"Can you talk with me for a moment?" Baekho asked Minhyun, waiting for Minhyun's response. Minhyun was shocked. He had not prepared himself to be confronted by the older.

"Do you mind to wait until tomorrow? I am really tired. And I don't need you to give me more headache." Minhyun said sternly. He initially could not resist the man in front of him but he did not want to get wounded any deeper so he decided to run away from his problem, walking towards his room. His steps were again blocked by Baekho who stood in front of his door.

"Yah! I told you I need to sleep. Can you please move over?" Minhyun tried to push Baekho, whom did not move at all due to his bigger build compared to Minhyun. Baekho did not say anything as he kept staring at his ex-lover. Minhyun stared back at Baekho, giving his cold glare to the latter.

"Please." Baekho replied in a small voice. He sounded very sorrowful, his eyes looked tired and his expression was full of hurt. Minhyun could not help but to feel pity for the man who once held his heart. He wanted to make Baekho smile again no matter what it took for him to do that. He would not hesitate to give up his own happiness for the older. In that moment, the only thing he wanted to do was to embrace the older and removed all of his pain.

Minhyun walked past Baekho straight to his room. Since the older was blocking his way, he took a turn and avoid the larger man, effectively running away from the potentially emotional encounter. Baekho did nothing to stop him, still stoned on his position. Before entering his room, Minhyun looked back at Baekho, torn between hearing what Baekho was going to say or leaving their situation just like that. Eventually, his cowardice won and he made the easy decision to run away, to hide.

The next day, all of the members had their individual practice. Minhyun took a small room in Pledis building to practice his singing skill and tried to make some revisions on his self-composed song. It was not easy to compose a song. In the past, he used to do it for fun with the one he loved. Baekho had always enjoyed composing songs, thus he often brought Minhyun along to give him some advise. Slowly, Minhyun had started to develop his own ability to compose, learning together with Baekho.

Lost in his thoughts, Minhyun did not realize that someone entered the room he was in. A tap on his shoulder made him jump and screamed a little.

"Sorry!" Minki's apologetic face greeted him when he turned around. The younger held Minhyun's shoulder and looked at him worriedly. "Are you okay? I knocked but you did not answer."

"I'm fine. I was concentrating on this song, that's all." Minhyun smiled at the younger. "So, anything I can help you with?"

Ren looked hesitant, playing with the end of his shirt as he looked at Minhyun and the floor back and forth. "I actually have a favor to ask you. You don't have to do it, but I really hope you will."

"Just ask. Anything for my cute Ren." Minhyun laughed, carressing Ren's head lovingly. Ren was like a younger brother for him. Both of them coming from Busan and Ren being the only one younger than him made Minhyun gave special affection to the younger.

"It's actually about Baekho." Ren smiled uncomfortably, waiting for Minhyun's response. Minhyun's heart stopped for a second. Many things went inside his head in a short time. A probability that Ren would confess his love to Baekho also crossed his mind, although it was impossible since Ren had just made up with JR last night. He decided to stay quiet, motioning at Ren to continue his sentence.

"I know that he broke your heart and that he was an . But he's actually a really nice guy and I believe he still cares a lot about you. He left our dorm early this morning and he hadn't left the practice room since. I tried to get inside but he locked it. Can you please check on him? I'm worried." Ren said. "I know he spend a lot of time in his room but he looked in distraught when I met him in the dorm earlier. He also had not eaten anything since last evening."

Minhyun felt guilty after hearing Ren's babbling. He was most possibly the reason Baekho locked himself in his room, especially after their encounter the previous night.

"Yeah sure. I'll check on him" Minhyun forced a smile to the younger. Ren muttered a small thank you and hugged Minhyun before leaving the older.

The way to Baekho's practice room felt so long although it barely took 3 minutes to get there. Minhyun stood in front of the door, preparing himself to say something. His mind was blank so he decided to let his instinct take over, knocking the door and waited for the man inside to open it. However, just like what Ren said, Baekho did not response at all, even after he knocked more.

"Baekho-yah, it's me Minhyun. Open the door or I'll get the spare key." Minhyun shouted after his patience wore out. He had kept on knocking the door for a good 5 minutes only to be met with silence. Only a brief second after what he said, the door was opened and a face he had been longing to see was directly in front of him. "Let me in. Let's finish it now."

Baekho entered the room in silence, letting the younger followed him inside. He sat on one of the chair, dragging it to be facing the sofa where Minhyun sat nervously. He wanted to start the conversation but his mouth would not listen to him. Finally Minhyun was the one who begun their talk. "So what did you want to say to me last night?"

"I'm sorry. I really am." Actually, there were many things that Baekho wanted to say. He wanted to profess his undying love for the younger, how much he missed him, how his life had been hell after he let Minhyun go. But the only word that came out of his mouth was 'sorry'. He felt pathetic and ashamed of himself for not being able to say the truth.

"Really? Just that? I spent the whole night sleeplessly, wondering what you were going to say, if you're going to ask me to return to you. I even spent the whole day worrying about you, God knows how many times I tried to face you, to hear your words, but the only thing you..." Minhyun's emotion was flowing out, all his worries came out at once. But he could not finish his sentence as a pair of lips captured his and stopped him from continuing his words.

Baekho listened quietly at Minhyun's babble. He knew that the younger must have been frustrated at him, disappointed even. He wanted to reply Minhyun's words calmly, explaining his incontainable feelings in an organized manner, but he knew that he would not be able to do that, at least in the state he was in. Instead, Baekho expressed his feelings in a simple action. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against Minhyun, feeling the warmth of the younger filling his emptiness.

At first, Minhyun responded to Baekho's kiss, as the longing was mutual. But after a while, he realized what was happening and he pushed the older away, not wanting to be taken advantage of without any certainty. "What are you doing?"

"I love you. I love you so much. I thought that what we had was gone, that we've been too much away from each other. I did not want you to feel obliged to love me just because you did once. Afterall, a lot of things had changed since you left. But I was wrong. I don't know about you but my feeling is unchanged."

That was it. The thing that Minhyun had always wanted to hear. A simple 'I love you' coming from the person he loved. Minhyun stood still, processing what Baekho had just said, repeating the words endlessly in his mind for his own satisfaction. Happiness flooded over him, but tears fell from his eyes. However, he was sure that the tears that fell was out of happiness this time.

Baekho slowly got closer, wiping the tears and hugged Minhyun fiercely. He kept asking Minhyun not to cry, apologizing endlessly at the younger until Minhyun stopped crying. "I've never felt obliged to love you. I love you because I do. And do you know how long I have loved you? How can a year and half erase my feelings just like that."

"I know. I was stupid. I've never been a bright student. That's why I became a singer." Baekho said. Minhyun laughed quietly, a bit relieved that his humorous Baekho had slowly returned. "So, Hwang Minhyun, do you want to get back together with me?"

"No."

Baekho was shocked at the younger's answer. He knew that he ed up when he broke up with the younger but he thought that Minhyun was going to accept him. Especially after what the younger had said about his unchanging feelings despite their separation. Baekho could only nod in acceptance, smiling dejectedly, respecting Minhyun's decision.

"But I'll give you a chance. You have to bring me on a date and I'll consider about going back to you after that." Minhyun smiled sheepishly, a glint of mischief on his eyes. Baekho's gloomy expression changed in a split second as he grinned widely.

"Deal."

P.s. sorry for the late update TT I was busy with exam and streaming Nu'est W. Please enjoy this chapter❤