𝗣𝗟𝗨𝗧𝗢. ❥ junhao.

008 | neptune

"are you going to talk to him at all?"

minghao sighed into the phone. calls with wonwoo never failed to cheer him up, but this one felt as though it was doing the opposite the moment he heard those words. ever since he'd opened up to wonwoo about the whole situation with junhui up to this point, he had no idea what the older was going to say.

anything but that.

"i don't know," he answered truthfully. "i mean, you'd think that he did this complete 180 in order to kiss up to me so i'd come back, but this started before i decided to leave. i'm really lost."

"i'm just a little frustrated you didn't tell me earlier." wonwoo didn't sound angry, which was a good sign. "granted, it wasn't the easiest thing to do. but, yeah, i'm stumped."

minghao couldn't think of anything to say, knowing that wonwoo knew what that meant for him. he wanted to end the conversation here. "alright. whatever you decide, i'm here for you, hao."

click.

minghao blinked a couple of times, legs dangling off the bed. really, what was he supposed to do about this? he didn't know if he wanted to meet with junhui, and doing so would be a hassle. he did end up making a name for himself in the industry already, and he didn't want to swoop junhui into the chaos as well. should he ask his members for advice? he'd have to tell them the whole story, and he wasn't sure if he was strong enough to do so.

speaking of his members, a few light knocks came from the door. right– he'd kicked jihoon and soonyoung out of their room the moment he'd gotten the courage to call wonwoo. if he didn't, he probably wouldn't have made said call.

"come in."

to his surprise, joshua was the one standing at the door. "oh, hi minghao. i was looking for jihoon and soonyoung."

"they aren't here?" minghao stood up. "i was only on the phone for... what, twenty minutes?" it sounded like a lot in that context, but given that he'd squished several years of his life into that time, it was impressive.

"no, they aren't." a new voice entered the conversation, and both joshua and minghao turned to see that it was chan who had spoken. "they went to the studio."

"why?" joshua pushed a strand of hair out of his face. "it's our day off. and even if jihoon was producing, he wouldn't bring soonyoung with him."

"oh, not to sing." chan had a knowing look on his face, like there was an unspoken secret hovering in the room. "jihoon thinks that i don't know."

joshua seemed to get it immediately. "ohhh. well then..." he turned to minghao. "i was going to bake with them, but they're not here. you're my second best bet."

they walked to the kitchen in silence, but the younger still had an unanswered question. "what did chan mean by "not to sing" earlier?"

the two arrived at the kitchen, joshua handing an apron to minghao as he spoke. "oh, that. you didn't know? jihoon and soonyoung have a sort of... with-benefits relationship going on. i don't remember when it started exactly, but you weren't here for a while after."

"oh." minghao's eyes widened. eh, he'd live with the newfound information. choosing to ignore it, he pulled the apron on. "so, what are we making?"