Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Hello, you have Huang Zitao called! Ah- wait-” A high pitched giggle. “You’ve called Huang Zitao. I am sorry for missing your call! Please leave a message, I will call you when I get it!”

Beep.

“Hey Zitao, uh, it’s me. Just wondering how you were doing.” There’s a pause. “Listen, man, I know things… didn’t really end so well between you and Baek, but, uh, I’m here for you, alright? Talk to you later.”

Click.

---

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Hello, you have Huang Zitao called! Ah- wait-” The giggle. “You’ve called Huang Zitao. I am sorry for missing your call! Please leave a message, I will call you when I get it!”

Beep.

“Hey, it’s me again. Did you get my last message? You never called me back or anything, so… maybe you just forgot? Um, anyway, just like… call me back when you get the chance, alright? Bye.”

Click.

---

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Hi, this is Zitao! I can’t answer my phone right now, sorry! Please leave me a message-”

“Oh.”

Click.

Ouch.

---

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Hi, this is Zitao! I can’t answer my phone right now, sorry! Please leave me a message and I’ll get back to you when I can! Bye bye~!”

Beep.

“Hey Zitao, me again. Um, guess you ignored my last two messages, ah… your Korean’s gotten a lot better, you know that? Uh… . I don’t really... know what to say.” An uncomfortable silence; a nervous, throaty laugh. “Is this because I’m Baek’s best friend? I get that, I guess, but like… seriously, everyone’s still cool with you? I dunno, man, just… call me back.”

Click.

---

His phone vibrates once, twice.

are you still trying to make nice with my ex?

stop that. it’s annoying.

One, two, three taps a reply, and one more to send it off.

no.

Sent.

you.

Recieved.

This time, he doesn’t reply, choosing to slip his phone back into his pocket instead.

Same to you, Baek, he thinks.

---

“You have one new message,” the recorded voice tells him.

“Hey Zitao. You know who it is. I know you still haven’t gotten back to me, maybe you just don’t want to talk to me at all, but, uh… anyway, did you maybe want to get together with us tonight? Um, we - Jongin, Kyungsoo, and I, Baek won’t be there - we were gonna grab some food. Maybe drink a bit, I dunno. The usual place. See you there, maybe? Bye.”

“To play this message again, press one. To save this message, press two. To delete this message, press-”

Three.

“You have no new messages.”

He tosses his phone onto the couch.

“Who was that?” Jongdae asks.

“Nobody important,” is what Zitao tells him.

It’s only a little bit of a lie, is what he tells himself.