𝙲𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚜 || 𝙹𝚒𝚑𝚊𝚗

Chapter 35

   "Jeonghan..?"

   "Stop it!" He yelled as his embrace became more tighter around him. "What are you doing?!"

   "Protecting my friend and your reputation" Joshua said casually. "So, can you please let me go?"

   "Joshua look at me!" Jeonghan turned him around and cupped his cheeks. "I know they deserve it and I know they have hurt Vernon and you, but please! Violence is never the answer!"

   "Tsk, what a hypocrite" He pushed him away. "You start fights for useless reasons, yet here you are, stopping mine because I actually have one"

   "No, Joshua, don't you get it?!, They are not like Yuki-"

   Jeonghan covered his mouth. What was he saying?

   The noirette widened his eyes. ".... what?" He walked closer to the older who backed away bit by bit. "Why are unholy names coming out of your mouth?"

   "No, I didn't-"

   "How do you know about him?" Joshua grabbed his collar. "How do you know about Yuki!?"

   "No- I-"

   "Jeonghan, let me ask you a question" Joshua slightly pulled him closer to him, making Jeonghan tense for the odd closeness their bodies were sharing. "Why did you approach me?"

   "What..?"

   "Why did you become my friend?" He pushed him away. "Someone like you, a leader of a "gang" nonetheless, wouldn't want to be friends with someone like me" Joshua narrowed his eyes. "Tell me, did you really want to be my friend, someone I could trust? Or were you just trying to find another toy to play around with?"

   Jeonghan looked down as Joshua walked closer to him. "Jeonghan,"

   "what are you hiding from me?"

   After a few seconds of silence, Jeonghan seemed to have gathered enough courage to face the man in front of him. To tell him the truth about his true motives.

   "At first" He hesitated. "I wanted to...give you a lesson" Joshua listened as he spoke with his eyes slowly getting wide from the shock. "I was tired of other gangs looking down on me and my friends. Of thinking we were nothing but kids playing villain. So when you slapped Mingyu in front of the whole school, you could say I wanted to let you know that we weren't someone who could be looked down on"

   Joshua chuckled bitterly. "So you told them to do this huh? You only got close to me to find out more about me and watch me suffer am I right?!"

   "Of course not!" Jeonghan yelled, but his angered was slowly getting covered by a feeling of guilt; a feeling of regret was slowly sinking in. "Of course not...I..didn't want to after some time"

   Joshua huffed. "What are you talking about?"

   "You see, after a while, I started to get confused about my true feeling towards you. Did I really want to see you at your worst? Did I really want to be a part of this? As time went by, I realized that I wanted to be with you" Jeonghan looked at him. "That I wanted to be your friend"

   Joshua didn't say anything. He was shocked about Jeonghan's sudden confession, and the more he stared at the older the more he wanted to reach out and tell him that it was okay, that he forgave him. But now that he thought about it, Joshua didn't want the same thing to repeat again. He couldn't trust someone like Jeonghan anymore. No, as much as he wanted to, Joshua couldn't be with him.

   As a result, the noirette let out a sigh and headed over to Vernon who sat on the ground being held by Seungkwan.  "Let's go" He said as he gently picked him up and placed an arm over his neck.

   "Wait, Joshua- I-"

   "You want?" Joshua narrowed his eyes and sighed. "Look, you've proven you have changed, and that you want to be my friend. But I can't trust you anymore. You've showed me you know more about me than I would like you to" He hesitated. "That you know about him"

   Jeonghan looked down.

   "I don't know how you did it nor do I care, so I won't go into that as much as I'd like to. What's done is done, and can not be reversed." Joshua chuckled bitterly. "You know, I truly wanted to start over. To have a better life and forget everything about him and what he did, but your past seems to follow you everywhere you go huh?"

   "Oh and one more thing" Joshua turned around. "Please leave me alone from now on, because it seems to be the best thing for me, and..I want to be greedy for once, ok?"

   And before Jeonghan could say anything, Joshua gave him a sad smile and a bitter sigh.

   "I truly trusted you, Jeonghan" He said bitterly. "I seriously thought I..."

   Jisoo looked down.

   "I seriously thought I loved you"