Querencia

17

"Where were you? I was looking for you earlier."

"Just," Joshua smiled reassuringly. "With a friend."

"Who?" Eunjae was confused. He knew all Joshua's friends and he had seen each of them last night or that morning and he wasn't with any of them.

"Jun."

"But I told you Jun was in my room last night."

"I was there too."

Eunjae narrowed his eyes. "Woozi told me you were with someone else."

"Oh. I meant Wonwoo."

"Isn't that the guy who beat you up a few months ago?"

Joshua flushed red. "I guess he is."

"Come on Josh, you can tell me. Who am I going to tell, honestly?"

 "It's not that, I just-" Joshua was cut off by his phone.

"Is that them?"

Joshua shoved the phone back in his pocket and stood up abruptly. "You know Eunjae, now really isn't the best time."

"Josh!"

"I'm sorry, I have to go."

Eunjae balled his hands into fists as he watched him leave.

He didn't mind if Joshua was with anyone. He really didn't. But he felt like Joshua was hiding something from him. He almost seemed scared.

Deciding he needed to know, he stood up and followed Joshua through the halls.

Staying quiet wasn't a problem but he did have to remind himself to keep his distance.

After walking up several flights of stairs and questioning whether this mystery person was worth all the work, he saw Joshua knock on one of the doors.

The door was pulled open and a sudden wave of fury washed over Eunjae as Joshua disappeared into the room.

Eunjae quickly turned on his heel and ran back to his own room.

This was one of the few times he wanted to speak with Woozi.

Throwing open the door, he asked, "where's Josh?"

Woozi looked up from his phone. "I dunno, probably with one of his friends."

"Really? And since when is he friends with Jeonghan?"

Woozi's phone fell from his hand as he laughed nervously. "Jeonghan? Who's that? Sounds like a cool guy."

"Don't fucking lie to me, Jihoon!" Eunjae shouted, ignoring how Woozi flinched. "How long?"

"What?"

"How long has this been going on?"

For once Woozi wasn't joking around. He sat still and he would never admit it, but Eunjae scared him when he got like this. "A few days after Jeonghan rejected you."

Eunjae slowly sat down on the edge of the couch. "He told me he was straight."

"Maybe was just trying to let you down easy."

Eunjae scoffed. "He did a fantastic job, honestly."

Woozi hesitantly reached out and squeezed Eunjae's shoulder. "Why are you upset? You have Minghao now."

Eunjae let out a low sigh. "I don't know." All anger he had before had completely diminished and replaced with guilt. Woozi was right, why was he upset?