seoul ;; juric

12 SUMMER HATE

Summer Hate (ft. 비) (ft. Rain)
지코 (Zico)
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⇆ㅤㅤㅤㅤ◁ㅤㅤ❚❚ㅤㅤ▷ㅤㅤㅤㅤ↻

•••

SEOUL

•

♡:
> meet me at the hospital entrance, and we can walk home together

Eric put his phone in his pocket and stood up from the chair, giving Jaehyun and his partner a smile. "Juyeon just messaged me, so I have to get going. I didn't think an hour already passed."

"Aw, that's too bad," Yoonjae smiled. "It was great meeting you, Eric. Jaehyunnie has some great company."

"I think he likes you," Jaehyun winked playfully, earning a laugh from Eric. The younger moved around the table and hugged Jaehyun tightly. "Ah, we'll meet soon, kid. We can talk later."

Eric bowed politely to Yoonjae, doing so to Jaehyun as well. "Of course. Thanks for today, hyung. Bye!"

Eric left the cafe, putting his mask on immediately. The air quality was moderate, but he was cautious regardless. It had been a fairly gentle day compared the numerous stressful days before he came to Seoul. The weather was a pleasant, despite it nearing the end of winter.

Eric loved the Seoul air — in fact, it was one of the things he missed. Even if it was potentially one of the most harmful things to his health, he loved the atmosphere of the bustling city. He had no idea if he should love or hate the city. It was a double-standard he had with the big city.

Eric was careful when he walked back, fortunately finding the route back quite easily. The hospital was difficult to miss, since it was a huge building — just like the rest of the buildings. Fortunately, it stood out amongst the rest of the solid greyness around it.

Eric was confused about the entrance of the hospital, but eventually found it. His boyfriend was difficult to locate, since there was a fair amount of people surrounding him. Everyone looked so similar as well — the boring, generic look. Everyone tried to blend in with one another — just like the tall buildings around the hospital.

But then Eric made quick eye contact with someone hastily approaching him. He had a limited time to react, so he could only out his hands out in front of him as the person bumped into him.

"Ah—!"

"Oops—!"

Eric had his hands out in front of him, grabbing the person's upper arms. Eric's glasses fell down onto the ground, stopping just beside the stranger's feet. "Ah, careful, my glasses just fell!"

"Ah, sorry," the person apologised. He looked down at the ground and quickly picked up the glasses before they got trampled on. He looked at Eric in the eyes, and he suddenly paused. Eric frowned slightly, accepting his glasses.

"Thanks," he mumbled. The stranger cleared his throat, suddenly bowing and walking away. Eric was still confused at the strange interaction, but as he looked at the male walking away, he noticed how he stood out. He was different to the bland grey buildings. He… wasn't like the rest.

He somehow knew they'd meet again.

"Eric-ah."

A hand grabbed Eric's wrist and he was pulled into a chest gently. Juyeon's soft chuckle echoed in his ear and Eric smiled brightly, all previous thoughts of the stranger vanishing. "Hyung!"

"Ah, I missed you, baby," Juyeon hummed, grabbing Eric's hand and raising it to kiss the back gently. "Today wasn't bad, but I really want to cuddle when we get back home."

"No, we're going to do the final clean-up," Eric said firmly. "I'll tidy while you make dinner, okay? Or we can pick up tteokbokki and then clean together afterwards."

Juyeon whined playfully as they began walking. "Whatever. Let's get tteokbokki and marinated chicken."

"I want fried."

Juyeon looked at him with a frown. "Marinated."

Eric glared slightly. "Fried."

Juyeon looked at him for a moment before walking ahead. "Okay, we'll get you a plane ticket back to New York—"

"Ah hyung, it's just chicken!" Eric laughed, running after the older. "Fine, today we can get marinated chicken. But next time, we get fried. Deal?"

Juyeon was quiet for a bit. "We can get fried as well, but then you're taking care of the tteokbokki. I'll do the chicken."

"Deal," Eric grinned, bumping against the older affectionately. Juyeon simply smiled, the physical presence of his boyfriend working up to him quite well. He enjoyed having Eric around, and he'd honestly have it no other way.

"So what were you up to before you met up with Jaehyun?" Juyeon asked, smiling softly as he stepped closer to Eric.

"Not much. I woke up really late, so I wasn't up to anything," Eric hummed. "But… before you got here, I bumped into someone. He had blonde-ish brown hair. He… the look he gave me was… I don't know, it was a strange interaction."

Juyeon hummed in thought. "Was it a stranger?"

Eric was quiet for a moment. "It didn't feel that way. It was if… he knew me. As if we had met before, but he didn't know what to say. I don't know what I'm saying, it was weird." Eric was still thoughtful, so Juyeon waited for him to gather his thoughts. "I don't know, maybe I'm just hungry. I'm confused."

•

SEOUL

•

"Joonyoung, are you home?"

Sangyeon was confused as to why the apartment was so quiet when he arrived home. The TV was on, but the volume was so low, it was as if no one was watching. He walked in further to inspect, but the air was still. He heard a sniffle and he bolted for the bathroom immediately, and caught Jacob sitting on the floor against the wall.

"Joonyoung—"

"Sangyeon…!" Jacob held him arms out, his eyes glossed over with tears. Sangyeon worriedly kneeled in front of him, pulling him forward into a tight hug.

"Babe, what's wrong? Why are you crying? What happened, are you okay?" he spoke quickly, running a hand through Jacob's hair gently. Jacob's sobbing died down significantly for him to talk.

"Sangyeon, I…" Jacob looked as if he was afraid to speak, but he sighed heavily and pulled away from the hug. He wiped his tears, finally looking at Sangyeon in the eye. "Sangyeon, I don't think I want to get married yet."