It's Just A Picture (BL)

We sat at a cafe just outside the company, and while I awkwardly sipped on my bubble tea, they both had their eyes intently fixed on me.

It was weird and awkward and no one was going to take a chance to speak. It was even more uncomfortable knowing everyone's eyes were on us.

On the twins, to be precise.

'Dammit, what did they want to talk about? Why are they so quiet?'

I acted like I was oblivious to the reason they wanted to talk and simply averted my eyes.

"Hyung is doing a good job avoiding eye contact." Seojin suddenly said. It broke the silence but that only put me on a spot. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're hiding because of guilt."

"Ha... Haha." I nervously laughed.

"Then, are you ready to talk now?" Seojin asked.

I finally took up the courage to look them in the eyes but as soon as I did, I practically swooned. I didn't dare to look since but now that I did, they looked absolutely dashing.

Wait, get a hold of yourself. I slapped my cheeks lightly. This was so wrong.

They looked at me strangely and Seojun caught my hand.

"Hyung, don't hurt yourself." He said.

Ah, I must seem weird to them.

"Uh, that..." I shrugged my hand out of his hold and looked away once more. "I was just trying to clear my head."

"Hm? That's a strange way. What's bothering you so much that you have to clear your head by hurting yourself?" Seojun asked.

'You two, obviously.'

I shook my head.

"Okay, we're here to talk so let's talk." I said, finally buffing up my courage. "I apologize for sneaking out of your house without letting either of you know. I shouldn't have. It was very ungrateful and inconsiderate of me." I bowed my head. "But I promise I didn't steal anything on my way out."

"What?" Their countenance slightly shifted.

"What are you talking about, Hyung?" Seojin asked.

"Well, I thought it was strange that you two showed up out of nowhere." I said, lowering my head. "The only thing I could think of was that something valuable went missing and since I was the only one in your house and I snuck out like that, I must've been the potential suspect."

"And so you thought the reason we came all this way was to drag you out for stealing our stuff?" Seojun asked and I solemnly nodded.

"But I swear, I didn't steal anything." I said, clenching my fists under the table.

"Then why did you sneak out without a word?" Seojin asked and my body froze.

Did this mean my thoughts were correct? They did suspect me of stealing.

Ah, it was the same everywhere.

Even if we were once close, being adults, they definitely can't simply trust me who came out of nowhere after so many years. My actions were suspicious enough.

*

"I... I didn't want you to stop me." I muttered, loud enough for them to hear. "I didn't want to get involved with any of you anymore. I... I've committed too many sins in this life and I don't want to stain you."

*

Oh well, that was what I wished I could say to them but my mouths were sealed. I was too scared to let the words out of my mouth and too anxious, to tell the truth.

"No reason?" Seojin asked.

"Haah, Hyung, if you were in a hurry to go back, you could've just said something." Seojin said and I raised my head, confused. Why did it seem like they were giving reason for my actions without hearing my side of the story?

"Something urgent must've popped up that you needed to leave right away." Seojin added. "You probably didn't want to wake us up but if such a thing happens in the future," he smiled. "Be sure to leave at least a note, okay, Hyung?"

I was confused. Wasn't this an interrogation section? They wanted to know if I stole from their house or not, right? How did it turn to this?

"Hyung looks confused, Lorenzo." Seojun said with a little amused smile. "We should clear it up so we don't hurt his feelings."

"Haha, you're right." Seojin said and tucked his hand in his jacket's inner pocket. "Hyung, we didn't come here to accuse you of stealing. Not at all."

"We would never suspect Hyung of such a thing. Besides, there's nothing even missing in our house, but I'm sure you're the one missing something." Seojun added.

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

"You wanted to know why we're here, right?" Seojin asked and took out a picture. "Well, we came to return something that belongs to you."

I looked at the small picture in his hand. It wasn't what I was thinking, was it? I thought I lost it.

No, more importantly, they saw the picture. It was so embarrassing to be found out like this. Would they think I was weird for keeping such an old picture for so long?

"We're glad to know that you've been thinking of us this whole time, Hyung." Seojin said with a bright smile. "I felt so happy after seeing this picture."

"Hyung," Seojun called and I shifted my gaze to him. "You've had us in your mind for all these years just as we've had you in our minds and hearts."

I stared at them smiling brightly at me. The words that came out of their mouth... For a moment, I felt my heart rejoice.

No, I shouldn't be feeling excited by their words.

"Now that we're here, we can go back to how we were, right, Hyung?" Seojin asked and I blinked.

"How we... Were?" Flashes of memories coursed through my head. Yeah, we were happy and we had each other.

It was a nice time. If we could go back to how we...

Those memories were immediately replaced with the heartache and suffering that came after. I wasn't normal. My life wasn't normal. I couldn't get them involved.

I kept telling myself this and if I wanted what was good for the twins, I needed to stay away. We could never go back to how we were.

"I'm thankful you came to return this, but you shouldn't have gone through the trouble and just mailed it instead." I said.

Come to think of it, they didn't say how they found out about Wailers wanting to hire them or how they knew that they had to be models in order for me to get the job.

There were so many unknown variables but right now, I just wanted to get away and cry in a corner.

"I'm truly grateful." I said, getting up from my chair. I bowed my head and smiled. "I look forward to working with you."