Stay With Me | haobin

Eighteen

The next day, Zhang Hao woke up early again since he'll be walking to school again. This time, he'll make sure to take his portable charger and write down the address. What happened yesterday will not repeat itself.

He walks towards the kitchen to have breakfast. He usually has something simple, like cereal, but he smells a really delicious smell coming from the kitchen. It must be Yujin. It seems like he's the only other person in this house who wakes up this early.

Zhang Hao walks into the kitchen and sees someone with his back turned towards him. It must be Yujin and Zhang Hao is still half asleep to really notice.

"Good morning." He tells him, thinking it's Yujin.

"Good morning." He says back, but it's not him.

It's Hanbin.

That immediately wakes Zhang Hao up. He was half asleep, but not anymore. He clears his throat, embarrassed, then reaches for an apple. He doesn't feel like sitting down to have breakfast, so he'll just eat this as he walks to school.

"Are you okay?" Hanbin asks him as soon as Zhang Hao was about to turn around and walk away.

"What do you mean?"

"I heard what happened yesterday." Hanbin tells him. "Are you okay?"

"Of course they told you." Zhang Hao mumbles. "Yeah, I'm fine. Jiwoong found me and brought me home."

'I found you first.' Hanbin thinks to himself. 'I just wasn't quick enough to go up to you.'

"Well, I'll get going then." Zhang Hao tells him after they stay quiet for a while.

"I made breakfast." Hanbin tells him. "I'll leave if you want, but have some breakfast before you go."

"Wow, why are you being so nice to me? Did you poison it or something?" Zhang Hao jokes, but then remembers they're not friends who can joke like this anymore. "Do you feel bad because I got lost yesterday? You don't have to feel bad. I'm perfectly fine. Jiwoong found me."

"Yeah... I'm glad he was able to find you. You looked scared." Hanbin says, quietly, but Zhang Hao still heard.

"Huh?" Zhang Hao asks, confused, but realizes that Ricky probably told him he sounded scared on the phone. "No, not really." He lies.

He doesn't want Hanbin to know he gets scared so easily now. The same Zhang Hao that used to make fun of him back then for getting scared over everything, has now become exactly like him.

Now that he thinks about it, he realizes that maybe that's why he didn't get scared back then...

Because he always had Hanbin beside him.

Maybe as the eldest, he wanted to act like he wasn't scared so Hanbin wouldn't cry... or maybe he found it cute and funny when Hanbin screamed of fear... or maybe he just felt less lonely when he was with Hanbin.

"I'm sorry."

Zhang Hao snaps out of his thoughts when he hears Hanbin's voice. He had said it so quietly that he was barely able to hear him.

"Sorry?" Zhang Hao asks him, not believing he really just apologized. "For what?"

Hanbin stays quiet for a few seconds, then finally turns around to face Zhang Hao. "I feel guilty for you getting lost yesterday. I don't blame you for not wanting to get in my car. I've been thinking and I realized I've been a jerk to you ever since we saw each other again... I'm sorry."

Zhang Hao stays quiet, not knowing what to say. He didn't expect Hanbin to apologize to him for this.

"The other day... you told me that since we'll be living under the same roof, we should at least try to get along." Hanbin starts. "Is the offer still up? Can we try to get along?" He extends his hand out for Zhang Hao to shake.

Zhang Hao stares at his hand for a few seconds. He really didn't expect Hanbin to apologize or to try to be on good terms with him.

Still, since he'll be living in his house for who knows how long, it's best to try and get along so they're at least not fighting all the time. These past few days he's been living here have been exhausting already. He's not sure he'd be able to live here any longer if things continued that way.

"Yeah, okay." Zhang Hao reaches for Hanbin's hand and shakes it. "Let's try to get along then." He gives Hanbin a small smile as they make eye contact.

Hanbin feels his heart beating faster and realizes that this probably wasn't a good idea. 'Don't fall for him again. Don't fall for him again.' He thinks to himself.