Canines; Jeongchan

Douze

Hyunjin doesn't leave my side once in the afternoon, sitting in on all my classes, no matter how many odd looks he gets.

He points out all the cute guys in my lectures, but there's still something I have to do without him when I see Changbin standing around alone.

"Changbin", I call out.

He turns, and sorrow and anger flashes across his face.

"You here to apologize?", he sneers.

"How would you feel if I said yes", I venture.

Changbin scoffs.

"Listen, I'm a bitch and an asshole who overreacted and ruined a whole bunch of shit, I know that. And I can't change what's done. But, I can apologize, again and again. I'm sorry, Changbin, I betrayed your trust."

Changbin stands there, silently studying me, for a long time. I keep my head at an angle, bowing it in apology.

"I still can't forgive you Jeongin. An apology made it better, somewhat, but my love for Jisung is not just something you can randomly tell him. I've been in love, in actual love, with him for years. I know you were impulsive, and petty, and it's nice to know you admit it, but those aren't excuses."

I nod.

"Ok. Do you still want to get drunk with Seungmin, Hyunjin and me? I'm trying to get over Chan. You can try to get over Jisung."

"You liked him?"

"How could I not?"

"He's overreacting. But, you have to remember the way he broke up with Felix. Chan hates not being able to trust people, and it's often minor things like this that send him over the edge."

"So, are you drinking? Yes, no, maybe?"

"No. I don't want to drink with you"

He just seems tired now, exhausted, so I let him be and walk back.

Seungmin joins me in going back to the apartment. He bought ice cream, the expensive kind, that we usually only buy for special celebrations.

Hyunjin opens the door for us, and talks quietly to Seungmin.

"What did you tell Chan?", Hyunjin asks, trying to keep me from hearing him.

Seungmin lets out a pressured exhale.

"I told him that it's fine for him to date someone else, but he ever so much as came close to Innie again, I would chase him down, and end him brutally."

Hyunjin nods.

"And what did he say?"

"He said he didn't want to come close to a liar anyway. so I punched him. You never call my friend a liar."

Hyunjin bites the inside of his cheek. He puts on some 3Racha, my favorite. I shake my head. Even my favorite music is tainted by Chan.

Lying on top of him as I talk and do school work, feeling how soft he is against my head.

Hyunjin nods, and puts on a playlist titled 'heartbreak' instead. 'Better now', by Post Malone blasts through the apartment. Our neighbor, a guy named Yuta, hammers in on the wall, yelling at us to keep it down.

Hyunjin ignores him, grabs a bottle of vodka, the strong kind, and a scooper for the huge amounts of melting ice cream, and hands me and Seungmin a bowl each. The we cuddle under a ginormous blanket.

Someone hits the door so hard we're scared it will break. Seungmin opens it to find a livid Yuta. 

The man quickly calms down though, after he sees us under the blanket, the vodka, the ice cream, and puts it together with Sorry not sorry blasting through the apartment.