The first thing that Minseok does once he wakes up is call his previous landlord.  The Lu family doesn’t know, but he still kept that apartment space that he used to live in, just in case.  Just in case this day arrives, the day that Luhan won’t need him anymore.  He’s always known that it will happen, but he never thought that it would be this soon.  He tells the landlord that he might return sometime today, and finishes the call immediately when the deal was settled.

The next thing he does is to make haejangguk for Luhan.  He didn’t bother to make breakfast for himself, he’ll just grab something to eat on the way back to the apartment.  He grabs Luhan’s mug of now cold coffee from last night and washes it clean, before making a new serving of hot coffee.

After making Luhan’s breakfast and washing the dishes, he goes back to his room and starts to pack.  He just packs light, he can return later for the others, so that traveling won’t be hard… and also so that he’ll have a reason to return and see Luhan again.  He packs all of his hoodies though, because he doesn’t have his own winter coat and he sure as hell can’t afford one on his own yet.  He packs that little sleeping bag that he hoped he won’t have to use ever again, but apparently, he still has to.  He’s in the middle of packing some casual clothes when Luhan comes wandering into his room.

“Damn—this is the worst hang…  Min, what are you doing?”  Luhan begins, stops, and asks once he enters Minseok’s room, seeing the other packing his bags.

“I’m leaving.”  Minseok replies, finally zipping his bag closed, his packing now done.  Now all that’s left is to say goodbye to Luhan.

“What?  Why?”  Luhan asks, nervousness making his voice sound a little off.

“Because just like you said last night, it’s my entire fault.  I want you and Yixing to be happy together, and if my presence in this place prevents that from happening, then I’m willing to leave.”  Minseok replies, doing his best to stop his voice from cracking.  He never thought that saying goodbye would be this hard; he’s done it a lot of times before, anyway.

“Min… you can’t… I was drunk, okay?  I’m sure you know better than to listen to me when I’m drunk.”  Luhan says, approaching Minseok and putting his trembling hands on the other’s shoulders.  Minseok just shakes his head in return.

“No, Luhan.  Besides, you’re right, I’m just taking advantage of you.  I mean, I don’t even deserve this kind of life.  You’ve done so much for me, things that I don’t deserve at all.  I’m just your humble servant, okay?  I don’t… I can’t live here.”  Minseok replies, the last part more of a whisper.  He makes his way past Luhan and gets his bags, heading out to the exit.  Luhan runs after him, grabs his arm, and pulls him into a tight hug.  Minseok can feel Luhan trembling as he did so, and it just breaks his heart.  But he has to, he has to do this, he knows Luhan really loves Yixing and if this is what it takes for Luhan to be happy, then he’ll do this.

“Minseok, please don’t do this.  I’m sorry, what I said wasn’t right.  Please don’t leave me, please.”  Luhan pleads.  Minseok just pulls away, looking right into Luhan’s eyes.

“You have to learn how to live without me, Luhan.  I can’t always be here to serve you, anyway.  Besides, we’ll still see each other at school anyway, so it won’t be that bad.”

“But that’s different!”

The snow is still falling from the sky when Minseok arrived at his apartment.  He enters the room and sees the inside just like how he left it.  Empty, cold, barren.  He sets down his things, and sits on the cold, cement floor.  The space is just small, just a single room, a small bathroom, and a little kitchenette.  There’s no heating yet, they won’t start the furnace a week before Christmas, so he powers the oven so that it can heat up the place.  The window by the bedroom is still broken, allowing the chilling wind to enter the small place.  He takes out his sleeping bag and places it at the corner farthest from the broken window.  It’s cold, but at least there’s a roof over his head.  At least he’s not homeless.

Today is a Sunday so he decided not to phone Jung gyoh-soo-nim just yet, fearing that he might disturb his professor during his break.  It’s a good thing that the offer still stands as he desperately needs a job that’ll keep him under a roof now.

Taking out his notebook and pen, he sits on his sleeping bag and begins to think about their project.  He remembers his days with Luhan, even before Yixing came, and the summers they spent together.  He remembers when he and Luhan would play under the summer drizzle, and Changmin would scold them because they’d get sick right after.  He remembers how Luhan’s eyes would light up when Minseok makes him his favorite cupcakes, and how they’d end up in a food fight.  He remembers all of those, and how warm it felt compared to the coldness he’s experiencing right now.  But this is for Luhan; he needs to be strong so that he can make Luhan happy.  He remembers all of these, drawing from the memories strength that he does not have.

~O~

“You what?!”  Sehun and Chanyeol both exclaim as they sit down at their usual place at the cafeteria.

“Were you guys even listening?”  Minseok replies, rolling his eyes at them.

“Yeah, we heard you perfectly well, Kim Minseok.  But seriously, are you crazy?!”  Chanyeol exclaims.

“No, I’m not!  I just want them to be happy, that’s all.” 

“You’re an idiot you know that.  You seriously need to learn how to ask for help, Min.  You can’t always do things on your own.”  Sehun replies, eyeing him carefully.  Just then, Luhan and his gang enter the cafeteria, all of them stopping once they see Minseok.  Chanyeol once again clears his throat and Minseok looks behind him, only to see the gang, except Luhan, glaring at him.  They slowly approach the three, Yixing and Luhan staying behind at their usual spot.

“You’re an idiot, you know that.”  Baekhyun tells Minseok, voice filled with venom.

“So I’ve been told.”  Minseok says, giving Chanyeol and Sehun a hard look.

“Don’t get us wrong here, we’re serious.  You shouldn’t have left Luhan like that; he’s been a wreck since you left.”  Joonmyeon says, glaring at Minseok.

“It’s for his own good.”  Minseok replies.  Joonmyeon seems to be more angered by this, and was supposed to retort when Chanyeol stops him.

“Dude, would you cut it out?  We’re trying to eat our lunch peacefully here!  If you have a problem, let’s just settle it somewhere else.”  That left the others speechless, and soon they were on their way back to their own table.

“Wow, thanks Yeol.”  Minseok says once everything’s settled down.

“No prob, Min.  We’ve always got your back.”  Chanyeol replies.

“Does Luhan know where you currently live?”  Sehun asks once the three enter Starbucks.  Yifan and Jongdae are on duty, and they both wave at them, smiling.

“Hey, guys!  What can we get for you?”  Jongdae asks.

“Uhm… just three Americanos to go.  We’re kind of in a hurry.”  Minseok replies.  “And no, Ohdult, he doesn’t.  Changmin and Minho do, though.”

“What are you guys talking about?”  Yifan asks, taking Jongdae’s place at the counter.

“Oh, yeah, Yifan, we forgot to mention to you that Minseok left Luhan’s penthouse just this weekend.”  Chanyeol says sarcastically.

“You what?!”  Yifan and Jongdae both exclaim.

“He’s an idiot, isn’t he?”  Sehun asks.

“Dude, you’re not helping.  At all.”  Minseok replies, eyeing Sehun.

“But why?  Did something happen?”  Yifan asks.  “Do you need a job?”  Jongdae asks at the same time.

“He’ll be working at the music store down the corner.  Our music professor owns it.”  Chanyeol replies.

Minseok sits by the counter as they wait for some costumers to arrive.  It’s a slow day today, probably because of the heavy snow.  He decides to go sit by Sehun, who’s currently working on that song.

“How’s it going?”  Minseok asks.

“Angel.  That’s all I’ve got.”  Sehun replies, a defeated look on his face.

“What’s the song supposed to be about?” 

“Anything.  Everything.  The universe, maybe?”  Sehun replies, shrugging.

“That’s not right.  Even if Angel’s just a song, he or she still deserves a story of his or her own.”

“But I can’t think of anything.  I want to write about a lot of things, but I can’t think of something that I can associate to the song.”

“I don’t think it actually has something to do with the song.  We can make Angel not Angel, you know.  We’re writing him or her a story; we’re not following a plot here.”

“So what do we do?  Think of something random and just put it all together?”

“You know, that might just work.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I mean.  Songs can take from seconds to days in the making, we’ve got all the time that we need anyway; we can’t rush something like this.  We can’t rush someone’s life.”

“You’re right.  So, when do we start?”

“Anytime we want.  We just have to finish the song, I mean, we already created the title… wouldn’t it be rude to leave the song’s life in disarray and the story unfinished?”

“Yeah but… what about coherency?”

“Some people understand each other even if they’re talking about completely different things, Ohdult.  Trust me, we can do this, we can finish Angel.”

“Yeah, we can.  We’ll make Angel turn heads and tear eyes with its beauty.”

“Exactly.”

Just then, the electricity goes out. 

“Oh, .”  They hear Yunho say as he appears from the stock room.  “I can’t believe this, it’s so cold!”

But Minseok can’t hear any of this because his mind is far far away, remembering that time when he and Luhan got trapped at his grandparents’ attic during a visit.  They were fooling around, and it was raining, when the electricity suddenly went out.  They couldn’t get out because there were all sorts of stuff lying around, antique stuff, and they were scared that they might destroy it.  They just sat where they were standing and—

“Hello?  Seokkie?  Are you listening?”  Chanyeol waves a hand in front of Minseok’s face, trying to catch his attention.

“Sorry, my mind was flying away.”  Minseok replies, a sudden feeling of anticipation flooding him.  “Sehun, I need your notebook.”

“What?  Why?”  Sehun asks, pulling out a flash light.

“I need to write.”

“At a time like this?”

Minseok returns to his apartment that night to find Changmin waiting for him by his door.  Changmin is Luhan’s uncle and current guardian, and is also the one managing the family business while Luhan’s still at school.  Minseok’s pretty close to Changmin because he’s the one who found him in the first place, he’s the one who gave him a shot at life.

“Hey, Min.”  Changmin says.  “How’re you doing?”

“I’m fine.  Is there something that I can help you with?”  Minseok replies, clearly curious as to why Changmin is talking to him in front of his apartment.  “Are you here to try to convince me to go back to Luhan’s?”

“Nope, actually, I came here to give you this.”  He says then shows Minseok a little dog carrier, Bambi sitting inside.  “Luhan can’t take care of him ‘cause he’s too busy.  And also because Yixing is uncomfortable with little Bambi around.”

“So Yixing already moved in?”

“Yeah, he moved in when you left.  Luhan was really devastated, you know.  Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Minseok?”

“Yes, Changmin, I do know what I’m doing.  It’s for Luhan, he and Yixing can’t be together if I keep on disturbing them.  And I feel that sometimes I’m just feeding on Luhan’s wealth whenever I’m there, ‘cause I’m pretty sure I’m not destined to live a life that luxurious.”  Minseok replies, taking Bambi out of his cage and carrying him in his arms.

“Okay, I understand.  Will you be okay, though?”

“Yes, Changmin.  I have a job and a place to stay, and I can take care of myself.  There’s no need to worry.”

“You can pretty hard headed sometimes, Minseok.  Just remember to ask for help when you can’t do it alone anymore, okay?”  Changmin says, handing him a small envelope.  “Here, your last salary.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you sure about this, Minseok?”  Yifan asks Minseok as they stand in front of the penthouse.

“Yeah, Yifan.  You can just wait for me down here, I’ll be back soon.”  Minseok replies, before he leaves for the penthouse.  He’s currently here to take some more of his possessions from his room, which isn’t much.  He just needs some more clothes, his books, some dog food for Bambi, and some old blankets.

He sees no one when he enters so he just goes straight for his room, bag in tow.  He packs the stuff he needs, gets some dog food for Bambi from the kitchen, and looks for his old blankets by the walk-in closet.  By the time he’s finished packing and is just about to leave, he sees Yixing and Luhan, who just arrived by the door.

Time seemed to stop when the three eyes met each other.  Yixing, who has an arm around Luhan’s waist, immediately glares at Minseok and instinctively pulls Luhan closer to him.  Luhan just stares at Minseok longingly, and Minseok just stares back, unaffected.

“Uhm… I came to take back some stuff.  I was just about to leave.”  Minseok says, gesturing towards his bag.

“Okay.”  Yixing says in return.  “I’ll just go heat some soup for us.”  He tells Luhan, gives the boy a kiss on the cheek, and disappears into the kitchen, all the while glaring at Minseok.

Luhan and Minseok were left staring at each other, both afraid to make a move.  Minseok then decides that Yifan have been waiting far too long, and gets his bag and heads for the exit.

“Minseok…”  He hears Luhan say from behind him.  He doesn’t look at the other boy, just keeps his gaze straight as he mouths his reply before he leaves:

“Forget about me, Luhan. It’s what I deserve.”

A/N: haejangguk is literally, "soup to remove a hangover" and is one common hangover remedy in Korea. :3