THURSDAYS.

03. MONDAY

"Don't you want to see me off?"

A notification popped up in his screen, the sixteenth one from the same person today.

He sighs, not wanting to do this to his friend anymore. It isn't his fault after all. The boy's grandmother was sick.

And sicknesses were traitors.

Call him selfish for not talking to his friend because he had to go, but deep inside- it's suffocating for him too.

He doesn't want to see his friend off, but he doesn't want to miss the chance of seeing him for one last time either.

NANANEY:
Don't you want to see me off?
6:32 AM

JENOJAMS:
No, I don't want to see you off.
6:49 AM

Seen ✓

Jeno is never in his life, ever going to want to see Jaemin off.

No, I don't want to see you off.

I'd rather you stay here forever and never go off.

He repeats to himself while quickly getting up from his bed, barging out of his room and out of his front door.

Jaemin's house was just three blocks away, so he considered not using his bike for now.

The quicker I run, the quicker I get there.

The quicker I run, the closer I get to avoiding the same mistake I did two years ago.

The quicker I run, the quicker I get to see Jaemin.

The more time I'll have before things completely change.

He runs faster, passing by houses he'd used to dream of living in when he walked around the hood with his three-man squad.

Jeno has always hated odd numbers. Which was also ironic since his squad consisted of three people. But ever since he's found them, he has taken the number to consideration. But that didn't mean he forgave it. He could never forgive it.

Soon, only two houses were left to pass and he would reach his friend's house.

But as he finally stepped foot near the bright red house beside Jaemin's, his perseverance immediately drained down, down into the depths of an endless pit.

Everything is gone.

The house looked empty, the parking area looked cold, especially brand new. As if it were just recently put up.

The only most noticeable thing left in the plot was a sign, stuck onto the ground of little soil that served as a mini garden in front of the house. It might have been nothing to anyone, but it meant everything to Jaemin's mother. She always liked the idea of owning a garden of her own.

Jaemin has already left, and isn't coming back in a while.

And with that, it was over.

Jeno fell to his knees, for the sake of his tired legs and his sanity. He covered his face and bent over, wishing he could have been there for Jaemin when the boy asked for company in his remaining week within the hood.

But he wasn't there. Instead all he did was act like Jaemin had already left when he hasn't. Grieving over something that hasn't been lost yet.

And here he was, in front of a house for sale, crying over something he should've, and could've done.

He received the notification on his phone, and yet he decided to wait for ten minutes before paying attention to it.

Here he was, making the same mistake he did two years ago.

Now his squad turned into a duo, and he doesn't even know if the duo idea is even going to work.
The three sided triangle turned into a shapeless  curve.
His best friend is gone. And is slowly being pulled into a new beginning of opportunities for himself. Jaemin will have so much future ahead of him while Jeno is left behind in the province, being the mess up he was.

Jaemin did a good job on erasing himself from the neighborhood.

But he did quite terribly in erasing himself from Jeno's life.