He worried over his phone for hours every day. Mostly out of fear for what he may see. All the terrifying messages from his scariest one night stands and the unsolicited images from unknown numbers plagued his mind day in and day out. It was near impossible to ever see him use his phone let alone talk to friends through it, heavily preferring to be face to face. However, it seemed he was deeply engrossed in the device he was known for despising.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Finally, after much convincing and explanation, all of Minho's friends were gathered back at their favourite and go-to table in the courtyard. While it had been an initial struggle to get Jisung to listen to him, Minho managed with the help of Felix who the squirrelly boy seemed more willing to believe the words of. He still avoided sitting too close to Minho which, while it did hurt the older's pride and make him admittedly rather saddened by the distance between himself and his usual partner in crime, was understandable and respected. Conversations were, thankfully somewhat like normal and flowed comfortably with the expected teasing and jabs even with Jisung participating less than he would.
"Still though, I can't believe you were getting so many calls yesterday," Felix said, his words for Minho but the chuckle that followed was for his boyfriend's cutely zoned out expression. His eyes always grew wide with a wonder almost akin to that of a child's as he fixed his gaze onto a random inanimate object nearby and his lips in a little pout. "Did you ever figure out who was calling?"
"No, I didn't." Minho sighed. "Those calls kept me up until like 2 am..."
"Definitely not a scam caller." Jisung, more quietly, joined in. Tapping the table, he continued to avoid any eye contact with Minho though.
"No shit." Felix shot back with a click of his tongue. "Someone was doing it on purpose... Is there anyone you pissed off lately? Like, really bad?"
"Um... no?"
"That's a lie, if I didn't know you, I'd be insulted by you breathing near me." That snide comment with playful giggling led to Minho glaring and threatening the back of his hand towards Felix in jest. "Hey, hey! Kidding... but seriously, is there no one?"
"No, I keep to myself a lot so no one should have any reason to hate me anyway."
"Ooh! Wait! Crushes~!" The Australian squawked with an eagerly excited clap of his hands over and over to accompany the giddy, borderline addictive grin on his face. "Do you think someone might have a crush on you?"
"Ew, definitely not." Minho scoffed. They were going absolutely nowhere with this topic.
"Could it... be, um, Seungmin?" Jisung piped up, seemingly disgusted by mentioning the third year's name and uncomfortable with the direction he was now making the conversation go down. That discomfort was furthered as Chan caught interest in what they were talking about now, breaking out of his long staring contest between himself and the outdoor bin.
The atmosphere grew rather thick, Minho feeling a newfound weight pulling his back down and the ability to properly breathe getting rather awkward. It was like the way he was breathing prior had been of a normal volume but now seemed to be getting louder and louder despite breathing the same amount at the same pace. He hated it so much and couldn't figure out whether it was because the air was suffocating or because the cause of it had been the mention of a certain (and admittedly rather cute) third year. It truly was just urking him beyond belief, the fact that he couldn't talk nor be near Seungmin without his friends being annoyed or angry with him when it was them who had introduced the boy to him in the first place! He found it so stupid to try and comprehend, Seungmin was a person like them, was he not? So why slander him? Why insult him when he wasn't even there to put up a fight? It seemed so unfair, unjustifiable and despite not exactly liking nor disliking Seungmin, Minho felt like he was the only one who actually cared and saw reason.
"W-why would that bitch like Minho?" Felix awkwardly laughed, breaking the silence and not-so-subtly slid his hand across the table to grab onto Chan's wrist in an attempt to ground him to reality as his eyes seemed lost again but with more of a sharper, agitated gaze. An expression that was rather rare to see in Chan, it was reminiscent of the way he used to hold himself a while ago before Felix became a major part of his life. Minho still found that expression scary, he couldn't help feeling pressured to lock his gaze to the table, too nervous to look at Chan. Not in the eye, not like this.
"...Sorry."
"Sung, it's fine, don't frown like that," Felix said, pouting in a cute way that normally made Jisung giggle. While he didn't get the giggle he had hoped and excepted, the small smile that cracked through Jisung's frown was more than good enough. In fact, it might have been even cuter than the usual giggles.
"Uh, hyung, maybe you should call the number back," Jisung suggested after taking a moment to collect himself. Minho looked up and raised an eyebrow at the advice. Why would he talk to a possible stranger? "They'd stop calling you that way, right?"
Minho sighed. He couldn't exactly say no, Jisung did kind of have a point after all. Not to mention, it might help their friendship get back onto its right footing quicker if he starts acting the way he normally did, which mainly involved giving in to any and all shenanigans Jisung brought up.
"Fine... You have a point." He casually responded, pulling his phone out of his pocket and unlocking it. He checked his notifications very briefly and sure enough, he had a couple of missed calls from the same unknown number. Whoever they were, they sure were oddly persistent. He tapped on the missed call notification and clicked the option to call back. As the dialling tone began, he put the phone to his ear while his friends eagerly watched him, wondering what the result would be when the other end picked up.
The tone stopped. The other person had answered the call.
"Uh, hello?" Minho said, looking upwards as he spoke, feeling the stares from his friends becoming a little too intense to look at head-on.
"Oh my God, finally!"
Seungmin. That was Seungmin's voice on the other end of the line.
"Do you have any idea how many times I've tried calling you? I was so close to stealing one of your friends' phones to call you!"
Minho was still in shock. His throat was dry and he coughed to try and aid it a little before nervously responding.
"S-Seungmin, why have you been calling me so much?"
"Hyung... I- Wait, are you with your friends right now?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Fuck... Okay, call me later when you're alone, it's really important and I don't want anyone else to know. Just lie to your friends, tell them it was over my audition or whatever, I don't care, I just- I... I don't even know, I'm gonna hang up before I start crying again, I'm sure you don't wanna hear that, right? Hahah... please don't forget to call me..."
