Minseok stared intently at the cards in his hand and then up at the grinning boy in front of him. His hand wavered from one side of the cards the other boy was holding to the other side. He finally selected a card from the near right and flipped it towards himself.

He internally grumbled at his selection of the joker card but didn’t let it show on his neutral face. He shuffled the cards in his hand before spreading them neatly in a row in his hands, waiting for the other boy to select his choice.

The other boy hovered his hand over one card to another, gauging Minseok’s reaction to each one. He finally chose the card in the middle, giving a low scowl at his choice. He shuffled his own cards while Minseok tried to test his reaction as well.

If Minseok could hold a passive poker face well enough, then the boy in front of him could hold a teasing smirking expression just as well. It seemed that whatever he did, that grin was stuck permanently on his face.

Jongin had also learned rather quickly into the game that it was better not to speak, since for some reason Minseok was able to figure out his cards instantly when he did.

But with two cards left in his hand, Jongin knew that maintaining a normal face was crucial.

Minseok glanced from one card to the other and once at Jongin before selecting the card on the left since Jongin was gripping that card a little too tightly.

Minseok looked at the card where a small smile briefly attached to his face before it disappeared instantly.

With the last pair laid out, Minseok raised an eyebrow synonymous to a smirk at Jongin’s clear frustration at losing the card game.

The glasses wearing boy looked up at Minseok and sighed, throwing the joker onto the table causing a small sound of a slap.

Minseok glanced at him and then at the door directly behind Jongin. His eyes then went to the clock on the wall in front of him.

An hour.

It had been an hour since Kyungjin had ventured into the back room with a hesitant but determined smile before disappearing altogether.

Jongin could sense the other boy’s nervous aura despite the same person not knowing that he was exerting such a feeling.

He rolled his eyes. “She’ll be fine.”

Minseok’s gaze left the clock before landing on the boy in front of him. He didn’t say anything as he looked away to the cards on the table.

Jongin shrugged at his lack of words and gathered the cards together. “Another game?” he asked.

Minseok shook his head. He didn’t feel like another game. They had been playing cards constantly since Kyungjin went to meet Sehun again. Exactly one week from the last confrontation.

After she had spilled Sehun’s and hers relationship, Minseok didn’t know what to think. She had told him her worries and pain and the mixed feelings of frustration and confusion, and he couldn’t do a thing but listen. He wondered if it was enough.

She had assured him that it was plenty, and even going with her despite not being there talking to Sehun with her made her feel comforted.

But that seemed ridiculous to him, being able to comfort people with such small things. Why would something so simple as going with her make her feel comforted? It wasn’t anything useful to her, yet she was happy that he did. He simply didn’t understand. But he wasn’t one to argue. And he had promised that he would go and wait until she had finished talking with Sehun, and true to his word, he was waiting outside until they finished.

Yet, Minseok couldn’t help but to feel strangely anxious. It had been an hour, but Minseok knew that these things couldn’t be rushed. Which led him to conclude that it wasn’t because he didn’t see her for a while, but this anxiousness stemmed from something more personal.

Or so he thought. But he couldn’t pinpoint where the discomfort was coming from.

“So, what are you going to do now?”

Minseok looked at Jongin who had broken him out of his thoughts. He was about to tell him that he was going to go take a walk to see if his uneasiness would leave until the door behind Jongin swung open with a frazzled looking Kyungjin.

Her eyes swept the vicinity until it landed on Minseok.

She marched over and pulled on his arm. “Come on,” she growled.

Minseok was about to protest and ask what in the world she was doing, but the crazed look in her eyes made him decide that it was against his better judgment to do so.

Jongin grinned and waved a cheerful goodbye as Kyungjin dragged Minseok into the back room.

“Sit,” she muttered roughly, forcing Minseok into the chair that was positioned on one side of the table. He was about to protest again, but Kyungjin angrily sat down next to him and glared at the other male across from them.

Minseok glanced at her and then to Sehun who was looking at him as well.

Minseok blinked as he realized that he hadn’t seen that look in a while. Sehun had given him an once-over and the look his eyes were clearly judging, almost condescending.

Minseok almost smiled. Such nostalgia. People in the town no longer gave him such looks for they accepted him into the town as one. And people from his past who once gave him such looks were no longer associated with him. He made sure of that.

But this was no time to be smiling.

Minseok could feel the tension in the air, and he didn’t even need to hear their thoughts to know so.

But neither was talking. With only Kyungjin staring intensely at Sehun and the male giving a bored expression to both of them.

“Why am I here?”

Kyungjin looked at Minseok who had finally spoken as she had finally realized that he was here next to her. She visibly relaxed, her hunched shoulders releasing their tension and a breath of a sigh escaped from her lips.

But with the slightest appearance of the boy across from her in her vision, she tensed up once again.

But nevertheless, she tried to calm herself. “You’re here because…”

“Because she obviously can’t do a single thing by herself,” Sehun finished for her with a scoff and a roll his eyes, his arms crossed tightly across his chest.

His line of sight fell on Minseok again. “What I don’t understand is why you’re here.”

Minseok blinked at him as a barrage of distasteful insults flew out of Sehun’s thoughts, but for some reason, Minseok didn’t feel like he meant half of them. As if they were thought out of anger and frustration.

However, he shrugged in response to Sehun, for he didn’t know either. Which led him to look at Kyungjin, whose eyes were narrowed and set in a firm line.

She glanced at Minseok before turning away and sighing in exasperation. “I tried to do what you said, Minseok. But Sehun keeps avoiding the questions I’m trying to ask him.”

Minseok looked at each person as he asked, “How?”

She threw him a glance that seemed to say, “Watch.” She then determinedly faced Sehun and took a deep breath. “Sehun, we need to talk.”

Sehun scoffed. “Aren’t we already?”

Kyungjin clenched her teeth as she muttered, “Seriously. We need to talk seriously.”

Sehun rolled his eyes, putting his feet onto the table in a slow fluid motion. He began to check his fingers as he replied,” Okay. What about?”

Kyungjin didn’t seem to like his flippant behavior; in fact, it seemed to make her angrier. “Can’t you take this seriously!” she finally shouted. “I’m trying here, but all you’re doing is acting like you don’t care!”

Sehun slightly frowned, his eyes narrowing to a degree. He swept his legs off the table and leaned forward. “Oh, I care. I care more than you would imagine,” he said in a low voice.

“Then why aren’t you trying to communicate with me?” she asked in frustration.

“And I told you to say what you want to say. What’s stopping you?”

Kyungjin faltered for a minute.

“Well?” Sehun persisted. “If you aren’t saying anything, then why are we…”

“Why did you come back?” she said softly.

Sehun didn’t say anything until he growled, “Why? You didn’t want me to?”

Kyungjin’s head shot up. “No!” she protested. “That’s not it. I just want to know why you came back after all these years. When you didn’t even say anything about it.”

Sehun shook his head in disbelief. “I did tell you. And I’ve been sending you packages for a while now. What else do you want from me?” he yelled as he stood up, his chair screeching back in protest.

“Answers, for one thing!” she shouted back, standing back as well, facing him. “Why’d you come back? You always said you would never set foot in this town again!”

“What? So, I can’t come back to see my family or friends? I’m not that heartless, you know. Or maybe you’re saying that I shouldn’t be here? That I don’t belong?” Sehun continued angrily.

“What?” Kyungjin exclaimed. “I’ve never said that! Are you even listening to me?”

“But you were thinking that, weren’t you?”

“No!” she insisted, this time glancing at Minseok, thinking that he would know what she was really thinking. “I…”

Sehun noticed the look she gave Minseok and let a breathy laugh of ridicule. “What? Why do you look at him as if he has the answers? Why is he here anyways? Isn’t this problem between you and me anyways?”

“Yes, but I feel better if Minseok’s here with me,” Kyungjin answered. “And stop trying to change the subject!”

Sehun rolled his eyes. “Your boyfriend’s that great?” He scoffed. “Maybe you’re the one who needs to understand a little more.”

“Sehun, why are you like this? It’s like you hate that I’m here and that I’m happy!" Kyungjin cried out.

Sehun’s expression became shocked as if he came to a realization, but his forehead furrowed in frustration. “You’re not trying to see it my way. You never do.”

Kyungjin’s mouth opened in incredulity. “What?” she spit out. “I’m trying to see it your way, but all you’ve done is shut me out and misinterpret my words. Sometimes, I think you need to shut up and listen.”

“I could say that same about you,” Sehun sneered back as he roughly sat back in his chair.

Kyungjin shook her head in astonishment and also sat back down.

Minseok, during the whole exchange, had secretly wished that he wasn’t there next to them. He would much rather liked it if he was sitting in the background. He always sat there and had become accustomed to it.

But nevertheless, Minseok had been the observer and more involved than he liked.

He knew that Kyungjin had asked the wrong question. She was doing well towards the beginning, but asking why he came back wasn’t the right move. In his opinion, she should have talked about their past.

However, what’s done is done. Which leads him to what each of them was thinking.

Kyungjin was easy to figure out. She was straight-forward, but should have been more calm. Throughout the whole time, she was constantly exasperated and frustrated with Sehun that all she could think was how incredibly obnoxious and childish Sehun was being. Minseok felt that that was part of the problem. Sehun wasn’t the type you could yell at to get things through. You had to speak to him calmly and persistently, emphasizing the main points since it seems that he considered everything as a factor.

On the other hand, Sehun was harder for Minseok to understand. His thoughts seemed to be like mood swings. At first angry but then apologetic and then in disbelief. And like Minseok realized, Sehun was one to not miss anything that happened in a conversation. Which is why Sehun misunderstood the glance Kyungjin gave to him. Sehun also had a one-track mind. Once he got something in his head, he ran with it, whether it was true or not. Sehun, unfortunately, thought he was always right.

But what Minseok didn’t understand was why Sehun seemed constantly sad. Despite his anger and frustration, there was always a tint of sadness. As if he was holding a thought deep inside him that made him depressed. And Minseok couldn’t figure it out what it was.

But what he did understand was both of them wanted to reconcile in their own odd ways.

Minseok peered at Sehun and then to Kyungjin and finally looked up to contemplate what he should do. He never thought that his ability to hear thoughts would come in handy like this. There was a time where he hated it to an extreme extent, but now he just tolerated it as a regular piece of him.

But this time he understood both sides of the argument. And he was uncomfortable with the situation at hand. It was almost he had all the pieces to help them reconnect, to restore their friendship, and yet he hesitated. As if he almost didn’t want to help them.

And for the life of him, he didn’t understand why. It wasn’t the usual feeling of thinking it was simply a bother. He could hear something in the back of his head telling him that he shouldn’t. Something in him actively disproved of them reconciling. Of future “what ifs” concerning Kyungjin, Sehun, and even himself.

And he didn’t like it. He wished he could simply leave them to their own like always did, like how he once did. He almost wanted to get up and leave them on their own to figure it out. Wasn’t it how he always did it? But he knew that wasn’t possible anymore. Not when Kyungjin was involved.

But as he glanced over to Kyungjin who looked like she about to throttle Sehun by the neck, he felt like he owed her at least some sort of an explanation for each of them.

However, Kyungjin suddenly burst up from her chair, slamming her hands on the table, giving the other two males a surprise and mild look in her direction.

“I can’t do this anymore,” she muttered angrily.

She grabbed her bag and announced, “I’m leaving,” as she marched out of the room.

Minseok stood up from his chair but not before giving one last look at Sehun.

Sehun had now slouched deeply in his chair as he ran his hand through his hair and letting out an inaudible sigh. A figure of regret. He seemed to feel Minseok’s gaze and sharply looked up at him. His figure became guarded as if he wasn’t sure what he was still doing there.

Minseok gave a slight nod toward Sehun at his departure and headed out as well.

When he opened the door, he first heard Kyungjin’s voice. The second thing his noticed was Jongin’s pained expression as he seemed to shrink back at each syllable which also increased in volume.

His hand shot out into her face, finally silencing her. “Okay, okay,” he murmured. “I get it. I’ll talk to Sehun about it.”

Jongin caught sight of Minseok watching them and his eye brimmed with relief. “Thank god, you’re here. Take this girl out before goes berserk. I’m afraid this will overload system, and she’ll fail right here.”

Kyungjin scowled at Jongin and glanced at Minseok which turned her expression into one of regret. She seemed to realize that she had dragged Minseok into their fight and then left him there without an explanation.

He returned her look with a gesture to the door with a tilt of his head.

She sighed and walked over to Minseok, mumbling a soft, “Sorry,” and throwing an apologetic look towards Jongin. He responded with a shooing motion with his hands.

Once they left, Jongin took off his reading glasses and set them softly on the table. His hands then promptly moved to his temples as he began to massage them.

He could hear the door behind him click open and without looking up, he knew that Sehun was now leaning against the side of the counter.

“I thought you weren’t trying to make her angry this time,” Jongin murmured.

Sehun shrugged. “At first, but then she kept saying how she’ll bring in that guy since he’ll know what to do. Things kind of went downhill from there.”

“What do you have against Minseok?” Jongin questioned as he set his glasses back on his nose and began to flip through his book once more.

Sehun didn’t say anything for a moment and when he did, Jongin had to lean over to hear him.

“Kyungjin trusts him too much.”

Jongin almost laughed. “That’s why you don’t like him?”

Sehun shook his head. “Not completely, but…” He paused, trying to arrange his thoughts. “She used to trust me.”

This time Jongin did laugh. With slight bitterness. “And why do you think she doesn’t anymore? God, you’re pathetic.”

Sehun didn’t say anything as if he was silently agreeing with his friend.

A/N: All on Minseok now. The pressure. Who would want that? To help or not to help, that is the question.

Thanks for reading!