Beautiful as Snow, Cold as Ice

Chapter 40

There was a small ray of sunshine escaping through the curtains in his room, coloring his roof in bright flames.

Jinyoung couldn't bring himself to get up, staring up at the colors and trying to blink away the tiredness in his eyes. It was a wonder how he succeeded to stay awake all night, even if it was yet another school day today.

Kind of stupid of him, yes, but he couldn't help it. Sleep wasn't something he got enough of nowadays, he was barely able to fall asleep on the nights. Instead he was awake, staring at the white paint on his roof or wall, thoughts too loud or sometimes, even so quiet.

Frankly, he couldn't remember ever being able to fall asleep easily after breaking free from Minjun. And now he was back in Seoul again, his voice haunting Jinyoung whenever the brunette went.

He had gotten home safely yesterday, Taeyong still refusing to let go of his hand. Even if he could feel Taeyong's curiosity and see how the younger was trying not to push the subject too much, Taeyong stayed quiet. As if waiting for him to speak up, the purple haired boy had followed him home together with Doyoung after bandaging Lucas hand and making sure Yuta didn't have any bruises.

The younger's boyfriends were still stiff, silence deadly as they asked them in hushed tones if Minjun did anything before they arrived. Taeyong had smiled softly, shaking his head but glancing in Jinyoung's direction.

Doyoung caught his boyfriend's gaze directly before he too, started looking on Jinyoung with worry and hurt?

Did he hurt his friend?

Jinyoung didn't know. He had been so tired, too exhausted to be able to move from where he leaned towards Taeyong's shoulder.

In the end only Taeyong and Doyoung followed him back. Even if they did try to ask, he had only claimed he was tired and then there was no further words spoken between them. But he knew they wouldn't give up anytime soon.

When he got home, Jinyoung only merely giving his parents a half smile before throwing up some lame excuse and escaped to his room.

He wasn't feeling hungry nor was he in the mood to do anything else, so it ended with him collapsing in bed directly.

Time went and soon it was past 1 am without him having fallen asleep yet. Half of the time his head swam in thoughts, so loud he couldn't feel an ounce of tiredness and in the next moment, it was so quiet he could hear his heart beat. It was almost too silent, making him feel like he was at the bottom of the ocean in the dark.

Neither ways helped him fall asleep.

Jinyoung tried everything, reading, doing homework ( because he was bored, alright?) and even watching a kdrama to kill his boredom. But none of them worked.

He ended up on his bed again with his earphones plugged into his phone, staring blankly at the roof. Jinyoung lost the track of time and after a couple of hours, his phone died from lack of battery.

It didn't bring any reaction from the brunette, Jinyoung only continued to stare into the abyss.

When did the sun start rising?

He felt like he had just recently gone to bed and not being aware of the blossoming morning, Jinyoung only first noticed when red and yellow colors filled his vision, painting his white roof in a layer of scarlet and orange.

Soon enough he'd have to go up.

Just a little more time...

There was a soft knock on his door, making Jinyoung snap back from his thoughts. It was weird, how Wonpil hadn't arrived yet. Did Taeyong say anything?