REBOUND ✔️

🥥 four

hyunjin closed his door softly, throwing his bag down onto his bed. he made his way straight into the bathroom, not even noticing his roommate's attempt at asking if he was okay.

the tall boy stared at himself in the mirror, two streams of tears staining his porcelain cheeks. he lifted his shirt to reveal a purple mark along the bottom of his ribs where minho kicked him, wincing when he pressed his cold fingers to the spot.

"hey, hyunjin," his roommate called from the door, making him turn to face the younger male.

"jeongin, what's up—"

"have you been crying?" jeongin asked, making hyunjin look away and wipe his face. the younger sighed. "do you wanna talk about it? i'm a good listener, you know." he gave the other a faint smile.

hyunjin nodded, and they walked out of the bathroom, sitting down on either end of his bed. the older lifted his shirt to show jeongin the bruise, his eyes widening upon the sight of it.

"who did that to you?" he questioned, worried for his fairly new friend.

hyunjin hesitated at first. he didn't want to paint minho as a bad person, because he felt that he had provoked the male into doing what he did in the first place.

"his name's minho," hyunjin started, then holding his hands up. "but he's not a bad guy or anything. i actually think he's pretty cute and—"

"hyunjin," jeongin interrupted, making the older pause and look over at him. "do you have a crush on minho?"

and hyunjin hesitated once again, looking down at his hands as he fumbled them over each other. did he have a crush on minho? he knew it couldn't be that serious; he just found him attractive, and he wanted to know more about him.

friends. that's what he wanted to be with minho. he wanted to befriend the older, like he wanted to befriend many others, because he didn't have many friends here. i mean, he used to live on the complete opposite side of south korea; going to this particular college was a difficult decision.

"why did he hurt you?" jeongin then asked, breaking the silence that ensued his last question.

"i think he was scared," the older answered, still not looking up at his roommate.

"scared?" the older nodded, finally looking up at jeongin, who titled his head a little, not quite catching his drift.

hyunjin took a deep breath, before letting it out again. "i think i touched a nerve when i questioned his tough guy persona. i guess he was scared that i could see right through him."

jeongin nodded, as if he understood minho completely. he stood up from hyunjin's bed, walking to his own and grabbing a bag of crisps from under his bed, before returning to his previous spot.

" i think... you should talk to him again... maybe he just needs some time," he said in between chewing, not exactly the most flattering sight for hyunjin, but it didn't bother him.

he knew what he had to do.

—
i have no plan for this story
i'm literally just plotting it as
i write whoOps–