Burned Out

Changbin stood by the side of the flame, peering over it from above. Watching how the sparks of flame grew over the log of wood that Chan had just thrown into the camp fire. For a moment longer he observed the flames, then looked away. Noticing how they filled his eyes with the bright red hue and made it hard for him to see for a few seconds.

When his eyes had finally regained focus, they landed on the person in front of him. Well, not exactly in front of him, a few meters away from him. He observed the person, just as he did with the fire. Just like the fire, they were someone who would spark up in joy when you added more to them, but slowly died down again.

That's exactly how Changbin felt about the person. That's exactly how Changbin felt about Hyunjin. He felt like sometimes he gave her his all, which she reacted to with utter happiness and pleasure, but soon she would beg him for more, until he felt like he had nothing left.

That's how their relationship had been. Luckily, Changbin fought himself out of it. He didn't want to leave, he thought they were perfect. But that was only his assumption, because they weren't perfect, she just wanted him to be perfect.

Changbin didn't think she was a bad person, she was simply hard to please. He was so different from her. Someone would give him their bare minimum, and he would be thankful for it. They tired to be alike, they always got along no matter what. Simply because he had succumb to agreeing with everything she said.

A deep sigh left his mouth, and he knew it had caught Chan's attention. The older male placed his hand on Changbin's shoulder, in a reassuring way, and spoke words that Changbin wanted to hear, "I'm proud of you. It's hard getting out of a toxic relationship, but you're stronger than you think."

Changbin shook his head, eyes still focusing on Hyunjin. "No, it wasn't toxic."

Chan farrowed his eyebrows, he was confused as to how Changbin didn't think it was toxic. "Then what was it?"

Changbin shrugged, "I don't know."

It's true. He didn't know what that relationship was. It's not that Hyunjin was hurting him, it's that he got tired of her behavior soon enough. His love had simply burned out soon enough, tired of the back and forth with Hyunjin.

From the outside, nothing would seen wrong. But on the inside, Changbin just knew it wasn't right for them to be together. Sometimes he even blames himself, thinking that maybe it was his fault for do