no regrets 。taekai 。

xxiii

"oi!!", jongin banged on the door, "tae! open the door!"

jongin had arrived 15 minutes prior and had thought maybe taemin wasn't home but after a short phone call with minho he had confirmed that taemin hadn't left his apartment.

either taemin was pranking him by making jongin act like a crazy person in front of his apartment or-

"sorry! jeez, i was taking a nap, calm down..." taemin finally opened the door, rubbing his eyes as he let jongin in.

jongin situated himself with ease, drobbing his stuff next to him as he sat on the sofa.

"why are you here again?" taemin asked, sitting down on the floor in front of jongin.

oh,

"uh, remember... our texts?" taemin couldn't have that bad of a memory.

"oh! that... let me get it out of the way first, i'm sorry. that was weird especially since you kind of know my sexual preference, i wouldn't like for it to put a strain on our friendship," taemin smiled, "i mean, it was not that big of a deal really, if it made you uncomfortable, again, i'm really sorry."

jongin didn't really know what to say so he just ended that conversation with a 'yeah' and they proceeded to watch a movie.

jongin wanted to have said something, something along the lines of 'my hearat kind of fluttered when we did that, did yours?' but he just couldn't bring himself to.

after all, taemin didn't want 'to put a strain on their friendship'.

friends.

jongin knew he was being dumb and selfish for being sad about that, after all that's what they were; friends.

he never gave taemin any sign that he might have had feelings for him and he himself wasn't even sure if that fluttering feeling in his heart was actually respect and admirations as supposed to something that would lead to love.

jongin couldn't really pay attention to the movie and by the time it ended, all he could tell taemin when the latter asked about what he had thought about the ending was 'it was nice' in which taemin furrowed his brows to, obviously noticing jongin's stand-offish demeanor.

they had pizza together, only a few words exchanged which jongin felt awful about because taemin had no fault in why jongin was acting this way so he tried to make an effort to make the conversation they were having less awkward.

"have you been busy these days?" jongin finally iniciated conversation which made taemin's face light up.

"kind of, yeah. i'm starting extra vocal lessons tomorrow, minho doesn't want me to do it because of my throat but i have to sing in charity event this weekend, so i really need them." taemin took another pizza slice.

"your throat?" jongin asked.

"oh yeah, i didn't tell you about that." maybe they should have ordered a larger pizza, jongin thought as taemin finished his slice in mere seconds, "minho took me to the doctors, apparently i have some condition... i really don't know how to explain this situation. my throat is in a bad condition these days and the doctors don't know why."

jongin nodded in understanding, "take care of yourself, will you." jongin joked, slightly shoving taemin as the other chuckled.

"well, i should get going now... let's hang out later this week, yeah?" jongin announced, "you can go rest, i can let myself out."

taemin said 'bye' and went to wash the dishes, thinking about why jongin was in such a bad mood today.

———

extra short  update 😬 sorry :D (please do point out grammatical errors if you see them!)<- this counts for every chapter