BECAUSE → MEANIE

05

it was mingyu's fault for going to wonwoo's old apartment. he still had the key, so he unlocked the door and went inside, only to see a couple he didn't recognize making out. the couple cursed at him and took the key from him. the key was mingyu's last connection to wonwoo; wonwoo took away everything else.

the apartment seemed to get lonelier by the day. it also got messier. mingyu was never a clean person, but he liked to clean when he was upset. today was a day to wallow in sadness, which meant it was a day to clean. wonwoo was the cause of it, and the couple making out in wonwoo's old apartment fueled it.

mingyu realized that wonwoo really did take everything with him. he could no longer find the polaroid of his first date with wonwoo, and he couldn't complain; wonwoo took that photo of them. all of mingyu's sweaters and shirts were in their spots, and wonwoo's clothes were nowhere to be found.

mingyu was vacuuming around the sofa and leaning down to see if he missed a spot when he found the gum wrapper. mingyu never littered, so he knew who left the gum wrapper there. wonwoo left it there.

it should have been nothing to him. mingyu should have just picked it up and thrown it away. the gum wrapper was nothing. it was nothing, yet mingyu found tears streaming down his face. he didn't want to cry. he sat himself down on the sofa and tried to calm down, but his chest hurt- his heart hurt.

his fingers trembled as he reached for his phone- it was on the coffee table. he unlocked his phone and pulled up wonwoo's number. it had been a while since mingyu had called up wonwoo, but he called him up anyways. he had to hear wonwoo's voice; he missed wonwoo. he missed wonwoo because of that damn gum wrapper.

wonwoo wasn't expecting the call. his mind was elsewhere. his mind was busy trying to keep him from moaning out and losing all self control as he sat on the lap of a boy who was surprisingly not his boyfriend.

"what is that?" the boy asked, his lips no longer on wonwoo's neck.

"sorry," wonwoo apologized to the boy and himself; why the hell was someone calling now?

he got up off the other boy's lap and went to take the call while the boy on his sofa took a smoke. wonwoo saw that it was mingyu, and his first instinct was to decline the call. he wanted to decline, but part of him was happy that mingyu called. he wasn't supposed to be happy, but he was happy.

"what are you doing, wonwoo?" the boy asked. "are you taking the call or not?"

"huh?" wonwoo turned and saw the boy. "ah, yeah,"

"hurry,"

wonwoo took the call. he held the phone to his ear and carefully said, "hello?"

"wonwoo," mingyu sounded out of breath.

"what is it?" wonwoo sounded harsh; he didn't mean to sound harsh.

"wonwoo, i miss you," mingyu was starting to cry.

"okay," wonwoo nodded.

"wonwoo, i love you,"

"okay," wonwoo repeated.

"wonwoo, who is that?" the boy sitting on the couch asked.

"no one," wonwoo told the boy.

the line was silent for a while. mingyu sniffed on the line, and wonwoo heard it. wonwoo cleared his throat to indicate that he was still on the line, and mingyu talked again.

"i didn't realize you were busy,"

"sorry," wonwoo didn't need to apologize, but he did anyways.

"i'll leave you to it then," mingyu's voice got further away.

mingyu didn't hang up. wonwoo could hear him sob in the distance, and it broke his heart. wonwoo shouldn't have been upset, but he was because deep down inside, he still had feelings for mingyu. he had feelings, but he had to push them away.

"why can't you love me just one more time?"

"because i can't,"