Fifth Floor - JooHyuk

»4«

October 19

"Hey," a timid and unexpected voice called from behind me. A grain of happiness in a bucket of guilt flooded my heart. Closing my eyes and taking a slow breath of the cool air, I covered my heart. Its guilt and happiness, nowhere to be seen in my actions. When I opened my eyes, I kept them forward; not giving Minhyuk so much as a glance. "I'm sorry," he continued, "I didn't mean to start anything."

"Please tell me he didn't hear the argument." I pleaded to myself.

"I probably seem quite stupid right now, but I'll fix it."

"Fix it? What does he mean by 'fix it'? What is it?"

"And I know you're trying to block me out right now. That's pretty clear, but I don't know if I should continue talking even though you won't answer or... walk away." My eyes shot over to the older man for less than a moment. Just long enough to see the man, dressed in all black, have the same sad look in his eyes from Friday night.

Of course, I didn't want him to walk away. Minhyuk not only talked to me despite my signs of wanting him not to, but he was here now. Even after Vivian had told him to leave he still talked to me. No one had so much as attempted to read into my actions as he did. Minhyuk cared enough to realize there's a reason behind every reaction and figure out what they were.

No matter how much of a good, caring, sweet, or nice man Minhyuk is, I believed I had to ignore him. The only person I needed was Vivian.

"I really don't want to walk away, but I don't want you to feel pressured to put this wall up every day. So, I just won't talk. Hopefully, you don't still feel the need to wall yourself up if I'm not saying things." And just as Minhyuk promised, he didn't talk the rest of the way. Walking in silence with only the sounds of the city surrounding us heard.

I felt bad making him stay quiet. But if I had spoken up to tell him it was okay, it would have contradicted everything I was trying to do. Possibly even gotten me into another argument.

As we came in sight of Yoo Entertainment, Minhyuk didn't go ahead of me like before. Instead, he continued to walk beside me up until the elevator. There, he shortly waved, still not speaking, and walked away.

"Goodmorning," a voice came from a new figure beside me. Glancing over, I saw the tall man from Thursday afternoon, Hyunwoo. I gave him a small smile of recognition and turned my gaze back to the elevator doors as they started opening.

I watched, unmoving, as fellow employees made their way into the elevator. I noticed Hyunwoo's questioning look but ignored it as I turned towards the stairs. There was just enough room for me to ride the elevator, but having my personal bubble squished to the extent that I barely have one did not seem pleasant right then. So, I walked into the stairwell and made my way up.

My mind went blank while I took each step. Not thinking about anything was usually the most relieving thing, but it didn't last me much farther than two flights up. Turning to go upstairs to the third floor I saw someone sitting at the top. Arms crossing over his knees with his head resting in the middle, not noticing my presence.

I quickly recognized the black jeans and black t-shirt to be what Minhyuk was wearing earlier. I continued walking up the stairs, with my mindset to walk straight past him. I reached the next landing, one step above him, and continued another five before stopping.

"It could be really bad. If I needed desperate help, I wouldn't want others to ignore me. No matter who they are or what the situation is."

I quietly sighed and turned around. Going back down those five steps to sit next to the man on the stairs. He still hadn't noticed me somehow until I spoke, bringing him out of his thoughts. "Are you okay?"

Minhyuk jumps and shoots his head up to look at me. He didn't respond, only stared at me. In those beautiful brown eyes, looking in mine, I saw disbelief. Then, slowly, his eyes glossed over and a tear ran down his soft cheek.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry! I'm sorry, I'll go get Hyun—" Before I could finish my ramble and stand up to climb the stairs, Minhyuk tugged on my arm. I looked at his hands wrapping around my arm in what already felt like a plea for me not to leave. Moving my eyes to Minhyuk, he was no longer staring at me. His gaze was down, not looking at anything, as he frantically thought of what to say.

"N-no, it's okay," The older realized his hold still on my arm and quickly let go, turning back towards the bottom of the stairs. "C-can I ask for something?"

"Sure. What is it?" I agreed, not giving a thought until after it came out of my mouth. "Oh gosh. What did I just agree to?"

"Would it be too much to ask for a hug?" Minhyuk nearly whispered.

"Yes," but despite my mind telling me to stay away, I just couldn't. I wrapped my arm around Minhyuk's shoulders until after a few moments, he turned around to return the hug. Engulfing us in warmth and sadness?

~○●○~

Word count: 936

~○●○~
I'm sorry for the short chapter. I was cleaning a lot because my friend was coming to stay for five days, and now that she's here I only have an hour to write every morning. I hope next week I'll have more time to write and it will be longer. For now, please enjoy this little but :) Thank you for reading this!