He had horrible dark circles under his eyes, Heechul noticed when he first looked at the mirror in the bathroom after a few days locking himself inside his room. Not only that, the area under his cheekbones were so hollow he thought he looked like a ghost. A very thin, hungry and sickly ghost. He knew it was a stupid thing to do, moping for days, not eating much and only drinking a glass of water everyday, but he felt like he needed to hurt himself to some degree, to mourn for the loss of his love.

Heechul only left his room very early in the morning and really late at night to avoid meeting anyone. His three friends who shared the apartment with him wouldn’t appreciate seeing this depressed version of him, so he’s giving them a favor by staying away from everyone for a while. They had expressed their sympathy on the night of his dramatic break-up by buying him beers and wishing him better boyfriends in the future, but after that they left him to handle his own problem.

Actually, Heechul was thankful to them for that. He was glad that they understood him so well. He hated being babied too much. He’s an adult, a very capable twenty-nine-year-old grown-up man who had been through countless break-ups before, so of course he knew how to handle it. The “mourning” period (usually it lasted for only two or three days, a week at most) was his way to completely let go so he could move on with his life.

It was a few minutes to midnight on the seventh day of his mourning period, and there he was staring at his reflection on the bathroom mirror, an electric shaver in his hand, ready to rid his face of the week-old stubble. He decided it was enough. He didn’t want to break the one-week record, after all. This latest break-up was quite a severe blow for him, to be honest. He thought he was starting to really fall in love with the guy, after dating for more than half a year, but obviously the feeling was one-sided.

Well, if they didn’t want Kim Heechul in their lives, it’s their loss.

Heechul gritted his teeth, staring at his reflection in determination, and start to shave.

As he was inspecting his now-clean face afterward, something brushed the back of his ankle and he involuntarily shivered. He looked down quickly and let out a relieved sigh when he realized it was just Heebum, his cat. Heebum meowed as he looked up at Heechul, then he rubbed his head onto Heechul’s leg again, as if saying he missed Heechul.

Picking his cat up, Heechul walked out of the bathroom, straight to the kitchen. Every time he locked himself up and be depressed, the task of taking care of Heebum always fell to his youngest (but also his first) flatmate, who was a cat-less cat-lover. The fact that Heebum was now out of the confinement of his bedroom meant that his flatmate was awake and most probably scavenging for snack in the kitchen.

At the kitchen opening he stood in silence, watching with slight amusement the back of his pink-clad flatmate while he tiptoed and rummaged around in one of the open overhead cabinet.

.

(tbc)