It was sunset, around 8:00 pm.

Rowoon had run out to grab groceries from the local supermarket, leaving everything behind except his wallet, (obviously) and his boyfriend, Chani.

This wasn't an abnormal situation. The pair would usually wait too long to go grocery shopping, and then when they were finally out of food, they would play rock, paper, scissors and send the loser out to pick up what they needed.

Chani smiled, thinking back on his victory. Rowoon had played rock 2 times in a row. So Chani decided to play paper, and basked in the glory of watching his boyfriend sigh in defeat, after he had casted rock a third time.

Chani took a seat on the couch as he waited for his boyfriend to come back. Because, as much as he loves winning the grocery game, he'll always prefer spending time with his boyfriend, because there's not much to do while he's gone.

Chani caught himself lost in thought as he sat down, random daydreams skating through his head, before he was brought back into reality by a shrill ding.

He immediately recognized it as Rowoon's text tone, the same one that Chani has asked him to change countless times, simply because the sound is just... Appalling.

It sounded out again, and again, and at this point, Chani couldn't stand hearing it anymore. He picked up Rowoon's phone so he could switch it to silent, until he saw the messages on his screen.

He tried not to be nosy, he really did. But it's hard not to be nosy when you see texts like this on your boyfriend's phone screen.

Eli✩: Hey... Can we like... Talk about last Friday?

Eli✩: Because I can't get it out of my mind.

Eli✩: You looked really handsome that night... Are you thinking of coming back to visit again?

Eli✩: If you are, I'll ask my roommate to be out for the night. Maybe that'll make things a little bit easier for us.

Chani nearly dropped the phone out of his hand.

To say he was shocked would be a complete and utter understatement.

He clicked the phone on and off multiple times, to check that the messages were still there, that they were real, that some guy named Eli, who was apparently special enough to deserve a star next to his name, sent flirty messages to his boyfriend.

More importantly, flirty messages implying that the two of them had done something together last Friday night.

Soon, more texts came through, lighting up the phone in Chani's hand, and popping up one after the other.

Eli✩: Oh, and if that little boyfriend of yours asks where you're going, say you're heading out with one of your friends. Maybe that Sanghyuk guy... After all, lying might make things a little easier for you.

Eli✩: We don't want your little chani knowing that he has competition ;)

Eli✩: Anyway, text me back as soon as you can. I want to see you again.

If Chani thought the weight in his chest couldn't get any heavier after the first set of texts, he was proven terribly, terribly wrong.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Was his boyfriend really seeing someone else?

In a moment, the sound of the front door opening echoed through the apartment, and Chani immediately put his boyfriend's phone back where he found it.

"I'm home!" Rowoon had shouted out, and now, even hearing his voice made Chani's stomach twist uncomfortably. The thought nagged at his brain, that perhaps he wasn't the only person that got to hear Rowoon's voice when he came home at night. Perhaps he wasn't the only person that got to see Rowoon in his cute checkered pajama pants. Perhaps he wasn't the only person that Rowoon had feelings for.

Not wanting to make eye contact with his boyfriend, Chani rushed across the living room, hoping not to be caught as he made his way into their shared bedroom. But, alas, Rowoon's long legs are much faster than Chani's, and the younger soon felt a hand on his bicep, preventing him from walking any further.

"Chani?" Rowoon questioned, his eyes scanning his boyfriend's face.

Typically, Chani would get up to welcome Rowoon back from the store, maybe help him put away some groceries. But now, he was doing something quite different, and Rowoon could tell that something wasn't right.

"What's wrong?" Rowoon asked, his tone delicate.

Chani simply looked at him, the image of his sympathetic face sending a painful, burning sensation through every inch of his body.

He heard conflicting words coming from every corner of his brain. One second, he hated Rowoon. The next, he wanted to hug him. After that, he felt worthless, and then he wanted to punch something. The emotions just kept coming, stockpiling on top of each other until Chani felt like a too-full water balloon, ready to pop at any moment.

Unable to formulate any sort of response, Chani simply ripped his arm away from his boyfriend, storming into the bedroom and closing the door loudly behind him, not even bothering to flip the light switch as he went in. He always operated better in the dark.

Meanwhile, Rowoon was stood on the other side of the door, utterly confused, and admittedly a little bit hurt by his boyfriend's behavior. 

"Hopefully he'll come around..." He muttered to himself, before he heard his phone's distinct text tone.

He followed the sound back into the living room, finding the phone on one of the sofa cushions.

Upon picking it up, he saw a wall of messages. As he read through them, his face paled.

"Oh no..." Rowoon muttered, "Chani must have seen this."

Rowoon was angry now. Furious, even. He unlocked his phone with a newfound fire, replying to Eli's text messages.

Rowoon: I came over on Friday night to get you to leave me alone. Not so you could continue to drool over me and insert me into whatever delusional visions you have for the future.

Rowoon: I don't care if you can't get me out of your mind. I will personally take myself out of there if I have to.

Rowoon: I am a taken man, Eli. I'm not yours anymore. Get that through your thick skull.

Rowoon: and don't bring Chani into this. He's 100 times better for me than you ever were.

Block Eli✩?
[Yes]
[You will no longer receive messages from Eli✩]

Rowoon felt as though a massive weight had been lifted off of his chest as soon as he sent his messages. He finally said everything he wanted to. He didn't hold back, unlike he'd done so many times in the past.

But now that one problem was gone, another presented itself. Because life can never be easy, apparently.

The sounds Rowoon heard were faint, but from his room, he could hear the quiet sobs of his boyfriend. A hiccup, a cry, a deep, hectic breath.

"Oh no..." Rowoon muttered, immediately running over to the bedroom door, pushing it open without any second thoughts or hesitation.

The sight he was greeted with was one of the most heartbreaking things he ever had to witness. In front of him, a poorly illuminated Chani was laying face down, arms and legs spilling messily in random directions. Choked sobs escaped the younger boy as his hands gripped at the sheets, his knuckles slowly beginning to turn white.

"Chani..." Rowoon whispered, rushing to his boyfriend's side.

Chani couldn't even lift his head up to look at Rowoon. He felt too much pain.

Remember when I said that his emotions were making him feel like a too-full water balloon? Well,  the balloon finally popped.

"Chani..." Rowoon whispered, his voice gentle as a feather, "Even if you can't answer me, please hear me out."

Chani's heart hurt, but he listened anyway, because he hadn't presented himself with much of a choice.

Rowoon sighed.

"Eli is my ex boyfriend." He said, lowering his head.

"We broke up around a year and a half ago... About 3 months before you and I started dating."

Chani's tears momentarily stopped, and he allowed himself to look up at his backlit boyfriend.

"Eli was never... Good to me. He had a bad habit of toying with my emotions. Some nights he would tell me that I meant the world to him, and then other nights he treated me like some sort of trophy. He would treat me like all I was to him was a pretty face that he somehow managed to romance. So I left him."

Rowoon sighed, sitting on the bed next to Chani, gazing down at the smaller boy.

"He continued to contact me. For a long time I debated against blocking him, because a part of me was hoping he would come through with a legitimate apology. But he never did. All of his texts were him asking me to come over to his apartment again, asking me to FaceTime him, or just to say one word to him. He said he still needed me in his life."

Rowoon briefly looked up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath before continuing.

"There were nights I considered going back to him." Rowoon said, his tone heavy, "But then you came along."

Chani looked up into his boyfriend's eyes, amazed by the words that were leaving his mouth.

Rowoon cracked a small smile, bringing his hand around one of Chani's.

"You have been so ridiculously good to me. Between helping me with whatever menial tasks I need to get done, buying me little presents to surprise me, or giving me sneaky hugs when you think nobody is looking, I really and truly can't believe how lucky I must be to have found someone like you."

Chani couldn't help but smile, his boyfriend's (cheesy) words going straight to his heart.

"So last Friday, I finally decided to man up and tell Eli in person that he shouldn't contact me anymore. That he's a lost cause. That I would never in a million years go back to dating him. But I was a wuss. As soon as I saw his face I was intimidated. I couldn't get my words out the way I wanted to. He thought I was coming over to make things right between us. But he was wrong."

Rowoon took a deep breath.

"I blocked him. Officially. I realize now that awaiting an apology from an egotistical scumbag is a battle I lost before it even started."

Within a moment, Chani had his arms around Rowoon's waist, hugging him from a bizarre side back angle.

"I feel stupid now." Chani mumbled, unable to believe how harshly he overreacted.

"Don't," said Rowoon, "if anything, I'm kind of glad that you reacted that way."

Chani raised his eyebrows.

"And why would that be?" He asked.

Rowoon smiled, placing a kiss on his boyfriend's forehead.

"It proved that you'd be just as broken without me as I'd be without you."