escape call | minsung

xxiii

minho sighed as he closed the front door behind him. it was silent in the house, but the scattered shoes next to the welcome mat proved that both his parents were home.

in the end (fortunately or unfortunately, minho didn't know) felix got the idea and hadn't pressed anymore about anything for the rest of the week, having been too caught up with appointments and emergency walk-ins. still, minho prayed the younger boy would forget completely over the weekened and not bring it up again on monday.

that whole week was a roller coaster ride for him. even after the first day, jisung hadn't replied to his texts, leaving him on read, and hadn't even picked up his call. something itched under minho's skin and he felt like ripping it off to relief it.

what was happenening? had he really messed up that bad that jisung wouldn't even talk to him?

he had seen hyunjin once at a cafe and asked about him, but hyunjin only answered vaguely and dodged the question, instead asking him about work. the entire time, there was the subtle furrow in his brows, as if something irked him, and minho would be lying if he said he didn't connect the dots.

so great, jisung won't talk to him and hyunjin's mad at him. how much worse could it possibly get?

his eyes stung as he thought about it so he kept his mind busy by recalling how happy his last customer was when she realized that her dog was not, in fact, dead but just sleeping really deeply.

he got deja vu as he saw his mother walk towards him, her socked feet making her footsteps almost non-existent. "you're still awake." he said to her, and found that he couldn't hide the exhaustion leaking in his voice.

"yeah..." she mumbled and looked up at him, helping him take off his scarf and coat. her eyes examined his face and she frowned, her eyebrows furrowing. "minho, love, what's wrong?"

maybe it was the term of endearment, or his mother's soothing tone, or just everything crashing down at once, but minho found his eyes stinging again and then welling with tears.

things were going terribly. he had messed up things with jisung and how he wasn't responding to his texts. he is sure, having known him for as long as he has, that jisung is straightforward with his feelings. so ignoring him only meant that something — everything — was really really wrong.

it didn't take long before he let out a sob, his bottom lip trembling and his knees giving out as he slumped onto his mother's shoulder, blabbering about everything that happened. how guilty and helpless he was feeling. his tears seemed endless, staining his mother's nightgown, but she didn't seem to care, leaning up and wrapping her arms around her son.

when he was finally done, reduced to a sniffling, hiccupping mess, his mother brought them to the couch. she sat him down on the cushions next to her and cradled his head, letting him lean against her shoulder as he calmed down.

there was the quiet padding of footsteps and minho's father peeked his head through the door, eyeing the pair for a moment before nodding. "i'll put the kettle on." he mumbled, as he assessed the situation, walking back out to the kitchen.

there was a moment of silence that lingered in the living room before the woman finally spoke, her chest rising and falling, breaths and heartbeat lulling minho to relax.

"it seems to me," she started, her voice a whisper. it made the atmosphere feel intimate and fragile, like any of her displayed china pieces would break if she spoke any louder. "like there's a reason why all those dates we set you up on don't work."

minho sniffed. "yeah." he said, wetly. "i figured it out too. i... think i love him."

his mother then smiled, a quiet laugh escaping her. "then why are you waiting for him to text you back? if you made a mistake and feel a certain way for him, why aren't you chasing him and begging for forgiveness?"

the words made minho falter. he leaned away from his mother, looking back at her, really eyeing her. his expression was probably funny, mouth parted and eyes wide and nose still red — his mother laughed at it — but he slowly processed what she said.

he... hadn't thought about that.

he had always wanted to wait for jisung to feel comfortable and initiate the conversation, not wanting to force anything onto him. but he realized that some things need to be forced. if he wanted them to work and not crumble apart like he felt it doing right now, he would need to force jisung to explain how he was feeling so that he could apologize properly and fix things.

"okay." he mumbled and his mother perks her head up, a smile tugging at her lips. "okay! okay, yes!" he let himself smile, because he was determined about this. "yes! thank you, mom! thank you thank you!" he kissed her cheek wet and loud before getting up and almost sprinting out of the house.

"so..." minho's father walked in at that moment, holding three cups of tea on a tray. "no tea for him?" he asked, sitting in front of his wife.

the woman smiled and leaned over the coffee table to give him a grateful hug. "i'll have two cups."

not edited !

sorry for the really late upload :/

stream lalalala !!