𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 ♧ SeungJin

XXXVI

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
Jane Austen : Northanger Abbey, 1818

♤♡◇♧

Seungmin stayed outside when his mother left, still sitting in the same place by the car. He waited for around 5 minutes, contemplating whether he could steal the keys from his father's jacket and drive off into the ocean, never to be seen again by anyone.

He determined, however, that the plan had too many flaws to work. He was going to start thinking of other ways to get out of this embarrassingly awkward situation but got cut off when he heard new footsteps approach him.

He looked up and found Hyunjin not too far from him, looming over his curled up figure, "Hey." Seungmin said shortly, looking down at his knees.

"I don't."

Seungmin looked back up, "Huh?"

"I don't hate you."

Silence.

"I know I said I do.. but I don't."

Seungmin nodded, "I guess that makes both of us liars. I don't hate you either."

"This doesn't mean I like you per say.. I'm still mad at you for treating my friends like shit."

Seungmin nodded understandingly, "I would be mad at me too. I am mad at me." He paused, "You know I have no idea why I'm so mean to people.. I just wanted to protect myself from being bullied by being the bully I guess."

Hyunjin nodded, "I understand. You messed up, I get it, but if you ever want people to forgive you, you have to apologize." He shrugged, "You could start with someone like Felix; you have Chem with him right?"

The younger looked up at him, then stood up to be at eye level—or, almost at eye level. "How about I start with you?"

"Why would you apologize to me?" The elder asked, furrowing his eyebrows together in confusion, "I've been just as shitty to you as you've been to me." He admitted.

"You wouldn't have been shitty to me if I hadn't been shitty to you and your friends." Seungmin shrugged, "For that, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been rude to you in order to try and protect myself."

Hyunjin eyed the boy in front of him, trying to figure out what he was feeling. He swiped his tongue over his front teeth before speaking, "I'm sorry for assuming that you were as shitty as you seemed. I should have given you a chance to show me who you were."

Seungmin smiled, but let it drop almost immediately, "Are you still mad at me?"

"Yes." Hyunjin said without skipping a beat.

"Worth a shot." The other boy giggled, but still somehow felt disappointment flood through his heart.

"But," the taller spoke up, catching his attention again, "I'm willing to forgive you if you give an honest and heart felt apology to all of my friends tomorrow at lunch."

Seungmin nodded quickly, though he had to admit that the idea scared him. He hated to feel vulnerable, like he had no power over the situation.

"And one more condition." Hyunjin added.

"Okay.." he said slowly, listening intently.

Hyunjin smirked to himself, feeling proud, "You tell me how much you loved dry humping my thigh like a good little bitch today." Seungmin's jaw fell, staring at Hyunjin. "Now say it." He whispered, taking a step closer.

Seungmin swallowed hard, "I liked it." He muttered.

"Liked what?"

Seungmin groaned, throwing his head back and stomping his foot, "Don't make me say it, Hyunjin." When the elder only raised a brow at him he sighed, looking to the ground and lowering his voice, "I loved dry humping your thigh like a good little bitch." He whispered.

Hyunjin smiled widely, wrapping his arm around Seungmin's shoulder and pulling him close as he guided them to the front door. He tussled he hair, giving him a tender kiss on the temple, "What a good boy." He laughed.

As the two boys walked into the house Hyunjin kept his arm around the youngers shoulder, figuring there was nothing more for them to hide. He lead them into the living room where everyone stopped talking, eyeing the pair of teenagers. "You two have worked it out, I take it." Eunwoo said, sipping the wine in her glass. She only had wine after dinner had ended if she was especially stressed.

"That we did." Hyunjin said, not noticing the sad look that Seungmin passed to his own mother as a way of telling the woman that he, in fact, did not confess his feelings. The two took seats next to eachother on one of the couches, waiting for someone to say something else.

"So, is this an official relationship?" Chin-Hwa asked, feeling slightly awkward to ask this to two boys, but nonetheless Hyunjin was content with how well his father handled it.

When he first came out his dad had been the least accepting person, but after about two months of being angry at the teenager he let it all go and he's been learning to just let it be, accepting his son anyway.

Hyunjin laughed, "No, God no, this isn't serious. We've only fucked, like, twice; we're not getting married."

"Hyunjin," his mother scolded him, "watch your language."

Seungmin was a) embarrassed that Hyunjin was speaking that way, and b) disappointed that he felt that way about him. Sure, he didn't want to get married, but Hyunjin treated the idea of them being together like a bad joke.

"Is this going to affect our business relationship in any way?" Mrs. Kim asked, crossing one leg over the other and resting her elbow on the side of the couch.

Seungmin shook his head again, "No. All of this is ending as of today anyway."

Hyunjin was about to open his mouth to protest that, but closed it again. This wasn't the right places to have that conversation.

Mrs. Hwang rolled her eyes harshly, "You two can figure that out later, but understand that if you two ever get in a fight it must be kept separate from any business aspects."

The boys nodded, understanding, while Hyunjin sat thinking. Did Seungmin really want to end this? Did he himself want to end this?

He doesn't want to end this.