Reasons

Chapter 8

"Jjong, you're not really going to join us tonight?" Han asked while mindlessly shoving his notes and pen in his bag. Seungmin and Hyunjin were done fixing their things and are now waiting for the two.

"No, I'm not going if you're only planning to get me a date or a fling," Jongho answered, swinging his messenger bag over his shoulder and slighting brushing his bangs to the side.

"Awww come on! I feel sad that you're the only one who's single here" Han whined and then pouted. Hyunjin overheard this and shot a look at the raven-haired male.

"Thanks for the concern, but I don't need sympathy, Han," Jongho bitterly says and sees the look on Hyunjin's face when their eyes meet.

"Can't you at least give it a try?" Han still insists and attempts to cling on his arm and pull out puppy eyes on him, but Hyunjin immediately holds Han's arm and pulls him back. The ravenette glares at him but so was he.

"No. Drop it already, Han..." Jongho says as he is already starting to get irritated.

Before Han could give another attempt, Hyunjin clamped a hand over the shorter's mouth to silence him, "Hannie, stop it and don't force him. If he doesn't want to, then he doesn't want to", he says, making the other somehow deflate.

"You should really stop it, Han. Jongho has his priorities set and if he has no time for dating, at least respect it..." Seungmin adds and then points to the door for them to leave because students from the next class were already entering the room.

They leave the room with Hyunjin still covering Han's mouth and with Seungmin resting an arm on Jongho's shoulder.

Hyunjin knew a bit of Jongho's past relationship after seeing the photo in the younger's room. It was out of curiosity that he asked why Jongho still kept it and the answer broke him.

"Jongho, can I ask you something?" Hyunjin asked one afternoon, after the younger one came back with a few snacks and drinks on hand just in case they get hungry while doing their capstone project. Jongho looks at him and nods.

"You don't have to answer the question if it's something personal to you though, I just want to ask...", he says, carefully, a bit nervous.

"Well, ask away...", Jongho gave him the go signal so he asked, "What happened between you and Yeosang-hyung?"

Jongho paused for a moment and slowly looked at the photo from the shelf. It was the first time Hyunjin saw that photo, but he didn't make a move to remove it or hide it. He just simply stared at it, contemplating whether to answer the question or not. Hyunjin knew him way back in high school so obviously he knew about his and Yeosang's relationship, but that was a long time ago and Hyunjin never asked anything about his relationship, to which he's grateful for. The silence must've made Hyunjin regret his decision because Jongho noticed that he was shifting from his seat and fumbling his fingers.

"Jjong, you–you don't have to answer it. I understand." Hyunjin told him, voice tiny and nervous.

Jongho shook his head. "It's fine, Jinnie." he told him as he took the photo from the shelf and looked at it. "Yeosang-hyung and I– uh–we...we broke up a few years ago..."

Hyunjin stayed silent, waiting for him to elaborate further, despite being slightly taken aback at the answer.

"It was stupid— the reason why we broke up. I was... I was too stupid to break up with him..." Jongho continued with a heavy sigh.