At first, Hoseok is beyond excited that his adorable boyfriend has decided to visit him at work. It always helps to brighten his mood whenever the younger drops by unexpectedly, and today he sorely needs it. Customers today have been the absolute worst, between their impossibly fast ordering and their demand for literally everything under the sun. It's left the young man wondering just why he thought working part-time as a barista was a good idea in the first place. 

But, when he sees Changkyun's look of utter distress, he knows this isn't going to be a cute little visit like usual. 

"I'm taking my fifteen," Hoseok tells his coworker, already taking off his apron as Changkyun nears the counter. He meets the younger halfway, taking the boy by the shoulders and studying his eyes. 

"Hyung," Changkyun says, his voice tense with nerves, "it's Kihyunnie and Jooheonney-hyung... I... I'm beginning to worry that—" 

"C'mon, Kkungie," Hoseok mutters, noticing how a flood of people are beginning to come in from the street. The afternoon rush. He steers him towards a nearby booth to keep them both out of the way, rubbing comforting circles against his back as they walk. He sits across the boy, holding both his hands in his. Changkyun takes a shaky breath, chewing on his bottom lip as he clearly wonders how he should continue. 

"Kihyun-hyung said that he was thinking of dating around while Hyungwonnie-hyung is gone," he finally says, heaving out a shaky breath. He really can't believe he's just said it, even though he's just heard it from the boy's lips just minutes ago. Hoseok straightens up at this, frowning. 

"Have you told Hyungwonnie?" Hoseok asks, his brow creasing together. Changkyun adamantly shakes his head, his eyes growing. "I think you should. Maybe that'd be the wake-up call he needs. Maybe then he'll realize leaving was stupid and be on the next plane back." 

"I don't think so," Changkyun mumbles. "I mean, I would tell him to come back for sure, but I think, if Hyungwonnie-hyung found out, it'd only break him. It'd be like... the last straw to break the camel's back, so to say." He pushes out an annoyed breath through his lips, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Have you talked to him at all since he left?" 

"A little," Hoseok answers with a nonchalant shrug, watching the younger's actions curiously. "I mean, you know how busy I've been over the summer, and whatever time I have to talk to people I talk to you, so..." Changkyun nods once, unlocking his phone and tapping around the screen before handing the device over to the older. 

On the screen is a plethora of texts, all seeming pretty close together and all from one person only.  

"W-Was this last night?" Hoseok asks, taken aback by the sheer volume of messages. They're all from Hyungwon, and they all talk about Kihyun and their situation. It's clear he had been drinking, judging by the myriad of spelling errors and emojis. They also decline in lucidity the further they go, making it very clear Hyungwon had been balling his eyes out when he'd sent these messages. 

"He's worried he's lost Kihyun-hyung forever," Changkyun surmises, nodding towards his phone. "He thinks he's just thrown the relationship away, even though that wasn't what he meant to do at all. He almost came back last night, but I told him to stay there and sober up before doing anything. I haven't heard from him at all today, but what if he's already on his way back? What if he's coming home just to find Kihyun and Jooheon-hyung making out on the couch???" 

"I-I'm s-sure that's not what'll happen..." Hoseok stutters out, taken aback by the mental image alone. It'd be a scene straight out of a drama...  

Changkyun raises a skeptical brow at the older boy, and Hoseok can't help but blush as he hands the phone back. 

"If it really worries you," Hoseok goes on to say, "then tell Minhyukkie. He'd be able to stop any progression in their relationship before Wonnie came back." Changkyun chuckles lowly at this, shaking his head. 

"No," he mutters as he puts away his phone, "I don't think we need to resort to that yet." 

The two then share a knowing laugh, silently agreeing it best to keep this piece of information out of Minhyuk's head... for now. It's always best to keep your golden ace in your back pocket until you absolutely need it. 

Hyungwon groans as he opens his eyes, holding up a hand to block out the onslaught of sunlight. God does he regret all those shots last night... He groans once more, flopping over to his other side. His hand lands against a cold glass bottle, and he squints to make out the empty bottle before him. His eyes flutter shut, recalling all the things that had happened to drive him to drinking an entire bottle of vodka on his own. 

His parents have been gone for a couple days for business, and this alone time seems to have been the one thing his memories were waiting for to slam into him full-force. He'd been watching a movie, and suddenly the main character looked very much like Kihyun. This drew him into looking at his photos on his phone of him and Kihyun, and then playing tracks he'd secretly recorded of Kihyun singing. 

That angelic voice... it's always been enough to set his mind at ease, even before they got together. But, now, as it had poured out heart-wrenching lyrics of lost love, it drives him to texting Changkyun about wanting to go back to Korea right then. He'd stumbled around with tears streaming from his eyes to grab for the nearest bottle of liquor, and he'd taken the whole thing with him as he went to his room to wallow. 

Now, he wholly regrets basically every decision that's led him here. Why did he think it'd be okay to leave Kihyun like that?? How could he ever leave Kihyun, ever????  

He scrambles for his phone, his entire body feeling as if it's been drenched in molasses. 

"Eomma?" he asks in the phone after dialing the desired number, his voice much too groggy and sounding much too loud despite him speaking at a normal volume. "Eomma, I need to go home, back to Korea. There's... I left someone there, and I need to make things right."