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Their schedule had just finished for the day so they had decided to have a movie night in one of the dorms. It was nothing special, they always did stuff like this but to Hyunjin things felt different. Like his boyfriends weren’t acting the way they used to. He didn’t understand why or couldn’t really pinpoint when but something was clearly going on. He didn’t dwell on it much and thought it was probably the stress of their latest comeback. And he just let it go.
——————
Next morning, he woke up with an excruciating headache and directly went to the kitchen to grab some meds from the drawer. There he saw Changbin. He quickly greeted him and didn’t even get a response in return. His cute Changbin-hyung wasn’t even sending him a smile. His smile dropped and he went on to finding some painkillers. But he couldn’t really stop his thoughts. Normally, his hyung would ask him if he was alright or if he needed anything when he saw him drinking medicine but right now he didn’t even talk to him. Quickly gulping down the painkillers he went to the living room.
Felix and Jeongin were sitting on the couch playing playstation and next to them was Minho scrolling through his phone. He decided to place himself next to Minho, sitting at the edge of the couch but he didn’t miss the judging look his hyung gave him as if he had done something really wrong. He was so confused. What was going on with his members.? He shot a confused look at Minho but he only got a sigh and a displeased look in return. He knew his hyung could sometimes come across as mean but he had never done anything to upset the members, it was the way he joked around. But this Minho didn’t seem like he was joking around. He really wanted to ask if he had done something wrong but he was scared and decided that maybe they were just tired.
Some time near lunch, he saw his boyfriends getting ready to go out. He knew they didn’t have any schedules for today so he got a little confused and decided to ask their manager. He got a “No, today is your off day remember” message and just answered with a “Sorry hyung I forgot”. He didn’t want to come across as weird to their manager for asking him that but he had bigger issues right now. He saw everyone by the door wearing their shoes, he couldn’t restrain his curiosity anymore and said “Where are you all going?”
“We are gonna get some lunch together.” said Jisung not looking really pleased.
“Yeah, to a new Chinese restaurant.” also said Jeongin as if he was flaunting. “Bye, hyung!”
Hyunjin stayed still, he could only nod. As if them not inviting him wasn’t enough they had just showed it in front of his face. His feet lead him to his room where he curled up in his bed and stared at the ceiling. If only he knew what he had done wrong. He really wanted his members back. Something was clearly wrong and no one was explaining why. From then on he started distancing himself from others.
He wasn’t eating with them at dinner, he rarely got out of his room, he didn’t go to Felix for hugs, he wasn’t talking to Seungmin about his small problems, he wasn’t squeezing Jeongin’s cheeks, he didn’t ask Chan about his ideas on his songs, he wasn’t cracking jokes with Jisung, he didn’t sleep on Changbin’s shoulders, he wasn’t helping Minho cook. Everything had changed and still he hadn’t received any explanation. He was going crazy. He tried asking a few times but they just said “I’m tired let’s have this talk later.” or “Nothing is wrong, what are you talking about?”. So he just stopped asking at one point.
——————
It was one of their dance practice days. Everyone met there and they started their practice with their choreographer. It wasn’t a really hard part of the choreo but Hyunjin made a wrong step and in the blink of an eye he was crashed onto the floor. While falling he also accidentally had stepped on Jisung’s feet but it was nothing concerning. Just then did he realise that he had sprained his ankle. It was clearly starting to bruise but it wasn’t something he couldn’t handle. What he couldn’t handle was all of his boyfriends pampering Jisung but not even sparing him a look. The only one who had clearly showed concern was their choreographer. He had looked at his injury and told him to sit this practice out to not injure himself any further. Members started to whine about him ruining their practice and how he was dragging them down. He felt the need to cry but he couldn’t, not in front of his members. They would just make him feel worse. He quickly rushed to the bathrooms. There he let himself cry until he couldn’t anymore. Suddenly, he heard footsteps. He looked up and saw their choreographer with an apologetic expression. He didn’t understand why he looked genuinely concerned. He had ruined their practice like the others said. He should have scolded him but their choreographer just hugged him and said everything would be fine. There, he cried a second time that day.
He washed his face and made his way back to the practice room slightly limping. The members actually had concern on their faces. They didn’t really expect seeing Hyunjin with a swollen face and limping but Hyunjin didn’t even care about it now. He just thanked their choreographer and grabbed his stuff to go home. To his surprise, Chan-hyung offered to carry his bag but he angrily refused, trying his best not to snap at any of them. The ride home was really tense. No one dared to say a word. It was as if the members were starting to realise what they had actually done.
Hyunjin was the first to get out of the car and make his way to the dorm. There, he put on his headphones and went straight to his room. That’s when Chan decided to gather others to talk. This was going to be serious.
Han decided to talk first “Hyung, what is this about?”.
“I think we all know what this meeting is about.” Chan said seriously.
“I know we have been pushing Hyunjin away but maybe our reason might not be true.” said Changbin.
“And why is that?”replied Han unamused.
“I was just able to get in touch with the girl in the photo.” Changbin said.
“Aaand??” asked Felix curiously.
“She said that it was all a lie all this time and that she had never even seen him in real life.”replied Changbin with guilt all over his face.
It was as if time had stopped, everyone looked like they had millions of thoughts going through their heads. That’s when Hyunjin came in with a disheveled look. He suddenly asked “What girl?”. No one could answer him for a few moments so Minho just decided to show him the photo. It was him kissing a girl on the streets. Which was photoshopped! Hyunjin looked really shocked and disappointed at the same time. So this was why they avoided me for so long he thought in his mind. He couldn’t muster up any words. His face showed everything he felt at that moment. First to talk was Felix. He started saying how sorry he was while hugging himself on the verge of crying. And after him everyone started to apologise and take about how guilty they were but Hyunjin still couldn’t get his mind to comprehend what was going on. He dropped to the ground and started to cry. Everyone froze. “How could you think I would ever cheat on you guys? Do you trust me that much? Why would you not ask me in the first place? Am I that unreliable?” he half yelled while crying. They didn’t have an answer, they had really fucked up.
Chan stood up and hugged him which made him start to cry even more. No one knew what they could do to even get a piece of the trust he had before. Being the leader Chan started talking “We know we really fucked up big and I don’t know why we even believed it in the first place. I think it was our insecurities clouding our judgement. And I know there is no excuse for what we did but we are really sorry.” Others also started to say similar things but Hyunjin couldn’t get himself to say anything. He slowly got up, wiping his tears. “I still don’t understand why you did all that but I want everything to turn back to how it was. But I also need time to think and gather my trust back.” he said in a hushed voice. Everyone knew there was going to be a rough road ahead of them but they were ready to do anything to get back their Jinnie.