RULES. seungjin.

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ２６】

It's only been about ten minutes of driving and Seungmin is already tired of it. The car is generally quiet, save for the occasional rustling and barking from Brownie, however, the silence is starting to get to Seungmin. He can't take his eyes off the road, therefore the only thing he's focused on is to not get into an accident. Although he is focused on driving, with the deafening silence, he is vulnerable to listen and think about everything that comes to his head. And at this moment, all he could think about is everything that he is leaving behind.

The farther away he got from Seoul, the more guilty he felt. He sighs and tries to shrug the emotional weight off his shoulders, however, it did nothing to stop the burden. He sees his vision blurring from the tears beginning to brim on his eyes and he groans in frustration, pulling over to grab a tissue from a nearby compartment.

'I can't be like this. No matter how much they hate me, no matter how much of a douche I made myself perceived as, no matter how much pain I'm going through, as long as they are safe... then that is all that matters,' Seungmin thinks, lecturing himself. He peers up at the singular photo taped to his rearview mirror. The picture is of Stray Kids in Woojin and Chan's cafe. The nine of them sat in the circular table with a clutter of mugs and dishes in front of them. From the very right, Jeongin was the one holding the camera. He was making a pouty face and it immediately made Seungmin chuckle. He trails his eyes to the others in a line and feels his smile grow wider and wider from each passing friend. Changbin was holding up a peace sign, Felix was smiling as bright as the sun, Minho had puckered lips, Jisung was grinning while holding onto Minho, and Woojin and Chan stood behind the Minsung couple, fully embracing each other while smiling lovingly and making a heart with their hands. It was extremely cute.

Finally, Seungmin looks to the left of the picture and smiles painfully at the sight of him and Hyunjin. He was smiling as well, having his arm wrapped around Hyunjin's shoulder and the latter looked as beautiful as always, dimples shown and eyes crinkled cutely. as he caresses the picture of Stray Kids that he put in his passenger seat.

Seungmin caresses the picture, the rush of memories of that day coming to him.

The bright smiles that they all held in the picture bring happiness to Seungmin as if the void of his void is instantly refilled again. They truly are Seungmin's everything.

After Seungmin composes himself once more, he continues on his way to Busan. It is around a 4-hour drive, so Seungmin makes his way to his first rest stop: to a cafe to get caffeinated.

He puts in directions onto his phone for the nearest Starbucks and begins to drive there. Seungmin drives his car into the drive-thru line, thinking about what to get before ordering.

"Hello, welcome to Starbucks. What would you like to order?" the Starbucks worker asked via the telecom system.

"Hello. I'd like a venti iced black tea, please," Seungmin says.

"Okay. One venti iced black tea. Anything else?"

"Nope. That will be all."

"Thank you, please proceed to the first window."

"Thank you," Seungmin replies back, continuing to drive to the first window.

Seungmin didn't like coffee, so he opted to have tea, which also had caffeine, exactly what Seungmin needed.

"Hello. That will be $3.23," The person at the window says, handing Seungmin his drink.

Seungmin grabs his drink with one hand and pays with the other hand.

"Thank you," Seungmin says as he closes his window and begins to drive away.

He puts the straw into his drink and takes a sip, immediately feeling the caffeine kicking in.