Soobin panted as he quickly stepped out into the hallway, his hand on his heart as tears rolled down his cheeks. All this time, he had been waiting for that one call from his mom to tell him that they're were okay. All he ever wanted to do was to make her proud but ever since he had left to become a trainee at BigHit—their relationship had taken a toll. Before he left, they had a big argument which left both of them in tears. He had thought maybe he would call her saying that she loved him and missed him. 

"Soobin hyung."

Soobin lifted his head up to see Yeonjun staring at him with sympathy as the older walked over to him and pulled him into a tight hug. Soobin relaxed into the hug, his eyes fluttering shut. The hug lasted for a while before Yeonjun pulled away.

"I can't believe Huening Kai would do that," Yeonjun said, shaking his head.

Soobin sniffled, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand. "I always thought that she hated me after I left. I didn't think," he stopped, his voice cracking. "I didn't think that she cared about me anymore."

Yeonjun's lips formed a pout as he caressed Soobin's hands, rubbing them slightly. "You know that's not true Soobinie. Your mom loves you and yes you did leave on bad terms but that doesn't mean she doesn't care about you."

Soobin stayed silent, processing Yeonjun's words as they stared into each other's eyes. Yeonjun knew how much Soobin had suffered over their years as trainees just to debut. He knew how much Soobin wanted to see his mom after everything that had happened.

The pair stayed in comfortable silence as Soobin indulged in Yeonjun's presence. Their hands intertwined softly.

"I love you," Soobin whispered, his eyes fluttering shut—eyelashes soaked with tears.

Yeonjun bit his bottom lip, his stomach doing flips. "I love you too."

 

"The truth was going to come out sooner or later," Beomgyu bitterly said, pacing around the small room as Taehyun intently watched him. 

Taehyun had felt bad that he had to keep something like this from Soobin. He didn't intentionally mean to hurt the older. He just couldn't find it in himself to tell Soobin. 

"You know Huening Kai didn't mean to," Taehyun sighed, causing Beomgyu to stop pacing around and slowly turn to face the brown-haired younger.

Beomgyu threw him a look of disbelief. "Why are you still defending him?"

Beomgyu didn't understand why Taehyun was constantly rooting for Huening Kai. 

Taehyun rolled his eyes, annoyed that Beomgyu was acting like a saint. "It's not all on him. You could have prevented this and told Soobin hyung the day you found out but no you didn't and now you're blaming Huening Kai for something you could have done."

Beomgyu pursed his lips as he furrowed his eyebrows. Maybe Taehyun was right but even so. It wasn't for him to tell. It was Huening Kai's mess yet he always had to be the one to fix things. Over and over again.

"Whatever," Beomgyu grunted, about to leave the room when Taehyun quickly took the opportunity to grab onto Beomgyu's wrist and pull him back.

Beomgyu blinked down at Taehyun's tight grip on his wrist before staring up at him with wide confused eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Something I should have done a long time ago," Taehyun mumbled before leaning in to kiss the older.

Beomgyu froze as Taehyun's plump lips were pressed against his, his eyes wide open in shock. He could feel his heart thump faster as his hands stayed by his side.

The kiss lasted for quite a while before Taehyun pulled away, slightly smiling whilst gauging Beomgyu's reaction.

"I..I.." Beomgyu stammered, not able to form a proper sentence as he stared at Taehyun's smug face.

Taehyun lifted a finger up and placed it on Beomgyu's lips, hushing him. "You don't have to say anything right now," he paused, raising an eyebrow. "Just think about it."

Taehyun removed his finger from Beomgyu's lips before walking out of the room leaving the older in a stunned silence.

Beomgyu didn't know how to feel about this. How was he supposed to feel? Taehyun had kissed him without warning. Of course, he had sometimes thought and imagined kissing the younger but not so suddenly. It had never crossed his mind to actually take initiative. He was too much of a scaredy-cat to take action which was ironic seeing how he had practically forced Soobin to come clean with Yeonjun.

But when it came to himself, Beomgyu wasn't able to take his own advice. He was aware of how much Taehyun liked him which made things awkward because it put them in a state where whatever Taehyun would do meant he wanted to be more than friends.

 

Huening Kai covered his hand with his mouth as he sobbed, tears streaming down his face like a waterfall. He was stupid for thinking that this plan would ever work. Now because of him, Soobin probably hated his guts. In his head, he had thought that if Soobin's mom knew that Soobin liked boys she would be mad and it would break Yeonjun and Soobin up but it was the opposite when he had called her. 

 

"Hello? Soobin-ah? Is that you? Baby?"

Huening Kai nibbled on his bottom lip as he hesitantly spoke up, unsure of how to start the conversation. "Hello, Mrs Choi. It's not Soobin. It's me Huening Kai. Soobin debuted and we're in a group called Tomorrow x Together. I'm the youngest member."

The other line was quiet as sniffling could be heard. Huening Kai had thought she had hung up when Soobin's mom burst into tears. It had startled him.

"My baby debuted. He debuted! I'm so proud of him. Is with you?" she cried as Huening Kai guiltily paced around the room.

"N-No. He's on a..schedule right now. There's something you need to know first."

"What is it? Is everything okay?"

"Soobin is gay," Huening Kai nervously said.

Mrs Choi was silent as her heavy breathing resonated through the phone. Huening Kai held his breath, his left hand balled into a tight fist. This was it. This was the part that she was gonna yell and demand that he-

"If he's happy then I'm happy," she finally said.

"W-what?" Huening Kai stammered, rapidly blinking.

This is not what he wanted. No. No. No.

"Tell him to call me back when he comes back from his schedule. It was nice speaking to you Huening Kai. I have to get back to work. Bye," was the last thing Mrs Choi said before hanging up.

Huening Kai pulled the phone away from his ear as he stared down at the screen in utter shock. 

He didn't expect this. 

 

That was when Huening Kai had realised that he had messed up. He had shared something personal that maybe Soobin wasn't ready to tell yet. He was sure that the older wouldn't forgive him for this. Instead of going forward he was spiralling downwards.