anti-romantic ; hajeongwoo

twelve: rejected

Jeongwoo stared at his studio computer with several thoughts running around his head. He was right that Haruto's previous and last relationship was with one of his members but he never expected it to be Junkyu.

How dare Junkyu act like he had nothing between Haruto and him before and even worse, he's the one who made Haruto an anti-romantic.

"Jeongwoo-ah~!" Haruto enters Jeongwoo's studio with a huge smile on his face as he hugged Jeongwoo tightly. "I finally paid the rent, Thanks to our fake dating— Jeongwoo?" Haruto's smile faded away as he slowly let go of Jeongwoo who wore a gloomy expression. "What's wrong?"

Jeongwoo snapped back, smiling bitterly as he laid eyes on Haruto. "H-huh? Oh. There's nothing wrong, don't w-worry."

Haruto shook his head, sitting across Jeongwoo at the sofa behind the younger. "Come on, Even if we're not dating for real, I should know since we're friends, okay? So come on, tell me."

"It's okay, don't worry. I just talked with Junkyu Hyung." Jeongwoo remarked, hanging his head low as he played with his fingers under his table. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Haruto stayed silent, knowing that Jeongwoo is talking about Junkyu and his past relationship with him. "...I'm sorry. I just didn't want to bother you while you're busy preparing for your solo. Plus, you shouldn't worry about it since we're just in a fake relationship, right?"

"But I'm getting worried about it." Jeongwoo looked at Haruto with a concerned look as he held his hands tightly, making Haruto's heartbeat faster. "Ruto-ah..."

Haruto laughed awkwardly, trying to get his hands off Jeongwoo's grip but obviously failed. "Don't look at me like that, Woo..."

"Remember when you said you don't want to love ever again unless you find a person who can love you without leaving you in the end?" Jeongwoo paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "What if I... What if I'm that person? I want to be the one who can make you smile, believe in love again, and I'll never leave you."

Haruto felt Jeongwoo's grip loosen from his hands, so he took them off as he hung his head low. "I understand that you accidentally fell for me even if we're just fake dating. I want you to understand too that I'm busy with my own life and there are problems I can't avoid..."

Jeongwoo smiled slowly, understanding everything Haruto said. "Of course! I understand your problems. You can share them with me if you want—"

"Sorry, I'm an anti-romantic. I don't think I should be seeing anyone at the moment..." Haruto cut him off, looking at Jeongwoo straight in the eyes to see if he hurt him with what he said.

But instead of seeing sadness through the younger's eyes, Jeongwoo kept his smile stuck on his face, as if Haruto didn't say anything. "It's okay~! I know what you're going through so it's fine if you don't want to fall in love again... But I hope this won't affect our friendship!"

"Y-yeah! We can just go back to how we used to be; best friends who chose to do fake dating, right?" Haruto laughed as he saw Jeongwoo's bright expression, thinking that he's actually okay. "So... we're friends, right?"

Jeongwoo nodded as he avoided Haruto's gaze. "Mhm, we'll always be friends. Even after our fake dating."

Haruto smiled as he stood up from the sofa, about to leave the studio. "I'll be leaving now, I don't wanna bother you in your solo preparations. If you want more ideas or dates, call me and I'll be there." He then waved Jeongwoo goodbye as he left the studio, feeling guilty for rejecting Jeongwoo even though he looked okay.

Jeongwoo rested his head on the table, closing his eyes before tears come out. "I guess I'll be sleeping in here again..."

—

Haruto walks home, feeling exhausted and concerned about Jeongwoo at the same time. He knew it would cause Jeongwoo a lot of pain, but he also did it for his own sake.

There is no possibility that Haruto can stop being an anti-romantic since he's been like that for a while already so he can't just trust anyone even if he's close with him.

Haruto closed his eyes for a while then opened them, finding someone familiar standing next to his house. With that being said, he speeded up to look and meet with that person.

"How long has it been, Ruto?" Junkyu raised his head as he walked towards Haruto after leaning next to their gate. "It's Kim Junkyu, in case you forgot."

Haruto gulped as he walked past Junkyu but the elder pulled his hand, stopping him from going peacefully to their unit. "Junkyu, I don't have time to talk to you."

Junkyu sighed deeply, staring at Haruto with concern. "Listen to me please. I want you to forgive me for everything I have done. I regret it all—"

"We have nothing to talk about so let me go if you don't want to see me suffering in front of you again." Haruto faced Junkyu as he removed his grip from his hand aggressively. "You left me because of that, right? You didn't want to have a broke, stupid, and dull boyfriend, isn't it?"

"I left you for a reason, okay? Everything I do is with a reason so hear me out." Junkyu paused until he finally got Haruto's full attention. "I didn't want to burden you even more if we were in a relationship. Your life is already hard as it is so if you can't take care of your own life, how can you take care of another life?"

Haruto raised his eyebrows, processing the information in his head. "So you're saying you don't want me to have another problem in my shitty life?"

Junkyu nodded his head several times, trying to tell him that he's right. "Yes, that's the point. I can see how hurt you are trying to adjust to your life so I don't want to be another problem."

"Well then, you should've known better because when you left me, you just made my life more messy than it already was." Haruto remarked, making Junkyu feel low of himself.

"I know, I know. That's why we can try again." Junkyu smiled as he tightly held Haruto's hand. "Can we be together again? I'll write you a beautiful love story with a happy ending..."

—🍃—
Will Junkyu get rejected by Haruto or will they actually be a thing which will probably hurt our Jeongwoo?