#milo.dev

[ april 1st, 2020, solar dorms ]

the only light in the room was coming from honghui’s phone screen, the brightness fully down but somehow still too bright. it may have been the middle of the night, but promotions had just ended and he was texting with hayoon. well, more specifically he sent hayoon a text fifteen minutes prior and was nervously anticipating her reply. which had yet to come.

[ honghui : hey hayoon! just thought i’d say hi because promotions are over now and i have a bit of a break to talk :) ]

sent at 12:03 am

honghui sighed dramatically, then paused hearing minjae stir on the top bunk of the other bed. he forgot it was the middle of the night and people were actually sleeping.

he was so caught off guard by minjae that he didn’t even realize for a few seconds that his phone had buzzed.

[ new message from : lee hayoon ]

[ lee hayoon : hi milo! what’s up? ]

he swore the room got a few degrees warmer.

honghui quickly typed a message back, subconsciously bouncing his foot under the cover out of what was most likely nervousness, excitement, anticipation, who knows.

[ honghui : just wondering what you’re up to ]

[ lee hayoon : well, right now i’m getting ready for bed because it’s late. why aren’t you asleep? ]

[ honghui : i don’t know, if you want to go to sleep though i’ll let you ]

[ lee hayoon : it’s fine! i don’t mind talking for a while ]

[ honghui : are you sure? i don’t want to keep you up too late, i’ve got nothing going on tomorrow but i don’t know about you ]

[ lee hayoon : you’re so cute. it’s fine, i’m serious! ]

honghui felt his chest swell, as well as a strong urge to squeal into his pillow. but he didn’t, because that’s weird, and there were people sleeping a few feet away from him. a cute girl called him cute, and that absolutely made his heart melt.

he kinda lost track of time texting her. before he knew it, it was suddenly 2am and they had plans to hang out that friday. he could barely keep his eyes open.

[ honghui : i’m about to pass out. want to continue talking tomorrow? ]

[ lee hayoon : of course! goodnight :) ]

after reading her final message, honghui shut his phone off and turned over, smiling to himself. he’d consider that to be a pretty good night.

[ april 3rd, 2020, a random street corner ]

honghui stared at his phone eagerly, waiting for hayoon to say she was around the corner. they had decided to meet up and walk to the park nearby, where a couple of her friends might join her later that day. he was hesitant to this idea at first, but hayoon assured him everything would be fine. he was in such a good mood though that he didn’t let it bother him, not even the loud incessant honking of vehicles going down the street or the rather smelly dumpster in an alley behind him would dare taint his good mood.

suddenly his phone dinged, and he looked down to see a text from hayoon.

[ lee hayoon : i’m right around the corner! are you here yet? ]

honghui smiled excitedly before typing a message back.

[ honghui : yep! i’m wearing a long coat and a bucket hat lol ]

just then, a girl in a cute sporty jacket and chunky white sneakers walked around the corner and looked at him. it was hayoon, obviously, with her hands in her pockets and a big smile on her face.

“hi milo!” she said, waving excitedly at him. one of the first things he noticed about her was how short she was, not that that was a turn off or anything, but he had a good eight inches on her with her shoes on, he suspected she’d be about yongmi’s height without them, maybe shorter. it was cute.

“hi!” he said back, “you don’t need to call me milo by the way, my real name is fine.”

hayoon giggled nervously, “i totally would, i’m just really bad at pronouncing chinese words and names.”

“would calling me hyunsu make it easier? it’s my korean name, i don’t mind.”

hayoon nodded, smiling, “that works a lot better, i’ll remember that.”

as they walked to the park, they struck up friendly conversation with each other, hayoon told honghui about her new job at a cafe her aunt owns, and how she quit her job at the airport cafe because the transportation was too much of a hassle. honghui answered some questions she had about what being an idol is really like, and how their living situation is and all that. he was really starting to like her, she was cute, sweet, and fun to talk to.

eventually they got to the park, there wasn’t a lot there, but it was peaceful. it had a sort of serene vibe, an oasis within the concrete walls of the city.

they found a bench to sit down on which they stayed on for a while, continuing their conversations from the way over there. honghui never thought he’d learn so much about someone in a few hours, but by the time they were done, he knew the exact ages of her parents and siblings, he knew she had a tank of five fish each named after one of her favourite foods, he knew that she counted the stars through her window every night to help her fall asleep.

eventually, hayoon ran into a few of her friends while they walked around the park, and she introduced him as “her celebrity friend”. he thought that was... odd, but he didn’t say anything. they were nice enough, they asked him lots of questions about what it’s like being an idol, and he answered what he was allowed to. but before he knew it, the air was chillier and the sun was sinking down lower in the sky, giving him a signal that he probably should’ve gone back already.

as the candy floss clouds bled into the sunset, honghui bid his temporary goodbyes to hayoon and her friends, promising that they’d meet up again that weekend.

“so, i’ll see you again this weekend, right?” hayoon asked.

“definitely,” honghui replied, smiling softly with pink cheeks.

[ april 11th, 2020, hayoon’s living room ]

it didn’t feel like it had only been a week since the first time honghui and hayoon actually started hanging out.

this was officially their fifth “date”, and they had been texting 24/7, or at least it felt like they were. things were moving really fast. the first two times, they were out in public, but then their time time hanging out, hayoon took honghui to her apartment after he had come to visit her while she was working. she still lived with her mother, she was only 20 after all, and she was gonna start school soon and couldn’t afford to live on her own. her mother was out late working most nights though, so honghui never saw her.

this time, they were at her apartment, sitting in her living room watching a show. the heat wasn’t up far enough and both of them didn’t wanna get up to turn it off so hayoon resorted to cuddling up close next to honghui under their blanket, which made his heart race faster than he’d like to admit.

he really liked her, he’d already admitted that to himself, he’d also admitted it to yeonwoo right before he left that day. he could hear her voice ringing in her ears, saying, “tell her! you’ve got nothing to lose! she’s clearly interested in you.” maybe she was right.

“uh- hayoon?” he blurted out suddenly.

she looked over at him, “what’s up hyunie?” right. she had a nickname for him. maybe yeonwoo was right.

“i- uh-“ he started, trying to properly string his words together, but not getting far.

she smiled, chuckling slightly, “you what? spit it out! what do you-“

“i really like you.”

hayoon stared silently at honghui, which didn’t make him feel any better.

“oh god, sorry, that was sudden,” honghui replied quickly, his cheeks reddening, “it’s only been a week, i know, if you don’t feel the same i underst-“

hayoon cut off honghui’s rambling by sealing the gap between their lips, pressing hers against his. honghui didn’t know how to react at first, but soon sighed and relaxed into the kiss. the kiss was timid from honghui’s end, while hayoon smiled into the kiss before slowly pulling away.

honghui stared at her, dumbfounded, “so... is that a yes?”

hayoon laughed, “you’re so cute. and now i can tell people i kissed a celebrity.” honghui laughed along with that, but the laugh wasn’t as genuine as he thought it’d be.

[ april 13th, 2020, solar dorms ]

“you did WHAT?!”

“it all happened so fast! i- we just-“ honghui stumbled through his words, trying to make sense of everything that happened the previous night.

yeonwoo, who sat at the other end of the couch he was on, sighed, “that was a bit of an overreaction. i just can’t believe you lost your virginity before- literally anyone in this group who hasn’t lost their virginity yet!”

“i- don’t say it like that!” honghui’s cheeks burned as yeonwoo laughed, “it just happened, one thing led to another, you know, isn’t that how it usually goes?”

he couldn’t believe he lost his virginity to hayoon. the night after they first kissed, he visited her again, they watched their show again, and somewhere in there they kissed again. somehow that led to them making out, and then somehow that led to hayoon taking her shirt off, and somehow that led to them fucking. like he said, it all went by really fast.

“i can’t believe this.” yeonwoo groaned, “it’s been just over a week!”

“me neither,” she raised her eyebrows at honghui, “i didn’t expect us to go that far in the first place. but we did. and now i’ve lost my virginity to a fan i met at a damn airport.”

yeonwoo knitted her eyebrows together, “so... does this mean you two are a thing now?”

“i-“ he paused. were they a thing? he had no idea, they hadn’t had a serious conversation about it- at all.

“i don’t know,” honghui said finally, “we haven’t put a label on it, i guess.”

“are you going to?”

he shrugged, “maybe, we’ll see where it goes.”

yeonwoo sighed, looking at the ground, “how did you lose your virginity before me?” she laughed, lightly kicking honghui in the shin, to which he just shrugged in response, his cheeks burning a bright shade of vermillion.

[ april 19th, 2020, hayoon’s work ]

honghui officially had a girlfriend, and her name was lee hayoon.

they made it official the day after honghui had that talk with yeonwoo. he met up with hayoon and they talked about what they were, and since then, they’ve officially been boyfriend and girlfriend. so far, hayoon had been nothing but good to honghui, aside from all the “i’m dating a celebrity” jokes, which honghui found slightly obnoxious, but he chose to ignore it, because he liked her.

the cafe was relatively empty that time of day, so he found himself a table near the front door to sit down at and to wait for hayoon to finish her shift. he couldn’t see out the window well due to the building condensation, but it was overcast, and it had been raining most of the day. but today, instead of the gloomy weather reflecting his mood, honghui was feeling pretty good that day, he’d had a good three weeks, and he couldn’t see anything changing that.

when he saw hayoon emerge from the employee’s room, he stood up to greet her, but as he was about to walk over to her, the door opened. he looked over to see a small group of girls walking in, who hayoon obviously recognized, because she waved to them excitedly when they walked in.

more of her friends.

honghui sighed softly, he liked it better when they spent time together alone, but hayoon always had her friends around her. he knew her as a very social person, so he never thought much of it, but she didn’t seem to be with her friends a whole lot outside of when they hung out. it felt like almost every date now there was at least one of her friends present in some way.

he wasn’t one to protest though, so he kept silent on the issue.

“hi guys!” hayoon exclaimed as she walked over to the area where they all stood, reaching up to placing a hand on his shoulder. “hi hyunie,” she whispered, standing on the tips of her toes to try and kiss his cheek. he was so much taller than her that he had to lean down so she could reach his cheek.

“hi,” he whispered through gritted teeth.

[ april 24th, 2020, hayoon’s work ]

honghui opened the door to the cafe very slowly, seeing hayoon behind the counter with her back turned to him. with a small bouquet of flowers in his hand and a grin on his face, he snuck up to the counter to surprise her. before he came to visit her, he visited a nearby flower shop and picked up a small bouquet for her, no occasion in particular, he just felt like giving her something.

he paused when he realized she was talking on the phone to someone. now, he was never a nosy person, but he couldn’t help but eavesdrop a little on the conversation she was having.

“no, not today... yeah, he keeps saying he wants to be alone with me... god no not like that! he doesn’t like when i bring a lot of friends along...”

honghui’s face fell as she continued.

“it’s not possessive, he’s a celebrity after all... i’m not just dating him because he’s a celebrity! i mean, that may be part of it... no, but-“

hayoon froze when she turned around to see honghui there. he quickly hid the bouquet behind his back.

“hi, hyunie! you’re early, give me a second-“ she spoke quickly before she went back to her phone, quietly explaining that she was gonna hang up. once she did, she turned back to the boy at the counter with a smile, “how long have you been here? hopefully not long so you didn’t have to hear me talking on the phone for so long. me and my friends talk a lot.”

he shook his head quickly, forcing a smile on his face, “nope. just got here,” he lied through his teeth.

“that’s good,” hayoon said, walking around the counter to meet him on the other side, “did you get me flowers?” she gasped, seeing the bouquet in his hand. he nodded quickly and held them out for her to take.

“i love them!” she exclaimed, kissing his hand because she couldn’t reach his cheek. he softened seeing her reaction to the flowers, a genuine smile creeping across his lips.

[ april 27th, 2020, hayoon’s apartment ]

when honghui walked in, hayoon was laying on the couch, watching tv like usual. he didn’t even say hi to her, he didn’t need to, he just walked over to the couch and climbed on top of her, his head resting on her chest. she eventually fell asleep, and honghui tried to, but he didn’t feel like sleeping and he wouldn’t be able to even if he wanted to. whether it was the late afternoon sunlight pouring in through the thin curtains or the tv blaring, something was keeping him up.

he perked up when he heard hayoon’s phone buzz from on the floor beside the couch, also waking hayoon up. she didn’t check her phone, however, instead she tried to get up. she didn’t get very far though, because honghui wrapped his arms around her waist.

“don’t get up, you’re warm.”

hayoon tried to wriggle her way out of his grasp, “i’m just going to the bathroom, i’ll be right back.” he made a little sound of disapproval, but let go of her, flopping back down onto the couch as she stood up and left the room.

he groaned when her phone started dinging constantly. once again, he was never much of a nosy person, but curiosity got the better of him. he peered over the side of the couch to see what was so important that they had to sent six messages in a row.

[ message from : bestie 👯‍♀️ ]

that wasn’t really much of an indicator.

[ bestie : hayoooooon ]

[ bestie : are you there?? ]

[ bestie : or are you with your celebrity boyfriend again lol ]

[ bestie : come on he literally takes up so much of your time talk to meee ]

[ bestie : i mean i get it he’s your boyfriend but you keep saying he’s clingy ]

[ bestie : he’s gonna get in the way of our friendship lol ]

he suddenly wished he didn’t read those texts.

he was already an over thinker, but that might made it ten times worse. did hayoon think he was clingy? he didn’t think he was that clingy, but how clingy was too clingy for hayoon? he rolled on his back, sighing loudly, maybe it was just a misunderstanding, that was his solution to everything, just a misunderstanding.

that was when hayoon came back from the bathroom, walking over to the front of the couch. “you okay?” she asked, seeing him sprawled out staring up at the ceiling in thought.

he turned his head towards her hearing her voice, sitting himself up on the couch, “yeah. i think i’m gonna head back though, i don’t feel great.”

“that’s fine, is everything okay though?” she asked.

“yeah, it’s fine, i’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, standing up to give her a peck on the lips before grabbing his shoes and walking out the door.

he stayed up thinking a lot that night.

[ april 29th, 2020, solar dorms ]

this was the last straw.

over the last week there had been a lot of little occurrences that have almost set honghui off, but for some reason, this was the one that made him snap.

honghui and hayoon were in the middle of texting, and she accidentally sent him a text that was very obviously meant for someone else. normally this wouldn’t have been a big deal, but the message had something to do with how she wouldn’t like him as much if he wasn’t an idol.

[ hayoon : no he’s a sweetheart but not the type of person i’d date it he weren’t a celebrity ]

she deleted it quickly and apologized, but he’d already seen enough. he called her immediately, asking for an explanation.

“it’s not what it seems like, i swear, we were just joking around-“

“seems like a pretty weird thing to joke about, don’t you think?” honghui replied flatly.

“our humour is just like that. hyunie, listen-“

“don’t call me hyunie right now.” his voice dripped with venom. he’d only ever spoken with hayoon in the sweetest, warmest sounding voice, it didn’t sound like him at all. it scared hayoon a little quite frankly. “joke or not, it’s degrading. i just want you to be honest with me.”

hayoon sighed, “hyunsu, i’m sorry-“

“i want honesty, that’s all i want,” honghui replied, his voice softening a little. “i wouldn’t be making a big deal out of this if it wasn’t for everything that’s happened this week. the call, the texts-“

“so you did hear that phone call?”

“that’s not my point. so unless you have an explanation for all of this, i’m gonna hang up. be honest with me, if you don’t want to date me, say it to my face.”

“hyunsu, i...” her voice broke slightly, and honghui softened again. he still really likes her, so the fact that he had to do this fucking sucked. it felt like it was tearing his heart in half.

“you what, hayoon? spit it out.”

“i like you, i really do. but the reason i started dating you was because you were a celebrity, i got excited at the idea of dating a celebrity. and yeah, maybe if you weren’t famous i wouldn’t have been so quick to start dating you, but that doesn’t mean-“

honghui sighed, “i think i’ve heard enough.”

“wait! i’ll explain myself, i really do like you-“

“i like you too. but this fucking hurts, hayoon. would you like it if someone started dating you for your public status?”

hayoon sniffled so quietly it was almost inaudible, and her voice wavered slightly, “hyunsu-“

“i’ve heard enough. i don’t want to deal with this anymore.” honghui said bitterly. “goodbye, hayoon. find some other boy’s heart to break.”

and with that, he hung up.

they were over. a small part of honghui hoped that entire conversation would turn out to be a misunderstanding. they’d make up, and things would go back to normal. but sometimes, life doesn’t work out in your favour. sometimes it treated you like a little kid would a daisy they found in the grass- plucking you clean. which sounded like an exaggeration, but to honghui, a hopeless romantic who thought he and hayoon really had something, it wasn’t.

that was it. they were over. honghui hated it but he tried to remind himself that it was better this way.

“dude, this is getting ridiculous,” yeonwoo said loudly, pounding on the door of the bedroom, “get out here.”

it’d been over a day since honghui had left his room for more than two minutes. the only people that had seen him were minjae and jihoon, but even that’s just because they share a room. they’d tried multiple things to get him out of bed, minjae started jumping on the bed with him on it at one point, and not even that worked.

he’d been sulking all day over hayoon, and frankly, yeonwoo was sick of it.

“i’m not gonna stop pounding on the door until you get out here and stop being sorry for yourself!”

after a few seconds, yeonwoo heard a muffled, “why should i?” from inside the room.

“because i ordered kimchi fried rice from your favourite takeout place,” she answered, “so you can either stay in there wallowing in your own self pity or eat.”

it took a few seconds, but soon the door cracked open and honghui poked his head through.

“you can come in,” he said quietly.

“i know that would work,” yeonwoo said, smiling to herself as she opened the door further, letting herself into the room with two takeout boxes in her arms.

while the two of them sat on honghui’s bed with him scarfing down his food like he hadn’t eaten in a week, yeonwoo suddenly piped up, “so, spill it. what happened between you two and why are you so upset about it?”

honghui swallowed, sighing dramatically, “it was... it was a lot of things honestly. a lot of things that kinda just built up until i- realized this wasn’t gonna work- i guess.”

yeonwoo nodded solemnly, “do you wanna... elaborate?”

“god, you sound like a guidance counsellor.”

“i’m trying to help, hong,” he couldn’t help but chuckle at yeonwoo’s dramatic, drawn out tone when saying the stupid nickname she gave him. “consider me your part time therapist.”

“definitely not. i don’t think you’re qualified to be my therapist.”

“says who?”

“says me.”

“just tell me what happened between you and this bitch!”

“she’s not-!”

yeonwoo quickly shushes honghui’s protests, “don’t even. she’s a bitch. i don’t know what happened, but she’s a bitch.”

“it was just...” honghui jabbed his utensils into his takeout box while he tried find his words, “like i said, it was a lot of things that just built up over time- like how she only seemed to want to hang out with me when her friends were around? like she wanted to show me off almost?”

yeonwoo hummed in disapproval as honghui continued, “this one time i overheard her talking on the phone to one of her friends about me, and another time i saw some texts her friend had sent her. the whole thing just felt- off.”

she furrowed her eyebrows and simply replied, “that stinks. what did the texts say?”

honghui took another jab at his food, “her friend said something about how i was ruining their friendship... she also mentioned how hayoon thought i was clingy.”

“the fuck was she expecting?” yeonwoo blurted, “if you’re gonna be in a relationship it’d be nice if you were somewhat committed to the relationship.”

“i was pretty clingy though-“

“shut the fuck up,” she replied in a harsh yet reassuring tone, “being committed to a relationship isn’t clingy.”

honghui sighed, knowing that yeonwoo was defending him much more than she should’ve been, although it was probably in an effort to get him up off his ass, which he appreciated. instead of saying any of that, he rubbed his eyes and groaned, “i can’t believe i lost my virginity to her.”

yeonwoo scoffed, “what’s the worst she can do, write an angry tweet about your tiny dick?”

“hey-! i’m average.”

“you measure?”

“...who doesn’t?”

“anyways...” yeonwoo took a bite of her food, continuing, “you need to get up and get over her, she’s not worth your time! i can make plans with some friends for dinner tonight somewhere?”

honghui hesitated, not wanting to leave his bed but also realizing that he needed to sometime soon. he finally replied, “sure, just not minjung and jaemin, i don’t wanna see any more couples right now.”

“yeah, yeah, get over it you big baby,” yeonwoo laughed, “i can text dahyun and chaeyoung, how about that?”

“and tzuyu?” honghui asked.

“yeah, of course, tzuyu too,” she replied, pulling out her phone.

honghui sat up straighter, setting his empty takeout box on his bedside table, “since we’re going out tonight, i’m gonna go shower.”

“good idea, you haven’t left your bed in a day,” yeonwoo said, crinkling her nose. she stopped honghui before he left the room though, clapping her hand on his shoulder.

“hayoon isn’t worth your time, or energy,” she said, “but if it’s still bothering you, you know you can y’all to me, right? or minjung, or yongmi, or jihoon- or anyone.”

before honghui started dating yeonwoo, and before yeonwoo helped him quit smoking weed, he had a certain spot he’d go to with a few other trainees who had picked up smoking, they had a name for this place, “the spot”. simple, but they all understood what it meant.

“the spot” was a small place behind the smke building where the security cameras didn’t reach, it was sort of a little hideout for trainees to go where they wouldn’t be caught. honghui hasn’t been there in a long time, this only worsened the feeling of dread growing stronger in the pit of his stomach.

he typed one more message to yeonwoo before grabbing his things and leaving the practice room.

[ honghui : i’ll be there soon ]

before heading to the door, honghui made a quick stop at a bathroom on the way to wash up. he had just gotten out of practice, and would prefer to freshen up a little bit before meeting up with his girlfriend.

he splashed his face with water from a running faucet and attempted to fix his hair a little. he found a hoodie in his bag from earlier, so he took off his sweaty practice shirt and put the hoodie on.

“ugh, that’ll have to do,” he mumbled to himself, sighing quietly. with that, he was out the door and heading to the spot. the spot where really nothing great happens, the spot where the druggies go, what could go wrong! he thought to himself.

what a stupid question! a whole lot could go wrong!

the fresh air outside was kind of nice. he hasn’t been outside much that day, and the cool breeze comforted him a little. the light of day had long since dwindled, replacing the brilliant hues of the pink and orange sunset with darker blues and purples. the moonlight illuminated the concrete in front of him, and he could see a shadow just around the corner of the building.

he turned the corner, and yeonwoo was standing there.

“hey.” she was wearing his hoodie, that was the first thing honghui noticed. the grey hoodie he let her keep on their first date, it was huge on her, it almost covered her shorts.

“hey,” honghui replied, “sorry, i just got back from training so i’m kind of sweaty.”

“it’s fine. can i just talk to you about something? i’ve been thinking about it for the past week.”

the feeling of dread returned almost instantly. mentally shoving the feeling aside, honghui replied, “of course, what is it?”

yeonwoo took a deep breath, “okay, you know how the final lineup for the new group has been confirmed, right, and you know how we’re both supposed to be in the group?”

honghui nodded.

“well... i’ve been thinking...” yeonwoo fiddled with the strings on the hoodie, “i... ugh, i don’t know how to word it.”

“it’s okay, take your time,” honghui replied reassuringly, even though he could sense what was coming.

“uh, i- i think we should take a break.” yeonwoo stuttered through her words.

honghui froze, feeling his chest tighten. he was right, he was dreading this conversation for a reason.

yeonwoo continued, “it’s because we’re debuting soon, and- uh- i just think now isn’t really the time for a relationship. we’re gonna be so busy, and i think it’ll be better for the group as a whole.”

honghui still stayed silent, was this really how it would end? they were only together for four months, sure, but honghui genuinely loved yeonwoo. she was his first relationship, and she helped him through a lot in those four months. she helped him quit doing drugs. he thought they were perfect together.

although, he supposed, it wasn’t her fault, it was their schedules’ fault she decided they had to break things off. being an idol isn’t exactly a laid-back career, in a few months time, they would be booked 24/7. it didn’t seem right that it was going to end like this.

yeonwoo met honghui’s gaze for a split second, pale moonlight illuminating her glossy eyes, before she looked back down at the ground, “i- look, i’m really sorry, but i think it’s for the best. i- i know you don’t deal with super busy schedules super well, so it’s already gonna be a lot for you, and-“

“it’s okay, i get it,” honghui reassured her. he didn’t think it was fair, but he understood it was for the best.

“oh.” yeonwoo froze, “i didn’t think you would take it that well honestly.”

“no i actually appreciate you making a decision now, instead of a few months down the road when it becomes too much to handle.” honghui replied.

“i just think it’d be good for the group as a whole, too, like in the long run, you know?” yeonwoo continued, “someone would no doubt find out about us eventually, and knowing the public, they probably wouldn’t take it well. idols dating is already a touchy subject, imagine two idols from the same group.”

“i can only imagine,” honghui said. he never understood why certain subjects, like dating, were such a taboo in the industry. he always thought the standards for idols were ridiculously high, and he thought that idols got treated less like humans and more like... a vintage porcelain dolls in a glass display case, or something like that.

“well, thanks for understanding. that’s one of the things i love about you, you’re such an understanding person. i know this isn’t the most ideal way we could’ve ended things, but better now than later.” yeonwoo looked back up at him, smiling a little sadly.

“hey, it’s not like we’re never gonna see each other again,” honghui said, “we’ll see each other every day, and even if we’re not together we’ll still be best friends, right?”

“of course we will be! even if it’s awkward for a while...” eri said reassuringly.

“yeah...”

the silence that almost instantly filled the air seemed deafening. the pair didn’t know what would happen next. it was over, now what? you could practically hear all the thoughts bouncing around both of their heads.

that was interrupted when honghui heard yeonwoo sniffle. “are you crying?”

yeonwoo had her head down so honghui couldn’t see her face, but when she looked up, honghui noticed tears streaming down her cheeks. “i- i’m sorry, i didn’t mean to cry. i just feel so bad...”

when honghui heard yeonwoo’s voice quiver, he immediately crouched down to wrap her in a tight hug. “don’t cry! you didn’t do anything wrong!”

yeonwoo sighed and laid her head down on his shoulder, “it just doesn’t feel like the right way to end things,” she mumbled.

“it feels like that a bit, yeah,” honghui replied, “but you had a reason, and i understand. i think now would be the best time anyway, what if we had a rough breakup while promoting with our group? i don’t think i’d wanna see something like that go down.”

“i guess so,” yeonwoo said, wiping under her eyes with her sweater sleeve, “do you want your hoodie back?”

honghui shook his head, chuckling softly, “it’s okay, you can keep it. do you want to go back inside now? it’s getting cold.”

yeonwoo nodded, “yeah, let’s go.”

strangely, honghui felt a sense of relief as him and yeonwoo walked hand-in-hand back inside, almost like they hadn’t broken up. of course, they’d still see each other probably every day from then on, and he knew they’d always be best friends, because he knew they got along great even when they weren’t dating.