❧

Closing the door behind him, Jongin walks into the large bathroom and nearly gags when an artificial flower-y smell hits his nose. Looking around, he sees five stalls neatly lined up next to each other, all of them unoccupied. He turns a small corner and ends up right in front of a mirror. 

Pulling the comb out of his pocket, he runs it under one of the (many) faucets before proceeding to quickly, and carefully, arrange his hair into a neat middle parting. It only takes a few seconds and when he’s finished, he slowly puts the comb down on the sink before checking out his reflection in the mirror. Jongin sighs. If Death somehow managed to have a baby, he figures it would look a lot like him. Grabbing the edge of the sink, he lets out a loud sigh before bending down and turning on the faucet again. He splashes cold water all over his face in an attempt to stop the ferocious pounding in his head. As the water trickles down his face, Jongin heaves another sigh. What on Earth am I even doing.

He stands there for a while, letting the freezing water run down (and numb) his cheeks before turning off the faucet. With his headache gone, Jongin runs a hand through his hair. To talk to that dude or not to talk to that dude, he thinks to himself, that’s the question. 

Standing up, Jongin moves to grab a paper towel when he sees something in the mirror that nearly scares the living daylights out of him.

A man - a young man,  Jongin realizes after turning around at lightning speed. He looks no older than Jongin himself - in fact, Jongin wouldn’t be surprised if they’re the same age. Dismissing the thought about how on Earth said man managed to walk in without Jongin hearing, the second thing Jongin notices about the stranger is his aura - he not only reeks of prosperity, he also has an excellent posture despite carrying what Jongin assumes is a cane, his chin is held high as he stares at Jongin with a stern look. The latter’s jaw nearly hits the floor when he realizes how prosperous the man looks; a diamond encrusted brooch rests on the chest of his suit that looks like it’s worth billions - at least to Jongin - and his dark hair is styled into a quiff. He has his right hand stuffed in the pocket of his equally fancy (and tailored) pants, and as Jongin’s gaze subconsciously travels down the man’s figure, he nearly squawks when he sees how polished the latter’s shoes are; seriously, he’s never seen dress shoes that shiny in his entire life - one thing is for sure, and it’s that the man really doesn’t match his surroundings at all. The black-haired stranger is extremely tall as well, three inches or so taller than Jongin himself, and the latter suddenly feels extremely small when said stranger continues to stare him down. Jongin curses under his breath. What is it with rich people are their tendency to look so incredibly…mean? Wait, no; intimidating no matter what they’re doing?

They both stand in silence for a good minute until the stranger speaks up, making Jongin flinch. “Did something catch your eye?”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Jongin clears his throat before shaking his head and subconsciously shifting his gaze. How long was I even gawking at him? “No, sorry,” he says (in a surprisingly low voice) before proceeding to turn around. “I was just leaving.” He’s seconds away from grabbing the comb and heading towards the door when the man suddenly speaks up again.

“You stay the away from Sehun.”

Jongin feels his entire world come to a sudden halt and he freezes, stopping dead in his tracks. The next thing he knows, a cold shiver runs down his spine. He blinks before furrowing his eyebrows. Did I hear that correctly? “Uh, excuse me?”

“I don’t know what the hell it is you’re trying to do,” the stranger says, taking a step forward towards Jongin, who instinctively backs away, “but whatever it is, cut it the out right this instant. I’m not playing games.”

Blinking in both confusion and fear, Jongin subtly grabs onto the edge of the sink for support when he feels his legs go weak. He doesn’t know why he’s feeling the way he is; he figures it’s either because of the man’s piercing stare, his looks, or the fact that he just mentioned Sehun. Jongin figures it’s a combination of the three. “Uh,” he stammers, rubbing the back of his neck, doing his very best to avoid the pair of black eyes that are threatening to burn holes in his face. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

The man chuckles but there’s absolutely no humor in his voice. In fact, Jongin thinks he sounds almost…menacing. “Just as wimpy as I predicted,” the stranger says before shaking his head in disbelief. His lips curl upwards into a (less than friendly) smile. “You don’t know me, but I know quite a lot about you. Unfortunately.”

Jongin’s gaze remains fixated on the light blue stall door behind the man’s head - he’d rather look anywhere else but at him. Not knowing what to do, he opts to shrug. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he says before turning on his heel and proceeding to walk towards the door. “I gotta get back now, have a nice da-” his sentence is abruptly cut short when something black and gold flashes in front of his eyes and he flinches when a dull thud rings through the air. After a few seconds, a feeling of dread pools in his stomach when Jongin realizes the man has blocked his path with his cane. Eyes darting around the room, Jongin curses when he realizes there’s no other way to escape. Damn these narrow- spaces. 

With no way to get past neither the man or his godforsaken cane (which is inches away from Jongin’s face - he’s lucky it didn’t stab one of his eyeball), Jongin inwardly curses before balling his hands into fists. “What the hell are you doing,” he grits between his teeth, still not having the courage to look the man in the eye. 

“Don’t worry,” the man says, “you’ll get to see your precious Baekhyun in a moment.”

Jongin’s eyes widen. “How…how the f-”

“Allow me to introduce myself,” the man interrupts in a bold tone before adjusting his brooch. “Park Chanyeol, a pleasure to finally meet you. I’d shake your hand but,” he gestures with his free hand towards the cane that’s being steadily held in place by his right hand, as well as the wall. “Not to mention I don’t want to get my hands filthy.”

Biting his lower lip, Jongin mumbles a something along the lines of ‘cool’ before clearing his throat. He suddenly feels as if the temperature in the room has dropped a hundred degrees, and he fights the urge to shiver. “The hell do you want?”

“Nothing much, just to warn you,” Chanyeol shrugs nonchalantly, but his glare remains ice cold. “Stay away from Sehun if you know what’s best for you. I mean it.”

“How do you know anything about,” Jongin exclaims, “nevermind. Just, who even are you? How do you even know Sehun? Are you his brother or what?”

“Man, you really are an airhead,” Chanyeol says with a shake of his head before removing his cane from the wall. “Don’t move.” When Jongin doesn’t, in fact, move a muscle, Chanyeol leans onto the cane before eyeing the shorter man intently. “I’m his best friend, and you are?” He eyes Jongin with such intensity the latter worries he might faint. “Lemme guess, his ty excuse for a friend?”

Jongin blinks. If it wasn’t for Chanyeol’s piercing death glare, he’d run away in a heartbeat. “The ’s wrong with you, man? Who the do you think you a-”

“Don’t ’man’ me,” Chanyeol scoffs. “Look, I’m gonna keep this short and simple in case your lousy red-headed friend comes looking for you,” he continues, “so I’ll get straight to the point.“ He takes a big step forward so he’s standing only a foot away from Jongin. Chanyeol makes sure to lock gazes with Jongin before speaking. "You, Kim Jongin, are nothing but a rotten, arrogant, scumbag and I genuinely can’t believe Sehun would even spend more than a day around your miserable .”

Body going numb, Jongin’s mouth falls open in both shock and surprise. He’s briefly pulled out of his semi trance-like state when Chanyeol chuckles low in his throat. “Okay, honestly, what and who the goddamn bloody do you think you a-” his sentence ends in a not-so-quiet shriek when Chanyeol growls in fury. It’s the scariest thing Jongin has heard in a long, long time and he subconsciously cowers at the sound.

“I could ask you the same thing - who the goddamn bloody hell do you think you are? You show up in his life, fool around like an idiot, and then break his ing heart and walk away like he doesn’t mean to you?” Chanyeol seethes. “You’ve got some nerve, kid.”

“First of all, what business is any of this of yours, may I ask?” Jongin asks in the most confident tone he can muster, which is proven to be a highly difficult task. “You don’t know anything so shut up.”

“You wanna bet?” Chanyeol takes a step closer to Jongin who proceeds to cower even more. “Who do you think gave him the emotional push and support he needed right before his first date at the tea shop? Who do you think stayed by his side for an entire night when said date ended in complete chaos because your dumb screwed everything up - who the hell do you think reassured him for days on end that nothing was his fault when he’d constantly call all confused and ask if he should contact you again? While sobbing his goddamn eyes out, may I add? Huh?” He stares Jongin square in the eye before pressing the tip of his cane against the latter’s chest. “Because it most certainly wasn’t you.”

Jongin does his best to process Chanyeol’s words. And when he does, he takes a step back. “This really is none of your business,” he says before reaching up and attempting to remove the cane from his chest to no avail, “look, I’m sorry that happened, I really am. But it’s over now, I’m moving on and he should too. Is he here, by the way?”

“Never mind that. And seeing as I was there for him through literally everything, I should probably inform you that you are, indeed, incorrect.” Chanyeol rolls his eyes.

“Stay the hell out of this,” Jongin grits through his teeth before attempting to shove past Chanyeol, only for the latter to slam a hand on the door, effectively blocking Jongin’s path. Backing away, Jongin contemplates pulling out his phone and calling Baekhyun for help but he quickly decides against it when he sees Chanyeol’s glare. If looks could kill, Jongin would be nothing but a mangly, lifeless pile of flesh lying on the floor. He briefly wonders if that thought was to become a reality when Chanyeol walks towards him, black eyes boring right into Jongin’s own. 

“Gold digging piece of ,” Chanyeol spits in Jongin’s face, “you’re all the same. Greedy, selfish, ignorant and plain stupid, every single one of you - nice to know that our goddamn uni holds a special place in your non-existent heart. Just letting you know that if he ends up getting kicked out because of your sorry , there’ll be hell to pay.”

Wiping his cheek, Jongin blinks as he recalls last week’s events. “How the hell do you know about that?”

“Sehun’s told me all about you for the past month, so I’m pretty well-read,” Chanyeol growls. “So, you accept some random (rich) dude’s number and intentionally refuse to inform him of the fact that you’ve got a boyfriend, and then proceed to hide behind Sehun like a little as he nearly beats this dude to death? ing hell, you’re incredible.”

Jongin squawks. “I’ve said this a million times, that Mark dude was creepy as hell! I don’t know if you’ve seen him or not but he’s got this really scary set of black-ish eyes which were practically burning holes in my body, not to mention we were alone and standing in the middle of the hallway, I couldn’t just turn him down, he’d beat me to a pulp if I said no! It’s not my fault! I doubt you’d have the guts to reject him if you were th-” he doesn’t get to finish what he’s saying when Chanyeol takes a step forward and grabs him by the collar. “Yo, what the ?”

“Listen to all this ‘I’-bull,” Chanyeol snarls as he rustles Jongin, nearly making the latter’s head collide with the wall behind them. “ing listen to yourself for a moment. Let me refresh your memory - you purposefully avoided letting Mark, who, by the way, goes in my Physics class, know about your relationship with Sehun, which subsequently ended in him going home that day with a black eye and two broken ribs. Let me tell you this, Mark is a good ing guy, so if he ends up with any more injuries because of you, I’ll never ing forgive you. And since your respect for Sehun seems to be worth nothing at all whatsoever, I doubt you’d give a if I told you he’s at a high risk of getting expelled from university. And now that I’ve told you that, I might as well let you know what I’ll do if he does get kicked out - I’ll find you and I’ll make you suffer. Sehun’s at the top of all his classes and one of the most intelligent people in the school; I’ve seen how much he’s struggled and how much hard work and dedication he’s put into getting where he currently is. And now you’ve most likely taken all of that away from him. All because you decided to be a goddamn mothering coward, because you were too busy trying to protect yourself and your stupid- macho image. Well, you know what?” He gives Jongin another harsh shake. “When Sehun told me all this earlier, I didn’t think it was true, I didn’t think anyone could be so ing self-centered and idiotic; but now, upon seeing you like this, face to face, I’ve come to the realization that you are indeed, nothing but a shallow lowlife with no trace of machoness in or on you whatsoever.”

Jongin shivers, and he isn’t sure if it’s due to Chanyeol’s voice having dropped an octave or the fact that the latter has his thumb pressed dangerously close to Jongin’s throat. Now that he thinks about it, Jongin wouldn’t mind Chanyeol strangling him right here on the spot - he figures it would hurt much less than having to go through whatever it is that’s going on right now. “Sehun’s super smart, even if he gets kicked out, which I highly doubt he will, he’s a frickin’ millionaire, he’ll find a new college in no ti-”

“Scumbag,” Chanyeol barks right in Jongin’s face. “Honestly, what is it about your miserable that made Sehun want to date you? Much less cry for you? I’ll never understand. You goddamn selfish brat. I can’t even ing look at you. You’re just as loathsome as he made you out to be.”

Grabbing Chanyeol’s wrists, Jongin attempts to pry Chanyeol’s hands off of him with little success. “Tell him I’m sorry for everything,” he chokes when Chanyeol presses him against the wall, “really, tell him I’m sorry it’s this way. But technically,” he swallows, contemplating whether or not he should say it, “he broke up with me. And he did it rather…ambiguously, if I do say so myself.”

“Damn right he did.” Chanyeol nods in agreement. “And he made a pretty good decision, wouldn’t you say?”

“Why’re you all up my then?” Jongin seethes, attempting to squirm out of Chanyeol’s grip. It doesn’t work. 

“Don’t say it like that, gross,” Chanyeol gags before locking gazes with Jongin again. “And the only reason I’m here is to let you know how stupid, ignorant and utterly disgusting you are. Yeah, he broke up with you, after hours of consecutive sadness regarding whether or not he should do it. He drove straight to my house and showed up on my front step with his goddamn face full of tears, constantly mumbling something along the lines of 'I can’t, Yeol, I can’t go on any longer’ while sobbing into my arms - he didn’t just pick up his phone and text you out of the blue for no good reason. You have no idea how long it took for me to finally convince him to let everything go since you obviously weren’t worth his time and or energy. He’s incredibly sensitive - but I guess you never bothered finding out, did you? Of course not. Oh, and he sent you that 'ambiguous’ text because he wanted to be ambiguous - he was scared of sending you anything too direct in fear of accidentally hurting your feelings.” He briefly looks away and lets out a humorless chuckle before leaning in so his breath is ghosting over the shell of Jongin’s ear. The latter visibly (and audibly) shudders when Chanyeol’s strong perfume makes his way down his throat. “Point is, I was there for him, I saw everything, I heard everything, I know everything. So don’t you dare try bullting me.

“You’re acting like I’m sobbing for him to take me back,” Jongin rolls his eyes, still avoiding Chanyeol’s hateful glare. His voice falters and he mentally punches himself in the face.

Chanyeol raises an eyebrow, expression shifting completely. “Do you want him to?”

Jongin stills. Not having expected the sudden question, he clears his throat. What on Earth do I say? “Uh, I...don’t know.”

“You’re lying.”

Eyes widening, Jongin stares at Chanyeol for the first time in a long time. “How did you know?”

Chanyeol throws his head back in (humorless, yet again) laughter before shooting Jongin one of the evillest glares the latter has ever seen in his life. “I didn’t.”

Jongin feels all color drain from his face and he clenches his jaw. , he’s good. Not knowing what to say, he opts to stay quiet. He hears the faint sound of customers murmuring outside and he prays to God that one of them comes in to use the bathroom so he can escape Chanyeol’s death grip.

“Your little friend’s probably worried sick at this point, so I’ll leave it at that,” Chanyeol says before taking a step back and watching as Jongin tumbles to the floor with a thud. “There’s no use in running back to him, by the way. Hey, you could try, but there it’s all useless. Not to mention I think he’s learned his lesson. I know what you are and I detest people like you.” Jenny - is that what her name was? - made the right choice to dump your lousy , by the way.“

Gritting his teeth in anger, Jongin moves to stand up only to sit back down on the floor again when he sees Chanyeol’s fingers wrap around the shaft of his cane in a threatening manner. Jongin bites his lower lip before in a sharp breath of air. Where the hell’s Baekhyun when you really need him? 

"I’ll do everything in my power to protect him - try crawling back to him and you’ll be dealing with me first. You’ve hurt him enough already.” Chanyeol adjusts his brooch before smoothening out his jacket. “I knew he’d made a giant mistake when he called me last month and told me he’d downloaded a goddamn dating app.” Looking down at Jongin, who’s lying in a heap on the floor by one of the sinks, he chuckles. “Shame on you, Kim Jongin. I’m lowkey glad I ran into you since I don’t think anyone else has taken a shot at drilling some sense into your head,” he says before looking into the mirror and fixing his hair. “So if anything, you should thank me. But please don’t, that would be humiliating.” Tightening his grip on his cane, Chanyeol shoots Jongin a dirty look before hastily turning on his heel; his left shoe squeaking on the newly polished floor as he does. “Don’t forget your comb on your way out, sissy boy,” he calls over his shoulder as he walks with attitude towards the door.

❧