Mine | Jaywon

TAKE A MOMENT AND ADMIRE ✨

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The mall was crowded, buzzing with laughter and conversations that blurred into an indistinct hum. People walked past in a rush, their arms filled with shopping bags, their faces alight with joy. It was a normal Sunday afternoon for them.

For Jake, the world might as well have been collapsing in slow motion.

His hands hung loosely at his sides as he stood in the trial room, the pale blue sweater Sunoo had picked out for him hanging limply from his fingers. The fabric was soft, probably expensive, something Heeseung would have liked on him.

But Heeseung didn't seem to like anything about him anymore. Or maybe it was just that Jake convinced himself to think so.

Jake swallowed hard, blinking rapidly at his own reflection in the mirror. Dark circles beneath his eyes, a hollow sort of emptiness in his gaze. His lips, usually curved into easy smiles, were pressed into a thin line.

He barely recognized himself.

His thumb brushed against the inside of his wrist—a subconscious habit, searching for comfort in the familiar. There, just above his pulse, was a faint mark. Heeseung's lips had been there once, on a different Sunday, in a different world. A world where Jake didn't have to wonder whether his boyfriend loved him.

A world before EJ.

Jake closed his eyes. Heeseung's voice was in his head again.

Have some trust me in, in your partner?

A sharp breath. His fingers curled into a fist.

He had trusted Heeseung.

And then he had seen the texts.

EJ

That ring is precious, Heeseung. It's the perfect one!!

You sure know how to make a man happy.

Loved it 🙌

Jake had read it over and over again, until the words lost meaning, until his vision blurred. Until something inside of him cracked so deeply he thought he might never recover.

A ring.

For someone else.

Not for Jake.

The cold, suffocating weight of that realization settled into his bones like lead.

A knock on the door startled him.

"Jake?" Sunoo's voice was light, teasing. "Hurry up before I eat your pretzels myself."

Jake forced himself to exhale, pushing the sweater aside. "Coming," he mumbled, his voice hoarse.

When he stepped out, Sunoo was waiting with a bag of chocolate-covered pretzels, but the moment his eyes landed on Jake's face, his expression softened. "You're thinking about it again, aren't you?"

Jake didn't have the strength to lie. He nodded, feeling a lump rise in his throat.

Sunoo sighed and linked their arms together. "Okay. Listen to me. Today, you and I are going to have fun. We are not thinking about rings, or certain dumbasses who don't deserve you, or-"

Jake's phone buzzed in his pocket. A name lit up the screen.

Heeseung.

His heart lurched.