"you don't have to follow me all the way to my apartment, seonghwa." san said.
seonghwa decided to send san to his home that day after eating. he had prepared their late breakfast while san continued to sleep. "but i just want to." seonghwa insisted while smiling. san grinned at him. "there's just no stopping you, is it? fine then." he went to open his door to his house and was about to step in when he felt his hand being pulled. he turned his head to face seonghwa who slowly pulled him into a warm hug.
which, san gladly hugged back by wrapping his arms around seonghwa. "i'll see you soon, sannie."
"you too, hwa." they both let go and looked into each other, their hands together. "i should go now. i have a lot to do and maybe i will be busy these days." seonghwa said, with a little sadness behind his voice. san noticed this and squeezed his hands. "as long as your career is succeeding, i will always be happy for you, seonghwa. focus on your future, okay?"
"okay.. but i'll try texting you." san nodded with a smile. "now go, you have fame to handle!" they both laughed and seonghwa nodded. "you're not letting my hands go, san" seonghwa mentioned and san blushed in embarrassment. he slowly let go then and saw the other grinned. "thanks for last night..."
and now was san's chance. he went to seonghwa's cheeks and planted a kiss. after that, he went inside his home, leaving the other stunned.
seonghwa brought his hand to his left cheek where san had kissed. he blushed lightly and smiled.
san leaned back to his door with a wide grin plastered on his face. to see seonghwa's startle reaction satisfied him a lot. he then went to take his bath to clean himself. after that, he laid lazily on his couch with his phone. his eyes widened as he just turned it on.
there were 2 missed calls from wooyoung last night and this early morning.
wooyoung waited for san at a cafe near his house. he had received a call from san half an hour ago, at 10 o'clock. which was strange and unlike san at all to wake up that late. unless san was busy, wooyoung thought positively. but what else could he be doing? he doesn't work at another place for the weekend, right? if he did, wooyoung would know it.
he heard the door open as the bell rang, so he looked up. there stood san, his bestfriend, and his crush. "sannie!" he raised his hand in a wave. san saw it and made his way towards wooyoung. "what's up, woo?" he asked.
"why didn't you pick up my calls?" wooyoung asked worriedly, but deep inside he's a little bit suspicious of him. just a little. "huh? oh, i was.. busy." san answered, though wooyoung could see right through him that easy. he leaned forward at the table to look at san closely. the said male pulled a confused face and raised his eyebrows. "mwo?"
wooyoung hummed. "you're keeping a secret from me, sannie." he concluded. san widened his statement. "am not!"
"yes, you are."
"why do you think so?" san asked, a little panicked. wooyoung smiled mischievously at him and answered his question, "your face is red, that means you're lying." he planned to make the older give in, which he succeeded when san huffed in defeat. "damn you, woo." he mumbled rather loudly for wooyoung to hear who laughed.
"san, do you have a new job?" wooyoung asked.
"i was planning to."
"then what is it?" san was quiet for a moment. wooyoung waited for the male before him for an answer. san adjusted his seat and finally looked up to meet wooyoung's eyes. "woo, remember the guy i told you about? the guy i texted when i thought it was you but it's not." when wooyoung nodded to say he remembered, san went on, "we talked to each other after that and we became close. and then he asked me out. i was at his place last night."
wooyoung stared at san in utter shock. his eyes widening at his explanations. although his heart was shattering, wooyoung managed a smile. "really? why don't you say so? that's cool." again, san seemed to believe his fake expression. and so he continued to tell about him and the guy named seonghwa while wooyoung listened.
at the same time, his heart just kept on breaking into a million shards. his tears begging to escape and fall down his cheeks.
while he silently screamed inside in pain.
a week later...
san was closing the sunny convenience store as he pulled down the door closed. after that, he walked his way towards his home. when he passed by an electric store, the televisions on display were playing seonghwa's new song video. san stopped to admire seonghwa's visual on the screens.
these past few days, seonghwa had been very busy after a famous korean drama team contacted him regarding his new hit song. they requested for his song to be the main ost for their upcoming drama which is highly awaited by the netizens. the drama was the most waited one because it was different than others.
it's about a man who's struggling to live in a world where the government will be the one to choose who to marry with or precisely, a soulmate. and for years now the said man has been keeping his darkest secret about being homosexual. with his parents being the city mayor and the leader of anti-lgbtq movement makes it a lot more harder keeping his identity secure.
san was the first person to know all the plot because of seonghwa, of course.
and seonghwa's new song just perfectly suit to be the ost. he gratefully accepted and just yesterday when the preview of the drama was aired with seonghwa's track playing, he received an overwhelming amount of new fans.
and san was more than happy for seonghwa. even if it meant spending less time with him. as long as seonghwa is becoming successful, san was fine with that.
when he arrived at his apartment building, he saw a figure standing outside. he knew who it was too well. "woo? what are you doing out here?" san stopped in front of wooyoung who just looked up from the ground. "i was waiting for you."
"do you have something to tell me? come on, let's get inside. it's cold out here." as san was about to move, wooyoung pulled san's wrist gently. he looked back, confused. "wae?" wooyoung had a serious expression on and san was in confusion.
"i have something to tell you. i guess it's better to say this outside." wooyoung sighed, causing his breath leaving his mouth turning to clouds. san nodded slowly and waited to hear him out.
"sannie, we've been bestfriends for nearly 10 years now. you've been there through thick and thin together with me and when i was at my worst. you don't know how much i appreciate you for that up until now. when you came out to me that you're gay, i was happy because i was the same. but since then, i started having these feelings for you."
san was about to ask further. however, he felt wooyoung taking both of his hands and leaned in closer to him. san widened his eyes when he realized what the other male was about to pull off. but before he could even do anything, wooyoung did it first.
he kissed him.
and boy was san terrified. his heart clenched. this was wrong. everything about this is just not right.
san didn't kiss back, to wooyoung's disappointment. he broke the kiss and gazed into san's eyes. "i like you, choi san. i know that you're dating seonghwa, but it's not too late for you to reconsider my feelings for you." he said. san didn't know what to say. he didn't expect any of these at all. so, he did the first thing that came to mind. he let go of wooyoung's hands and backed away, shaking his head.
and then he ran.
he ran to his home, to his room, then to his most safest place at the time; his bed, leaving a shocked and heartbroken wooyoung outside in the cold.
it's been two days since that occurrence. and in those two days, san had not come to work. instead, he stayed in his room. his phone was off and he paid no mind to the thought of charging his phone. and this caused a certain someone to get very worried.
seonghwa couldn't focus on his work when he couldn't get san on the phone. the first day, he was okay when his texts weren't answered as he thought that maybe san was busy attending to customers. but his texts weren't seen that night either. which began to worry seonghwa. the second day, he tried calling san. first in the morning, then afternoon, then in the evening. however, none of his calls were picked up.
so he drove his car to his workplace, sunny convenience store. when he entered, san wasn't there at the counter. it was a middle-aged man instead. seonghwa went closer and asked, "excuse me, sir. do you happen to know what happened to choi san?"
"oh, that boy san? he called me saying he's not feeling well." the man said, which seonghwa saw his name on his name tag reading 'mr. seo'.
"did he come to work yesterday and the day before?" mr. seo shook his head sadly. "no. he had told me that he may not come to work this week because of some issue he's handling currently. but who are you, young man?"
"i'm his.. friend, sir."
"are you park seonghwa?"
seonghwa raised his eyebrows at mr. seo. "how did you know my name?" the man chuckled softly. "san had told me pretty much everything about you. don't worry, he only said the good things. he's a good person and likes helping others. never has he not come to work late or not at all. san is very hardworking and it pains me to hear he said that he'll be absent. it seems like the problem he's facing is serious." he explained further.
a few minutes later, seonghwa found himself at san's place. he remembered the code as san told him before. when he entered, the house was dark. and there was no sign of human life in the living room and kitchen. so san must've been in his room.
carefully but hurriedly, seonghwa made his way to a room where the door was closed. loud slow music was played inside the room. very loud, he admitted. when he opened the door, there san was, on the bed, curled into a ball. the said male's head moved to see who's at the door as seonghwa went closer.
"san!"