Chapter 36

'They love me cause I'm hot.

They love me cause I'm cold.

They love me cause I'm real,

"They love me cause I kill...'

Kris's phone was ringing. Still very much asleep, Kris hummed along to 2NE1's Crush as he grabbed the phone and pressed 'accept call'.

"...Cause I kill. Yeoboseyo?"

The other end kept silent. Kris removed his phone from his ear to look at the time. It was 3 in the morning. Kris grunted but quickly stopped when he saw the caller ID. Suddenly he was wide awake.

"Kyungsoo?"

A long silence passed. Kris's heart beat a little faster than normal. What did Kyungsoo want at this hour? But more importantly, Kyungsoo had actually called Kris! 'Weeee!'  Kris's mind cheered out loud.

"Kyungsoo, are you still ther..."

"Do you know how to make pancakes?"

Kyungsoo was angry. Why couldn't his friends see that he was perfectly fine? Sure his list might be a bit unorthodox but it was pretty standard 'being young' stuff the list contained.

He didn't know where to go. He could've gone to Minseok but he would just gloat and tell him 'I told you so.' So where should he go? He took out his phone and looked through his contacts. While pressing call he put his phone against his ear.

"Hyung?"

Kyungsoo knocked on Jongin's door. After a few seconds the door was flung open, revealing a feverish Jongin covered in a blanket.

Kyungsoo had called Jongin up and asked if he could stop by the younger's place. He had never been to Jongin and Sehun's apartment before. They weren't really friends as much as colleagues who went out for drinks after hours. He had never taken the time to get to know them.

A bit of an awkward silence descended on the both of them as Jongin led him into his bedroom. In there they just stood for a while, looking everywhere but at each other. Kyungsoo made an uncomfortable cough as he went to look at the photos scattered on Jongin's wall.

"Sorry for leaving you alone at work today. But as you can see I'm not really fit to handle food in this state." Jongin sniffed, trying to smile as he plopped down onto his bed.

"It's okay. But seriously, our boss should be less picky and just hire some less good-looking guys to wait tables, because today was a and a half." Kyungsoo sat down in Jongin's office chair, swirling around.

Jongin snorted. 

After another small uncomfortable silence, Jongin broke it once again.

"Hyung. Why are you here?"

Kyungsoo stopped spinning around in his chair to look at Jongin.

"No reason. Maybe I just wanted to see my favorite dongsaeng?"

"Really?"
"Yeah."

"I don't think so. I'm someone you work and go out drinking with. Besides that, we're not that close." Jongin sadly smiled.

"What happened, Kyungsoo?"

Kyungsoo leaned back in the chair, staring at the ceiling. 

"Just my supposedly best friends being jerks."
"Is that so. What did they do?"
"It's stupid. They actually held an intervention for me. Seriously, who does that?"
"People who care."

Kyungsoo shifted his gaze towards Jongin who even with a red nose looked very serious.

"What was the intervention for?"
"...That list I made."        

Jongin sighed, leaning back onto his bed.

"You have good friends."

"What?"
"You're not you, Kyungsoo. Ever since you and Krystal broke up, you've been acting really weird."
"I don't want to talk about that."

"Of course you don't. Because it hurts."
"It doesn't. I'm fine."
"No you're not. You're in university, you have a job and you go out drinking almost every night. You keep yourself busy because you don't want to think about everything that's happened recently. You were with your girlfriend for what, 5 years? That's a long time and a lot to lose. If you keep this up, you'll wear yourself down and then you'll never be able to move on."

Kyungsoo stood up glaring at the younger man.

"You don't know what you're talking about. I lost 5 years of my life with nothing to show for. I don't give a about her. And that's the end of it."
Kyungsoo turned to leave.

"If you didn't give a , you wouldn't be such a mess." Jongin stood up following Kyungsoo.

"In the beginning I thought it was fun going out partying with you. My hyung finally wanted to spend time with me. But now I wish you'd go back to the guy who'd rather hurry back to his girlfriend after work, just to watch her sleep. I want the real Kyungsoo back. Even if it means you won't hang out with me anymore."

Kyungsoo stopped in his track. He turned to give Jongin a sad smile.

"That guy was never the real me to begin with. Get well soon, Jongin-ah."

Kyungsoo slammed the door on his way out, leaving Jongin in the foyer with a heavy heart.


A/N
Short, short update but I can't stop writing even when I should  -.-'