warning: mentions of domestic violence

the next day

as san pulled up to mingi's house he began to feel anxious. he wasn't scared of mingi, but he was just about to turn up to the person's house, uninvited, whose girlfriend of six years he had taken. but he would rather feel like this so y/n didn't have to.

he hesitated before he finally got out of his car and closed the door quietly. upon arriving at mingi's front door, he noticed his heart beating just a little faster than usual. but he got himself together and knocked on the door.

it took a few seconds for mingi to answer but when he did, a look of surprise adorned his face.

"san?"

"urm, hi mingi"

both men stayed silent for a few seconds before mingi spoke, "urm...would you like to... come in?"

san simply nodded and proceeded over the threshold. "I came to get the rest of y/n's stuff" he tried to explain.

mingi looked truly heartbroken. "oh... okay". he tried to smile but san could tell he was finding it hard.

"I won't take too long, can you show me where it is?

mingi nodded and showed san upstairs. "this is... was our room" he said as they arrived at the first door of the landing. "did she tell you what to get?"

"yeah, I have a list" san replied.

"okay, I'll let you get on with it" mingi said as he closed the door slightly.

san looked for everything on the list y/n had given him; clothes, make up, extra toiletries, books and her laptop were just some of the things she wanted. san really felt like he was removing all trace of y/n from the house that was once hers.

after a while of searching for her belongings, san heard the door creak open again behind him. he heard a sniffle from mingi as san turned round to look at him. in his hands he had a small photograph of which san could only see the back.

"will you... will you give this to her?" he said, his voice cracking from emotion. "she might not want to keep it but... she had this photograph as her lockscreen on her phone. it was her favourite one of..." he didn't even finish the sentence before he broke down into tears.

san had hated this man, had despised him completely. he didn't know how he could have been capable of what he did but knew that he could never forgive him for hurting y/n. to begin with, he didn't even want to look at him. but in that moment, he felt some pity for the red-haired male whose whole life was falling to pieces.

"why don't you sit down?" san advised him.

"god I miss her. I fucking ruined the only good thing I had in my life and I can't live without her"

"mingi-"

"-I don't want to live without her" he sobbed.

san moved to take a seat on mingi's bed as he spoke, "please sit down, mingi"

"I don't know what to do"

"why did you do it, mingi?" san asked carefully.

mingi glanced up to look at him while wiping the tears from his cheeks. "I made a huge mistake... my father... he used to hit my mother. he used to say it was what made her stay - which made no sense - but one day I went to visit my dad and he told me that six years was a long time at our age... that's how long we'd been together... and she was bound to get bored sometime soon. he was a toxic man... he said she was too good for someone like me - he said it right from the start. and then he said she was probably already sleeping with some other guy. and I panicked. and I did the only thing I'd been taught to make her stick around"

san sighed as mingi finished his explanation. it was no excuse, still. there could never be an excuse, but it made sense if mingi had grown up in that kind of environment and had then imagined the loss of the person he held most dear.

"mingi... maybe you could use some help. you know, to help you work through your childhood and your current feelings. seeing your mother go through that can't have been easy and I can see that you're a good guy underneath it all. I can tell you truly care for y/n. but maybe you have some issues there that you need to talk through"

tears rolled down mingi's face as san spoke and san reached over to touch mingi on the back as he cried and cried. after a few minutes of this, mingi stopped and looked up to san again.

"take good care of her, san. I know you will. I know you'll treat her better than I did. I loved her so much and I don't know how I'm going to live without her, but I'm glad she's happy with someone like you"

san almost felt his own eyes welling up as he nodded at the taller boy. "I'll make sure she gets the photo" he promised.

"tell her I will always love her"

san gave a sad smile, "I will" he replied.

mingi used his shirt to dry his eyes and took a deep breath. "do you need some help taking all that to the car?" he asked.

san nodded and the two worked together to move the multiple bags from the bedroom to the back of san's car. as they finished up and san shut his boot on y/n's belongings, he turned to mingi who stood in the doorway.

"I think she will always care about you" san spoke.

mingi simply nodded and tried to smile a goodbye to san.

"take care, mingi. please think about what I said"

"I will. and thank you for taking care of y/n. she seems happy with you... I'm glad"

"take care" san repeated, his voice tinged with sadness. he got into his car and pulled away from the house as he watched mingi closing the door whilst trying to stifle yet more tears.