You Should Leave, Baby → ZUWOON

chapter eight

Seokwoo feels sick when he wakes up the next morning. Chanhee and Juho were gone, leaving him alone, tucked underneath the blankets tightly. The room is sticky with the summer heat, uncomfortable and hot underneath the sheets.

He seems to only feel someone's hand on his shoulder after he realizes that today was their last day in the cabin. They were to leave tonight, and he had completely forgotten.

Turning over, Youngbin stares at him with wide eyes. "Are you going to pack your bag?"

Groggily, Seokwoo shifts off the blankets, groaning at the feeling of his shirt sticking to him further with his every movement. He peels it off, grimacing. "What time is it?"

"Nearly two," the brunette can barely get the last word out before Seokwoo's shooting up next to him, suddenly acutely aware of everything in the room.

"Are you serious!?" Seokwoo cries, crouching down in front of his dresser as he riles through his clothes, pulling them out to create a messy pile on the floor. He decides on an outfit for that day, turning around to grab his bag from Youngbin, who had been holding it since he'd woken the other up. "It's so late..."

Worried, Youngbin kneels down to help him pack. "We need to go in an hour or so..."

Seokwoo nods, before the realization dawns on him that he hadn't told Juho he was leaving tonight hits him. "Do... Do the others know?"

Shaking his head, Youngbin stands up after handing him another half-folded shirt. "No, only Sanghyuk."

So, Juho definitely knew already. He squints his eyes shut, willing for the other not to be mad. Though, why would he be? To him, they were a game of make believe, and he was unknowing of the fact that Seokwoo had only offered the concept of them fake dating to fuel his own selfish, twisted need. He bites his lip, cracking an eye open only after he can tell Youngbin's left the room, likely to go finish packing his own bag. He continues to slowly put his things away, standing up to grab anything else he sees of his lying around. Phone charger, actual phone... Had he really packed so little?

The worries from the beginning of the week seemed to already be so distant to him, he wasn't sure if he was ready to face them again.

A soft creak alerts him of someone entering the room, and Juho walks inside, slowly kicking it shut behind him. He looks tired, hair disheveled and shirt hanging off of his shoulder as he drags his feet back to his bed, falling into the mattress dejectedly. Seokwoo raises an eyebrow at him when he turns to watch him. "What's up?"

"You didn't tell me you were going so early..." The older whines, pulling himself up onto the bed so he can lay on his side, pouting. "I thought you'd be leaving tomorrow with us."

"Sorry, I guess it just slipped my mind," Seokwoo mumbles, suddenly extremely interested with the floorboards. Juho sits up, legs dangling off of the side of his bed. Seokwoo can barely see him kicking them idly in his peripherals. "At least we're both in Seoul, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Juho hums, "I forgot."

There's something dark opening up between them, something unsaid in the quiet that lingers on the back of Seokwoo's tongue, that he can't seem to push out for the life of him. He wonders if Juho feels the same, if this is fake to him, and then, how fucked up this was.

The darkness thickens between them when Juho turns away himself, giving up on grabbing the other's attention again as Seokwoo seems to be immersed with everything except him. They drift apart, unsure of what to do or say or how to act when there's nobody they need to pretend for, and an awkward tension fills the growing space between them.