So, I reread my chapters from before and I found out something... I KEPT CHANGING FREAKING VERB TENSES. So to avoid that, I'm just going to write from  narrative point of view kind of. I'll still be focusing around Sungjae, but it won't be his point of view.

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Warm arms circled around Sungjae's waist and pulled him closer to another man's chest. The familiar embrace set a fire in Sungjae's soul and warmed his empty and hollow heart. They weren't the arms Sungjae had slept in in the past month but they were the arms he needed.

Sungjae's eyes fluttered open and he looked around the too bright room. He didn't know how or when, but somehow he ended up in the bed with Minhyuk. He remembered curling up into a ball and crying to himself on the couch but after that everything was out from his memory.

Sungjae cautiously turned around to face the person holding him and a soft smiled laid on his face when he saw Minhyuk looking at him gingerly. Minhyuk still held onto Sungjae's waist and pulled him closer to his chest. Words weren't needed in that moment for it was a mutual understanding that Sungjae would tell Minhyuk everything when he was ready.

Minhyuk had no idea what took place last night, but when he came home he found his baby brother in a pathetic condition on the couch. He heard Sungjae mumbling Peniel's name over and over again with tears still silently rolling down his cheeks, but he was hard asleep. It nearly broke his heart just seeing at Sungjae in such a broken state, but Minhyuk didn't dare wake him up. Instead, he picked him up and carried him to the bedroom to sleep in the bed with him. Sungjae spent most of the night with tears streaking down his face but they soon stopped when Minhyuk finally held onto him as if he made Sungjae forget his pain.

It was late in the morning and neither of them had anywhere to be so they stayed that way for a while in silence. Sungjae wasn't sure if he was ready to even think about last night. He tried to forget about it for as long as possible but his mind kept going back to the way Peniel's voice called after him and they way Ilhoon and Changsub gave him a sypathetic look once the truth was thrown at him.

Sungjae took a deep breath in a let out a heavy sigh. Minhyuk took that as his go sign so he began rubbing soothing circles into Sungjae's back, waiting for him to explain.

"Peniel had with my brother," Sungjae blurted out. Minhyuk could feel his baby break under him at his own words but he continued to comfort Sungjae, silently pushing him to go on. "H-he paid my b-brother to have s- with him. I f-found out my brother is an or a prositute or something like that. H-he lives in the same hall as you, just two doors down."

Sungjae's voice began to tremble so he stopped to let himself calm back down. Minhyuk never once stopped rubbing Sungjae's back but he was very taken aback by the information Sungjae told him. He had never met Ilhoon before so it was very possible that they had passed by each other a few times and never knew it.

"Minhyuk?," Sungjae asked weakly.

"Yes, Jae Jae?"

"D-did you know that Peniel and Changsub dated back in October?," Sungjae whispered.

Minhyuk tensed up at the question, revealing his answer to Sungjae without words.

"Yes," Minhyuk said even though Sungjae already knew, "yes I did. I also knew that he broke up with my cousin that Monday you first talked to him."

Sungjae pulled back from Minhyuk's embrace and looked at his hyung in shock.

"They broke up the day we officially met?," Sungjae asked in disbelief.

Minhyuk nodded and smiled.

"Yes, why do you think things were always so awkward aroung us? We had met a couple of times before with Changsub and after he broke up with my cousin he began acting awkward because of it I guess."

Sungjae was surprised at the news Minhyuk told him, but it didn't change the sadness he felt or the aching in his heart.

"I'm sorry I wasn't the one to tell you. I figured it wasn't my place to tell you and it would've been wrong if I told you before Peniel."

Sungjae nodded and laid back down next to Minhyuk and looked up at the ceiling. He understood where Minhyuk was coming from but it still hurt to know that his best friend knew about it and didn't tell him. It hurt even worse to know that his own flesh and blood screwed his boyfriend. Or ex boyfriend? Sungjae groaned and rolled over when he realized he couldn't make up his mind as to what he and Peniel were, if they were anything at all still.

"Baby, what all happened exactly last night?," Minhyuk asked as he propped himself up on his elbow to look at Sungjae.

Sungjae kept his head faced away from looking at Minhyuk, he wasn't sure if he could bare to have Minhyuk see him cry again.

"Peniel and I hung out at his place, as usual, then he drove me here, but instead of letting me leave at the car as usual, he offered to walk me up. I said okay and we came up and we got to the door and-"

Sungjae choked on a sob when the memories came back, forcing him to stop before he could finish. Minhyuk began rubbing Sungje's back again, trying to calm him down. Minhyuk's heart hurt for his younger brother, he coulndn't stand to see him so hurt.

After a few sobs, Sungjae continued on. "I unlocked the door and turned to kiss him goodnight before going in but Ilhoon came out with Changsub. At first I didn't recognize him but then I realized that it was my brother... I called him and he looked over and saw Peniel and me... Peniel recognized Ilhoon too... and then Changsub saw Peniel and asked what he was doing there. I didn't recognize Changsub at first but once Peniel said his name I remembered that he was your cousin. I-i dont' remember how everything happened, it all is a blur," Sungjae took a deep breath to calm his nerves down again the went on, "but i remember Ilhoon saying that Changsub was his date for the evening and Changsub said he dated Peniel and then that's when Ilhoon said that Peniel was his client once before."

Sungje couldn't hold back his tears anymore, he began to let them flow out and sobbed loudly. Minhyuk pulled his baby back to him for comfort as a few tears escaped his eyes too, not because of what he Sungjae told him but becuase Sungjae was broken. He was broken beyond Minhyuk's repair and he knew that, but he still tried his hardest to make Sungjae feel better.

"H-hyung, my chest hurts," Sungjae sobbed out.

"Shh, just let it out," Minhyuk cooed.

Minhyuk held onto Sungjae until the tears began to calm down and his sobs turned into soft snores as sleep began to take over him once again.

*            *            *            *

Sungjae felt dead. He wasn't sure how many minutes, hours, or even days passed, all he knew was that his heart still hurt.

He rolled over in the bed to find that it was empty and let out a heavy sigh. He wanted to be alone, he just didn't like the complete and utter lonliness he felt, but he was beginning to get use to it. It was the only he felt since Friday night.

His eyelids grew heavy once again and dreamland took him away from reality.

*            *            *            *

"Sungjae-yah," Minhyuk purred.

"What," Sungjae replied grogily. He wasn't fully awake but Minhyuk had been pestering him for the past five minutes by repeating his name and he had had enough of it.

"Jae Jae, it's Wednesday," Minhyuk stated flatly, "You need to get up and eat sometime."

"I'm not hungry."

"The hell you are. I'll feed you through a feeding tube if I have to, but I am not going to sit here and let you wither away, now come on," Minhyuk ordered as he ripped the blanket off of Sungjae making the cold hit his warm skin.

"Ah, umma, I don't wanna," Sungjae retorted.

"And I don't care. You've been in bed for the past few days, it's time to get up and move on. You can't get better by staying the same, Jae Jae," Minhyuk said as he turned and walked out of the room with a ladle in hand.

Sungjae groaned but gave in to Minhyuk and sat up on the bed lazily. As Sungjae was about to get up a little green flashing light caught his eye on the night stand. He looked over and saw his phone was plugged in to the charger, courtesy of Minhyuk, and that the notification light was flashing at him, indicating that he had either a new text or a missed call or both.

Sungjae sat there and stared at it, unsure if he should check his phone or just let it go. His parents wouldn't have tried to contact him, he knew that for sure. He wasn't sure if maybe Ilhoon had tried calling to explain but he wasn't in the mood to talk to him anyway. The only other person that it could've been was Peniel and Sungjae wasn't sure if he was ready to talk to him yet... or ever.

"Sungjae, I made lunch! And I expect you to eat it or for the love of all things Holy I WILL get a feeding tube!" Minhyuk shouted from the kitchen.

Sungjae couldn't help but to chuckle at how silly Minhyuk was being. He decided to let go of checking his phone and go eat before Minhyuk really did get a feeding tube for him. Knowing him, he wasn't joking.

As soon as Sungjae was in the kitchen, the smell of delicious food hit and him and his stomach growled aggresively.

"See, you are hungry. Now eat," Minhyuk said as he shoved a bowl of doenjang jjigae into his hands.

They ate- more like scarfed- their lunch in silence, never once bringing up the past few days.

After they were both finished, Minhyuk cleaned up their mess while Sungjae made his way to the couch and plopped down to watch tv. He wasn't feeling happy but he wasn't as sad as he was Saturday. He wasn't even as sad as he was yesterday. Sungjae no longer felt hurt in his heart. No, instead he began to feel anger.

All this anger formed yesterday when he actually began to think about everything. Anger from the fact that Ilhoon seemed not to care about sleeping with Peniel. Anger from the fact that he was nothing but open with Peniel, yet Peniel wasn't the same with him. Anger from knowing the Changsub had had with Peniel. Anger from being kept in the dark about everything. Anger from the thought that Peniel didn't really like him, he just wanted him for ual arousement.

The more Sungjae thought about it the more his anger built and the more he wanted to punch his brother in the face, but then he calmed himself before he got too carried away.

Maybe it would be better if he talked to Ilhoon first. Maybe then he would have peace after hearing the story. But then again, he wasn't sure if his heart was ready for the reality.

Thinking about Ilhoon reminded Sungjae of his phone in the other room and before he knew it he was on his feet, making his way to the night stand in Minhyuk's bedroom.

Once he grabbed the phone and was immediately greeted by 65 missed calls, 43 text messages and 24 voicemails. Mainly all from Peniel in attempts to get ahold of him, but there was one text, two missed calls and one voicemail from his brother.

Sungjae took a deep breath in and held it as he listened to Ilhoon's voicemail first.

"Sungjae, little bro, hey listen, I'm really sorry about the other night. I should've been more delicate with the situation, sorry. We should talk, so uh, just come over or call me whenever you're ready. Ok, bye-"

Sungjae sighed and rolled his eyes. Ilhoon had the audacity to call him little bro as if everything were completely fine. His blood began to boil again at the thought of Ilhoon with Peniel.

Before he got too aggrivated, he went on to listen to another voicemail, from Peniel this time.

"Sungjae, baby, please, please, please hear me out. I never wanted you to know that about my past. I wanted it to stay in the past, in fact I wasn't going to tell you at all! Ah, , that sounds bad-"

And another.

"Baby, I never meant to hurt you. I know what I did wasn't the smartest thing, but that was all before I officially met you. Granted at the time I had noticed you looking at me and- yeah I should stop. Stupid!-"

Sungjae listened to a few more but eventually got tired of listening to Peniel try to explain then stop and get mad. He had had enough of excuses, he was ready for the story of it all. Even if his heart wasn't, he was. Stupid teenage puppy love.

Before he set his phone down, he decided to skip to the most recent voicemail, from earlier that morning while he was still asleep.

"Sungjae, I hope you're doing alright. It's been a few days since I eard from you. I know you're still mad and hurt, but I really do wanna talk about this with you. When you're ready, meet me at our- the cafe. I'll be there every night around 10 until it closes. I miss you. Please, just... when you're ready-"

Peniel sounded so broken it nearly killed Sungjae. Of ing course he was still mad and hurt, but the fact that Peniel would wait until he was ready to talk made him feel a slight warmth in his heart. The fact Peniel didn't just let him go and move on made him happy. It made him believe in their relationship. It made him believe in something more than infacutation.

*            *            *            *

"I'm going out," Sungjae declared as he began to pull on his jacket. It was Wednesday, a whole week and a half after, and Sungjae decided it was time to get some fresh air considering he hadn't stepped out of the apartment once since the whole incident.

"Where are you going, Jae Jae?," Minhyuk asked as Hyunsik wrapped his arm around his waist tighter.

Hyunsik had been over off and on since the Sunday before, but Sungjae, of course, hadn't met him until Wednesday night, the first time he was actually awake for more than a few minutes. Hyunsik seemed like a good guy and he treated Minhyuk like the princess he is deep down. Sungjae really liked Hyunsik. He was good for Minhyuk which made Sungjae happy, but being stuck inside with them and seeing them all lovey dovey made Sungjae feel lonely.

So, here it is, Saturday night and Hyunsik came over to watch movies with Minhyuk and Sungjae - mainly Minhyuk of course - and Sungjae wasn't feeling up to watching Hyunsik and Minhyuk cuddle up on the love seat while he sat on the cold recliner in the corner. Sungjae was ready to venture out into the world once again.

"Just for a walk to get some fresh air. I'll be back, don't worry," Sungjae reassured as he began to grab the keys and walk out the door.

"Okay... Call me if you need!" Minhyuk shouted after Sungjae.

Sungjae gave him a thumbs up and stepped out into the hallway, locking the door behind him.

He wasn't sure how or when, but somehow Sungjae's feet led him to the quaint cafe that was once a happy meeting spot for Peniel and him. Now, it was a less happy place considering that they would be there for a meeting of trival things.

Sungjae walked through the door and began walking towards the secluded booth in the corner. Peniel was there already, his eyes glued to a notebook before him and his hand swiftly making its way across the paper with a drinking beside him on the table. He didn't notice that Sungjae walked in so he was extremely startled when Sungjae slid into the booth facing him.

"Sungjae-yah, you came," Peniel said softly, more to himself than to Sungjae.

Sungjae nodded slightly then looked down at the book the notebook Peniel was writing in and saw that he had been scribbling down lyrics to a new song. He felt like he should've left as soon as he walked in, but he made it this far and he wasn't about to back out now. Not when Peniel had been waiting so patiently for him.

"Yeah, I figured it was time to talk," Sungjae said softly.

Peniel nodded and shoved his notebook into his bag then returned his attention back to Sungjae who was still looking down at the table, avoiding all eye contact.

They sat there in and uncomfortable silence for what felt like ages when Peniel decided to speak first.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out.

Sungjae looked up at him confusedly.

"For what exactly?," Sungjae asked.

"For sleeping with your... brother? And for dating Changsub and not telling you. I really didn't me-"

"Stop," Sungjae said, cutting Peniel off, "Don't apologize for your past. I don't want you to be sorry for mistakes or things you did before you met me."

"But, I hurt you. And believe me that's the last thing I ever wanted to do. I real-"

"Peniel, just stop," Sungjae said a bit more aggresively, "Yes, it may have hurt to hear about your past, but I'll get over it. It may have hurt to hear that my hyung got to... yeah, with you before we even met but I'll get over it... sometime. The fact is, we can't change the past, we can only control our future."

"If I hadn't gotten drunk that night, none of that would've ever happened," Peniel said accusingly to himself. "If I hadn't been so lonely at the time... but thinking back on it now, I wasn't as lonely then as I have been this past week wihtout you."

Sungjae's heart skipped a beat and a familiar blush crept upon his cheeks. He looked up at Peniel and made eye contact wth him for the first time. Peniel had a pitiful sorrow look in his eyes, like he was lost and broken.

"Things happen for a reason, you know," Sungjae said sweetly.

"I was meant to losse my ity to your brother and not you for a reason?," Peniel said quietly with a bitterness in his tone as he snapped his eyes and looked off.

"You know, I could've gone my lfe without knowing that part, but thanks for the information," Sungjae said with a sass in his voice and he got up to leave. He didn't need Peniel's moodiness right now, not when he was trying to make things better between them.

"Wait," Peniel said as he grabbed Sungjae by the wrist, "Please don't go. i wasn't meaning to be rude to you, I was being that way more towards myself."

Sungjae looked at Peniel and saw how desperate he was for him not to go.

"I didn't come here to hear about your past experience with me brother. In fact, I don't want to know anything about that all."

Peniel's mouth gaped wide open and his eyes bugged out.

"R-really?"

Sungjae sat back down and nodded.

"Really. What happened between you two is none of my business and I'd much rather go on in life without knowing. Peniel, I've spent that past week flipping back and forth between being angry and sad, aggrivated and lonely, pissed off and depressed. Then, I woke up and realized that being this way was hurting me more than trying to move past it. I realized that being without you was making me more sad than knowing that Changsub was your first boyfriend. I realized that I want the truth I depise more than beautiful lies because no matter what, you can't make me like you less."

Peniel slid out of his side quickly and slipped in next to Sungjae, pulling him by the waist for a hug. A silent tear escaped Peniel's face as Sungjae wrapped his arms around Peniel in an embrace. The boys stayed like that for a little while, neither one of them saying a word.

"I missed you, so so much baby," Peniel whispered into Sungjae's ear, "please don't leave me."

"There's nothing you can say and nothing you could do to make me not want to be with you," Sungjae assured Peniel. His grip around Sungjae tightened and Sungjae felt his heart become full again. He didn't care that he paid his brother for . Hell, he didn't care if he even paid Changsub or another for , because he would always want Peniel. That was something that never changed.

"Sungjae-ah, being away from you made me realize something. Something important."

Sungjae felt the butterflies come back and his heart started to beat uncontrollably.

"Yes, Peniel?"

"I... I love you."