THE N-CITY SERIES

After Midnight

It had been two weeks; two agonizing weeks of not talking to her and avoiding each other like a plague. Two weeks of having different women in his bed and watching her have different men in hers.

Two weeks of Lucas with his head full of static, the male trying to revert back to the man he was before after tasting what it was like to get warmth from someone.

"You have to leave," he repeated and she stared at him silently, Lucas getting up. He wouldn't want to see her put on her clothes. He'd keep his back faced towards her, wait for the door to close, and go back to bed.

He headed to the kitchen for a glass of water, his eyes going to the closed door of Midnight's bedroom. Very briefly did he see her face that morning, her lips dry and her eyes tired from the upcoming final exam. He remembered thinking if he should talk to her but Lucas knew there was no point.

He'd have to do what he always did, deal with it and run away.

He stopped in the middle of the living room, hearing the sound of her bed creaking, a searing flash of jealousy running through him when he shook his head to himself. He walked back to his bedroom to see Heeyoung gather her clothes, Lucas stopping by the door way.

"Just stay," he finally said, the female looking up at him with confusion. "It's alright."

She must have wondered why he suddenly changed his mind, Lucas kicking the door shut with his foot and going to the bed and she soon climbed in after him. And even if she wasn't the one he was used to, Lucas turned to his side to hug her, his arms wrapping around his companion for the night so he could feel her warmth.

As he tried to fall asleep, he found himself telling himself that it was okay.

That this would have to do.

Even if it was only for one night.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"That was amazing," the man beside me said, breathing heavily. I glanced at the surfer dude, unable to mask my annoyance. But maybe this was good—maybe being annoyed would help me handle all the other feelings I was trying to hide.

"Sure," I whispered, turning away from him. Two weeks since I had spoken to Lucas and Jeonghan. The day after Jeonghan came over, I met him again and I told him that I was going to take a step back.

"You're doing it again," Jeonghan told me. "Pushing me away when we could be together."

Little did he know that it wasn't because I was afraid of my emotions for Jeonghan, it was because I was confused and I was a coward. In my very own way, I was a coward.

I went back home that day with one goal in mind, and that was to talk to Lucas. Maybe to tell him that I turned Jeonghan down. I didn't know why it mattered that he had to know but I knew I wanted to tell him about it.

Hopefully, he'd be proud of me.

Except for that day, I came home to hear a girl in his room and instead of feeling the same nonchalance I usually did, my stomach jumped and I found myself locked in my room and dialing the first guy on my phone.

And that was how it continued; a different girl every day for him, a different guy every other day for me.

A silent competition.

Almost a competition of pride as to who would break first.

Today was a little different. Today, I felt a little tired of fighting.