How it Feels to Be Replaced

Chapter 6

"Where are you!? I went into your office to bring you breakfast cause you weren't in bed, but you weren't there either and I saw you took a week off! Are you with somebody!?" The voice of a concerned woman chattered on the other side, and Gyuchan just groaned in response.

"No, of course not. You were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you up. I'm visiting my hometown for today. I decided to take time off because work has been getting too stressful." The silver-haired guy spoke as if he'd rehearsed this a thousand times, and laid back down on the mattress while he spoke, making sure it didn't creak at all. He pulled some of the bedsheets to his chest, hugging them close with his free hand without even realizing it.

"And you're not getting yourself hurt, right? You know you still need to be home by nine! I'm already so worried about you—"

"Then stop it. You're not my mom." Gyuchan spoke curtly to his wife, but felt guilty and immediately changed his tone to a soft one again. "Look, I know you mean well, but I'll be fine. I know the place and I've never had any female friends. Everything will be just fine. I'll see you at nine, flower."

"But—" she tried to protest some more, but was cut off again immediately by Gyuchan's final goodbye to her before hanging up.

"I'll be home by nine. I love you. Gotta go now, I'm busy. Bye." Without waiting for  another response, the troubled guy hung up immediately, and turned his phone on silent. He sighed loudly, putting his phone back in his pocket as he sat up. Only now did Gyuchan realize he'd been laying down with Jinho's sheets cuddled to his chest. Letting them go, he scrunched up his face, trying to understand his own behavior and what had just happened to cause it.

On any normal day, the tone of voice and the distant dialogue he used to address his wife wouldn't exist, and he certainly didn't sleep hugging his own bedsheets. Even Gyuchan himself couldn't come up with a valid reason as to why he'd been acting so peculiar.

He shook his thoughts away, fixing his hair again as he did. There was a task he needed to focus on. Stretching for a moment, Gyuchan stood up and began rooting around in the mess of bedsheets and covers, hearing something solid his the floor a couple seconds later. Looking in the direction of the sound, he saw Jinho's phone sitting on the floor near the bed, having fallen out of the folds of the blanket Gyuchan now held in his hands. He bend down to pick it up and slid it into the same pocket as his own phone, before turning to leave.

He paused in the doorway again, looking back for just a moment, before whipping his head back around, and aggressively ruffling his hair again before walking out. He made sure he had the key to the apartment in his hand, and slipped his shoes on before making sure he had his hood and his mask on correctly. As he put a hand on the doorknob to open it, Gyuchan stopped to feel guilty about the hole in the wall, grimacing at it again before walking right out. He struggled to lock the door as he left, however it seemed easier to lock than to get the worthless thing open.

Figures.

Without another thought, he set his goal in mind and turned on his heel, headed back to the cafe the way he came from. Within minutes he arrived, barging the glass cafe doors boldly, like he'd just done something great, before noticing almost immediately that Jinho wasn't at the counter. Narrowing his eyes, he slowly lowered his hood as he glanced around, looking for the guy. Moments later he realized Jinho was sitting at one of the tables, looking either sick, depressed, or stressed out.

Jinho sat with his head rested in his hands that were pressed firmly against his temples, rubbing them out of both stress and his everlasting hangover that threatened to split his skull at any moment. He leaned forward, elbows rested on the table in front of him as he had his eyes squeezed shut. He vaguely noticed someone walk up next to him, but didn't move at all.