Hourglass. // Minsung

7

An entire week passed and Minho still hadn't shown up to the cafe. Not even once. Jisung tried asking Chan as well but Chan wasn't able to get a hold of Minho either. Whenever they went to Minho's apartment, Jaeyul would shoo them away. As Jisung worked, Felix noticed the obvious change in Jisung's demeanour but he didn't ask Jisung about it as he was afraid it'd break Jisung even more. 

Felix knew that Jisung had always been attracted to Minho ever since the day he had started coming to the cafe and after the two became friends, his whole life had transcended. But now without Minho coming around or even saying a 'hi', Jisung's entire mood had become a lot more negative.

Two and a half weeks later, Minho suddenly appeared at the cafe again. Jisung was overjoyed to see Minho but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was way more going on with Minho than before. From what Jisung had observed, Minho's behaviour had completely changed; distant, anxious, and doing things that didn't align with his normally basic and calm nature.

Minho used to just grab his coffee and waffle, eat and then leave immediately or stay behind with Jisung but today, he had stayed behind for a longer period of time without even approaching Jisung. He also didn't seemed to speak at all, Minho would only approached the counter and pay without uttering a word. As Felix knew his order by heart, he never had to speak up anyways but Minho used to always say 'Thank you'. But now he didn't.

Jisung had tried starting a conversation multiple times, checking on Minho and asking if he was fine but Minho wouldn't budge. He always avoided Jisung and this was completely breaking Jisung apart as he wanted to do anything within his ability to help Minho but Jisung didn't know how.

It was around 6:40 and Jisung's shift was going to end soon. Minho got up after staring at the desk for a solid 10 minutes and he grabbed his bag before leaving the cafe. Jisung couldn't bare to see Minho just leave like this and so, he chased after him. Outside, Jisung grabbed Minho's wrists and spun Minho around before pulling him towards himself.

"Minho.. Please. It hurts to see you like this. Is everything okay?" Jisung pleaded as he held Minho in his arms. Minho looked at the ground and his lower lip quivered. Jisung couldn't help but notice the pain behind Minho's eyes. Jisung could tell that there was something else weighing on Minho's mind.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Minho took awhile to think of what to say. Jisung wasn't satisfied with just three words and he tilted Minho's head up to face him.

"You're acting different. Something happened. Stop telling me that you're fine." Jisung furrowed his brows. He was concerned for Minho. It was pretty evident that Minho was feeling helpless and alone. 

"People.. People change. Just.. I dunno. Go back to your shift and stop worrying about me. I'm a grown man, I can take care of myself." Minho shook his head and pushed himself away from Jisung.

"Oh, can you? You look so battered.. How am I not supposed to worry about you when you're in shambles?" Jisung pouted and he ran his fingers through Minho's messy hair.

"I.. I'm fine. I need to go now.." Minho lowered his head and turned around. Right before he left, he mumbled a weak "Sorry." that was so soft Jisung almost didn't hear it. Jisung stood there as he watched Minho disappear down the street. 

It was then when Jisung realised just how much he had grown attached to Minho in such a short period of time. He was shocked himself on how much he cared for the boy despite having met him for only two months.

The next day, Minho came back to the cafe but just like yesterday, he didn't say a thing. After last night, Jisung wasn't sure how to act around Minho anymore. There were a lot of conflicting emotions swirling inside his head; protectiveness, anger, guilt, attraction, concern.. And he didn't know what to do with any of those feelings.

Jisung took a deep breath and decided not to bother Minho for the meantime unless Minho approached him first. At 7, after Jisung's shift had finished, Jisung went after Minho again, not leaving Minho alone until he got a proper explanation. 

Minho seemed even worse today. This solidified Jisung's determination to help Minho, whether it be emotionally or physically. Only when he got close did he see a cut run down the side of Minho's face. Jisung traced his fingers down the cut and Minho flinched from his touch.

"Min.. What's this? Did that bastard do this to you?" Jisung asked worriedly.

"N-no. I accidentally uhm.. It's just a paper cut." Minho murmured. He couldn't think of a better excuse as he was getting put on the spot.

"It doesn't look like a paper cut.." Jisung sighed as he held Minho's face in his hands. 

"Well it is." Minho's voice was shaking with sadness and Jisung frowned seeing his 'friend' in this state. 

"Please Minho. I know I might not be able to fix things for you immediately but I can at least listen to your problems. I want to know whats troubling you." Despite Minho's efforts to hide his pain, Jisung could still see that something was obviously bothering Minho.

"I can't Jisung. I want to tell you but.. Jaeyul's gonna get mad. He's doing it because he.. He loves me." Minho shook his head and Jisung's eyes widened seeing a tear roll down Minho's face. As much as Minho wanted that last sentence to be true, he knew that Jaeyul never loved him.

"Don't cry. Please don't cry.." Jisung pulled Minho into a hug and Minho broke. The sack inside of him that had contained all his tears finally burst and they all came flowing out. He sobbed into Jisung's shoulders and Jisung caressed Minho's arms, frowning after feeling more scars on them.

As Jisung was too concentrated on comforting Minho, he didn't notice a man standing across the street staring at the two in silence. 

a.n

first meeting of jaeyul hate club !!

todays topic of discussion is how to kill this motherfucker in the most painful way possible!!!!!!!!!