Confidence was something Minho never lacked. He basically had this charisma that made people believe he feared nothing and could just about take on any challenges that came his way. True, he might have little confidence when trying out new things for the first time but little confidence did not mean no confidence. Besides, the competitive side of him would eventually get him through everything. So, when he gave Key the ultimatum, Minho was certain that it wouldn’t take long for his boyfriend to come back to him with an answer, one that would preferably help them reach that happily ever after. Yet, one and a half weeks had passed with entirely no news from Key and Minho was losing his confidence a little by little, day by day.

This sudden lost in contact with Key was affecting Minho more than he knew it. In a way, it horribly reminded him of the time Key disappeared for five days. Except that this was much worse since they were now together and had hit a rough patch in their relationship. Minho didn’t even dare imagine how it would be like if Key eventually chose to break up with him. Life would definitely be a living hell and perhaps, he might be better off dead but Minho undoubtedly did not want to go through that experience in this lifetime, and even the next.

For now, he could get through a week without Key but after the seventh day, Minho couldn’t control his thoughts as he troubled over what was taking his boyfriend so long to make his decision. There were many times when he was tempted to confront Key so he could spare himself the misery but his dignity wouldn’t let him be the one to give in first. So, other than forcing himself to focus on school assignments and soccer trainings, Minho spent hours sweating his guts out by working out at the gym and outdoors (if the weather was kind) to get his mind off Key whenever he had free time. Like now, he was running (or more like sprinting) on the university’s track and had already lost count of the number of rounds he ran. That empty spot on the bleachers didn’t make things any better as Minho pushed himself further, using every bit of energy he had left in his body to run… run away from all his troubles.

It was only until his body couldn’t take it anymore that Minho forced himself to a stop and in the process, fell hard on the track. He sprawled himself out on the ground, not caring about his manners and the looks from other runners on the tracks, desperately drawing in whatever air he could get so he could regain his breath. He covered his eyes from the sunlight with his arm and lay motionless on the running track, taking the time to stabilise his heartbeat. Minho’s situation certainly looked worrying and it only took a minute for someone to hurry to his side to check on him.

“Hey!” Minho felt someone shake him. “Hey! Are you alright? Do you need help?”

Minho moved his arm away and found out that the someone who was still shaking him was a person he knew. At the same time, said someone realised that they knew each other as well, judging by the look of recognition that appeared instantly when Minho revealed his face.

“Hi Nicole.” Minho managed a smile at the girl who he got to know through no one else but Key. Nicole was Key’s course mate and closest friend from Fashion Design and well, that was pretty much all Minho knew since they barely talked to each other, only greeting one another with a polite nod or smile when Minho picked Key up from his classes.

At Minho’s words, Nicole heaved a sigh of relief and returned a smile.

“Hey. I thought you passed out or something!” Nicole couldn’t stop herself from hitting Minho on his arm for giving her a fright. “How are you feeling?”

With Nicole’s help, Minho got up from the ground and they moved towards the bleachers where they wouldn’t be blocking the track.

“I’m fine.” Minho assured her with a wave of his hand. “Just pushed myself a little too much.”

Nicole let out an amused giggle. “Key’s rubbing off on you?”

Minho’s attention was completely caught by Nicole’s comment and he shot her a quizzical look. “Why would you say that?”

“Well, considering how Key hasn’t left the workshop for days, I thought you-“

“Why hasn’t he left the workshop for days?“ Minho interrupted.

“You don’t know?” Nicole frowned. “He has been so caught up working on producing his designs for the past week that he hardly leaves the place! And god only knows why he’s doing it when we have no assignments due anytime soon…”

“It’s not school related?” Minho asked.

“Nope.”

“But he’s been busy with that?”

“Yupp.” Nicole answered before thinking out loud to herself. “I wonder why he’s in such a hurry to produce those designs…”

Once again, a restless Minho disrupted Nicole’s train of thought.  “Where is he now?”

“Still at the workshop, of course!” Nicole chirped.

Minho didn’t know why he did what he did next but sometimes, it was better not to rationalise so much. So, before Nicole could say anything else, Minho dropped a word of thanks and left her standing alone in bafflement while he hastily exited the running track to head back towards the university’s academic building. His final destination was no place other than the fashion workshop where he knew he could find the person that had been occupying his mind and heart.

--------------------------

“Key!”

At the sound of his name, Key lost his concentration and pricked his finger with the needle he was holding. His immediate reaction was to check if he was bleeding. Once he was sure there was only a small mark on his finger tip among all the other cuts that graced his hands, Key looked up to glare at the owner of the voice that called him. He even knew exactly who the voice belonged to…

“Nam Woohyun!” Key failed at acting angry as an obvious smile tugged on his lips when his eyes met those of his good friend. “I would prefer if you chose another way to get my attention instead of giving me a shock.”

Woohyun let out a laugh as he walked further into the fashion workshop (which Key had all to himself) towards Key’s work station until he stood in front of the fashion student. He then cleared a spot on the messy table top to place a Starbucks take-out cup he hid behind his back to surprise Key.

“Your favourite.” Woohyun’s eyes crinkled in a smile. “I know you need this to get through today.”

As the aromatic smell of his favourite coffee overwhelmed his senses in a way that made him feel like he was high on drugs, Key had to hold himself back from crying tears of joy and tackling Woohyun to the ground in a bone crushing hug just to express how thankful he was for this cup of coffee. Since his mind and body was too exhausted, Key decided to save his energy for the remaining work he had to complete and chose to stay where he was instead, flashing the widest smile he could muster to his friend. 

“You’re the best, Woohyunnie~”

“You know you want to give me a hug…” Woohyun teased as he placed his hands on the table and leaned forward.

Key smiled and was about to shoot an equally teasing reply to Woohyun when he was distracted by a figure that stood at the entrance of the workshop. Key instinctively pushed Woohyun away since he was blocking his view and upon catching sight of who was at the entrance, his expression froze, his body tensed up, his mind stopped working. Key wasn’t prepared for this at all.

Woohyun followed the direction of Key’s eyes and met a pair of eyes that were shooting daggers at him and burned with pure dislike. He unconsciously gulped and quickly looked back towards Key for help. Yet, Woohyun was getting none of it since Key seemed as afraid as him.

“Key?” Woohyun tried (in a volume only the two of them could hear) to snap Key out of his shock.

Key blinked and looked at Woohyun. Then, he looked at his table top which was covered untidily with the almost completed set of clothes that he had been rushing to produce over the past few days and suddenly, his brain started functioning again.

“.” Key cursed and instantly got up from his chair, storming straight towards the figure at the entrance. “You’re not supposed to be here, Minho.”

Not wanting Minho to see what was on his work station, Key didn’t even stop when he reached where Minho was, only pushing the taller man out of the fashion workshop and then taking his hand to lead him away and down the hallway. However, he only managed to get as far as a couple of steps away before he came to an abrupt stop when Minho spoke.

“Is this your answer?”

Key turned around and looked at Minho in confusion. “What?”

“Is this…” Minho let out a breath. “…your answer?”

Key creased his eyebrows. “Minho, I don’t underst-“

Minho lost his patience. “You know, you could have just come to me earlier and tell me your decision instead of letting me find out this way. Then I would have known 10, 11 days earlier that you’ve moved on and we’re no longer in a relationship.”

“Moved on?” Key huffed indignantly. “With the guy I was with just now?”

Key harshly released Minho’s hand with a roll of his eyes. “Well, sorry to disappoint but I can’t actually move on even if I had the chance with Woohyun since I’m stupidly in love with some jerk who doesn’t even trust me and assumed that our relationship is over just because I made him wait too long.”

“Are you calling me a jerk?”

“Someone’s guilty.” Key crossed his arms and turned away, refusing to look at Minho for fear he would throw a punch at his boyfriend if he continued looking at him.

Minho almost felt like pulling out his hair in frustration at the situation he was in with Key. He forced himself to swallow his anger and let out a defeated sigh.

“I’m sorry Key, but this… this whole long wait is killing me. It’s driving me crazy I can’t even function properly. To hell with what I said about giving you all the time you need! I just… I just can’t deal with this anymore.”

Upon hearing the despair in Minho’s voice, Key turned back towards his boyfriend and suddenly realised how tired he looked. Was this Minho breaking down in front of him? Key shuddered at the thought of how he was responsible for reducing the confident always stable Minho to this state.

“I thought giving up isn’t in your dictionary.”

Minho knew what Key was trying to do, challenging him so his competitive side would kick in and he’ll be back to his normal self, retorting Key with witty comments that would leave the other exasperated. However, he was exhausted, both mentally and physically. A part of him was even regretting his impulse to find Key once he knew where he was. Enough was enough and Minho just wanted to escape for the time being. What he needed right now was a cold shower to refresh himself and then a good sleep after. So, without thinking, he shook his head at Key in an attempt to send the message across that it wasn’t going to work this time. Then, he left as silently as he had arrived, not even saying a goodbye.

“Hey!” Key widened his eyes in surprise that Minho was leaving just like that. “Where are you going!”

“Showers.”

If Key didn’t run after Minho, he would have missed hearing the word that Minho muttered out. Key shrugged to himself and slipped his hand into Minho’s while he tried his best to keep up with his boyfriend’s pace.

“Sounds like a good idea.” Minho shot a puzzled look at Key, to which Key replied with a smile. “I’ll join you.”

“What?” Minho stopped and stared at Key like he was crazy.

“You heard me.” Key decided to be nice and went on to explain. “You’re not the only one who needs a shower. I stayed overnight at the workshop.”

“What about your coffee and your friend?”

“Oh?” Key mused. “So now he’s my friend?”

“Kibum…” Minho groaned.

Key let out a laugh. “I like you when you’re jealous.”

A heavy expression fell onto Minho’s face. “I’m not jea-“

“Don’t worry about Woohyun, I’ll text him later.” Key gave no chance for Minho to defend himself. “Oh and Minho, you should get to know the guy first before you decide to put him on your hit list along with… who else is there? Dongwoon, Mir and Jaejin?”

Minho gritted his teeth and then mumbled under his breath. “I don’t have a hit list… at least not anymore.”

“Whatever you say, baby.” Key grinned, obviously having fun with teasing a defenceless Minho. “Come on, let’s hit the showers and I’ll give you the answer you’ve been waiting impatiently for.”

“What are you implying?” Minho raised an eyebrow. “Make up ?”

Key’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “Only if you’re good.”

With a wink, Key took Minho’s hand and lead them both towards the direction of Minho’s dorm. How things turned out this way, Minho couldn’t explain. But he really couldn’t be bothered anymore with the images that were now appearing in his head thanks to Key’s words. For now, it was shower first, talk later.

Author's Note: guest appearances by the 91liners! ;) i guess Key's answer is obvious already... but we'll see how they'll settle things properly in the next chapter! sorry for the long wait, dear readers. moving house was hell but now that i've finally settled down, here's the update! hope you guys enjoyed it! :D