Page 111

“Not just your injury, but whatever happened between you and Hyeri.”

Minseok clams up at the mention of her name. He doesn’t want to hear it, especially not coming from Jongdae. “I’m tired.” He turns on his good side, facing the wall.

“She came to see you.”

It’s the only thing that could get his attention. Minseok turns slightly, eyeing JD to see if he’s making it up to get under his skin. But Jongdae just stands there expectantly.

“Did she really?” Minseok asks, finally sitting up. “When? Where is she now?”

“She wanted to say goodbye before she left for LA.”

“What? But she’s hurt. She can’t travel.” Minseok is on his feet now.

“It’s just for the table read, she says she’ll be back,” Jongdae reminds him. But it doesn’t calm Minseok.

Instead, he storms out of the room with purpose, intent on leaving to go after Hyeri. “How long ago was she here?”

“Minseok-ah.” Jongdae captures his friend’s arm to stop him. “She’s probably halfway to the airport by now.”

Minseok shakes his head, his shoulders deflating with the realization of defeat. “I didn’t get a chance to tell her that I regret—” His voice cracks.

Jongdae isn’t sure what to do. It’s a complicated thing, wanting to console his friend but unsure if his comfort will be accepted. So, Jongdae merely lays a hand on Minseok’s good shoulder.

“I shouldn’t have told you that you were being selfish with her,” he says softly, the fight gone from him. He no longer wants to lash out with his anger. His friend is hurting.

“Iwasbeing selfish.” Minseok sighs. “I pretended like I was okay with keeping things casual. And then the offer came up and I kept pretending like I was okay until I ended up pushing her away.”

“Is that what you want to tell her now?” Jongdae asks. “That you want her to stay?”

Minseok shakes his head. “No, I can’t do that. I can’t make her give up something this big for me.”

“You didn’t want to be the reason she’d have regrets.” Jongdae nods. “I get it. I feel that way with Sooyeon sometimes. She lost her contract because of me. Some days I’m scared she’ll look at me and realize that it wasn’t worth it.”

“Yeah, well, it’s because of that ugly face of yours. Of course, she’s going to regret it.”

Jongdae cracks a smile at the familiar ribbing he’s more used to from his friend.

“I should have told you about Sooyeon to begin with. And I should have apologized better when it came out.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Did you really think I couldn’t be trusted?”

“No.” Jongdae looks genuinely shocked, and it goes a long way to soothe the festering wound that Minseok has been nursing. “I was just scared because I wasn’t sure how to protect Sooyeon. I guess I didn’t end up doing a good job of it.”

Minseok nods. In a strange way, he can understand that fear so much better now than he would have a few months ago. With everything that happened with Hyeri, he’s well aware how complicated these things can get. “I shouldn’t have let my anger at you sit so long. I’m too used to being the easygoing one. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone by taking things too seriously.”

“I know you better than that, though. You should have been able to tell me.”

Minseok grins. “Are we going to kiss and make up now?”

“You wish.” Jongdae recoils slightly.

And just for that, Minseok leans in and smacks his lips hard against his friend’s.

“Oh wow, what did we miss?” Jaehyung asks, walking into the apartment with Jun and Robbie. They’re carrying takeout bags.

“Our love-line has been restored,” Minseok says, throwing his good arm around his friend’s stiff shoulders. JD tries to push away, but it only makes Minseok hold on tighter. The more Jongdae resists, the more fun he is having.

“Ya, stop that!” Jongdae shoves him and accidentally smacks Minseok’s bad shoulder.