownu's gaze. He was never a boyfriend, but it didn't take much to know what an angry and heartbroken one would do.

"Can we see Kihyun?" Wonho asked, trying to sound as sorry as possible. Jooheon picked up a cup of coffee so he could stare at it without looking rude, just because he didn't want any eye contact with Shownu.

"He's sleeping." Shownu's face was unreadable. "He didn't get much sleep last night." Shownu didn't say more but all three of them knew very well that Kihyun had difficulty sleeping from Monday all the way to Friday.