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CHAPTER THIRTY

 

 

(Note: by now it’s not a surprise that this chapter is going to be long — edit: it’s 6.5k what a surprise??)

 

All good things must come to an end.

 

The days in Japan finally became permanent memories. Although it was heartbreaking, they all missed Seoul dearly. They all got their well-deserved rest and it was time to go home.

 

“Oh, Jiwoo says thank you for the bag… I don’t get why she could tell that you were the one who gave her it, I didn’t tell her who gave her what from the pile of presents…”

 

“The bag with the embroidered patches?”

 

“Yeah, that one.”

 

“It’s the Donkey kong keychain. It’s kinda an inside joke for us.”

 

“Should I bother to ask?”

 

“It’s a long story.”

 

“And this is where I shut up now.” Wonwoo throws a smile at Mingyu, which makes Mingyu automatically smile too.

 

Wonwoo and Mingyu walk side by side through the neighbourhood as the latter twirls his drumsticks in his hand as the older carries his violin case, listening to Mingyu’s voice ramble on about his day.

 

Just as Mingyu looks over to Wonwoo, he’s met with the older looking down at his phone, furrowing his eyebrows as his thumb goes from the bottom of the screen to the top, scrolling through something.

 

Curious, the younger peeps over to see what Wonwoo was doing. “Whatcha’ doing?” He says next to Wonwoo’s ear.

 

Wonwoo jumps in reaction, a sharp inhale coming from his as he tightly brings his phone to his chest. Although he doesn’t know, Mingyu really likes it when he scares Wonwoo — It’s cute to see his reaction to being scared.

 

“‘Gyu at least warn me when you’re going to do that.” A displeased look is shot at Mingyu, but the latter laughs silently in response. “I’m just looking at all of the rehearsal times for this performance I’m playing in this concert. Out of all people, they chose me to play as the soloist in two pieces, surprisingly, and I have to learn two other pieces as well…”

 

“Really Wonu’?” Mingyu gasps, his eyes shooting up at Wonwoo’s words. “That’s great! I’m so happy for you.”

 

Immediately, he pulls the older in for a hug, lifting him a few centimetres off the ground. Wonwoo smiles sheepishly, giggling a tiny bit — He was really resisting the urge to plant kisses all over the taller’s stupid face.

 

Once he’s put down, it was obvious he was blushing over the action, and the sight makes Mingyu dreamily admire Wonwoo.

 

Wonwoo clears his throat, ignoring the warmness from his cheeks and ears, and points to his house. They were too busy that they didn’t realise they were at his house already.

 

“Coffee?”

 

“Oh, sure.”

 

Mingyu follows behind Wonwoo as the latter takes the lead. After entering the house, they arrive to the kitchen where Mingyu lifts himself up to sit on the counter while Wonwoo starts preparing for the iced coffees.

 

It’s not long when the younger notices the older struggle to get the syrup from the cupboard — It was on the highest shelf which didn’t help either.

 

Quickly, Mingyu hops off from where he’s sat and approaches Wonwoo from behind and snakes his arms around him, one hand gently placed on his forehead, pulling Wonwoo a few inches away from the cupboard, and the other reaching for the syrup.

 

He looks back at Wonwoo to see if he’s okay and flashes a small smile at him. Wonwoo looks away, mumbling, “I didn’t know it was ‘make Wonwoo blush’ day today.”

 

“With you, it’s always ‘make Wonwoo blush’ day.” Mingyu’s smirk grows bigger and Wonwoo scoffs in response, since he’s too speechless with Mingyu at the moment that his mind is blank.

 

Nonetheless, Wonwoo gets the syrup from Mingyu and Mingyu sits back on the counter, sneakily taking Wonwoo’s phone from his pocket while he walks away.

 

He turns on the phone and his lips instantly curl up at the sight of Wonwoo and him holding hands, with the words ‘Mingyu is my idiot’ on Wonwoo’s cheek and ‘I’m Wonwoo’s idiot’ on his. It was a cute lock screen, and Mingyu looked good that day too.

 

He proceeds to put into Wonwoo’s passcode and it opens to the calendar app. Mingyu frowns not long after.

 

“Wonu’… Are you going to be that busy?”

 

“What?” Wonwoo turns around to Mingyu, only to realise he’s holding his phone. The slight smile on his face falters, “Don’t worry about it Mingyu, the rehearsals are only about an hour and a half.”

 

“But even on the weekends you’ll be busy — Not to mention, your regular routine is busy enough as it is.”

 

Wonwoo approaches Mingyu and put his hands on either side of the counter where Mingyu was sat, a few inches away from his face.

 

“Look, it’s nothing that you should be concerned about, alright? You can trust me right? I’ll be fine, really.”

 

“…” Mingyu purses his lips in deep thought. “Okay… But you have to promise me that you’ll get some rest too.”

 

Mingyu holds up his pinky and Wonwoo chuckles at the sight, raising an eyebrow.

 

“A pinky promise? What are we, six?”

 

“You can be six and a half if you want.” 

 

Mingyu puts his pinky closer to Wonwoo’s chest, waiting for the older’s response — He flashes a cheeky grin and gives him the ‘look’ that Wonwoo can’t say no to.

 

As predicted, Wonwoo links pinkies with Mingyu and seals it not only with their thumbs kissing, but also sealing it with a short peck on the lips too (It was Wonwoo’s idea, he just wanted to receive more kisses).

 

Unexpectedly, Mingyu stays longer than usual in Wonwoo’s house — He even makes dinner for Wonwoo and Jiwoo before he leaves. 

 

“Mingyu you should take my advice and become a chef instead of a surgeon.” Muffledly, Jiwoo comments with a full mouth and puffed hamster cheeks. Wonwoo looks at her with a bit of concern.

 

“Jiwoo you’re going to choke if you keep being like this. I think you should slow down-“

 

“I could say the same about you and Mingyu — One day you invite him for a ‘study date’ and not even half an hour later he’s practically living in our house! I get it, you two just have to tie the knot that quickly, huh?” Jiwoo groans as Mingyu coughs on his drink and harshly hits his chest a couple of times. “If you two are the first to get married I’m not going to be surprised.”

 

“Shut up Jiwoo.” Wonwoo huffs, his eyes rolling.

 

“Even if I shut up you can’t deny the truth.” She looks over to Mingyu after sticking her tongue out at her older brother. “Aren’t you going to eat Mingyu?”

 

“Nah, maybe later. Besides, you need something to eat besides those pizza rolls you’ve been craving and Wonu’ has to stop buying them because you guilt trip him into buying them.”

 

“… Well when you say it like that…”

 

“Here,” The older holds up his fork in front of Mingyu’s lips, “Have a bit.” 

 

Although Mingyu refuses, Wonwoo keeps on pouting until Mingyu feels defeated and takes a tiny bite, which made Wonwoo jump happily in his seat. To reward him, Wonwoo leaves a peck on the younger’s nose.

 

“Does this seriously has to happen to me?” Jiwoo says under her breath, running a hand through her hair as he instantly looks away from the touchy couple. “By the way Wonwoo, my friend wants you to tutor her on theory again. She has an upcoming theory test and she really wants to pass this time.”

 

“Clarinet girl or viola showoff?”

 

“The clarinet girl — I’m not friends with the viola one anymore.”

 

“Good… But I thought she dropped the clarinet and theory a long time ago since she’s a slow learner.”

 

“That’s what I thought too! However, apparently she wants to ‘pursue her career’.”

 

Soon, Wonwoo pulls out his phone and looks at his calendar. “Does she have a specific day she wants them?” He furrows hie eyebrows, still looking at the dates on his phone.

 

“Tuesday.”

 

“, I have rehearsal and I usually practice violin on those nights…” Wonwoo mumbles, cursing under his breath, which Mingyu picks up. “Wednesday.” Wonwoo offers.

 

Mingyu lightly taps Wonwoo on the arm with a confused face. “Hey but that’s our study night.” 

 

The older groans, rubbing his temple with a stressed look on his face.

 

“Damn I forgot… I’m still tired from Japan.” Wonwoo puts the phone closer to his face, and Mingyu pulls it away from him because he doesn’t want to ruin his eyesight any further.

 

Eventually, Wonwoo finally gets a light bulb in his brain after softly banging his head on the table and gripping onto his hair.

 

“Sunday — Final deal.”

 

Jiwoo hums to gather her thoughts. “I think she’s free that day… Thanks bro! I’ll tell her tomorrow, you’re the best.”

 

“No problem…” Wonwoo smiles in return, exhausted, soon murmuring, “I guess I have to tell Jihoon I’ll be late our movie hangout…” He then speaks up, hoping Jiwoo didn’t hear what he said. “You can go to your room now Jiwoo.”

 

“Okay. Thanks again!” She waddles over to hug Wonwoo, and then proceeds to hug Mingyu as well. “And I’ll see you later!”

 

“See you Ji’.” Mingyu waves.

 

When she leaves, the younger pats Wonwoo’s hair and glides his fingers through his locks.

 

“Hey, you okay?”

 

“Yeah, I am.” It seemed like he wasn’t; He sounds tense despite trying to reassure Mingyu.

 

“Are you sure?” Mingyu offers him a final chance, hoping he would say something.

 

Wonwoo nods. “I’m just exaggerating — This will all be done in a month or two and everything will be back to normal — Everything’s just going to be hectic.”

 

Mingyu’s lips part, wondering what to say, but he takes in a deep breath and nods sympathetically.

 

“Don’t say that, just make sure to take care of yourself and balance everything out.” He kisses Wonwoo’s head. “And if you really need it,” He kisses Wonwoo’s cheek, “I can always remind you,” He kisses his nose “How much I’m hopelessly,” He kisses his lips, “In love with you.” Mingyu smiles. “You know, to brighten up the mood.” And Wonwoo slightly pushes Mingyu away, a warm smile appearing on his face.

 

“What did I do to deserve you, huh? Whatever I did in my past life, I must thank that.” Wonwoo chuckles.

 

Mingyu agrees and gently kisses Wonwoo’s nose before he stands up. “I have to go now, I’ll wait for you in the morning, okay?”

 

“Of course.” Wonwoo grins, giving a final hug to Mingyu before he leaves. “I hope you get lost on your way home.”

 

“I hope you bang your toe on a table.”

 

“Wow, harsh one Kim Mingyu.”

 

“You know it.” The younger laughs as he receives a pat on his head and a kiss from Wonwoo. “Later princess, I’ll text you when I get home!”

 

“Bye bye.” Wonwoo waves, watching Mingyu from the door as the male walks off, his hands being busy untangling his headphone cord.

 

With her arms crossed, and smirking at the hopelessly infatuated look from Wonwoo’s face, Jiwoo says, “You two are so grossly in love and I love it.”

 

—♩—♪—♫—♬ —

 

It was small at first — Harmless, the least to say. Wonwoo stopped walking home with Mingyu, but Mingyu understood that. He too had more band practices and upcoming gigs that Al1 was invited to, while Wonwoo’s rehearsals had to start straight after the school day finished, making him disappear before anyone else.

 

But even if that was happening, Mingyu would still stop by Wonwoo’s house every other day to check up on him. Most of the time, Jiwoo lets him in since the older would be sleeping (Of course he would be tired), and Mingyu would patiently wait in his room until he gets up.

 

Plus, he also gushes over Wonwoo’s calm figure when he’s sleeping, but Wonwoo doesn’t know that.

 

Calls would have to be short these days, like simply asking each other about their day, or the occasional ‘I miss you’ or ’Take care of yourself’ here and there, and yes, Mingyu was kind of sad it want longer, but it was better than nothing so he didn’t complain.

 

Nevertheless, he still had time to talk to Wonwoo when they video call each other before they sleep.

 

“I’m sure you’ll do well on that test ‘Gyu.”

 

“I know, but Jihoon’s method of studying is more complicated compared to yours — He doesn’t do everything in small cute diagrams, instead he uses different colours to compare points.”

 

“That’s how he works. I get his method.”

 

“But he doesn’t explain them to me. I’m not stupid, but I’m not that smart either!”

 

“Ah… I see.” Wonwoo breathily laughs and pulls his phone closer to his face as he scrunches his nose. He sits back on his chair, pulling out a music score and pencil in his hand. He stares at the paper for a while, twirling his pencil as he does so.

 

Mingyu clicks his tongue to catch the older’s attention, and Wonwoo stops to look at Mingyu, before he registers what he’s doing and shift his eyes to his hand that was still spinning the thin object with his long fingers.

 

“We’re picking up each other’s habits, aren’t we?” Wonwoo jokes.

 

“I guess my teaching payed off.”

 

“Well I am a fast learner after all. Either that, or I observe you too much.”

 

“So you’re admitting that you like to check me out?”

 

“I only have eyes for you, of course.” 

 

Wonwoo winks and Mingyu gasps, bringing both of his hands to his heart, acting as if cupid shot an arrow to his heart. “Ah, my heart!”

 

Mingyu giggles and peacefully watches Wonwoo writing away on the paper.

 

“Princess,” Mingyu sings in a tone that normally makes Wonwoo blush, “I miss you.”

 

Mingyu catches the slim smile on Wonwoo’s face, silently laughing as his eyes scrolled though the paper he was looking at. “I miss you too, narcissist.”

 

“What?” The younger teases. “I can’t hear you!”

 

“I said I miss you too-“ Wonwoo says before he gasps in fear and takes out his rubber before scruffily rubbing out something. Mingyu grits his teeth in surprise.

 

“Oh. Did I make you mess up?”

 

“N… No, it’s fine.” Wonwoo replies.

 

Truthfully, Wonwoo’s words said one thing, but his tired eyes said another. But trusting Wonwoo, he slides it off with answering, “That’s good then.” He heaves. “Do you want to take a stroll in the park tomorrow? My schedule after school is free — Sol’s at his cello recital and Jun has track and field, so we all decided to take a one day break from band practice.”

 

Wonwoo bit his lip, thinking about the offer. He puts down his pencil and looks at his fingers rather than the camera. “‘Gyu-“

 

“C’mon Wonu’…” He sang, making Wonwoo smile, and it was getting harder for the latter — Mingyu acting sweet was his weakness.

 

“You know I’d love to. But just not tomorrow.”

 

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