Jongin leaves Kyungsoo’s apartment at exactly 9 AM, two hours after both of them had woken up, showered, and had breakfast together.

            As Jongin stands outside of his apartment, he remains in his position, waiting for either one of them to say something. “I guess this is goodbye,” he finally breaks the uncomfortable silence between them, something that was no longer unfamiliar for the two of them as they’ve shared so much of them in the short time they spent in each other’s company. “Thank you for letting me stay over. I’ll make sure to kick Chanyeol’s for burdening you,”

            Kyungsoo politely puts on a smile on his lips, one hand resting on the knob of his apartment door. He waits for the small talk, for the polite conversations to cease. Just so Jongin can quietly exit his life as another passing face. A trivial memory amongst the thousands that Kyungsoo buried in his heart.

            “Don’t worry about it,” Kyungsoo finally replies when he realizes that he had been mute for the past few seconds, unaware of the odd look on Jongin’s face. “And don’t kick anyone’s for me. It was a pleasure,” 

            “Bye, Kyungsoo,” Jongin’s smiling so widely but Kyungsoo knows that he’s disinclined to leave by the expression on his face. Kyungsoo had seen it so many times before that it became so easily recognizable.

            “Bye, hope you get home safely.”

            “Yeah.”

            That’s the last thing Jongin says to him before Kyungsoo shuts off his door and lets out a deafening groan in frustration.

            Jongin is gone.

            He’s gone and Kyungsoo is just so thankful that he hadn’t been so easily consumed by him. By his warm smiles and his affectionate eyes.

            He’s thankful because Jongin had left before he had grown attached to him – which coincidentally happens to be Kyungsoo’s greatest fear. It was a fear that has caused him a series of sleepless nights as the pain plaguing inside of him makes him feel like fragile, fragmented glass.

            In the simplest of terms, Do Kyungsoo fears love.

            Kyungsoo wonders if he’ll ever meet him again. If their paths will cross one another once more. He prides himself in being able to deal with most challenging situations in his life, after enduring each and every one of them successfully.

            Jongin had been Kyungsoo’s most difficult, most complex, most beautiful challenge yet. 

            Author's Note: If anyone's confused as to why Jongin doesn't call Kyungsoo hyung, the reason will be explained later on the story. I appreciate all your votes, views, and comments. Thank you for reading! ♡