Chapter 51- Not In Seoul (Wonwoo’s POV)

[Exactly 1 week before Mingyu’s basketball competition]

“So how’s the plan coming along?” Jun asked, when Wonwoo arrived in class, looking dead like a zombie.

“It seems a lot more difficult to plan a surprise. Especially when you have so many friends who tend to blabber secrets out unknowingly…” Wonwoo yawned, placing his head on his table.

“So…what’s the plan? I don’t blabber so tell me. I can help.” Jun said.

“Woah…are sure you wanna help? Why so helpful all of a sudden huh Jun Hui.” Wonwoo teased.

“I need your help too…so come on.” Jun rolled his eyes.

“What help do you need?” Wonwoo asked, raising his eyebrows.

“I’ll tell you after we’re done with your stuff.” Jun replied.

The next few days, Wonwoo stayed up all night, putting together a scrapbook. He made use of the limited pictures he took with Mingyu, writing many pieces of short letters inserting them into the small pockets. Wonwoo wasn’t as nimble with his fingers, but he tried. A normal scrapbook took about 2 days to complete. But this boy spent sleepless nights completing it. When he was done with the scrapbook, he wrote letters and folded them into flowers, creating a bouquet. He thanked the authors of those romance novels he had been reading, if not for them, he probably wouldn’t even have knew what to do. When he was also done with that, he started to think of a present to get for Mingyu.

“Yo. What are you thinking about?” Jihoon asked, thrashing into Wonwoo’s crazily messy room. It was a rare sight.

“I can’t think of what to get for Mingyu as a present…” Wonwoo sighed.

“How about…basketball shoes? You know…so he can use them during training.” Jihoon suggested.

“Woah…that’s a good idea. Did you get Seungcheol hyung soccer boots? Just so he would think of you whenever he uses them?” Wonwoo teased. Jihoon rolled his eyes, going through the stuff Wonwoo made over the past few days.

“Why would you want to buy a present though…? Aren’t these enough?” Jihoon asked, as he carefully opened the scrapbook when Wonwoo screamed fragile.

“But he may not like them…they’re so ugly…” Wonwoo sighed.

“But you put in so much effort though…?” Jihoon questioned.

“I’ll think about it…” Wonwoo replied, before googling what was the best brand of basketball shoes.

“Holy …a pair of Jordans cost this much?!” Wonwoo exclaimed. He definitely needed to get back to working at the café to earn that money. And that was how he spent the next few days. Working at the café, trying to earn as much money as he could to buy a pair of Jordans. Just for his boyfriend. He had to come up with all sorts of excuses to not meet Mingyu after class. Lucky for Wonwoo, someone was selling a pair of unused Jordans at a lower price, and they decided to meet somewhere far from school. Wonwoo calculated the total amount, and it turned out he had some leftover money. He then used that to buy a stuffed toy, a cat with really sharp eyes. One that resembled Wonwoo. He grinned to himself. The toy could keep Mingyu company when Wonwoo wasn’t around. He walked past a shop where he saw a black couple tee that was really cute. And coincidentally, it had a cat and a dog on it. Wonwoo knew he had to get it. It screamed Kim Mingyu and Jeon Wonwoo all over it.

On the day of Mingyu’s competition, Wonwoo got held back by his teacher and so he missed the beginning of the match. But he made it just 10 minutes after it started. Mingyu was busy concentrating on the game, so he probably didn’t see the older. Wonwoo got a little bored halfway so he took out his book. As Wonwoo looked up from his book, he made eye contact with Mingyu. He gleamed happily, waving at Mingyu. He mouthed Hwaiting Kim Mingyu! You can do it! He then proceeded to punch a fist in the air, causing the people beside him to throw him weird looks. He blushed, before smiling brightly at his boyfriend and did a thumbs up. When his boyfriend sent him a flying kiss, he pretended to catch it with his hand and laughed when the girls in the front row went screaming. He received a message from the seller that he had some emergency, and hence needing to meet Wonwoo earlier.

Jun was kind of sceptical about this online selling thing so he decided to tag along with Wonwoo. They got to the place where Wonwoo handed the money over and he got the shoes. He was excited to see the look on Mingyu’s face when he opens his present. That was when he walked along the streets, wanting to hang out for awhile after getting the shoes. He received messages from Mingyu, smiling when his boyfriend told him how much he missed him. He laughed out loud when Mingyu sounded disappointed when Wonwoo pretended to not remember his birthday. Wonwoo sneezed, feeling a little chilly. The weather was getting warming for sure, but it was still cold out. That was when Jun offered his jacket to Wonwoo, which he accepted. His phone vibrated again, messages from Mingyu. However, his eyebrows scrunched together, sensing the weirdness in his message. He ignored the weird feeling and went home after eating dinner with Jun.

He received even more weird messages from Mingyu, and that was when he decided that he was going to find out what was going on. He called Mingyu and the younger actually rejected his calls. Something was not right. Wonwoo started to get anxious. He called once more and it was rejected again. He started to spam Mingyu with messages and when he finally received a reply, he was taken aback. As to how cold the reply sounded. He did something wrong didn’t he? But what was it? When Mingyu asked to meet, Wonwoo couldn’t help but feel a shiver go down his spine. Something felt bad. Wonwoo went to bed, feeling uneasy the entire time. The next morning Wonwoo got up all early, carrying his stuff in a box as he met Jun outside. They decorated the clubroom, and Jun wished Wonwoo all the best. Wonwoo couldn’t thank Jun enough. He was really a very, very amazing best friend.

[After Wonwoo ran away from Mingyu…]

“Oh yeah. Kim Mingyu. I hope you have a blast on your birthday with that ing you believed. Nayeon right? Happy ing Birthday.” Wonwoo shouted before running away from Mingyu, away from reality as a whole. With his bag still with him, he decided to just skip school, running out of the school gates before the bell could ring. Wonwoo kept running and running and running. The oxygen in his lungs were limited and when he stopped, he realized he ended up at the abandoned park again.

He broke down into tears, squatting down by the pond. Wonwoo felt like someone had just told him that the entire thing he had with Mingyu was a lie. He was waking up from a dream. A very beautiful one. For the past week, he had anticipated every kind of reaction from Mingyu, but not this one. He had never expected Mingyu to want to break up with him. He didn’t even understand why the younger was breaking up with him. It definitely was a misunderstanding. Mingyu claimed that Wonwoo was cheating on him. Mingyu always believed Nayeon. He seemed to be choosing Nayeon over Wonwoo all the time. Why? 

“Why? Why now? I didn’t even get to show him the surprise I was preparing…I spent so much time on it. He didn’t even get a glance of it…” Wonwoo cried to himself, hugging his knees closer. How could the person closest to him think of him like that? Did Wonwoo really seem like a person who would cheat? Wonwoo got up as he started to walk around the park.

Wonwoo turned off his phone, not wanting anyone to find him. He didn’t want any of his friends’ so called ‘comfort’. They’ll probably ask Wonwoo to explain to Mingyu. He was tired of explaining things to Mingyu. The younger didn’t even give him a chance to do so. He was crying as he walked home. Passer-bys were all giving him weird looks. As he walked along the pathway next to the roads, he saw an aeropl