Chapter 8
Book 1 Rose
It had been a month that he had not seen Gi Kwang, it was hard to believe that they were actually sharing the same apartment. Hyun Seung made sure he would arrive at the house really late that by that time, Gi Kwang should already be sleeping. Their schedules did not meet anyway since Gi Kwang's still attending college classes while he is already working.
Every morning, he would get up to see Gi Kwang's room empty. He got early classes so he wakes up early every morning. Their days went on like that for about a month. Gi Kwang would send him a text message whenever he would arrive late or when he had to go out of town or sleep overnight. On which he only replied with "Okay."
Sometimes, he feels really guilty evading Gi Kwang. Obvious or not, the guy never loses his respect for him as a hyung and as a friend. That's how good Gi Kwang is as a man.
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Doojoon asked all of them out for a drink since he is about to go on another trip to Japan. His new work requires him to go to lots of places. Doojoon said that as much as he loves it, it could get really tiring at times.
They were on the same bar they always go to whenever they're together. Jun Hyung and Yoseob started hitting the beer while Hyun Seung, Dongwoon and Doojoon were eating barbecued meat when the door opened.
Gi Kwang was smiling from ear to ear as he greeted all of them. It felt awkward, rather HE felt awkward upon seeing him. He was not at all mad but he was not comfortable either.
Gi Kwang greeted him by a pat on his shoulder while saying, "Finally, I get to see you!", which he then followed by a laugh. The room started getting noisy brought by Gi Kwang and Yoseob's antics plus the fact that most of them were already half-drunk.
Suddenly, drunk Jun Hyung asked Gi Kwang "You are unusually happy these past few days. Every time I see you, you always has this weird smile on your face. Who's the lucky girl?" Gi Kwang just laughed at him.
"You rascal! You can lie to everybody else, but when it comes to women, you can never lie to me. I could tell.", Jun Hyung retorted.
Hyun Seung saw how Dongwoon gave a quick glimpse of him. He and Dongwoon started to get really quiet.
"Oh well. Hyung, don't worry, I'll introduce her to all of you if she's already my girlfriend. For now...", then he smiled. Everybody and patting his back. "Ah, jincha. This kid!", said Jun Hyung happily.
Hyun Seung could not take it anymore. While they were all happy for him, he could not even fake a smile for Gi Kwang. He felt bad for his dongsaeng as much as he felt pathetic about himself. He traced his cellphone's button and pressed the fake call. A loud ring filled the room. Everyone looked at him then he said, "I'm sorry, I have to take this call.", then he hurriedly left.
Hyun Seung proceeded to the parking lot and as soon as he got on the car, he cried while he pounded on the steering wheel. He let Gi Kwang have Jang Mi for himself. He wanted to try to be happy for both of them, but he could never bring himself to not cry for the wound it caused him. It was suffocating.
He sent a text message to the person whom he knew, by this time, would understand.
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Dongwoon flipped his phone to see a message from Hyun Seung. He knew why he left. "Dongwoon-ah, tell the others I have to leave. Do this as a favor from your Hyung. I know you understand."
Dongwoon closed his phone, he felt sad for Hyun Seung. It must have hurt him a lot.
"Ah. Hyun Seung hyung won't be able to come back. He was...invited by his boss to have dinner with some of their clients. He could not say no so...", said Dongwoon, He really wished he was good at lying. Nevertheless, the boys understood that it was work-related so they did not bother to ask further questions. Dongwoon was relieved.
Gi Kwang, on the other hand, was shocked at the sudden phone call. He noticed how Hyun Seung avoided him for the past few weeks. He thought he just wanted to give him and Jang Mi a time to get to know each other more. However, as time passed by, he realized there was more to it. He suddenly turned cold. Because of this, Gi Kwang felt awkward as well. As much as he wanted to talk to his hyung, he was scared of what he might hear from him.
When he did not come back and informed Dongwoon instead of him about why he was gone, he knew.
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Hyun Seung went straight home. He needed to rest and the best way to do that is to sleep. He felt suddenly tired. Stress from work, he can handle that. But being not just physically and mentally tired but also emotionally stressed, that's probably way too much.
He did not even realized he's already in front of his house. As soon as he turned off the car's engine, he noticed a figure looming on the front door steps of his home. It was dark from inside of the house but he did not need lights to figure out who it was.
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