02 message - Born to be IDOL

The name on the screen flickered softly.

[💌 How’ve you been? – JL]

SUNOO stared.

Just stared.

The subway moved, people chatted, a child cried in the background—

but everything around him was silent.

"JL…?"

Three years.

Three whole years since that night in the rain.

Now, JL was everywhere—

On billboards, music videos, trending hashtags.

And SUNOO? He clocked in, clocked out, tried to find meaning in Excel spreadsheets.

He opened the message. Then closed it.

Opened it again. And closed it again.

“What am I even supposed to say?
‘I’ve been good’? That’d be a lie.
‘I missed you’? Pathetic.

‘Why are you messaging me now’?
Too honest. Too me.”

He leaned his head back against the window and let out a slow breath.

“Damn it, JL… why now?”

His fingers hovered over the keyboard, shaking slightly.

“You can’t just pop back in with one sentence and expect me to go back.

I’m not the same kid who let you walk away in the rain.”

But the truth?

He’d watched every comeback stage.

He turned off the TV halfway through. And then turned it back on.

Because it was still JL.

The same JL who used to hum in the hallway.

The JL who once said, “If I make it, you’ll be in the front row.”

SUNOO shut off his phone and shoved it in his bag.

He closed his eyes.

Didn’t cry. Didn’t smile.

Just... exhaled.

Meanwhile, at JL’s dorm

JL sat on the floor, leaning against the edge of his bed.

His phone was on his lap.

The message had been marked "read."

That’s it. Nothing else.

“He read it... Of course he did.

I shouldn’t have expected anything.”

He let out a bitter laugh.

Ran a hand through his hair, tugged slightly at the roots.

“God, SUNOO. I don’t even know why I texted you. No—I do.

It’s because I still think about you every time it rains.”

His voice cracked at the end of the sentence.

He didn’t stop it.

“You believed in me when no one else did.

And I left you behind like you were... nothing.”

He laughed again.

Only this time, it sounded more like a sigh.

“I guess I hoped...

maybe you’d still remember me.

Maybe you'd still care.”

He closed his eyes.

Outside the window, it was raining again.

Just like that night.

The next morning – SUNOO’s apartment

He hadn’t slept much.

He rolled over and grabbed his phone before even sitting up.

No new messages.

Of course not.

It still just sat there—JL’s name, still glowing faintly in the chat window.

He opened the thread.

Again.

Stared at the message.

Typed slowly, one letter at a time:

[I haven’t really been okay either.]

He stared at the screen.

Breathed in.

His thumb hovered over “Send.”

Then stopped.

“No… Not yet.

You don’t get to make me reply that easily.”

He deleted the message.

Turned off the screen.

And for a moment… just sat there.

Still.