Sunset Gazers

🌄 Not Alright 🌄

"I hope you had a good break, lad," says Mr. Jung, the school Guidance Counselor and Dance Club advisor, a clipboard and a pen in his hands, "how was the trip with your father?"

Jisung sighs and shrugs, "I did have fun, he and his bandmate taught me how to play the drums," he lies, making sure to put on a mask over his voice, "we're starting to get closer," he lies once more, never, that will never happen, even when his father wanted it to.

"Next time, send a mail to your teachers, we don't want to get worried."

"Yes, sir."

With that, Jisung was dismissed and was allowed to join his best friend and cousin for lunch, they were waiting for him outside of Mr. Jung's office, it's evident that they were worried by the look in their faces.

It had been three days since Jisung had returned home, he had not seen Minho since, no message, no call, no nothing. The fact that he left without saying a proper goodbye might be the reason why Minho isn't bothering Jisung right now. Maybe Jisung was somehow right? That Minho wasn't something permanent, that he'd eventually be gone after a while, and Jisung would have to move on.

True fact is that he talked about Minho at some moments, but he'd go quiet a few seconds later when he'd realize what he was actually doing, he wanted to forget, the small moments, the smiles, the laughter, the physical contact, the whole thing involving Minho, he was trying hard, so hard that it might have made a hole in his tiny heart.

🌄

Three weeks after Jisung returned home.

"You weren't telling us about your little adventure back at where you ran off to," Hyunjin says when he watches Jisung play with his food, "I'm not forcing you to tell us, I'm just curious."

Jisung nods and takes out his phone, and starts to put up the few videos he took, a hologram appearing in the middle of their table, Hyunjin, Seungmin and Jeongin, who had become friends with the aforementioned males while Jisung was away, watches the videos.

Seungmin's eyes sparkle as he watches the video of Jisung and Minho running in the rain, Hyunjin couldn't stop exclaiming from how fun it looked when the video of Jisung and his new friends, Mark, Donghyuck and Minho swimming at their secret sanctuary.

When Jisung notices the video captured him and Minho talking on that same rock, where they made the ten-day bet, he averts his eyes from the screen, a lump starting to form in his throat, so he starts to drink the flavored water to chase it away, cursing internally when he feels hot tears form at the brim of his eyes.

Seungmin notices how his cousin behaved and stops the videos playing, switching Jisung's phone off, pulling him into a comforting hug. There, in such a long time, Jisung cries, and it didn't help when his chest clench, it hurt. It hurt every fiber in him that he had to ignore someone for the better.

"For the better my ass", he thinks to himself, sniffling, the memories he shared with Minho, small and trivial moments seemed so precious to him, what was wrong with him?

Seungmin, Hyunjin and Jeongin share looks, "It's alright," Hyunjin says, pulling Jisunh into a comforting hug, rubbing small circles on his back, the shorter male burrying his face into the fabric of Hyunjin's shirt.

🌄

Jisung and Seungmin are now walking on their way home, taking slow steps as they did. Seungmin glances at Jisung every twenty seconds or so, earlier, Jisung didn't tell the reason for his emotional break down, but it was already obvious that he misses Minho. Judging by how he noticed Jisung scrunching his nose up and balled his hands into a fist whenever Minho would appear in the video, it was obvious that Jisung was under some sort of phase of missing someone, and that certain someone was Minho.