ON CUE | HYUNHO ⚘

twenty seven.

I thank the driver before heading towards the stairs. The elevator has been broken for a bit, so it's the only option. I focus on the stairs, counting them to distract myself from my racing thoughts. It works for a bit, before we are at our floor.

Jisung turns to me. "I'm going to crash at Felix's place tonight. Okay?" He asks me, but looks at Minho afterwards.

"That's what you always do, so fine." Minho mumbles, before turning to the door.

"That's fine." I say, being sweeter. "Have a good night."

He smiles, before going back to the stairs. I watch as he walks up them on his way to Felix's, before sighing. I thank Minho, since he held the door open, and begin to walk down the hall.

I can't distract myself this time. All that's on my mind is how I can handle this situation in a nice way. I keep my eyes on the floor, just thinking.

Minho clears his throat. "What's up?" He asks.

I look up to him, "What do you mean?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I don't know.. you've just been acting different all day. What's going on?"

"Oh... I don't know." I shrug him off.

"Did I do something?"

I freeze. I bring my head up to look at him, blankly. He also pauses, looking back to me. "So I did.. didn't I?" He asks.

"No." I shake my head, beginning to walk again. "It's not that. It's.. I don't know. Just forget about it." I say. I don't want to tell him, if I'm being honest. I don't want the possibility of it to cause problems.

"No, there has to be something wrong." He says as he takes my hand, turning me to him and stopping me. We're still in the apartment hallway, so the way he is acting is starting to worry me.

"There is not." I look around, using a low voice.

"There has to be." He says. "You have been acting distant since we got to the studio. What happened? You haven't even tried to talk to me; let alone look at me."

"Minho," I lower my voice, because he is staring to get loud. "Can we please just go inside? We can talk about—"

"Are you having second thoughts?"

His words shock me. I furrow my brows. "What— no. Oh my god, no."

"Then why won't you talk to me?" He crosses his arms.

"I just—"

"You wanted this Hyunjin." He keeps going, "You made me promise you forever, and I meant it when I promised you that. I'm really trying my best.. but your distant."

"That's not—"

"Am I not enough anymore?" He suddenly asks.

"Can you let me speak?!" I yell, breaking the calm demeanor. "If you would let me speak I could tell you. I could tell you that Seungmin asked me out on a date and now I'm stuck."

He stays silent for a few seconds, before his eyebrows furrow. "Wait.. you're stuck? What does that mean? Have you been thinking about it? Hyunjin, you're thinking about it?" He starts to take a few steps closer.

I freeze. I want to be able to say no, but I have to admit— I have been thinking about it. I want to lie, but I don't want to build this relationship off of white lies.

"You're silent." He says. "And it's affected you this much... you have to be thinking about it. You're really considering going on a date with him? After all we've been through..?"