They all walked Chin-hwa out and Chin-hwa said,
"You guys don't have to see me out. You can just continue singing. It's no big deal."
"Oh, don't say that." Dong-cha waved it aside. "It's cool. You seem to have drunk quite a lot so we wanted to at least see you out."
"I hope I didn't ruin the night." Chin-hwa said.
"Nah, the only one who could ruin the night is Beom-Chim's screeching board voice." She said and they laughed. Beom-Chim shrugged nonchalantly.
"Alright," Chin-hwa said, bowing his head lightly.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure to take him home safely." Kang-woo suddenly said and Chin-hwa's eyes widened. He was going to do what?
"Then we have nothing to worry, about." Seoung-bo announced and then turned to Yun-Tae. "Hey, Yun, you're in the same dorm with Chin-hwa, right? Don't you want to head back with him?"
"Yes, we are in the same dorm but I don't want to head back yet." He said, his face flushing. They didn't know if it was because of the alcohol or if it was because he was eyeing the handsome Alpha standing next to Chin-Hwa. "I want to stay out a little longer."
"That's the spirit!" Dong-cha laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Now, you two go ahead. We'll go on in."
They waved and Chin-hwa started walking away. Kang-woo waved at them and tailed Chin-hwa slowly from behind.
Chin-hwa thought he was at least going to pick up the pace with those long legs of his, but he maintained the distance, which suddenly got him pissed, and he stopped, turning to Kang-woo.
"What are you doing?" He asked and Kang-woo answered,
"I'm giving you your space." He said. "You seemed uncomfortable with me being too close so I'm..."
"And do you think that's going to help?" Chin-hwa asked and turned to face his front. "If you're not going to walk next to me then stop following me."
Kang-woo couldn't understand Chin-hwa's feelings so he just decided to do as he asked and picked up the pace.
"My car's parked just around the corner," he said. "I'll drive you home."
"Jee, thanks." Chin-Hwa said with a not-so-excited tone and Kang-woo began to wonder again, but this time, instead of just wondering, he decided to ask,
"Are you still mad at me for leaving?" Chin-hwa did not respond. "It was a necessity. I had to leave and the reason you weren't allowed to come with me was..."
"Kang-woo," Chin-hwa called, stopping in his tracks. "Why did you come back?"
"Because I no longer have any business to do in the States." Kang-woo answered right away. "And I missed you."
His words made Chin-hwa's heart skip a beat. He missed him. Yeah, right. He missed the kid he took as his twin brother.
"You missed me, yet I wasn't your priority. After you came back, you didn't bother to come see me. I had to find out you had transferred to our school a week after and only got to see you when passing the hallway." His voice was filled with irritation and annoyance. He was annoyed that he was still waiting to hear something good from Kang-woo and annoyed at the feelings he was still cultivating even when he told himself to give it up.
It was hard.
"How's college life in Korea treating you, Kang-woo? You became very popular so quickly. And maybe because of that, you didn't have time for me, the person you claimed to miss. Right now, you're only here because my mom wants you to keep an eye on me while I stay out late cause to him, I'm still a kid, and to you, I'm..." He clenched his teeth and turned away. "I think I need to drink a lot more so I can forget this conversation." He said and wanted to take a step further but Kang-woo caught his hand.
"Little Hwa,"
"Stop calling me that." Chin-hwa said. "Call me Hwa or Chin-hwa like everyone else. Right now, I don't think we're close enough to be using nicknames like that, don't you think so, Byul?"
Kang-woo felt a weight press down his heart. He could vaguely understand why Chin-hwa was upset, but that was it.
Yes, he left for the States, and his parents did not let him go with him. And then when he was back, he didn't even come to visit him once. He didn't call or send a message.
He knew Chin-hwa was mad but... Why did it seem like there was something more than just anger?
"I'm sorry." Kang-woo said. "As soon as I got back, I went to your house but was told you were living on campus. Since I was going to enroll anyway, I decided to surprise you. I went to your dorm the first day I arrived at campus but you weren't there. I tried calling with my number but you didn't pick either."
'Oh, was he the owner of what number?' Chin-hwa thought. He had gotten a few strange calls lately and felt they were spam so he blocked all of them.
He usually didn't receive calls from strange people and his parents were very protective, asking him to block any suspicious numbers.
"And after that," Kang-woo continued, his gaze falling as he could not look Chin-hwa in the eye. "I went around asking about you. I thought it would be a good idea to take the routes you usually took and maybe catch a glimpse of you one day. And today seemed to be the day. I am so sorry if it looked like I didn't put you as my priority, but I really did look for you, Little Hwa; I missed you a lot."
Chin-hwa looked at that sad and sullen look on his face and his heart melted.
"I was so happy to finally find you. I wanted to hug you right away, but I knew I still had a lot of wrongs to correct, so I... I refrained. I-" his words hung on his throat as Chin-hwa went on his tiptoes and wrapped his arms around his neck,
"You're an Alpha yet you can act so soft, Byul. You need to toughen up." He muttered, and Kang-woo hugged him back, pressed his head on his shoulder, and wrapped his arms tightly around him.
"I can't help it, Little Hwa. My shell always breaks in front of you."