colors • sh

s i x t y - t h r e e

мιиgнαο ϐιτ нιѕ τнυмϐиαιℓ as he dialed the number in his phone and pressed it on his ear, hearing the familiar ringing three times before a voice came in.

"Hey!"

"Hyung—"

"—Kidding! I pranked you even in calls? You're lame! Leave a message after the beep, stupid!"

Minghao groaned as he ended the call and stared at his phone, where a picture of Soonyoung raising a peace sign with his lips pursing faced him, looking as happy as ever.

Minghao heard someone slumping in front of him, looking tired and all hope in his face already lost.

"I told you," Mingyu started, pressing his forehead hard with his thumb. "He wouldn't answer."

Minghao frowned, sitting down on his chair with his Kermit doll (which was on the chair as well) flattened down. He slid his hands down his face in an annoyed manner, groaning.

"The hell is wrong with him? First, he sends Jihoonie-hyung a peculiar message—"

"It means I love you, moon."

Minghao stopped and furrowed his eyebrows while looking at Mingyu who was fishing out his phone to show him an app which translated Soonyoung's text.

"It's Japanese. It says..." Mingyu creases his eyebrows as he reads how it's pronounced in a failed Japanese accent. "Ayishteruuuu...yo?"

Minghao recognized this word. He's seen Jihoon and Wonwoo (together with Mingyu a few times) watch enough anime series to understand even a simple Japanese word. It's usually the word the characters use to confess to their crush and express their true feelings.

Minghao dropped his jaw. "Huh? 'I love you'? Well, that's cute, sure, but why does it indirectly says another meaning? Like—"

"'Goodbye'..." Mingyu said in realization as he looked up from his phone in utter disbelief and agape. Minghao nodded.

"And what the hell does he mean by 'moon'? What the fuck is a 'moon' supposed to mean to Jihoonie-hyung?" Minghao asked in frustration as he messed his dark hair and continued biting his nail, irritated by his hyung.

Mingyu shrugged in response as he continued to tap in his phone for a while, looking engrossed to what he was looking at which never left unnoticed by the Chinese.

"What are you doing, anyway?" Minghao stood up from his chair and walked over fo sit down beside his tall friend.

"I'm searching."

"For what?"

"For what really happened to Jihoon-hyung." Mingyu looked over Minghao who looked surprised to the response he received. Mingyu had concern written all over his face and Minghao couldn't help but mirror his expression at the mention of his precious hyung's situation.

"Don't you find it weird as well that hyung would suddenly see the world differently? 'It's not as bright as before'? The fuck does that mean? It's messing up my mind and if I don't know what is really going on in here, I will fucking lose it, Minghao. I will lose it." Mingyu's hands were shaking while holding his phone, obviously frightened from the events that occured and Minghao could not blame him. It really was weird to suddenly see the colors differently out of nowhere.

Everything has a reason, right?

"There it is!" Mingyu exclaimed and this caught Minghao's attention as well.

J. Somi asks: The colors are not as vibrant as it is before and I have already met my soulmate. Why is that?

K. Daniel replies: Mine has gone back to seeing the colors as black and white. I also do not understand what is happening to me. Someone, please tell me what this means.

"It's exactly as what happened to Jihoon-hyung." Mingyu mumbled, side-glancing his Chinese friend who was intently staring his phone down, looking just as nervous as he was.

He scrolled down the page and was surprised at the answer that they were met up with.

H. Hyunjin replies: I have zero experience of what have happened to you, but my sister has. We've consulted an expert and it saddens me to tell you that what has happened to you may be the cause of losing your soulmate. It usually starts with the colors not as lively as it was before and would most likely end up with the colors completely fading out into black and white once again.

Mingyu dropped his phone, his mouth staying open as he stared into nothing in shock. Minghao wasn't any different. He stared at Mingyu's hand like the device was still there and shook in fright.

"No way..." Mingyu muttered, trying to reach out for his phone, only for it to drop back down from the lose grip. Minghao held his head as it throbbed, still registering what they have just read.

"To think that... Jihoon-hyung..." Mingyu didn't want to continue his sentence and Minghao did not want to hear another word to put in the sentence. He was in rage. He didn't know what to do. All he could think of was pulling Soonyoung out of nowhere and beating the living daylight out of him.

He huffed. "How dare he?" he took out his own phone and dialed Soonyoung's number, hearing a few rings before it went to voicemail.

"Soonyoung, I'll tell you what. Leaving hyung would have been alright. Seriously, we wouldn't mind. But not telling him even a single reason as to why is not okay, huh? You hear me?! It is not okay, you asshole! Guess what happened to him. Guess what fucking happened to him! He—"

Beep.

"Fuck!" Minghao threw his phone across the room, breaking the glass in the process and Minghao just slumped in defeat. Mingyu just watched him hide his face into his hands in misery, screaming out loud Mingyu was thankful they made Jihoon buy the groceries.

After that, it was complete silence that dawned over the room. It was completely quiet that it hurt Mingyu's ears, biting his lip as he fumbled to his sweater paws instead of listening to Minghao scream out profanities to Soonyoung who wouldn't be able to hear it.

Finally, after what felt like an hour of Minghao cursing (even in his native language), he stopped, crossing his arms over his chest while his nose still scrunched in anger. Mingyu could imagine steam coming out of the Chinese's ears. But now wasn't the time to make fun of his friend. He himself is angry to Soonyoung for what he's done. He also wants to hurt Soonyoung just as much as he hurt his dear hyung who's done nothing wrong at all. He wanted to make Soonyoung explain why he left, why he'd leave Jihoon behind when Jihoon never did that to him.

Mingyu sighed as he let his mind go blank from the questions that kept on bouncing into his head and it was making his head throb.

A moment of silence occured before Mingyu turned to Minghao.

"So?"

Minghao turned to look at him as well, confused.

"When are we going to tell hyung?"

Minghao bit his bottom lip. "Should we?"

"Of course, we should! Jihoon-hyung would be absolutely angry when he finds out that we know." Mingyu said, panic and fright all over his face. But Minghao only looked down on his toes, clenching his hands.

Mingyu faltered. He himself couldn't do it. Even when Jihoon arrived at noon, whining and complaining how heavy the grocery bags were, they couldn't tell him. All they did was smile and act as if they knew nothing.

It was just too much for their precious hyung.

★彡

hehe i said stan stray kids.

now you're going to suffer with the book covers MWAHAHAHAHAHHA

not proof-read.
^ bc im too tired ^