Let You Go - K.HJ + S.MG (Ateez Short Story)

Chapter 2

TUESDAY

Hongjoong taps his car panel, types a in key, shutting off the car. He exhales loudly, bringing his right hand up to his left shoulder, massaging its tense, firm muscles.

He's back from another exhausting day of work, and as much as it's tiring, he's been enjoying it lately, since it's a way to get his mind away from home, or life in general.

He makes his way to the door that leads to the house, and as soon as he grabs the door knob he hears something.

What's going on?

As his ears adjust themselves to the muffled sound coming from the inside, its rhythmic melody tells him it's a song.

That's unusual... He thinks to himself before leaning in a little closer, enough to get a better listen to it, then he recognizes the familiar tune.

It's their song.

His and Mingi's.

Hongjoong feels his heart drop and retreats his hand, noticing it's starting to shake as he presses it to his chest, as if keeping it fixed to something would make it stop.

He feels the urge to swallow, noticing his throat has suddenly become dry, and he does so with some difficulty. He, then, lets out a long heavy sigh, releasing the air he had unintentionally held in his lungs.

Oh no, please... Don't tell me...

Reaching with his shaky hand for his phone, Hongjoong grabs onto it firmly and its screen lits up with one double-touch of his fingertip, showing the date and time. He had been so busy he didn't even check his phone all day.

Shit! Did he remember? Hongjoong cursed at himself and brought one hand up to ruffle his hair aggressively.

He felt like his own karma was going to torture him to death, little by little, every day.

He looked at the screen again, praying to any and every god that his suspicions weren't true.

September 3rd, this song, of course he remembers. His grip on the delicate object strengthened, as his legs weakened. He crouched down, arms crossed on his knees as he hid his face.

Too afraid of what was waiting for him inside. He didn't want to feel anything right now, even after a long day of work, away from all this, he could feel in the air that this time there was no escaping it.

I'm tired... Make it stop... He cried mentally, while his eyes felt drier than ever, and his mouth tasted bitter for some reason. He was pretty sure that was the taste of his anxiety.

The door suddenly opened from the inside and a deep voice called out. "Hongjoong?"

Hongjoong looked up and couldn't stop the startled whimper from coming out of his mouth at the view of the brunette's tall and handsome figure in front of him. You can do this, you're fine.

"Oh, baby, there you are! I heard the car, what took you so long to come in?" The sweet and excited voice sent chills down his spine and he started to feel heavily sick to his stomach.

Things were not getting better as he expected them to. He cursed his entire body and soul for rejecting his lover with all their might, screaming into his ears silently, in their own language, messing up all of his senses and natural responses, triggering all these reactions, when all he wanted to do was to get used to all of this once and for all. He just couldn't bring himself to do anything about it. Not anymore.

He did try before, but it was harder than he thought it would be. Ending this. Letting him go. He just couldn't. He needed Mingi. He had promised to never let him go.