No Strings Attached

two

That was all it took for Jongin to grab his jacket and storm out of their dorm, shutting the door with such excessive force behind him that the frame rattled.

"He's so completely in love with her." Minseok who had been quite all this time concluded.

"Yeah, you should have seen his face when Sehun said she was going out with Taeyong." Chen cackled. "10 bucks they'll get back together by the weekend."

"No way, you can't force love. 10 bucks they won't." Chanyeol challenged him.

"You're on." Chen replied, positive he would win.

"I can't believe Jongin has THE Kim Jennie of Blackpink wrapped around his finger and he just let her slip," Baekhyun voiced his thoughts out, still amazed at everything he had learned.

"She could literally get any guy in the world. Jongin's so dumb. Now he gotta face the consequences of his own actions. AtleastTaeyong's a nice guy." Chen continued.

"And he's head over heels for her. Did you see how nervous he got when she came to say hi to Irene noona at our table yesterday? He wouldn't even look her in the face, I wonder what he'll do on the actual date," Chanyeol piped in as the beagle line kept poking fun at Taeyong.

"Wait let me call Jaehyun and get the details." Baekhyun said excitedly, picking up his phone and dialingJaehyun's number. He was living for all this drama.

Kyungsoo, who had been silent all this time, just listening and observing everything, suddenly began making his way outside.

"Where are you going?" Junmyeon asked him.

"Out. I'll be back in a while, hyung."

Kyungsoo was one of the few people who really understood Jongin on a different level and what he went through following his break up with Soojung. He knew exactly where Jongin would be and his instincts proved to be right as he found his feet leading him to a studio Jongin's uncle used to own, one that had been abandoned for quite a few years now. From the outside it was dark but Kyungsoo knew better. He walked upto the glass door and as he suspected, it was unlocked.

Kyungsoo carefully maneuvered his way through the dark reception area and into a dimly lit room which was illuminated only by a single bulb. There was no furniture in the room, just a heavy boxing bag hanging from the ceiling and an absolutely livid Jongin punching the hell out of it. His back was tense but his movements were strong and that was enough for Kyungsoo to determine that he wasn't just mad or jealous, but internally conflicted.

Kyungsoo patiently waited for him to tire himself, sitting at the corner of the room. He knew better than to intervene when Jongin was like this.

After a good 20 more minutes of mercilessly punching the boxing bag, Jongin paused for a drink, emptying the bottle in one go and crashed down next to Kyungsoo on the floor, his head in his hands as he breathed heavily.

Kyungsoo waited for his breathing to steady out before asking, no more like stating what had been on his mind all along, "You love her, don't you?"

Jongin's figure just slouched in defeat as he sighed and turned to look at him, "Yes."

"You're scared. You love her but you're scared of committing yourself to another relationship because of how your last one turned out. You're scared that you'll be left alone again and you don't think you can survive that." Kyungsoo concluded as if figuring Jongin out was the easiest thing in the world.

"Yes, I won't be able to live if that happened again. You were there with me last time, Soo. I can't do it all over again." Jongin said, running a hand through his sweaty hair.