hold me ♡ minsung

17. exams are over! minho has a temper tantrum!

♡

DECEMBER 7.

   Relief is what Minho expected to feel once all the tests were over and done with. But for some reason, he hardly felt any better, as if the weight of all the textbooks he spent yesterday pouring over was balanced on each of his drooping shoulders. He didn't really know why, as he seemed to do alright with all of his exams. Regardless, leaden feet took now him closer to his dorm room, one step at a time. Finally, when he got there, his hand fell limply over the door knob and he sighed as he wrapped his fingers around it— but he didn't have to twist it.

   Had he not stepped aside fast enough, he would've gotten a face full of door. Hyunjin was leaving the room just as he was coming in. "Oh, hey, hyung. Did you check your phone?"

    Minho shook his head. "It's been on silent since this morning."

    "Chan hyung texted the group. We're hanging out one more time before we go home for break."

      "Oh," Minho uttered, dismissively. He pushed past Hyunjin immediately after, without the slightest hint of interest, cringing when his shoulder grazed Hyunjin's. He shut the door behind him before Hyunjin could ask why he wasn't coming, scrunched up his face and habitually swept his hand over the same shoulder a few times.

    The sun still hadn't quite set, and the intrusive, orange evening sun poured into his room. He closed the blinds, carelessly dropped his backpack, and flung his body over his mattress, ignoring the discomfort of the springs pressing intrusively into his back.

    While his mind felt hazy by now— earlier it had been buzzing with stress— and his eyelids seemed like they'd been doing weightlifting for at least an hour, try as he might, he couldn't get in the nap he was hoping for, and even he realized it probably wasn't only because of the noise leaking through the thin cement walls.

   It took him only about five or ten minutes to give up on trying to fall asleep, and he took to watching the little bits of sunlight that seeped in through the cracks in the blinds disappear, little by little. Until someone knocked.

    Groggily, he called. "It's open."  Instantly, he shoved himself up to sit up straight and tried to look somewhat presentable, as if he hadn't just been trying to get a nap.

    "Minho hyung?" Jisung poked his head into the room, big, concerned eyes looking him over. "You're not coming up?"

    "No."

     "Why not? It's the last time before break."

       He held back a slightly exasperated sigh. "I don't feel like it. I'm kinda tired." That was a bit of an understatement.

      "Okay. Get lots of sleep, hyung." Jisung left after that, because Minho stayed quiet and only stared at him with tired eyes fixed on his feet, unwilling to look him in the eye.

      Again, Minho was alone, in what was as close to silence as he could get in his current situation. He laid back again and turned onto his side, pressing his eyelids shut. Why did he feel so out of it? Everyone else had been overflowing with happiness and relief as they poured out of their last classes. Even now, Minho could hear their loud, celebratory laughter in surrounding rooms.

    He guessed that the guys were doing just the same thing in 2Chan's room. He could be there too, if he wanted. However, he tended not to trust himself to act decently when he felt this off, so he stayed where he lay on the bed, and took to tracing shapes on the sheets to entertain himself.

    When the room had gone completely dark, finally, he'd had enough. His brain refused to turn off, no matter how long he left his eyes closed. He sat up again, put on his slippers, and before going for the stairs, he first headed to the bathroom to splash some water on his sleepy face, finding his eyes invaded by sudden exposure to so much bright light the moment he opened his door.