On Track | MINSUNG

56

It was ridiculous. Minho had gotten up at five AM, dragged himself into the bathroom to brush his teeth, half asleep, and scrounged around the kitchen for as many snacks as possible. He'd gone back to bed, and now, at eight o'clock, he was awake, lying in bed with the snacks hidden in his tote bag.

As promised, Jisung had sent pictures of Jennifer. They looked like Minho had taken them himself, with Jennifer lying in bed on her phone in one picture, Jennifer doing her skincare in another, grinning at the camera.

Thank you so much, my definitely not acquaintance, Minho texted. You've saved my ass.

Jisung came online within seconds. You're welcome, he responded. I got Wooyoung to ask Jennifer for them. San said Wooyoung told Jennifer he'd lied to his parents about being with Jennifer and needed proof.

And a TikTok girl like her couldn't resist, Minho sent back. Very clever. Thank you, sweetheart.

Jisung sent several heart Emojis. Make sure you get breakfast, Jisung texted, with several exclamation mark Emojis.

I'll try. But I stole some snacks this morning. Got up at five, LOL, Minho replied.

You shouldn't have to do that, but I'm glad you did. Gonna make you a cake or something for when you come home, Jisung sent back.

Minho couldn't help but smile. I love you, he sent back. It was the first I love you out of the many he'd send, each one in a different language. He knew it wouldn't magically erase Friday morning from existence, wouldn't make Minho or Jisung forget about it. But he could at least make Jisung smile, remind him he was loved. And that was all Minho really wanted.

* * *

Breakfast was at half nine. They sat at the table, pulled into the middle of the room, eating yoghurt, fruit and variety of different seeds. It reminded Minho of the videos he saw on TikTok, of vegans showing off what they ate in a day.

As expected, Minho had a much smaller portion than Nayeon and Yoonchun. Yoonchun kept adding fruit chunks fo Nayeon's bowl and wiping her mouth.

Minho kept quiet, pushing his last few bites of fruit around his bowl. He was trying to eat slowly, but he was hungry, despite the seaweed and dried squid he'd eaten earlier. He'd chewed slowly, hunched on the floor, in case someone heard him so he could quickly stash the snacks away.

Minho scooped the last bites of fruit up, just as Nayeon set her spoon down.

'So, Minho, why don't you show us a picture of Jennifer?'

Minho had known it was coming, had known Nayeon wouldn't let it go, no matter how much he wished she'd forget about it. 'Yeah,' Minho sighed, pulling out his phone. He'd saved the pictures Jisung had sent to his camera roll, and held out his phone, showing the picture of Jennifer in the bathroom, doing her skincare.

'Oh,' Nayeon said.

Minho took his phone back, swiped to the next picture, and held it out again. There was no way he was letting Nayeon swipe, or even swiping himself while his phone was still held out, in case they saw the other pictures in his camera roll, which was about eighty percent Jisung and cats.

Yoonchun pulled a face. 'Didn't mention she's fat.'

'I suppose she could be pretty,' Nayeon offered. 'You need to put her on a diet, Minho. She needs to be pretty, so she can marry and have children.'

Minho wanted to shove their opinions up their asses. He hadn't any care or affection for Jennifer, but he still didn't like them insulting her for no reason.