LULLABY - TAEGYU ✔️

thirty-five: HEESEUNG

Taehyun slowly opens his eyes to be met with the lights of his office turned off and a blanket over him.
He immediately sits up from the couch and lets out a yawn, a sense of urgency suddenly hits him.

"Shit, did I really sleep?" Taehyun asks himself.
Taehyun instantly grabs his laptop and turns it on.

"I haven't submitted the tasks to Beomgyu yet. He's gonna kill m- Huh?"
As Taehyun checks the inboxes in his emails, a particular one at the top catches his attention. So, he clicks on it to find an email of reply from Beomgyu and when he scrolls up, he finds all his documents and tasks already emailed to the older.

"Take the day off." - Beomgyu.
"Huhh..." Was the only word Taehyun can muster up in the midst of his confusion.

'Did Beomgyu come into my office. Is this blanket his?'
'And a day off?? One my second day?? Gosh that'll make me look like a pathetic employee.'

Taehyun sighs as he folds the blanket that he thinks Beomgyu had given and places it at the edge of the couch. He then sits there in silence, contemplating whether he should take a day off as Beomgyu adviced.
He turns his phone on to check the time to find it's dawn.

After thinking for a while, Taehyun comes to the decision that he'd take the day off. He just hopes people won't question it but he feels like he really needs more sleep.

His eyes are tired, his lips are dry and his complexion had grown rough. His back aches too, he really just wants to dive into his bed right now.

And he's grateful for Beomgyu.

+×+

Taehyun had been sleeping the whole day in his apartment now. He hadn't received any calls from the office other than Soeun asking for his whereabouts.

Currently it's early afternoon when Taehyun suddenly hears his doorbell ringing.

He lazily gets up from his bed and trudge to the door. When he swings the door open, his eyes enlarge when he finds a taller male appearing at his door with a wide smile across his lips.

"Heeseung-hyung!!" Taehyun exclaims and doesn't hesitate to jump into a hug.
Heeseung chuckles and Taehyun invites him in.

"Guess someone just woke up." Heeseung teases as Taehyun closes the door behind them.
"I took a bath early morning and just wanted to sleep again. It's been tiring." Taehyun says.
"By the way, what are you doing here?" Taehyun asks.

"Just wanted to check up on you. By the way, got you some groceries." Heeseung says, placing a few plastic bags on Taehyun's kitchen counter.

"You really didn't have to hyung."
"Why not?? You just arrived here. It's the best I could do to make you feel welcome again after coming from Canada."

"You're lucky I'm here. Or else I would've been at work."
"You've started working already?" Heeseung asks and Taehyun nods.

"At BigHit Entertainment. I'm the secretary there and I just started yesterday."
"Wahh, look at you!! All grown up now!!" Heeseung chuckles while pinching Taehyun's cheeks, earning a slap on the shoulder from the younger.

"Hyung, I'm literally just a year younger than you. What about you?? Have you gotten any job yet?" Taehyun asks.
"Of course. I'm Heeseung, who wouldn't want to hire me?"

Taehyun rolls his eyes at that but then bursts in giggles.
"My workplace is actually just near yours." Heeseung says.
"Really??" Taehyun asks and Heeseung nods.

"You haven't gotten your driver's license right? I can always pick you up after work."
"Damn hyung, now you're just spoiling me."
"No biggie. Your apartment isn't that far."

"Gosh, I feel like a burden. You've always been the one helping me ever since we were kids."
"You're never a burden, Taehyun. Don't worry about it okay?" Heeseung reassures and Taehyun smiles.
"What would I do without you." Taehyun smiles.

"Also, you look beat. First day of work got you wrecked?" Heeseung asks and Taehyun groans.
"I actually just got back at dawn and took the day off." Taehyun says.
"Now what the fuck were you doing at the office until dawn??"

"The CEO..."
"Ahh... That bad huh?"
"Worse. It's Beomgyu-hyung."

Heeseung's eyes widen at the familiar name.
"Beomgyu? As in, your ex??" Heeseung asks for confirmation with his eyes and Taehyun nods while rubbing the back of his neck eyes diverting from Heeseung's gaze.

It's true that Taehyun had cut off contact with everyone the moment he left for Canada, Soobin and Kai weren't an exception but actually, aside from his family, Heeseung was also one of the people he didn't.

Taehyun was crest fallen, and heart broken and he just needed his childhood friend by his side to vent it out and naturally, he poured his heart out to him, and he was the first person he ever properly confessed about his relationship with Beomgyu and even about the deal relating to Beomgyu's insomnia.

"He obviously hates me..." Taehyun mutters, rubbing his face in exasperation.
"Who cares if he does-" Heeseung says and pulls Taehyun into a hug which catches the younger off guard.
"You have tons of others who love you, including me." Heeseung continues and Taehyun scoffs at his remarks.

"Damn, you're cheesy as fuck." Taehyun giggles.
"So, what about your feelings for him?" Heeseung asks in a serious gonetone, now pulling away from the silver haired male.

Taehyun smiles faintly and looks down to his fingers. For the past five years he hasn't seen Beomgyu, he's successfully removed a small part of Beomgyu from him. He didn't want to dwell onthe past and that's what he did.

Although, it was kind of hard. Because everytime someone asks Taehyun out, he would reject them, because a part of Beomgyu still lingers in him and even though it was Taehyun who left him, it added more to the guilt.

But here he is, in Seoul. He didn't want to admit it, but the moment he met eye to eye with Beomgyu yesterday, despite the guilt and hurt in his eyes, he felt alive.

And what was nothing but a linger of the foreign feeling that he only experienced with Beomgyu for the past five years, finally resurfaced.

But when he saw Beomgyu's dark orbs of emptiness, he knew the older was long gone.
The Beomgyu he loved was gone.

"Even if I still had feelings for him, Beomgyu doesn't feel the same way anymore. It's crystal clear in his eyes. He's even back to his bad habit..." Taehyun mutters.
"Weekly partners?" Heeseung asks and Taehyun nods.

Pain. Taehyun now realized that even if they shared something special; their hearts, bodies and soul, for Beomgyu to toss it away and turn back to his bad habits...

Taehyun didn't need words to understand.
Actions speak louder than words.

"So... does that mean I have a chance?" Heeseung asks slowly and Taehyun looks up at him, letting out scoff with a laugh after.

"Five years really made you flirty, huh?" Taehyun giggles and jokingly punches Heeseung in the shoulder.
And that's what Taehyun likes about his hyung. He can smoothly change the topic, cheering him up even with the smallest and most pathetic jokes.

Heeseung chuckles but he exhale heavily, still mustering a smile at his naive best friend.
"Y'know I'm joking right..."