DETHRONED | SOPE [DISCONTINUED]

Ch. 26 - For-Realsies

"We're friends, but he never put in the effort to stay friends," he continues in a bitter tone. "Makes me think that he was just using me to get closer to Namjoon. Well at least he got what he wanted."

"That's not true and you know it," Handong quickly tells him. "Even though you don't know what's going on with him, the best you can do is to just talk to him. You don't want your friendship to end like this without even talking to each other, don't you?"

"Thanks Handong, but I don't wanna talk to him," Yoongi crosses his arms stubbornly. "If he doesn't want to be friends with me, then fine."

"And what makes you think he doesn't want be friends with you?" Handong questions.

"Don't know, don't care," Yoongi shrugs it off as crumbles up the wrapper and throws it into the paper bag.

✮

"I think I made a grave mistake."

"And I've made several," Soonyoung proudly states. "But please tell me, what is this grave mistake that keeps you from sleeping late at night?"

"How'd you know I've been having trouble sleeping?" Hoseok inquires.

"Obviously the eye bags," he points out.

"Gee, thanks," Hoseok rolls his eyes at his friend. "And no, the cause of sleep deprivation is from stress... which is partly because of my problem and many other things."

"Aww," Soonyoung frowns sadly at him, switching his tone into big brother mode. "Alright, putting jokes aside, what's going on?"

"So do you remember the guy I've been thinking about lately?" Hoseok asked.

"I remember," he nods.

"Well, I realized that I do like him," continued Hoseok. "Like genuinely, actually, for-realsies."

"For-realsies," Soonyoung echos.

"But because of my career..." Hoseok trails off.

"You're not allowed to date," Soonyoung finished his sentence. "Isn't there a temporary dating ban on your contract?"

"Yeah, 5 years." Hoseok nodded. "But there's still so many reasons why I can't date. The controversies, the backlash, time management. I'm already busy, how can I even date when I have a career to focus on. Plus, my manager was like 'your fame is rising gradually, so be careful of the things you say and do'."

Soonyoung smiles a bit at Hoseok's deep voice impression of his manager.

"So the problem is that you want to date this guy, but you're afraid of the consequences if you do try to pursue a relationship?" Soonyoung inquired. "And you said you doubt you'll do anything."

"I know, I know, but that's not the only problem," Hoseok chuckles humorlessly.

"Oh Jesus, there's more," Soonyoung says in a Sykkuno tone.

"I've been avoiding him too," Hoseok adds.

"WHAT!?" Soonyoung shrieks, making Hoseok wince. "YOU'VE BEEN AVOIDING HIM!?WHY!?"

"Because," Hoseok groans. "As I told you before, my manager said I have to be careful of what I do and say. I've been hanging around this guy too much. So much, that people speculated that we're dating. It even caught the media's attention."