It's just not right, somehow," Mingyu says, into the silence of the studio. The studio had been split into half until a week ago, when the fight had happened. Mingyu releases a sigh, ruffles his hair, flops back into his chair, stares at the barren wall where Jihoon's computer used to be. If he closes his eyes, he can still see Jihoon's silhouette, dark against the light streaming in from the windows, headphones on and oblivious to his surroundings until he stopped working on his songs. "I can't focus without you," he continues, speaking to the space where Jihoon used to be. "I'm pitiful."
Mingyu stands up; he can't bear to be in this space any more, not without Jihoon. He heads for the door, opens it, letting light in, but before he closes the door, he casts one last look into the studio, as if hoping that Jihoon will be there, and the last week will have been just a bad dream. He's not there. Mingyu sighs, rubbing red eyes sore from lack of sleep. "It's not the same without you," he says, into the silence of the studio, and then he closes the door, and he doesn't come back.
—
It's a Tuesday evening, hot and restless and on the brink of a summer storm when Mingyu sees Jihoon again. He's in a cafe, drowning his sorrows in a glass of hot cocoa, when there's a flash of pink in the corner of his eyes and then Jihoon rounds the corner, hand in hand with someone he doesn't recognise. He stands up with a clatter as his chair is knocked back, and his drink is dashed to the ground. The sound of shattering glass and the feeling of hot liquid seeping into his shoes wakes him from his daze, and by the time he looks again, Jihoon is gone.
—
It's not the same without Jihoon, Mingyu thinks, lying on the wooden floor in his apartment, and listening to sad songs on his iPod. Everything reminds him of Jihoon, from the sofa they would watch movies together on, to the table where Jihoon once gave Mingyu a homemade cake, to the mug in Mingyu's cupboard that got chipped from a late-night game of chase around the flat, everything had memories of Jihoon, and it hurts.
It hurts because Jihoon's happy now, has been going out with someone other than Mingyu for two weeks now, and it hurts because Mingyu's alone. It hurts because they're not together anymore, and it hurts because Jihoon doesn't look affected in the least that they're no longer dating. It hurts because the one Jihoon's happy with isn't Mingyu, it hurts because Jihoon's started to look through Mingyu as if he doesn't exist, and it hurts because no matter how hard he tries, Mingyu can't get Jihoon out of his head.
It hurts because it's not the same.