Love Me Too

-18-

The loud ringing of the doorbell woke Yeonjun up from his doze. Knowing that the responsible Taehyun would answer it, he pulls the covers up over his head and tries to get back to his peaceful state of inactivity. Before he can even shut his eyes, he heard Beomgyu's loud "FUCK OFF!" ring from downstairs. "What the heck's going on..?" the blue haired male groans as he forces himself off his bed and makes the long, tiring trek down the stairs.

Not realising that the last person he wanted to see was standing in front of his door, shocked and hurt by the response he got from the blonde 18-year-old, Yeonjun, with his eyes still shut, mumbles, "Beomgyu, don't be rude. Go back to whatever you were doing." The said male scoffs and walks off to finish his homework. Yeonjun hesitantly seperates his eyelids and looks up, then realised that it was a different matter altogether.

"Hey, Yeonjun Hyung." Soobin smiles, dimples on display. "I just wanted to come over and check on you and see if everything was alright. You don't mind, do you?" he asks, tilting his head to look at his Hyung's face that's looking down, unable to resist his eyes from tearing up. "Look, um, Soobin-Ah, I think- I think you should leave. It was nice of you to come over, really, it was. But.." his voice breaks.

What's the point of coming over when he knew it would make things worse? Soobin knows that they still had to fix things between them, can't he keep his distance? Yeonjun inhales shakily as he replies,

"Please go."

Silence.

A small sigh was heard. "Alright then. I'll leave you be, but please at least take this before I go." the clearly hurt voice of the younger responds. The older male finally lifts his head to see a red rose attached to a card labelled "I'm Sorry". He took a moment to admire the beauty and kindness it's filled with. "Thank- thank you." his voice quivers slightly before taking it in his hands. How could he reject this extremely sweet gesture, especially if it was from Soobin? "This is really-"

But he had gone. Yeonjun had opened his eyes. There was no trace that he had been there, along with the rest of everything that had been there. It was all just a stupid nightmare.

He realises that it was all in his head before sitting up on his bed and puts his face into his cupped hands. What was wrong with him? The boy said no, get over it already. You can't force someone to like you. "God, save me from this bullshit already." he mutters under his breath as he gets up to go to work.

But God had other plans for him.

He trudges on the crunchy autumn leaves scattered along the path that he's walking on, feeling as half dead and depressed as them. The usually comforting wind now feels like a threat, trying to constantly make him lose his balance. As if he hasn't mentally done so.

He thinks about those days with Soobin, his heart hurting even more than the terrible headache he currently has. At those times, everything felt like it was finally going his way. For the first time in forever, he felt free to be himself and do whatever he could do. Now he's back to the old him. Everything annoyed him, and irritating little things pissed him off.

Yeonjun can't believe how much a person could change him in a span of a week. And someone he had just met, too. All of that wasted effort just so he can end up heartbroken and miserable all over again.

Yeah, maybe it was his fault. His heart was and still is naïve and fragile, not to mention been broken many times throughout his lives.

But this time there was a catch. He was the one rejected. All the other times consisted of him rejecting others thinking he was just going to be another burden for them to carry, and they'd taken it badly and insulted him. Physically and verbally.

That was the first real time he had actually loved someone, but that someone didn't. Out of all the 7.5 billion people on earth, he had to fall for the one whose mind doesn't think of him in that way.

___________________________

Yeonjun's workplace is an average convenience store. You know, the ones which most poor people in stories work as. He doesn't mind working there, it's just that there are some annoying customers and those who try to steal things. But those are rare.

What's even rarer is that his heartbreaker is actually in there. Yes, Soobin. The blueberry boy notices that he had dyed his hair pink, and he found it kind of cu-

No! Bad Yeonjun! He isn't cute, he literally broke your heart a few days ago! He slaps himself, earning a few weird looks from other people.

His face blooms a light red before looking through the glass door to see he who shall not be named. He had on a sad and worried expression while talking to the cashier whose shift Yeonjun was supposed to take over.

After a few more minutes, he got tired of waiting for cotton candy man to leave the store. He seems to be waiting for something and not leaving the store. The male groans and pushes his cap down more to hide his face. He can't deal with this shit right now.

The usual loud ringing signifying someone entering could be heard as a man clothed in black enters. Soobin looks over to see if it's who he's waiting for. Sadly, it was just a random guy taking over the shift. "Hey, you're here. I'll be leaving now. Thanks. Oh, and this student here is waiting for one of our colleagues." The cashier, Wooyoung, smiles at Yeonjun as he began to unlock his locker.

"Yeah, okay." he tries to reply in the deepest voice he could muster in order to further hide his identity. Wooyoung chuckles before exiting the store, leaving Yeonjun with a literal giant. The two stand there awkwardly while the shorter's neck begins to ache a little from bending his neck too much.

He didn't know how much longer he could keep this act up.