How it Feels to Be Replaced

Chapter 11

Shattered moonlight sparkles across the ceiling Jinho stared up at, and he let out a sigh, recalling the earlier events of the day. The conversation he'd had with Gyuchan was weighing down on him and it made it hard to breathe. He shifted his position in the bed he laid in, curling up on his side. Just as he was getting comfortable and closed his eyes, his phone lit up and buzzed on the nightstand beside him, jolting him back to reality. He reached for the phone, and saw a text from Seungho in the chat he'd started earlier:

"Omgggggg noooo dude do you need to come back home? That's horrible I didn't know that I shouldn't have sent you without knowing more. You could always come here, and stay with us. I could pay for some tickets back to Seoul and come pick you up, or go out there and ride with you so you don't have to carry all your stuff around. There's still time tonight if you leave right now."

A moment later, Seunghee chimed in:

"I could make you cookies."

"I'm tempted, but I can't come back right now. I'm here for a week under the assumption I'm working with Gyuchan as a businessman." Jinho sighed at his phone as he texted, realizing how bad he was going to have it for the duration of this visit.

"What????? Why didn't you tell me??? I would have kept you here, that's some weird shit."

"I didn't think it was important because Gyuchan had only said he'd been living with someone and they seemed strict. I didn't think it was a wife."

The banter droned on between the three, and Jinho told the couple everything about what had happened up to this point, and all his feelings that went with it, but eventually became too exhausted to continue. As the conversation died down a little, Jinho announced to his close friends that he couldn't focus on what he was saying anymore, and needed to rest. The pair of Seungs wished him a peaceful night before sending him off, and Jinho turned his phone on do not disturb before setting it face down on the nightstand beside him so he wouldn't be awakened by it again. Soon enough after drifting off, he'd end up realizing this was a mistake...

~

Jinho's body fought for consciousness as he felt a gentle hand rubbing his back and shoulders lightly, disrupting his peaceful, dreamless sleep. He let out a soft groan in protest, and rolled over onto his back to see who was waking him. Startled by who he saw, Jinho impulsively slapped Gyuchan's hand away from him and sat up abruptly.

"What the hell? What are you doing in here?" Jinho became defensive all of a sudden, and it took no time for him to become alert and fully awake after the adrenaline shot through his veins at the sight. Gyuchan just smiled and let out a little amused scoff, before getting up and moving to sit in a chair across the room. Flopping down in it, he pointed to the nightstand beside Jinho at a plate of food he'd left there for him.

"Made you breakfast. It's already almost noon, you missed it earlier."

Jinho glanced over to his left at the food he was brought, and shook his head, unable to help the smile that crept across his face. He picked it up and began to eat, finding it sweet that Gyuchan thought about him, but halfway through it, he remembered the situation he was in, and halted abruptly, putting the food back down beside him.

"I'm not hungry anymore." Jinho shook his head slowly, the smile he'd been wearing vanished almost immediately. Gyuchan had been a little put off, confusion filling his raven eyes as he looked over the chubby guy that never skipped a meal in his life—ever.

"I don't believe you." Gyuchan stood up out of the chair he was sitting in and paced across the room to stand at Jinho's bedside again. He tilted his head to the side, looking Jinho in his onyx eyes. "I'm doing this out of kindness, Jinho. I'm not trying to make anything up to you or string you along."