When Jongin awoke once again, the room was much darker than before, signaling that night had fallen. Jongin still felt terrible, but less so than he had earlier, and so he opted to get up instead of stay in bed. He wasn't really hungry, but he figured he should probably eat anyway, since he hadn't eaten in probably a little under twenty-four hours. He shuffled through his bedroom door, surprised when he was greeted with more darkness. It wasn't that late, was it? Carefully, he walked to where he thought the entrance to his kitchen was, feeling the wall for a light switch. He quickly found it, switching on the light and filling the small kitchen with dim white light. The clock on the wall read half past twelve, so it made sense that Taemin would be asleep by now.  Jongin opened a cabinet, looking around for Taemin's cereal, since he liked it better than his own. 

"Jongin?" 

He turned around to see Taemin standing in the entrance, looking tired and disheveled, black hair falling messily over his eyes, hiding them from Jongin. 

"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" Jongin glanced back in the cabinet, finally finding the cereal. 

"No, I've been awake," Taemin sniffled, reaching a hand underneath his hair to rub his eyes. "Is that my cereal?" 

Jongin stayed silent, beginning to put it back in the cabinet. 

"So that's where it's been going... It's fine, you know. Just for tonight at least. You better stay away from it after this." Taemin gave him a small smile before turning around and heading out of the kitchen. 

Jongin took the cereal back out of the cabinet, putting some in a bowl before going to the refrigerator for milk. Quickly pouring it into the bowl with the cereal, he grabbed a spoon and followed Taemin out of the kitchen, sitting across from him at the small dining room table. 

The other boy was hunched over his phone, hair finally pushed back to reveal red-rimmed eyes. Jongin didn't even notice until he was halfway through his cereal, having not realized just how hungry he was until he began eating. 

"Hey, Taemin, are you okay?" He asked, finally noticing the other's red eyes and sorrowful expression. 

"I- yeah. I think so. I will be, anyway. I just..." 

"You just what?" 

"It's Minho. I need to let go of him, you know? I keep telling myself I'll stop imagining scenarios where he comes back to me, or stop checking his Instagram to see if he's happy without me, but I just can't. And now he's got someone new in his life, and I know it's time for me to move on too, but I feel stuck. It's like... it's like I don't know where to go from here so I keep trying to go back to someone long gone." 

Jongin was silent. 

"Isn't it really soon for him to be with someone else already?" 

Taemin shrugged. 

"He probably didn't have a choice, most likely his mother picked her out for him."

"Oh?" 

"His mom doesn't have a problem with him not being straight or anything, she really doesn't care, but in the end, she has the final say on who he marries. She didn't like me at all, I'm not what she's looking for in someone for her son. She's more traditional, you could say. She believes in arranged marriages, and since they're a wealthy family, she wants someone with money and success to their name, not me. But it's alright, it's probably for the better anyway, I mean, I'm just some coffee shop barista. I didn't even go to college. Minho's much better off with the daughter of some big CEO than with me." 

Jongin nodded thoughtfully. 

"So that must be why..." he said to himself, barely registering the fact that he was thinking aloud. 

"Why what?"

"I never told you, I probably should have, but when we got your stuff from his apartment, he told me to tell you he's sorry. He said you'd understand." 

Taemin blinked in surprise. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" 

To Jongin's relief, he didn't seem upset, just curious. 

"I figured you'd already been through enough. You didn't need to hear his apology."

Taemin was silent. 

"I'm sorry." Jongin said, unsure of what to do. 

"There's nothing to be sorry for, it's alright. I'll move on soon, life goes on, you know. I'm not interested in lingering in the past any longer. Maybe I'll try going out with someone new next weekend." 

"Don't go out with Sehun." The words were out of Jongin's mouth before he could stop himself. 

"What?" Taemin was looking at Jongin with a strange expression. It was almost as if he knew. 

Jongin's heart stopped. 

"He, uh... well, he's a real heartbreaker. Great guy but such a player, it's so bad. I always tell him to stop fooling around and just commit to one person but he just never does. Such a shame." Jongin began to blabber as he scrambled for an explaination to his sudden outburst.

Damn it, damn it, damn it, Jongin, you just had to open your mouth, He thought, adrenaline rushing through his system. 

"Oh," Taemin answered, his expression changing back to normal. "Good thing I'm not interested in him, then." 

"Wait, you're not?" 

Taemin gave Jongin a questioning look. 

"No. Where'd you get that idea from?" 

"Well, because whenever he's here you two talk the whole time and you get along well, and he seems like he's interested in you..." 

Whenever he's here it's like I don't exist. Not that I would anyway. I can't. Jongin had never hated himself more.

"I know he's interested in me. But maybe if you paid attention to the conversation, instead of zoning out the whole time like the child you are, you'd realize that I make it obvious I'm not interested in him." 

"Oh." Jongin hated that he was relieved. He shouldn't be relieved, he should be disappointed. And yet, he wasn't. 

*****

Later, Jongin lay in bed, staring up at his ceiling, unable to sleep. They'd stayed up a little while after Jongin had finished eating, until Taemin finally got tired and decided to go to sleep. Jongin thought he would be able to sleep right away, but he'd been wrong, the minutes ticked by endlessly, and yet, sleep refused to take his tired mind. Taemin's words from earlier echoed in his head. 

"...I know it's time for me to move on too, but I feel stuck. It's like... it's like I don't know where to go from here so I keep trying to go back to someone long gone." 

Was that what he was doing? He constantly refused to let go of Kyungsoo, but why? Jongin still loved him, yes, but he wasn't here anymore, he never would be again. So why did he still cling to him so tightly? Why didn't Jongin try to be happy again? 

"...life goes on, you know. I'm not interested in lingering in the past any longer."

Taemin was moving forward, so why wasn't Jongin? Taemin had only been alone for a few weeks. Jongin had been alone for two years. Moving on was scary, and nobody could tell what it would bring. But everyone else was brave enough to do it. 

So maybe, just maybe, Jongin thought, he should do the same. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This chapter is on time, yay!!! 

So, you get a little more about Minho tonight, haha. I hope you like it!! :D

I'm sorry the past few chapters have been kinda short, I'm just really busy right now, and I'm really tired, so I don't have a lot of time to write the longer chapters I would like. :( 

Thanks so much for all the support! I love reading your comments. Huge thanks to all my subscribers and upvoters. <3

Thanks for reading!

-H