Strawberry Milk - Jeonglix

22

It was nearly midnight and Hyunjin was getting ready to go out, putting on a black shirt and skinny jeans, making sure his lip ring looked ok in the mirror and applying some of his cheap but pleasant aftershave. Hyunjin had never been one to care for exams or education in general so when his college exams rolled around, he wasn't revising like his other friends were. Instead, he was going out clubbing every night, getting wasted and hooking-up with the first man he lay eyes on, usually one way too old for him. He was about to leave for the evening, reaching a hand towards the door, when he paused.

Down the hall, he could hear yelling. When he pulled the door open a crack, the entire hallway was dark but voices could be heard from Chan's room, beyond his closed door. If he strained his ears enough, he could hear what Minho was yelling.

"I just don't understand why you're still ignoring me! I know I fucked up but Felix has forgiven me so why won't you? Why are you still ignoring me when I'm asking for help?"

"I'm not ignoring you. If I was, I wouldn't be talking to you now, would I?" Chan said in a voice calmer than Minho's, but his tone had more malice in it.

"You can't talk about me being horrible and then treat me like this. All I asked was to borrow a pen. You didn't have to have a go at me."

"I would have given you a pen if you asked nicely."

"I did ask nicely. Oh my god, I made one mistake, why are you still treating me like this?"

"You didn't make one mistake, Minho, you made more than I can count. You're constantly calling people names, you think you're better than everyone so you belittle them and now you use physical violence so I really don't know why you're making me the bad guy. Maybe if you tried to be a nicer person I'd forgive you, but all you've done is whine about how much people don't like you. There's a reason for that, so just take the pen and fuck off!"

The was a clattering sound, what Hyunjin assumed was the pen being thrown, and then the door opened. Minho stormed into the hallway, temporarily illuminated by the light from Chan's room but it was soon gone when he slammed the door behind him. He didn't see Hyunjin and walked straight into his room, slamming yet another door.

The nightclub didn't seem so appealing as Hyunjin walked back into his room and closed the door behind him. He sighed, walking over to his stool that he'd set up in front of a grey dressing table. He started to take his earrings out of his ears, five in each one, all in different places. Most of them were simple studs or rings, but his favourite were the ones through his standard lobes. They were petite, delicate fairies with green dresses and tiny wands in their hands. Tinker Bell. Minho bought them for him after he managed to get a few of his high school qualifications without complete failure. He was the only one who believed Hyunjin could do it and that's what drove him to try his best, even if it hadn't been much. Now Minho was so caught up with Jisung and university he barely had time to pay attention to Hyunjin.

When Hyunjin finished taking out his earrings, he went to change in his pyjamas until a thought crossed his mind. What if Minho is upset?

He knew he shouldn't have cared so much. Recently Minho wouldn't have cared about Hyunjin if he got into an argument with someone, but Hyunjin couldn't help it, he needed to know that Minho was ok before he could sleep. With that, he stood up from his stool and started making his way down the darkened hallway until he was in front of Minho's door, knocking three times.

"If you're Chan, fuck off!"

"It's Hyunjin. Can I come in?"

There was a scuffling sound from the other side of the door and Hyunjin thought he wasn't going to get an answer until Minho mumbled, "yeah, whatever."