closed w/ @leonvld !
what’s the worst thing that could happen?
the counselor was right. at worst, jiwon would pick up, tell sam to delete his number and then officially block him. or, maybe he wouldn’t pick up at all. at best, jiwon would pick up and hear him out. sam wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t.
“jiwon, hi,” he practiced as the phone rang. “no, that’s too casual. hey, man. no, that’s even more casual. uh, hey, man, how’ve you been doing? how are debut preparations going, h-”
the phone stopped ringing. jiwon actually picked up. sam cleared his throat, smiling awkwardly even though jiwon couldn’t see him. “uh, i don’t know how much of that you heard but …” he had to settle on a greeting now, didn’t he? “what’s up, man?” sam hesitated for a moment, and it showed as he extended his invitation to jiwon. “i have time off this evening. i know you must be really busy with, like, debut shit,” no thanks to sam. “but, um, if you have an hour or whatever later, do you wanna come over? we could talk and … i could make you a meal. as bribery, i guess, um, if you want it. eggs, yeah?”
“ um, preparations are going — ”
he stops. “ — was i not supposed to hear any of that ? ” there's a faint tinge of amusement in jiwon’s voice. truth be told, he had been wondering why sam had been rattling off questions without even waiting for his greeting. the mental image of the younger man rehearsing while waiting for him to pick up the phone is endearing. it’s hard to stop thinking of sam as a little brother ever since the first time he met him as a trainee, lost in the middle of a subway station in seoul. “ i only heard the last greeting and your questions, i guess. ” he’s not sure if that clarifies anything, having no idea of what or how much sam had said before he picked up.
it’s been a month since what happened in hwagae, and it no longer burns like an open wound to think about how sam misused his trust. after weeks in thought, weeks where he’s talked to friends he trusts and his family members, he’s come to the conclusion that it was more likely a misunderstanding than anything else. still, he’s hesitant to let sam off so easily, not without getting a better gauge of his sincerity, “ and what would we be talking about ? ” he asks, voice light and unaccusing.









