cafe la fleur | skz

[36]

"this really sucks," felix pouts, joining his friends at their usual table in the café, "everyone is having issues these days."

"okay first of all," seungmin cleared his throat, "your shift isn't over yet, why are you sitting down with us? second of all, who has issues? i haven't heard of any."

"ever heard of a break?" felix taunted, sticking out his tongue at seungmin, who scrunched up his face in disgust, "everyone is having issues, first you and hyunjin have relationship issues, and now minho."

jisung visibly stiffened, but luckily the two others were too interested to hear felix than to pay attention to him.

"three days ago i was with binnie in their dorm and when minho came home, he looked really depressed. like 'even more depressed than jisung in his emo phase' depressed."

seungmin and jeongin shot jisung a weird look, but jisung ignored them, eyes focused on the ground.

"what happened to minho?" jeongin asked, taking a huge drink of his milkshake.

"i don't know," felix said gravely, tying up his apron, "well, gotta get myself back to work, bye y'all."

once felix had retreated back to the counter, seungmin and jeongin turned to jisung, who raised an eyebrow.

"what?"

"what do you mean 'what'?"

"what?"

"your boyfriend is depressed, shouldn't you know something about it?"

jisung fell silent, a slight panicking feeling rising in his chest when he felt his eyes brim with tears. he stood up abruptly, taking his cup with him, "i'm off. see you guys later."

and with that, jisung left too, seungmin and jeongin exchanging confused glances.

"did i say something?"

"not that i know of."

"weird."

-

jeongin stepped off the elevator, dripping wet from being caught in the rain. emitting a small sneeze, he made his way down the hallway.

"i hate the rainy season" jeongin grumbles to himself, "i might catch a cold now."

he stops at his dorm, hand reaching into his pocket to get his key, as felix had locked the door before leaving for his late evening shift earlier that night.

suddenly, he stopped, seeing someone standing a few feet away from him, hood pulled up and mask covering his face, staring at jeongin intensely.

jeongin pauses, unsure what to say to the mysterious figure, "um... hi?"

when the figure didn't reply, jeongin blurted out, "a-are you a robber? please don't rob me, i've been saving real hard to buy a game for felix hyung for his birthday!"

the figure didn't reply, but instead he advanced over to jeongin, who quickly stepped back cautiously, raising his fists up in instinct.

"d-don't hurt me, i'm a brown belt in taekwondo!"

but jeongin dropped his fists and released a huge sigh of relief when the hooded boy lowered his mask, revealing a distressed minho.

"minho hyung?" jeongin rattled, "you scared the strawberry milk out of me! what are you doing here, dressed all sketchy like that?"

"i'm here to..." minho suddenly shook his head, pulling his mask back up, "you know what? never mind. i'll go back to my dorm."

"goodnight jeongin."

"good...night?" the younger watched as minho retreated back to where jeongin had come from, stepping into the elevator and shooting him a sad smile as the lift doors closed.

shaking his head to himself, jeongin unlocked his door and stepped inside, muttering softly under his breath.

"felix was right. minho hyung does look depressed."

but after saying that, he crinkles up his nose as he thinks about their encounter again.

"but still, why is he lingering around our dorms like some kind of thief? was he drunk?"

"who's drunk?"

a familiar voice sounds from behind jeongin, and jeongin screams, dropping his keys and bag, hand flying to his chest.

"seungmin hyung! you scared me!" jeongin shouts, shoving the older roughly with a glare, "first minho, now you, i swear i'm gonna get a heart attack."

"oops, sorry," seungmin said with a goofy smile, holding up a small bag of something for jeongin.

"strawberry milk?"