Sixty-Two

"Oh. You're awake." I stopped at the door to the bedroom. I had come by to check on Jaehyeon but had not expected to see him sitting up in bed. The last time that I checked on him, he had been deep in his sleep.

"Eo. What time is it?" He grumbled. He had clearly only just woken up.

"11:00 am." I replied. I had not forgotten about the previous night's conversation but I did not want to drag on the fight. Jaehyeon was only worried after all. He had every right to be. Despite having told myself that, however, I could not look him in the eyes properly. "I've made breakfast. It's just toast but… if you want, you can join us. Hanseol is also eating now."

"Mm. I'll… brush." He responded. "Mingyu and Yeojun?"

"Still sleeping." I envied them for being able to sleep like that. "No wonder they always have so much energy."

"Yeah."

Following that, neither of us spoke. Jaehyeon just sat there in bed trying to make sense of which era he had woken up in and I was just standing there looking at the floor awkwardly. "You… brush and join us, Hyung. I'll-"

"Jeongwoo, don't go." He suddenly said and looked at me.

"Yes?" 'Don't go'?

"Last night…" He breathed deeply. "I am really sorry."

"Oh… That-" That was the most formal apology he had ever given me. "It's okay, Hyung." I waved it off and finally looked at him. "I understand that you were just worried. I am… sorry too for worrying you like that."

"Mm." He smiled weakly before rubbing his eyes and getting off the bed. "When did you wake up?"

"Around 07:00 am." I knew exactly what to expect to hear from him.

"Even on a precious day off like this." He shook his head. "You're really worrying me now, Jeongwoo."

"Ey. I'm okay." I chuckled. "I did sleep for at least six hours. I'm feeling refreshed."

He regarded me in contemplation and then turned towards the bathroom. "I'll go freshen up and come. Don't wait for me."

"Okay." I nodded and returned to the dining table where Hanseol was already seated.

"You had a message." He informed me when I sat down.

"Oh? Thank you." I checked my phone to see a photo that Changmin had sent. It was a picture of his reflection on the tiny screen on the back of the seat in front of him on the airplane. He was wearing a white mask and the caption simply read 'I'm leaving'. I sighed. "Idiot."

'Safe trip. Text me when you land.'

"Who?" Hanseol looked up from his phone at me.

That was probably in reaction to the 'idiot'. "Changmin Hyung."

"I see." He continued eating and returned his eyes to his phone. "They're already on their way out of Korea, huh?"

"Mm. It's just a matter of a few more months." I began eating.

"Watching them, I end up rethinking our excitement about world tours too." He winced. "The last couple of times they went, we weren't so aware of the small things. Now, thanks to you, we're getting the full details. Plus, we're experiencing something similar."

That was just talk though. "And do you hate it?"

He pursed his lips. "No."

See? "True would be sad to hear you say something like rethinking world tours."

"I didn't mean it that way. Of course, I want to go and meet True everywhere. I want to continue doing what I love. It's just a little… merciless- the schedule."

"We'll just have to prepare ourselves." How fortunate we were that we were able to even talk about preparing for a world tour!

"Mm." He nodded and looked up. "Oh, you're here."

"Ah." Jaehyeon smiled and took the chair next to mine. I had already set his share of food on the table for him. Seeing that, he gave me a complicated look. I knew exactly what he meant with that though- even after all that happened the previous night, I still had the heart to serve him breakfast?

I was tempted not to. Even though the fatigue had facilitated the sleep, it was not all that peaceful. I woke up in the morning feeling just as miserable as I had felt before going to bed. That was mostly because of the dream that I had had but I could not recall it anymore. I blamed that also on Jaehyeon. When I thought about it properly though, I couldn't keep it up. I was dealing with Jaehyeon, after all. I knew that the both of us would not have been able to bear the repercussions of such a fight. We had to continue working together. He was also the only one who knew about Changmin. More than all that, he was my Hyung.

I couldn't fight with him.

The story would probably have been entirely different had he not apologised though- given how I was still having trouble facing him till then.

"Is it okay to not wake them up?" Hanseol asked and glanced towards the younger members' room. The door was open and we could see Mingyu curled up into a ball with his blanket half on him and half off the bed.

"We don't need to, do we?" Jaehyeon asked, putting a leg up on the beam under my chair as he started eating.

"No." Hanseol shrugged. "It's just that watching them like this and feeling all warm within is making me feel old."

"Ya. YOU feel old?" Jaehyeon raised an eyebrow at him.

I chuckled. "It's fine, isn't it? We are old in comparison to those two." I leaned back against my chair and looked into the room again. "Let them sleep. It's back to the grind again tomorrow. Yeojun doesn't sleep too well on the plane either."

"He doesn't?" Jaehyeon asked in surprise.

"You would have realised it had you not slept the moment the plane took off every single time." Hanseol stated. "Jun sleeps but then keeps waking up."

"Oh." Jaehyeon looked a little disheartened, probably at not having realised that about Yeojun himself.

"Count yourself lucky though, Hyung." Hanseol said on noticing it too. "You sleep the best out of all of us. We don't need to worry about you at all."

Jaehyeon laughed sheepishly. "Hey, worry about me too."

"Let's just eat for now." I slapped Jaehyeon's back lightly. "I'll feed those two whenever they wake up."

"No. I'll do it." Jaehyeon shook his head. "You've already made breakfast for us. I'll take care of them."

"Aren't we one big happy family?" Hanseol commented dryly.

"Of course, we are!" Jaehyeon said cheerfully. It was good to see that he was back to his normal self. "Eat well. Let's make the most of today!"

Those single break days we tended to get in between tight schedules always went by too fast though.