↱ECHO↲ ⇾seongjoong⇽

第二十七

"I think I left my toothbrush," Wooyoung proclaims right after he gets Seonghwa settled in the handicap accessible seat on the airplane.

Seonghwa just glares at him, too fucking tired to even function.

It's way too early in the morning and they have an ungodly amount of hours on this plane until they reach Sweden, where his surgery is to take place.

"We'll buy you a toothbrush," he tells the younger with a roll of his eyes.

"A Swedish toothbrush?" Wooyoung considers this.

"It could double as a souvenir." He breaks out into a smile too wide for the circumstance and the early hour and Seonghwa has the sudden urge to slap him.

But he doesn't.

He just sits there and tries to keep his eyes open.

He hasn't even had the luxury of coffee yet.

When Wooyoung moves to the aisle, Seonghwa frowns.

"Where are you going? Aren't you sitting with me?"

His friend flushes at the question before rubbing his neck sheepishly.

"Actually, no. I've got a surprise for you—"

Seonghwa's stomach drops.

For a moment, he thinks that Hongjoong may be here.

He has no idea why he hopes for such a ridiculous thing, but he does.

Even though the man practically betrayed him, he still misses him.

Not a day or night goes by without Seonghwa desperately hoping that the connection they shared was real even though he knows it wasn't.

Hongjoong was just projecting his feelings for his girlfriend onto Seonghwa, but a man can dream.

And dream he does, late at night when he's exhausted himself by asking Jongho to work him harder in therapy.

He dreams of Hongjoong in the park, holding his hand as they share some street food.

He dreams of sweet kisses tangled up in the nurse's bed, listening to the soft melodies coming through the speaker on his desk.

But perhaps the most potent dreams are the ones where Hongjoong stands in the doorway of his bedroom, and Seonghwa goes to him— actually stands up and walks to him.

When he wakes from those, he is always sobbing from the cruelty of reality.

And life truly is cruel, because even though Seonghwa hopes Hongjoong is here, coming to support him during the surgery, he knows this is not the case.

But that doesn't stop him from breaking out into a smile upon seeing his brother stepping through the plane doorway and striding up to where Seonghwa is seated.

Wooyoung grins, proud of himself.

"I heard my badass baby brother is getting surgery," his brother states, rubbing his head of cropped hair.