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7 PM

 

 

"Don't you think you were a little too harsh on him?"

"What do you mean? In what way?"

"I don't know," Chanyeol shrugs, shovelling chips into his mouth. "It's just that," he says between loud chews, "you didn't seem to give two s about his feelings."

Sehun sighs. "I do care about his feelings. I just didn't see the point in continuing everything when-"

"Oh right," Chanyeol mutters, "he was scared, wasn't he?"

"He was. Or, he is, to be exact. I dunno. Maybe I was a little cold to him but what else could I have done? I've felt this way since we started dating, I had to put my foot down."

"I never said it was stupid of you to defend yourself, lunkhead." Chanyeol rolls his eyes before rubbing his palms together and tossing the empty bag in the trash. "What I'm saying is that it might've been a little...I dunno; rude of you not to take his reasoning into consideration. But hey, what do I know. I've never even met the dude."

"I've got a picture of him on my phone," Sehun mumbles absentmindedly before standing up and stretching his back. He nearly chokes on his own spit when Chanyeol unexpectedly walks over and slaps him on the back.

"Hey now, don't feel all ty," Chanyeol says while flashing a row of pearly white teeth, "forget about that weirdo, alright? I mean, it that he made you feel this way but judging by the way he made you feel and treated you, I'd say he isn't worth a second hit. And I'd like to see his face - in what room did you leave your phone? Which one of your thirty bedrooms?"

Sehun rolls his eyes. "Har har. You know there's only six bedrooms in this house. And forget it, I'll just describe him instead; he's got bro-"

"Whaddya mean, 'only'? That's a lot of bedrooms for one person!" Chanyeol exclaims while shaking his head in disbelief. "Rich kids," he tuts.

"I'm not that much richer than you, you knucklehead," Sehun chuckles before shushing Chanyeol. "Listen, he - Jongin - has brown hair, is nearly as tall as I am, wears the same jacket day after day after day, loves strawberry bubble tea and dogs. Isn't he just precious?"

Chanyeol raises an eyebrow. "He sounds boring, to be honest."

"Okay then. What would he need to be like to impress you, then?" Sehun asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What type of car does he drive?"

"He doesn't drive one," Sehun sighs. "Actually, now that I think about it, I don't even think he has a permit."

"Good en riddance," Chanyeol chuckles.

Sehun glares at him. "Says the one who got his license at twenty."

Chanyeol squawks before putting a hand on his chest for dramatic effect. "So?"

"Say," Sehun hums, "when was the last time you even rode a bus?"

"Bus? What's a bus?" Chanyeol sends him a clueless look.

"Jesus, you're hopeless," Sehun shakes his head in disbelief. "Point is, not all of us own seven different cars, not even m-"

"Right," Chanyeol rolls his eyes. "You only own six because you crashed the seventh one into a tree."

 

"That was ages ago! And you know what the hell I meant."

"I kid, I kid, Jesus ," Chanyeol laughs. "I may be a millionaire but I know for a fact what the a goddamn bus is. Sorta. Anyway. I hope you're not feeling too depressed and about all this, are you?"

Sehun shakes his head. "I mean, I'm not that worried about myself, I have to admit. I'm more worried about him."

"Him?" Chanyeol blinks in confusion. "Why worry about him? He'll be fine. I mean, from what I've heard, he wanted nothing more than to escape that relationship or whatever you guys had. He got what he wanted, why care?"

"I would put it differently but yeah, I guess you're right," Sehun says before walking over to the cabinet and opening it. "It's just that he's a shy little thing who gets nervous way too easily. His best friend told me all about how...dysfunctional he can get at times, so I guess that's why I'm a tad bit concerned. I know I shouldn't be, but I am anyway. Don't ask why. Black or milk?"

"Milk," Chanyeol replies before wrinkling his nose in distaste. "You know I despise black." Sitting down, he reaches across Sehun's kitchen table and proceeds to play with the salt shaker. "You know, you'd think the son of the CEO of one of the richest companies in the country would at least have a goddamn coffee machine in his house."

"Mine broke down last week," Sehun huffs, struggling to open the packet of coffee powder. "Damn it."

"Is this like, your first time making coffee by yourself? Y'know, without the help of a machine?" Chanyeol chuckles.

" off, I know for a fact that you've never made a single cup of coffee on your own," Sehun retorts before successfully ripping the package open.

"What would that boyfriend; well, I guess ex, of yours, do if he saw his rich- boyfriend struggling to make coffee without the help of modern day technology," Chanyeol tuts while shaking his head in disbelief. "Hey, what if he saw you as his sugar daddy? Jesus," he adds with an all too loud laugh. "if he nearly passed out in excitement when he saw our uni, I wonder how he'd react if he saw your goddamn house."

"If you don't shut up, one of us is going home smelling like ground-up coffee beans, and I swear it won't be me," Sehun murmurs under his breath, ignoring Chanyeol's unattractive guffaws from behind him.

"I'd like to see you try." Chanyeol wipes at his eye before shooting Sehun a dead-serious look. "If so much as lay a finger on me and get my suit dirty, I'll run straight up to your room and steal every single Rolex you own."

"As if you don't have plenty enough already," Sehun scoffs. He doesn't know for certain since Chanyeol's cuff is covering majority of his wrist, but Sehun is nearly a hundred percent sure Chanyeol is wearing at least three Rolexes at the moment, maybe even four.

"I could always use some more," Chanyeol laughs before clearing his throat. "Hey, is he the type to freak out over every little thing?"

Sehun blinks a the sudden topic change and instantly smiles at the thought of Jongin. "He really is. He blushes so freaking easily, by the way. It's cute, though," he hums to himself while getting out a bag of coffee powder. "I mean, the thing is that you never really know what he truly wants. You know, sometimes it's super difficult to communicate with him since he's so quiet and nervous and stuff - I never really felt like I was through to him, y'know? Which is weird actually, since when we first began talking he was super bold and confident," he adds with a small laugh.

"Sounds like an interesting dude," Chanyeol hums and curses loudly when he somehow manages to accidentally unscrew the lid to the salt shaker, salt flying all across the table. "."

"But I don't really blame him, y'know? I mean, it was his first same relationship, I get why he was freaked out. I just wish I'd realized it sooner," Sehun sighs before fetching two cups. He really hopes Chanyeol is fine with drinking out of a cup with a rainbow heart printed on it.

"Realized what sooner?" Chanyeol asks while attempting to (half-assedly) put the salt back in the shaker.

"That he wasn't on board with the idea of us getting together. Yet, that is. I mean, half of me wishes he'd come clean a lot earlier so this whole thing wouldn't have to end on such a crappy note but the other half of me wishes I'd done a better job at reading the signs." Sehun neatly pours an even amount of coffee into both cups before opening the fridge and retrieving a carton of milk. "I don't know why I expected everything to work out anyway. It could've been due to the fact that he was just so...eager and willing online. But that was before he found out I wasn't a girl. I kinda feel like everything changed the second he realized I was a guy. And not in a good way."

"That's the painful truth about meeting and getting together with people through dating sites," Chanyeol mumbles. "That stuff just never works out. What was a multi-millionaire like you doing on a goddamn dating site anyway? That 's for phonies."

Turning around, Sehun places the cup with the heart on it in front of Chanyeol before sitting down across from the latter. "I suppose you're right," he mumbles before taking a sip of his coffee. "However, I'm still a little bit sad."

"Of course you are," Chanyeol says as a matter-of-factly before leaning his head back and downing nearly half of his coffee in one swig. Looking at Sehun, he wipes his mouth. "I'd be devastated if I were you. But hey, 9/10 times, you're bound to meet someone sketchy. And at least you tried out the whole online dating thing, didn't you?" He suddenly wrinkles his nose in distaste. "Ugh, please, get a new coffee machine ASAP, this tastes like water mixed with fecal matter. How do poor people drink this stuff?"

Sehun nods. "I hope he's doing fine. And I'd like to see you try to make coffee for the first time!"

"Why wouldn't he be? He was practically asking for you to break up with him since he obviously didn't have the guts to do it himself, why wouldn't he be fine; he should be feeling absolutely marvellous at the moment. Hell, he's probably out there looking for a new guy. If there's anyone here who should be doing fine, it's you."

"I know, but like I said, you never know with him."

"Do you miss him?" Chanyeol asks, finishing the remainder of his coffee before placing the mug down on the table with a thud. Sehun stares in astonishment because how on Earth does he manage to finish an entire cup of coffee in under a minute, every time???

"I don't know if it's even possible to miss someone you dated for less than a week," Sehun chuckles before taking another sip. "But if it is, then yeah, I guess. Or actually, I wouldn't exactly say I miss him. You could say I feel...sad about how everything turned out in the end."

"In other words, you miss him." Chanyeol leans back on his chair. "You shouldn't, though. He isn't worth your time. Hey, did you guys ever get to the kissing stage?"

Sehun blinks and instantly feels something heavy settle in the pit of his stomach. He quickly rids himself of the feeling before nodding slowly. "Yeah."

"How many times?"

"Like...once. After I dropped him off at his apartment two days ago."

"Did he kiss you back with the same amount of passion or was he glued to the ground like a tree?"

"The latter," Sehun laughs. "But it wasn't quite like that. He did reciporate but it was anything but romantic."

"Suddenly I'm interested," Chanyeol chuckles, resting his head on his right hand.

"It wasn't anything special, he just kind of grabbed and held my arm. He didn't pull away, though," Sehun shrugs and suddenly chuckles. "But I guess that was because I had him pinned against the wall."

"Ooh, ."

"Shut up." Sehun grabs a few pieces of salt and tosses them in Chanyeol's direction, hoping to hit the latter. He misses. "I guess the fact that he didn't kiss me back or, well, do anything when I kissed him should've been a red flag in itself. Well, that combined with the fact that he never introduced me as his boyfriend to anyone, not even his best friend which, honestly, was a tad bit surprising."

Chanyeol shrugs before nodding and running a hand through his neatly styled hair. "Actually, yeah. Jeez."

They sit in silence for a while until Sehun speaks up. "Speaking of nothing in particular, he was far more interested in the goddamn university than he was in me," he says with a (sad) chuckle.

"You...you showed him our uni?" Chanyeol asks with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. I had to pick fetch a textbook so I figured I might as well show it to him. He'd stop and stare at something every three seconds, I practically had to drag him away every time. It was pretty funny how mesmerized he was."

"Well, he sounds like a poor kid, it doesn't come as a surprise to me."

"I wouldn't say he's poor but yeah, I wasn't that surprised. Come to think of it, he did get all insecure when he saw how rich everyone looked on campus. It did get annoying after a while, though, since I had to explain to him God knows how many times that not all of us are millionaires, like he kept saying."

"Hopefully you told him about-"

"The drug smuggler, I know, I told him," Sehun laughs. "He still didn't believe me, though."

"His goddamn loss," Chanyeol rolls his eyes. "He seems like a real load to have around."

Sehun shrugs. "I liked his presence a lot, actually. And give him a break, Yeol, he was just excited, that's all."

Chanyeol puts his hands in the air. "Fair enough. I most likely would've reacted the same way if I saw our uni for the very first time, that place is impressive as hell, I won't lie."

"Exactly," Sehun says and subconsciously lets out a sigh. "Sometimes I wonder if I should've helped him out."

"Whaddya mean?"

"Y'know, he was obviously lost and confused and very insecure," Sehun shrugs. "I just feel like...you know, since I was his boyfriend and all-"

"Bull, Sehun," Chanyeol exclaims, throwing both hands in the air and nearly knocking his cup over in the process. "You shouldn't have stayed back and helped him out. This is his problem, his business, not yours, not mine, not even his best friend's. Like you keep saying, he at listening so he most likely wouldn't have made an effort to change anyway, which ultimately would've led to him not having the courage to break up with you which in turn would've lead to you getting even more hurt. If anything, he should be grateful for the fact that you took a step forward and did what you did since he was too much of a coward to do it himself. Not to mention he most likely would've used you for your money, anyway, just like everyone else did - everyone's the same. Cut it out with this this overthinking crap of yours, it's not like you to overthink and you know it. Don't let him confuse you and play around with your feelings so much - you did the right thing by texting him that, and now he's paying the ultimate price for it."

Sehun sighs again before nodding slowly. Leave it to your best friend to take the words right out of your mouth. "I suppose you're right."

"Of course I’m right," Chanyeol grins before leaning back in his chair and putting his feet on the table. "Hey, speaking of texts, has he texted you since...that?"

"Get your feet off my table, it's newly polished," Sehun squawks, reaching over and swatting at Chanyeol's feet with his hand. "I don't have my phone with me but last time I checked, which was roughly half an hour ago, he hadn't."

Chanyeol chuckles. "Of course. Probably busy celebrating. What did you text him, again? I forget."

"I basically said that I really hoped that I wasn't a reason for his insecurity or whatever, as well as that I wanted nothing more than for him to take a step back and come to terms with himself and his feelings."

"His feelings?" Chanyeol asks in confusion. "You mean...?"

"As in, his uality. Since the only reason he wasn't too hot with the idea of us being a couple was because we're both guys."

"So is he gay or not? I'm confused as hell."

"A couple of days ago he told me he was, and his best friend also told me - he realized it very recently so I'm assuming that's why he's so confused. Poor guy."

"Didn't you tell me at some point that he used to have a girlfriend?"

"I don't remember ever telling you that, but yeah, he had one. He recently broke up with her." Sehun swallows. The topic of Jongin's ex really makes his nerves tremble.

"Maybe that's why he's so confused? I mean, think about it," Chanyeol says. "Let's say it was his girlfriend who broke up with him, and let's say she dumped him because she began suspecting he was gay since he was slowly losing interest in her, while he continued to deny everything because he loved her. Wouldn't that explain why he was so wary and uncomfortable around and with you? I mean, especially if he really loved her a lot, it would've affected him quite a bit." He quickly puts his hands up in defense. "Hey, this is just a theory, though, so don't think what I just said is set in stone or anything. It's just...strange."

Sehun nods, trying to process Chanyeol's words. His grip around the cup tightens when it hits him that Chanyeol is most likely right. "That...sounds highly plausible, actually."

"I don't see what his problem was - if he knew for a fact that he was gay, and crushing on you; I don't know if he really was, but whatever, then why all this?" Chanyeol spits in confusion. "But yeah, poor guy indeed. Imagine being that confused, Jesus Christ."

Sehun nods before downing the rest of his coffee. "I truly hope he learns to accept his feelings and himself for who he is, not to sound cheesy or anything. He's a good guy, though, so I bet he will."

"I still don't get it," Chanyeol exclaims, "why didn't he just, oh, I don't know; inform you about the fact that he wasn't comfortable with dating a dude from the very beginning?" He stares at Sehun. "Especially if he knew all this time. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound all too complicated to me. Could've spared you both a ton of unnecessary feelings, don'tcha think?"

"I guess." Standing up, Sehun puts his cup in the sink before turning around and doing the same thing with Chanyeol's cup. "Point is, I hope he's happy."

Chanyeol raises an eyebrow. "Are you being sarcastic?"

"No. I genuinely hope he finds a way out of this because if what you said about his girlfriend is correct, I can understand why he did what he did and felt what he felt. I sympathize with him." Sehun suddenly chuckles. "Not that it hurts any less, obviously, but I can at least understand him a little bit better."

"Hey, you have every right to be hurt," Chanyeol says after standing up and placing a supportive hand on Sehun's right shoulder. "He should've been more clear from the start, it's not your fault it turned out the way it did, alright? Don't beat yourself up over not being able to read the signs or whatever."

"You know I'm not the type to blame myself. It's just that...had I picked up on the fact that he wasn't entirely comfortable earlier, I could've broken it off before any of us could get hurt or maybe even helped him get back on his feet. But I didn't, and that kinda ."

"Like I said, don't dwell on this dude for too long, alright? I know it's easier said than done, but please just trust me when I say that it's not your fault. A guy who can't even bring himself to do something as simple as tell others you're dating simply because you're both guys is a ty guy and a ty boyfriend, remember that. And if he does come crawling back to you later with everything all figured out and , that's great. But for now, just...stand your ground."

"Stop being all deep and , it doesn't suit you, at all," Sehun chuckles before giving Chanyeol a small shove, letting out a loud yelp of pain when he accidentally cuts himself on the latter's brooch.

"Didn't your mommy teach you to keep your hands off your friends when they're wearing brand new suits? Serves you right." Chanyeol chuckles before smoothing himself out and subtly checking his watch(es). "Don't worry, my friend, there are tons of other dudes in the sea."

"I think you mean 'fish'," Sehun mumbles while rubbing the sore spot on his palm. "Is that new as well, by the way?" He asks, gesturing towards Chanyeol's accessory.

"Whatever, jeez," Chanyeol rolls his eyes before adjusting his brooch. "Yup, got it yesterday for 20,000-ish. Oh, will you continue talking to him, by the way?"

"You mean Jongin? I'm not sure, to be quite honest. I guess I'll wait for him to reply to my text and see what he says," Sehun shrugs.

"And if he doesn't reply?"

"Then...I don't know. We'll see. I'm not sure."

Nodding in understanding, Chanyeol ruffles Sehun's hair before turning on his heel and heading out of the kitchen. "Remember what I said, don't dwell on this dude too much, it won't be good for you in the long run, trust me," he calls over his shoulder before stopping at the edge of the staircase. Fishing his car keys out of his pocket, he straightens out his suit jacket while turning to look at Sehun. "I gotta rush, Math finals are coming up and I haven't studied for . Call me if anything happens; keep me updated, 'aight? No tears while I'm gone, by the way!"

Sehun chuckles before crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the wall. "I will. And I won't cry you and know it. Good luck with your studying, lazy-. You'll get an A+ even without studying so I don't know why you're worried," he chuckles in amusement. "Good night and see you tomorrow."

With a bright smile, Chanyeol quickly salutes Sehun, mumbling an 'adios!' as he heads down the (endless) flight of stairs before opening the front door and hurrying towards his car.

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