Jisung chewed silently on the meat his mother cooked. The whole time he ate dinner with his parents were in silence. All of this because of his father sudden question, "are you going to continue playing basketball?"

When his father asked him that, he had glanced at his mother in desperation to get help but his mother had the same gaze as his father and he was forced to answer them with a , " I don't know " this wasn't the first time in a week they had asked him this question. You can say the asked it every second chance they had and Jisung's answer was an unwavering, "I don't know"

Everytime his parents asked him this his usual mood will go down by -1000 and his parents will stop asking him. It was like an endless player against big boss round, once the big boss die they will wait for it to revajuate and kill him with the same question again.

After washing his dishes, he excuses himself to his room. Due to his injured leg, he had taken the same leave as Jeongin and stayed home for a few days.

They told him to rest but instead of resting he felt like he was being caged in his own home.

He gently sat down on his bed and looked around. His room had looked exactly the same like a year ago before he left home. Seemed like his mother kept everything cleaned. Even his guitar that he had a thought of selling away was cleaned by her.

He grabbed the guitar and started strumming, he cringed at the way his strumming sounded out of tune. How long had it been since he played? Even if it had been a long time, it was impossible to strum such a sound.

He sighed, putting the guitar away, deciding he would just tune it back some other times.

His back plopped against the soft mattress, his hand rummaging through his pocket to fish out his phone.

Just like old time, whenever he felt down he would call the only person he trusted—Hyunjin.

After the conversation they had at his dorm, their friendship had return to the way it was...for now. Hyunjin suggested for them to try going out but he refused and Hyunjin respected that. "We can figure out feelings from now on, can't we?", Jisung told Hyunjin. At least, it wasn't a definite rejection.

"Hello?", A semi-husky voice answered Jisung and a smile curved on his lips as he answered, "were you sleeping?", And he shifted in the bed, his stomach now pressed against the bed.  "Hmm...", Hyunjin hummed while rubbing his eyes. He had taken a short nap after practice and was waiting for Jisung to call him. They promised to talk today because Hyunjin had to sleep early the night before.

"What's wrong?", Hyunjin immediately asked. Jisung was amazed the way Hyunjin always know when he was upset by just listening to his voice tone. Maybe next time he should hide it better. "The same thing. My parents keep bugging me about me playing basketball or not"

"And your answer?" Jisung chuckled, Hyunjin probably heard the same question and response over hundred times. "I said I don't know, of course"

He pulled a pillow close to his chest and sat up, his back leaning against the end of the bed. "Like...I really don't know what to say to them nor do what I feel about basketball anymore"

"Like my whole life is so confusing right now" , Hyunjin stayed silent the whole conversation and hummed here and there.

"But Ji", Jisung raised his eyebrows when Hyunjin initiated to ask him something. "Why did you start playing basketball?" Jisung's fingers on the phone flinched and his muscles went rigid.

"Why?", Jisung asked in many context. Hyunjin shook his head, "it's fine if you don't want to tell me"

"Well...that-", he placed the phone in his other hand and continued, "maybe my dad is right about it", he covered his face with his palm and groaned. "Maybe that's why I had been telling them I don't know because I don't want them to be disappointed that I'm not doing what I really want?" Then he added, "it was guilt. It was guilt, alright? I heard them talking about my father's injury in middle school and I just wanted to make him happy but why is it that the more I play, the sadder he get? The sadder my family get? It's like I'm doing everything wrong from the start. Maybe me playing basketball doesn't change a thing. If only my father didn't come that day...if only-"

"Jisung!", Hyunjin yelled before Jisung could end his word. "Don't you dare finish that word", Hyunjin rubbed his forehead and sat up. " Do you have time now?"

Jisung hummed, "let's meet up. I'm going there. Stay put where you are", Hyunjin ended the call, Jisung gapping his mouth when the situation was getting out of his control. He was this near to breaking down if not for Hyunjin snapping him out of it.

Half an hour passed and Hyunjin finally arrived. When Hyunjin went upstairs after greeting Jisung's parents, he saw the small boy hugging himself inside his blanket. He curled his body into a small ball and cuddled a pillow. When he heard the sound of his door being closed, he slightly raised his head to take a peek at who just came in.

Hyunjin took off his hat, placing it next to the nightstand. He pulled Jisung into a warm hug and patted his back, Jisung pulled out his hands out of the blanket to return the hug, his hands holding onto Hyunjin tightly. He breathed in Hyunjin's scent and breathed out with a broken shaky sigh. 

"I don't even know what I want to do, Hyunjin. I started playing because of the guilt then I started playing because I think I like it then...I just started playing because it's the only thing I'm good at", he shook his head, his face on Hyunjin's chest as he sobbed. Life was just so tiring for him.

Hyunjin hummed, caressing Jisung's head gently as he swayed side to side to soothe Jisung. "You don't have to know what you want to do now, Ji"

"You can slowly think about what you want to do just like when you told us to figure out our feeling slowly from now on", he pulled Jisung away from him and cupped his cheeks. He bent a bit down and smiled at Jisung, his eyes turning into a crescents as he wiped Jisung's tears away. "Don't cry"

"I don't like it when you cry too much. It makes you look ugly", Jisung frowned, grabbing a pillow and throwing it to Hyunjin. "Is this the time to play around?!", He yelled, picking another pillow and throwing it to Hyunjin. Even so, Hyunjin was able to raise his mood in a matter of no second. Hyunjin held both of his hands to stop him from hitting him, "I'm telling you the truth. If you cry too much, it makes me sad too.", He added and pinched Jisung's puffy cheeks.

"Ji, do you still keep your guitar?", An idea suddenly popped out. Jisung rias d an eyebrow and nodded, pointing at the guitar he placed next to his study desk. "But... it's out of tune though", Hyunjin ignored Jisung's statement and proceed to take the guitar.

"Teach me how to play", Hyunjin said, handing it to Jisung. Jisung rolled his eyes, the boy was really telling him to tune the guitar when he was too lazy to do it. "I'm too lazy"

Hyunjin clasped his hand and looked at Jisung with big eyes, imitating his dog, Kkami when it wanted food. Jisung raised both of his hands in defeat. He didn't want to look at that ever again.

"But why the sudden interest?", Jisung said as he checked the cord one by one. Hyunjin shrugged, "now I have a reason to come here often, don't I?"

He wanted to spend more time with Jisung and he didn't want Jisung to be on how own when ever he felt down. He also wanted to be there when Jisung come to his own conclusion. He wanted to be there for Jisung...just for the sake of Jisung and also for his own selfishness of always wanting to see Jisung whenever he wanted to.

Jisung stared at Hyunjin and looked away, a hint of blush on his cheeks. He promised to figure out his feeling, so he will. He hasn't tell Hyunjin bit he was planning to meet up with Na-Eun and Kevin tomorrow. "Okey but I'm busy tomorrow"

"Oh, you're going somewhere?", Jisung nodded, strumming another cord. "Yeah, I'm meeting Kevin"

Hyunjin became silent. "You...how did you become his friend?", Jisung tapped on the guitar strings to stop the sound. "Well, It just happen like that. He offered to be my friend when he said you probably wouldn't want to be my friend"

Jisung flailed his hands around, "of course, I didn't believe him but when I saw you in front of the form with Na-Eun...I just grabbed him in reflect", he explained everything thoroughly, he didn't want to have any misunderstanding anymore.

Well, as for him.not telling Hyunjin he was meeting Na-Eun, he was afraid it would hurt Hyunjin in any kind of way. The thing between the three of them already hurt the both of them equally. He didn't know how Na-Eun felt but he was sure Na-Eun had opinion on this too. If not, she wouldn't just suddenly disappear on Jisung like they weren't even friends to begin with.

"Alright, then", Hyunjin didn't enquired more. If Jisung decided to keep something as a secret then he must had his own reason.

-
I dunno lmao 🥴 you think I would make them date that easily? Lmfao-hunny