"We should break up."
Hyunjin didn't want to believe what Jeongin was saying. He shook his head, as his eyes began stinging with tears, and he felt that painful lump in his throat.
"No, no, no... why? What happened?" Hyunjin asked, his voice breaking as he tried not to cry. Why did it feel like all he did nowadays was cry?
"Hyunjin, I love you." Jeongin said, taking both of Hyunjin's hands in his. It was the first time he had said those words to Hyunjin, and it wasn't exactly at the best time in their relationship. "But I don't want to be the reason you become distant with your family."
"What?" Hyunjin was crying, and he could tell that Jeongin hated what he was doing himself. "Jeongin, I don't care if I'm distant from them!" Hyunjin raised his voice, confused and frustrated. "I only need you."
"Because of me, they kicked you out!" Jeongin argued back. "Just for now, go back. We can work around it later, ok?" He tried to reason with Hyunjin, but it was obvious that he was getting nowhere.
"I don't want to." Hyunjin muttered, his voice gentle, as he looked down at the floor. "Why do we have to care about what they say?"
"They're your parents."
"They've never acted like parents." Hyunjin already had a horrible relationship with his parents and, now, he hated them more than ever. They never cared about him as a person, he was always just their heir. Not their son, but someone who could take over after them.
They stayed silent for a while, before Hyunjin spoke up.
"So, what? You're gonna leave me alone?" Hyunjin asked, making Jeongin shake his head.
"I'm never going to leave you alone, but I- we have to do this." He corrected himself. "Even if you think that they don't care about you, I know they do."
"They don't. They never have."
"When I went to your house today, do you know what your mother asked me?" Jeongin asked, his sudden question taking Hyunjin by surprise. "She asked me if you were ok, if you had eaten anything. She was worried about you." He answered the question when Hyunjin stayed silent.
"But-" Hyunjin began.
"Please just go home for her. Just so she can see her son and know that you're fine. Please." Jeongin pleaded to Hyunjin, who felt helpless at that moment. He felt another kind of sadness within him after his mother was mentioned, something unexplainable.
After a long time of standing face to face with Jeongin, struggling to think of ways to fix the mess he had made, Hyunjin agreed.
"Fine." Jeongin let out a relieved sigh, glad that Hyunjin had come around. "But, after all this is over, let's go back to normal."
"I promise we will." Jeongin confirmed, smiling. But it wasn't like his usual smile, it was more of a mask than anything and Hyunjin could tell. However, Jeongin wouldn't take no for an answer, so all he could do was wear the same mask and pretend it was all going to be fine.
"You go home, I'll call you later, ok?" Jeongin said, waving goodbye as he left.
Hyunjin began walking in the direction of his own house, feeling an overwhelming amount of frustration. Jeongin was right in some ways, but Hyunjin didn't care how distant he was from his parents. They left him alone for years. It was painfully obvious how little Hyunjin's happiness meant to them, especially since their condition for Hyunjin to be let back into his house was to breakup with Jeongin.
He sighed, walking up to his front door and knocked. How had he come to hate this place in such a short time? His mother opened the door and as soon as she saw her son, her eyes lit up and she pulled him into a hug. Hyunjin stood frozen, not knowing whether to return the hug.
"Hyunjin!" She cried into his shoulder. "Where were you? Why didn't you come back? Are you ok?" She bombarded him with questions as she pulled away and held his face, looking at him with an expression that could only be described as love, which made feel somewhat guilty.
However, all the noise Hyunjin's mother was making at the door drew his father's attention.
"Who's here?" He asked, curious, but his expression hardened when he saw Hyunjin. They didn't exactly leave each other last time on a good note.
"Why are you here?" He asked, looking as if he were trying to keep in his anger, for once.
"Because of you." Hyunjin said, confusing both of his parents. "You told Jeongin that he had to break up with me and he did, so you don't have to worry about anything." His parents both looked at him like he had gone mad. It wasn't often that Hyunjin actually did as told.
"Good." His father said, after getting over the initial shock. "You should've never gotten involved with those kind of people in the first place." He added, infuriating Hyunjin more.
"What do you mean by that?" Hyunjin asked, regretting the fact that he came back. His father didn't respond and gave him a disapproving look. "What do you mean 'those kind of people'?" Hyunjin raised his voice.
"Don't use that tone with me." His father said, sternly. "You know exactly what I mean. For all you know, he could have been with you for money!"
"Come, let's not talk about this now." Hyunjin's mother whispered, trying to stop the argument that was bound to take place. She tried to push Hyunjin's father back inside the house.
"What?" Hyunjin scoffed, unable to believe the words that were coming out of his fathers mouth. "You don't even know him! You never even bothered to try and get to know him! How could you say that?"
"What have I done to deserve such a son?" Hyunjin's father muttered, not even acknowledging that he had barely treated Hyunjin like his son. "Why can't you be normal?" He pointed at Hyunjin.
"Normal?" Hyunjin laughed. "I'm perfectly normal! It's only you who hasn't realised yet!" Hyunjin's father glared at him, his eyes swearing. "I shouldn't have come back." Hyunjin muttered.
Hyunjin turned away from his parents, ignoring his mother, who was running after him and trying to call him back. How could his father be so heartless? Hyunjin couldn't even talk to him for a minute before it all spun out of control. But what was he supposed to do now? At that moment, all he wanted to do was go to Jeongin and feel the warmth of his arm around him, but that wasn't an option because of his father. His father. If it wasn't for him, all of this wouldn't have happened. Should he try calling Chan?
Hyunjin pulled out his phone, looking at his contacts list, trying to remember if he had even saved Chan's number. He was too busy looking through his phone that he didn't notice that he had walked out onto the road, until he heard his mother scream.
"Hyunjin!"
Jeongin's home felt as though something was missing when Hyunjin had gone. Although it was only for a few days, maybe a week, Jeongin had gotten used to seeing Hyunjin's face as soon as he had woken up. It had been less than two days since he had been stupid enough to distance himself from Hyunjin. He hadn't seen Hyunjin in school, and couldn't help but worry. Was Hyunjin not coming to school because of him? Was he sick? All Jeongin wanted to do was see Hyunjin's smile.
He stared longingly at his phone, his hands itching to grab it and call Hyunjin. But, no, he had told himself that he was to stay away from Hyunjin, at least for now, until things calmed down. He had broken up with Hyunjin, but that didn't mean that they couldn't be friends... right? Friends call each other... right?
Jeongin couldn't stand it any longer. He grabbed his phone and immediately called Hyunjin. It rang for a long time, before someone picked up.
"Hyunjin?" Jeongin sat up in his seat.
"Is this Jeongin?" Jeongin was confused to hear, not Hyunjin's voice, but his mother's voice. She sounded as though she was talking to him in secret.
"Yes. What happened? Where's Hyunjin?" He asked.
"Hyunjin's in the hospital." She whispered.
"What?"
"Look, my husband told me not to tell you, but..." She paused. "...Hyunjin got into a car accident and he's in the hospital. He's been unconscious since." She sounded as though she had begun crying.
"I'm coming." Jeongin stated.
"No!" She cried, just as he was about to hang up. "You can't!" Jeongin knew it was because of Hyunjin's father. That it was him who didn't want Hyunjin and Jeongin to associate, but he didn't want to just sit there, not knowing at all how Hyunjin is doing.
"Don't worry. I'll still be there."
Jeongin hung up and called Jisung. He was too afraid to go on his own and felt like he was going to need some emotional support or someone to hold him back, so he asked Jisung to come with him. Jisung was probably going to bring Minho as well, which didn't bother Jeongin, the more the merrier. Minho deserved to know Hyunjin's condition as well.
"When did this happen? Why did no one tell me? What if he's really badly hurt?" Minho was constantly talking as they ran to the hospital, along with Jeongin's mother, who immediately got up as soon as she heard that Hyunjin was injured. So, long story short, Jeongin, his mother, Jisung and Minho ended up at the hospital.
"Name?" The receptionist asked.
"Hwang Hyunjin."
"How are you related to the patient?"
"What are you doing here?" Jeongin's blood went cold when he heard Hyunjin's father's voice from behind him. He turned around and, as he had already guessed, Hyunjin's father was there. He took a deep breath.
"It's a public hospital."
"Don't you go anywhere near my son!" He yelled, making people in the hospital turn their heads and look in their direction.
"Calm down, sir, this is a hospital." A nurse had rushed to them, trying to prevent any fights happening. Hyunjin's father huffed and walked away.
"I'm the patients friend." Jeongin said to the receptionist, turning around like nothing had happened. The receptionist hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether or not she should tell Jeongin the room number, considering what had just happened. Eventually, she sighed and told him the room number and floor.
"Thank you." Jeongin said, running off in the direction of the room. However, he froze at the end of the hallway when he saw Hyunjin's parents. He took a deep breath and walked towards Hyunjin's mother, walking past his father.
"Is he ok?" He asked her. She looked nervously to Hyunjin's furious father before nodding. "Can I see him?"
"No!" Hyunjin's father tried to keep his cool. "You cannot go anywhere near Hyunjin. He's like this because of you."
"What...?" Jeongin couldn't believe that it was his fault that Hyunjin had such a big accident.
"No, it's not your fault!" Hyunjin's mother spoke up. "It's ours." She said, earning an angry look from Hyunjin's father.
As she said that, Minho, Jisung and Jeongin's mother joined them.
"Is he here?" Minho asked, panting. Jeongin nodded. "Well, then what are you standing out here for?" He said, reaching for the door handle that lead to Hyunjin's hospital room. However, he could barely get near before Hyunjin's father grabbed his wrist, stopping him.
"I don't want you people near him."
"What?" Minho's eyes widened. "He's my friend. Who are you to stop me from seeing him?" Jisung and Jeongin shared a look. Minho was losing his temper and if he snapped, it wouldn't be a pretty sight.
"I'm his father."
"What kind of a father are you? You turned up to ruin his life after leaving him alone for god knows how long." Minho scoffed, enraging Hyunjin's father.
Jisung grabbed Minho's upper arm, silently pleading him to calm down, which Minho took into account, stepping back from Hyunjin's father.
"Fine." He muttered.
"Let me see him." Jeongin demanded.
"How dare-"
"He's unconscious, it won't make a difference whether I see him or not." Jeongin said, trying everything possible to get past Hyunjin's father.
"Let him." Jeongin was surprised when Hyunjin's mother pleaded for him. Hyunjin's father's eyes were burning with anger as he stepped aside, accepting defeat.
Jeongin fought the urge to smile smugly as he pushed past Hyunjin's father into the room.
PFFFT this story is so typical kdrama help-
Oh well, I still hope it was ok 😊💚