To say that he was miserable was an understatement. He knew his life ed up the moment he left the four corners of his lover’s room the night before. He didn’t want to go to the university today when he’s tired, gloomy; when everything screams that he’s not okay.

That he’s far from being okay.

But he has to. He has to go to that hell of a university. He has to do all of his responsibilities here and there. He has to move forward, for his sake; for his lover's sake. After all, time won’t stop if he’d go all depressed about what happened the night before (and a few more weeks before last night).

He lets his phone ring a few more times before he takes it out of his pocket and pressed the green button on the screen. “Hello?”

“Hey Minseok! Have you passed all the requirements for your fellowship in London?” the woman, Mrs. Yoo, who was a professor in the university asked with an obvious excitement in her voice. Minseok wanted to cringe. It was still so early in the morning and his mind wasn’t cooperating with his mouth.

He let out a groan (which wasn’t supposed to be so loud) and frowned, “Not yet, Ma’am. I’m still working on it.”

“Hey you, young man, is that hesitation in your voice? Come on, it’s London! You don’t get to have offers from London every day!” the woman exclaimed and Minseok wanted to frown even more at the comment. What’s so good about it anyway. “Well, will I be able to pass the requirements they’re asking for on time? I mean some of the requirements are still at the Dean’s office.” He let out a forced laugh just to appease the woman on the phone and well, he could say that it kind of work. “Don’t worry, my child! This woman already took care of those kinds of things. All you have to do is to pass the requirements to me so that we could process your visa.”

But what if I don’t want to leave? He shut his mouth into thin line and thanked the woman for helping him with everything. “Mrs. Yoo?”

“Yes?”

“Well, I have to go. I still have to go to the university. I’ll call you tonight so we could talk about the fellowship in London, hm?” Minseok can hear the complains of the woman from the other side of the phone, telling him that she has lots of stuff to say to him in regards to the said fellowship but Minseok could care less.

Not when everything in his life hurts.

Not when everywhere within him feels pain.

Not when he’s so broken, he just wants to curl up in a ball and not mind his surroundings.

Taking a seat in the train and placing his bag in front of him, he closed his eyes.

And as he closed his eyes, all memories of their yesterdays came back to his mind.

10:22

He was running late again for the third time that week and damn, he can already imagine his boyfriend's annoyed face as he waits for Minseok at the exit of Hongik station. He cursed all the paperworks piled up on his study table last night which kept him awake until three in the morning, He sighed, surely his boyfriend would lecture him again about how precious every second is.

Adjusting his cap, he found his boyfriend in front of the vending machine (who is currently busy venting out all his annoyance over Minseok on that poor vending machine). "Luhan!" he called out, his boyfriend turned his head towards his but instead of smiling at him and spreading out his arms to hug Minseok, he rolled his eyes and began walking towards the exit. "Hey Luhan, wait!" but the latter just walked faster and Minseok had to jog over him and hold his hand.

Luhan stopped and turned to him, annoyance still visible on his face. "You know what, MInseok? Just...don't promise me something you can't do." He's at it again. He's totally at it. Don't get Minseok wrong. He loves Luhan so much but sometimes, when he starts to nag about time, he just wants to kiss the guy to shut him up. "Lu, I'm sorry, okay? I have some papers to finish last night. I wasn't able to hear my alarm get off." Pout your lips, Min. Give him those charming eyes he loves. "Starting tomorrow, I won't wait for you in this exit. I might as well just take a cab from my apartment."

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay? I promise, I won't be late tomorrow."

"--and the day after that." Luhan chipped in.

"Yes, and the day after that." Minseok smiled, giving him a kiss on the cheek, "and all the ays we'll have after that." His boyfriend smiled at him and squeezed his hand. "Let's hurry now, Minnie. I have an exam on Ms. Jung's class at exactly eleven-twenty."

Minseok groaned at the nickname. Luhan chuckled in response.

13:06

'Hey, Min. I'll be at the library, see you there.'

Minseok smiled at the message he received from Luhan. Finally, some time together with his lover. Arriving at the library, he smiled at the librarian before quietly roaming around the area to find Luhan--and there at the most secluded area of the library, he found him seated on the floor. He eyes the paper on his boyfriend's lap and smiled. "Is it the script?"

"Oh hey, you're here." Luhan greeted him, followed by a soft peck on the lips. "Well yeah, it is. You know that it's supposed to be passed within the week and I'm still not satisfied with my work."

"Hey, you know you're amazing, hm?" He looked at Luhan with a proud smile on his face which was reciprocated by his lover with a pout. "Well, why the hell is it a love story anyway. It could have been different and I don't know but isn't this a little too cliche?" Rubbing Luhan's temples, he peeked through the draft.

"Well, you could've made everything easy, you know?" he intertwined their hands, his eyes sparkle with an idea. "Why don't you write about us? Our relationship?" the latter frowned at his suggestion and almost withdrew his hands from Minseok. "How about 'no'? You know very well that writing about our relationship's never gonna be easy. Everything's just so...complicated."

Minseok should've been offended that his boyfriend was indirectly telling him that he's having a hard time with working this relationship out with him...that everything is complicated about their relationship but Minseok decided to just ignore it. He has nothing to say (or so he thinks) and didn't deny what Luhan said because he knows thinks that what his boyfriend said was right.

He felt his phone vibrate and found a message from his bestfriend, Baekhyun.

"Hey Lu, will you be okay on your own. Baek just texted me telling me that he needs some help with some of his stuff..." he trailed on, waiting for some response an he just wishes that Luhan won't think of it as an excuse to escape this talk with him. Luhan only gave a 'hum' in response. "Hey, I mean, it's okay if you want me to stay. I'll just ask for Chanyeol to accompany him with whatever it is."

The latter finally looked at him and motioned for him to come close. "Closer." he demanded; and when Minseok leaned closer to him, Luhan kissed him softly. "It's okay, I still have to finish this. I love you, Min."

"I love you too."

13:45

"Hyung! Come here, sit beside me." Baekhyun motioned for him to take a seat with him on the bench. They met up at the school's park near the abandoned building where not lots of people come because Byun Baekhyun is such a territorial person and calls this his place. Minseok looks at Baekhyun and then to the space around them, looking for some of his stuff that needed help. "Baek, what did you call me here for?"

As if Baekhyun just remembered that he did tell the older guy that he needed some help, he stood up and had that silly grin on his face. "Hyung, Chanyeol and I have this collaboration tonight at this club called 'The Basement 1613'."

"...and you're telling me this because?"

"Can you come by and film our collaboration?" the younger's eyes sparkle at his own suggestion and he doze off, as if imagining how the collaboration would go. You see, this Byun Baekhyun here has been in love with Park Chanyeol (who happens to be his long-time neighbor for over five years now) but despite the loud and sometimes obnoxious person Byun Baekhyun is, he never had the guts to confess to the said guy. Minseok laughs, wondering how can Byun Baekhyun shut his mouth when he's in front of the music prodigy that is Park Chanyeol.

Love can really do wonders to someone.

Minseok pats Baekhyun's head (Baekhyun's mind is probably lost somewhere as he thinks of Chanyeol). "Fine, I'll do it. But is it okay for me to bring Luhan along?" the question from the older guy made Baekhyun snap off his dreamy state, lips turning into a frown. "Luhan? That Chinese blonde guy from your department?"

"Yes."

"That guy with doe eyes and pretty face who, as far as I could remember, has a boyfriend named Sehun who's just out of town because of some family business? That Luhan?"

"Yes..." Minseok had his head hung low, his confidence slowly dripping out from his system. He gulped, wondering what his bestfriend would say about the situation they are in. He was afraid if Baekhyun would judge him for this. "Hyung, look at me." He was ashamed. He should be ashamed of what he has done but he loves Luhan. He truly loves Luhan that he can't let go of him. "Hyung, I'll count to three, if you don't look at me, I'm gonna slap your cheek. One..."

"You don't have to count an--"

"--then damn it, look at me!" Startled by his bestfriend's outburst, he looked at him and found the annoyance mixed with concern on Baekhyun's face. "First of all, you, hyung! You're so stupid. How could you even do that to Luhan, to yourself? Luhan has a boyfriend. You have your close-to-perfect life even before Luhan came. What, do you plan to leave everything behind just to be with Luhan? Are you willing to lose everything just to have Luhan?" Baekhyun breathed out of concern (and maybe just a little tinge of anger). "You also have London waiting for you. Are you also planning to put it into trash?"

"No Baek, listen to me--"

"--no hyung. You listen to me.This thing with Luhan, there's a huge possibility that you'll hurt him in the end, that you'll hurt yourself in the end. There's this huge possibility that everything you have right now, everything you have worked hard for, everything you could have in the future will suddenly collapse--"

"Stop, Baekhyun."

"But hyung, you have to know what consequences there--"

"What time does your gig starts?"

"Hyung, please listen to me. As your best friend, as an older brother to me, I care about you and--"

"Just stop, Baekhyun. If you can't remember what time, just message me or something. I'll go." Minseok can hear his voice shaking. He was chanting the words 'calm down' to himself just to prevent his tears from falling. His fists that were shaking were now tightly closed.

"It's at nine in the evening..." the younger one whispered, giving up on lecturing the older one because he knew it's no use. "Fine, I won't question you about it. I'll...support your love for him but hyung, please take care of your heart." He smiled at the older one, albeit a little sad.

"I will." He said and forced a smile towards Baekhyun. "Thank you, Baek."

It hurts. Everything hurts. He feels his heart breaking into pieces becau