RULES. seungjin.

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ２３】

It's been a week since Seungmin disappeared. A week since he left no trace of where he would've gone. A week since he left everyone he cared about... Stray Kids...Hyunjin, leaving measly goodbye letters leaving no indication of when he would ever return. And it's been a week since Hyunjin actually left his house.

The Moonlit Cafe is as busy as ever, customers entering in waves, piling up on orders. Chan and Woojin cook and bake at superhuman speeds with the most concentrated glares and Minho and Changbin are getting more exercise than they do from dancing and weight lifting by running back and forth from the kitchen and tables. You would think that a cafe would run very smoothly and slow, however, because it is the summer, business booms with Woojin and Chan's new summer menu. They are now attracting a wide range of ages and even tourists visiting the city. Fortunately, Jeongin, Felix, and Jisung are there to help out, lifting heavy weights off of the hyungs.

"Ughhh, I'm beat...," Jisung groans, throwing his entire body on a chair and proceeding to crack his neck and hands to ease his aching joints. Felix cringes at the loud cracks, but sighs, deciding to not lecture his friend about the detriments of cracking his bones. After long hours of work, it is nearing midnight, which means fewer customers would enter, leaving more time for the group to relax.

"Babe, you barely did much," Minho laughs while ruffling his boyfriend's messy hair. Jisung turns around to protest, but Woojin is quick to interrupt.

"Don't be slacking off now. We'll need all the help we can get from now on," he says as he wipes off beads of sweat from his forehead.

"Leave it to Jisung to try and do anything in the bare minimum," Changbin retorts with an amusing smile. Everyone chuckles except for Jisung, who puffs his cheeks out, clearly unimpressed.

"Yeah well, things could've run more efficiently if Hyunjin or Seungmin were here-," Jisung snides, quickly stopping after realizing what he had just uttered. Everyone goes silent and drops the expressions, all feeling a range of guilt, sadness, anger, and disappointment.

"Sorry...," Jisung mumbles, looking down to fiddle with the rips of his jeans, leaning on Minho's hand, which never left his head, for comfort.

"You don't have to be sorry for anything," Chan replies. Jisung nods and a period of awkward silence ensues among them again.

"I can't believe him," Felix mutters in frustration, "I can't believe he would just- leave. Like-how can he just leave everything behind and write pathetic letters for us! He gave no hints as to where he could be. He blocked us all and there's no way for us to even track him. What the fuck was he thinking? I swear if I ever see him, the first thing I'll do is give him a well-deserved punch-"

"Felix, calm down," Changbin coaxes, grabbing his arm, "He's your best friend."

"Exactly! I'm his best friend! He didn't talk to me about ANY of his problems and concerns. I had and still have no idea what happened to understand why he did any of this! He just scribbled some words that only potentially hurt all of us!"

Chan and Woojin wince at where they stand behind the counter, glancing at each other in melancholy. They remember when Changbin, Felix, and Jisung came back and handed the letter that Seungmin wrote to all of them a week ago, which only ended in confusion and a long session of tears. It was even more difficult when breaking the news to Jeongin. At first, Jeongin laughed, thinking it was a hilarious joke from his hyungs, but when shown Seungmin's letter, Jeongin lost all color and brightness in him. It was slightly surprising to see that the youngest didn't cry or throw a tantrum, in fact, he stayed quiet, but it was easy to tell that he was hurting just as much as the rest of them.