end of the day | seongjoong

chapter sixty nine

seonghwa ran up to jongho as soon as he entered the school building, palms sweaty and heart racing.

"please tell me he came to school today." seonghwa asked as tears brimmed his eyes, hoping for a better answer this tuesday morning than he got the day prior.

"i'm sorry man, he refused again. i'm going to try to convince him to come tomorrow, but he's still hurting too much to come right now. once again he got no sleep last night, my mom said he finally fell asleep at around five in the morning. i didn't want to push him if he wasn't ready." seonghwa's heart dropped after hearing jongho's response, but he figured that would be the answer to his question.

"i understand." seonghwa said low, looking down at the ground as he spoke.

"we seriously need to come up with some sort of plan today. all of the ideas we came up with yesterday were shit." jongho said to seonghwa as he grabbed some books out of his locker.

"we seriously do. i'm at a loss. i've tried calling him, texting him, and nothing has worked. i'm afraid to show up at your house though, if joong has been ignoring me over the phone, he'd have no problem ignoring me in person." seonghwa shook his head in disappointment, looking at jongho in hope that he would come up with a good enough plan to win his brother back.

"we'll talk at lunch today with the guys again. and i know yeosang and wooyoung will be there to talk with us today. sangie told me they didn't come to lunch yesterday because they had to make up some work, so hopefully we'll get some solid ideas with their help." jongho patted his friend on the back before shutting his locker and walking off, leaving seonghwa to dwell in his thoughts by himself.

i need him back. i need my joongie back.

----

the day went by extremely slow for seonghwa. he sat in his classes shaking in his seat, unable to control his overwhelming emotions all day long. every once in a while he'd let a single tear drip out of his eye, wiping it off his cheek before anyone in the room could notice.

when the bell signaling lunch rang through the school building, seonghwa jumped out of his seat and sprinted to the cafeteria. he was the first to arrive out of the seven boys, sitting in his usual seat without the warmth of hongjoong's tiny body next to his.

after seonghwa, mingi and yunho were the first to arrive. they sat down across from seonghwa, yunho immediately noticing how distraught seonghwa looked from everything that went on over the weekend. even though yunho was extremely upset with his friend, he put his hand out for seonghwa to hold onto. seonghwa grabbed on and squeezed tightly, allowing tears to fall down his face as he did so. yunho rubbed seonghwa's hand back and forth with his thumb in hopes to comfort the crying boy.

"shh, it's ok seonghwa. it's ok." yunho spoke quietly to his friend, "everything will be ok." yunho weakly smiled as seonghwa continued to cry.

eventually the rest of the boys arrived, taking their seats quietly as to not disturb seonghwa in his fragile state. jongho sat down next to the boy and rubbed his back in an attempt to comfort him.

"i'm an idiot. i'm a fucking idiot." seonghwa said after he composed himself, stopping the tears from flowing as he spoke to his friends.

"it might not be exactly what you want to hear right now, but you kind of are. i'm sorry for being blunt, but what you did was so wrong, seonghwa." san said as he put an arm around his boyfriend. seonghwa nodded his head at san's statement, agreeing with what he said.

"i mean, you're not wrong. i know what i did was wrong, but sadly that doesn't change the fact that i fucking did it." seonghwa mumbled as he shook his head at himself.

"it doesn't, but now you have to figure out a way to fix it." mingi warmly smiled at his hurting friend as he spoke.

"that's what i need you guys for. i need your help, all of your help, to figure out a way to get hongjoong back." seonghwa pleaded and all of his friends nodded their heads, agreeing to him seonghwa out.

"well, what have you tried doing so far?" yunho asked.

"i've sent him well over one hundred text messages and i've probably called him about fifty times, but every single time i'm left on read or he denies my call. i haven't tried going to his house yet because i'm afraid to overstep any boundaries, but i honestly don't know how much longer i can go w-without him." seonghwa spoke from the heart, pouring out his emotions as he stuttered out the words.

"honestly, this is a tough situation." jongho began, "hongjoong has always been one to forgive easily. i've never seen him ignore anyone in his life, even when he's hurt by them. he usually doesn't even cry about things like this, so i know that he's very hurt. but in a way, that's a good thing. at least we know that you mean a lot to him." jongho said, hoping his words could somewhat uplift seonghwa's down mood.

seonghwa put on a guilty smile after jongho spoke, "well, i wish i could've found out how much i meant to him in a different way, but i'm glad you can tell that i still mean a lot to him."

"if i'm being honest though, i think the only way you'll be able to get to him is by showing up at my house one day. i think he'll continue to ignore you over the phone, i even think he'll ignore you once he comes back to school... but he can't ignore you if you show up at the house. he won't have the heart to ignore you. joongie is a great guy, my little brother. i know he misses you dearly, but he's afraid to get hurt again. as long as you can somehow convince him otherwise, he won't believe you, but i think the only way you'll be able to do that would be in person." jongho finished explaining, hoping his mess of a statement somehow made sense to his friend in need.

"yeah, and maybe give him a gift or something! he loves plushies and strawberries!" wooyoung spoke up with a giggle. san's heart fluttered at his adorable boyfriend's suggestion, leaning down and littering wooyoung's entire face with kisses. seonghwa chuckled at their cute behavior, wishing that could be him and hongjoong at this exact moment.

"thank you wooyoung. i'll think of something, thank you guys for the suggestions. i hope whatever i do ends up being enough, i've never cared about someone as much as i care about that boy." seonghwa looked down at the lunch table, fighting back his urge to cry. yunho continued to rub circles on seonghwa's hand with his thumb, smiling at the boy as he did so.

"i can tell he means a lot to you, seonghwa. i've never seen you so torn up about someone in your life. i feel like if you play this right, you'll win hongjoong's heart back. it just might take some time, and that's ok. hongjoong deserves all the time he needs. at the end of the day, you're the one who hurt him. don't push him no matter how bad you want him, never forget that. make sure to never guilt trip him or anything. i'm not saying you are, but the boy is very soft. he might feel bad and immediately take you back even if he's still hurting, so make sure not to do that." yunho pointed a finger in seonghwa's face, hoping to get his point across to the boy as he sentimentally spoke to him.

"i'd never do that. i even texted him once that i don't mean to guilt trip him, i'm not doing that at all. everything i've been texting him has been genuine. he really means the world to me, and all i want in this world is my baby b-back." seonghwa choked out, smiling a little as he thought of hongjoong.

"i'm glad. hongjoong deserves a guy who treats him like a prince, not a peasant. i feel like you can do that, now that you've realized your mistake." jongho gave seonghwa a side hug which he gladly accepted.

"thank you guys so much." seonghwa smiled and thanked the table before the bell rang. the seven boys all stood up and walked out of the lunch room to their respective classes, leaving seonghwa to himself once again.

i'll think of something, something perfect. i will get my baby back, i just know it.

everyone really hates seonghwa right now and i mean yeah but like... hmmm, never mind.

I HOPE YOU LIKE THE ANGST BECAUSE I LIVE FOR IT🔪

also CONGRATULATIONS ATEEZ FOR INCEPTION FIRST WIN🥺🥺i'm so unbelievably proud of them!!

-vic