Ring ring ring.

Ring ring ring.

“Yoboseyo.”

“Youngjae.”

He can’t deny the sharp intake of air when he heard that voice resounding from the other end of the phone, so deep and penetratingly familiar. Youngjae keeps quiet, the sound of the other’s breathing loud in his ears as his hands tremble at the strange proximity between the two of them, as if they were right next to each other, feeling their breathes against each other’s cheeks. The silence over the phone makes Daehyun look down to his hand as Youngjae keeps quiet. Youngjae doesn’t know how this makes him feel but after so many days of soundless pain ever since Daehyun betrayed him, he doesn’t even know what to say anymore.

Is it anger? Is it misery? What is it?

The both of them keep quiet with their phones still in hand as they try hard to grasp the sound of the other’s breathing.

>>>>>>>>>>> 

“What do you want from me.”

“Youngjae, why did you ignore me?”

“Well, you want to see me so here I am. What do you want to say?”

“Why are you being like this? What’s wrong?”

“Are you being ignorant or are you just trying to lie to me?”

“What are you talking about? It’s making me go crazy! Why won’t you talk to me anymore?”

“Talk? Is that all? That is all between us?”

“What is going on? I don’t even know why you’re being so irrational!”

“Irrational? Do you even know what the are you talking about!”

Both of them are lost for words at Youngjae’s outburst. Daehyun is lost. The pain and anger on Youngjae’s face is making his heart twist agonizingly but the hardest thing is that he doesn’t even know what made him behave that way. “Youngjae, tell me, what did I do?”

Youngjae looks down at the ground, the bubbling emotions threatening to overspill if he makes a careless move. He grips his fists tight and speaks slowly as the memory grinds through his mind like a pressing knife.

“I know about it. You betrayed me, Daehyun. And I saw it with my own eyes. I saw you kissing a girl outside your dorm room. I ran away after that. I knew there was something wrong between the two of us but I just didn’t expect you to go that far. What is it exactly? What are we exactly? Am I just your best friend? Don’t make me confused.”

The underlying guilt starts gushing upwards like a destructive geyser inside him and Daehyun finds himself unable to stutter out even a word at the shameful memory of his behavior. He was playing around, yes. He was kissing another girl, yes. He was seeking gratification while Youngjae wouldn’t give him the happiness he wanted. He is young and impatient and he couldn’t take the tests Youngjae put him to. He needed company, he needed love, he needed whatever a young and hot-blooded man like him would need but Youngjae was careful with what he gave and Daehyun was getting sick of taking it slow and tedious.

“Youngjae, you’re important. You’re my best friend but I love you—“

“But yo