case 143 | minsung

42

lying on his bed, jisung pondered over chan's words from earlier.

"do you still love him?"

jisung is alone in his apartment right now, with chan and seungmin having returned to their own apartments. jisung had insisted that he could manage on his own. though they were reluctant to leave him, he held his ground.

turning restlessly on his bed, jisung wrestled with his thoughts. while he knew the answer to chan's question, he doesn't know how to confront it. he wanted to hear minho's side, yet his trust in the older had been shattered. uncertainty clouded his judgment, making it difficult for him to accept any of minho's explanations.

recollections of the time when minho was courting him resurfaced in jisung's mind.

"his feelings... seemed genuine," he mumbled to himself.

"should i have listened to his explanations before ending things? but what if he lies to me again? what if our entire relationship was just a facade?" he pondered, gazing up at the ceiling.

lost in his contemplation, sleepiness started to wash over him. having cried his heart out the entire night, he felt physically and emotionally drained. succumbing to exhaustion, he allowed sleep to take over him.

-----

when jisung awoke, his phone emitted a ding of message notifications.

he abruptly sat up to grab his phone, thinking the notifications were from minho.

"oh," he muttered, disappointment evident in his tone.

he also remembered that he had blocked the older out of impulse last night, so there was no way it was from him.

the messages he received were from chan and seungmin, saying they were outside his door.

"i did tell them to come back in the morning," he mumbled, still feeling sleepy.

he stood up from his bed, his face showing dried tear streaks and swollen eyes.

he stretched his limbs before walking to the door to let his friends in.

"ji, are you feeling better?" the older greeted as they stepped inside, inspecting jisung's state.

"better than yesterday, i guess," he replied.

it's true, despite jisung's current appearance, he did feel a lot better than the previous day. maybe the whole night of crying had helped him process his emotions.

"by the way, ji, the superiors told me you can stay at home for the moment until they get the situation under control," chan informed, making himself comfortable on jisung's couch.

"they also said you shouldn't go out as much as possible, so if you need anything, just tell us," he added.

"oh...are you guys heading to work today?"

"yeah, we just came here to inform you about what the superiors told us. if you need anything, just tell me and Chan hyung, and we'll buy it for you," seungmin said, taking a seat beside chan.

"thank you, guys. then, i want a 20-piece, please," jisung said, smiling cheekily.

chan and seungmin were taken aback by jisung's sudden smile, but they decided not to say anything.

"of course, ji."

-----

jisung was lazily lounging on his couch, the tv playing in the background, but he wasn't really watching. this moment brought back memories of how he and minho used to spend time together-cuddled up on jisung's couch while the tv mindlessly played in the background.