It had been three months.

Three months since the ‘ordeal’. YiFan thinks it best to give the situation a more dramatic name, it makes it seem surreal. Or rather, less surreal. Or something like that. He isn’t exactly sure anymore. All he knows is that it has been three months, and neither Yixing nor Junmyeon is fairing all too well.

For the first month, Junmyeon had been using his annual leave in order to mope more comfortably. It had, of course, been YiFan’s idea. Originally, Junmyeon had been calling in sick. The conversations often went through YiFan before they got to the company. It had been almost a week before YiFan had eventually told their boss that Junmyeon would be on holiday until further notice due to personal stress. 

Kyungsoo had taken it upon himself to make sure Junmyeon was actually eating. He and YiFan often forcing themselves into Junmyeon’s apartment every other day after work, only to find it in a slightly more deteriorated state than the last time they were there. Junmyeon always seemed to be in the same position somewhere in his apartment.

The first time they found him it had been four days since he had found out the truth, and in those four days he hadn’t moved from his place on the couch to do anything other than use the bathroom. Which, after the first two days, became unnecessary with his lack of consumption of both food and water.

They had managed to make him shower, fed him and made him sleep in his bed.

Another few days later, they found him in his bed. Finding that, once again, he only left his bed to use the bathroom. However, Kyungsoon had found some crumbs in the sheets of Junmyeon’s bed, which suggested that he had been eating. Even if it was only a few muesli bars he had found left in his cupboard.

The next few times, they had found him sulking in rather strange places around the house. The bottom of the shower, the water that had been sitting there having soaked into the clothes he had put on. The kitchen bench, surrounded by empty used bowls and a couple of boxes of cereal. Once they found him at the dining table, simply starring at the empty cat bowls. Another time he was sitting on the coffee table, staring at the couch rather than the television.

It was after a month that both Kyungsoo and YiFan decided that Junmyeon needed to do something other than mope, or he would never come to his senses.

And so, for the past two months he had been working his regular hours. Returning to how he was before Yixing, before Lay. YiFan was glad at that. But still, there seemed like there was something not right about Junmyeon. Sometimes his smile didn’t reach his eyes. Sometimes his eyes would glaze over during certain topics of conversation. Sometimes… Sometimes he just wasn’t there. When either YiFan or Kyungsoo invited him out to lunch he would simply disappear. His body would be present but it was like he was on autopilot.

This lead to the others going by themselves to the cat café, where, after reporting the latest on Junmyeon’s status to the staff, they would pretend everything was how it used to be.

Yixing would always serve them. No matter how busy he was at the till or cake stand, no matter how bad a day he might had been having he always took their table order. Always made their coffees, always brought their food. Jongin, after a few weeks, had taken Junmyeon’s spot at the table, moving his lunch hour up to fit with his, now, boyfriends.

And even though, on the outside, Yixing seemed to be functioning normally, if someone was to look more closely at him they would find he now would jump and immediately look at the door if the bell rang, a tiny glimmer of hope in his eyes that he would cover up with a dimpled smile and false happy greeting. If anyone where to look at him they would notice how he would sneak looks at the corridor that lead to the bathroom and flinch ever so slightly. They would notice that while serving YiFan and Kyungsoo he would always make an extra coffee, just how Junmyeon always liked it, and before they left tip it out into the sink. And if they watched him they would notice how one cake in particular would always be plated and wrapped in cling film, ready to go at a moment’s notice, not being sold until the last minute of the day.

He was always waiting for Junmyeon.

And that didn’t seem like it was going to change anytime soon, even if Junmyeon never came back.

A/N:: I AM BACK~~~

I am currently on a month long holliday/break thing from uni so hopefully, I will manage to complete this fic. I won't give any promises considering I have a packed schedule (legit just a list of anime/dramas I want to watch before I go back to uni in August). I will try to update at LEAST once a week. But I can let you know I am writing the next chapter now, and will upload it as soon as it is finished (may be in a few hours after this one, if thats the case I will make sure to let you know that its a *double* update). 

Once again, I apologise for not updating in so long. Thank you all for being so understanding. And just so you know, I still don't have a job, have given up on moving out for a while and managed to finish this session with only two mini breakdowns ^^ 

Love you all loads! I promise this has a happy ending!!