Save Me

35

It's been two days since Rosie's panic attack and Taehyung's phone has been blowing up with notifications. Most of them were from Laila, but he didn't bother to reply to any of them.

He didn't know what to do.

Taehyung wanted to be with Laila. Hell, he would move the Earth for her. But he had a responsibility to take care of his sister, which he had been lacking on, and he wasn't worthy of Laila's love anyway. He couldn't burden her with all of his problems, so he did the only thing he knew how to.

He pushed her away.

"Hey, Taehyung," Jungkook greets as he enters the house."Is she upstairs?"

"Yeah," the elder nods, sitting at the dining room table with a frown. "Jungkook, can you... can you take care of her for a while? I have something I need to do."

"Of course," the ravenette nods, about to head up the stairs before hesitating. "You alright?"

No, Taehyung wanted to say, but he smiled weakly and nodded anyway.

***

"Taehyung!" Laila calls, waving him over with a smile.

Taehyung heads towards the cafe table and sits down, the corner of his lips turned down. He hated how happy she looked.

"So, how-"

"We need to stop this, Laila."

'W-what?" she says, her smile falling.

"Us," he says, motioning his hand between him and her. "Whatever this is. It has to stop."

"You... you don't actually mean that, do you?" she asks, her face flashing with hurt.

Taehyung swallows the lump in his throat and nods. The way she looked so broken was tearing him apart.

"I can't do this anymore. I can't do this to you, it's not fair."

"What isn't fair?" she asks, her voice rising. "I like you, Taehyung!"

"It just can't work, okay?" he shouts, tears lining his eyes. "It can't!"

Laila stands up and shouts his name as he races out of the cafe, her heart shattering. She was a mess of emotions: hurt, angry, confused.

She didn't understand. They were doing so well and then he just shut her out again. Did she do something to upset him? Did she say something wrong?

Was he just leading her on this whole time?

Laila crawled under the covers of her bed with a sob parting her trembling lips, and she clutched onto her pillow with a tight grip. Her chest hurt, and she just wanted Taehyung to call her and tell her that it was all a big prank. That he was just kidding and he can't believe she was stupid enough to believe him.

But it wasn't a prank. It was real.

That's what hurt the most.

The realization that she would never be with him again—never kiss him, hug him, laugh at his lame jokes, go on more dates that left her heart soaring afterwards—broke her.

"Laila?" Alex calls out softly, knocking on the door to their room. "Can we come in?"

Laila couldn't even respond, because every time she opened her mouth and tried to talk, another sob wretched through her throat. Alex opened the door after a few seconds and Theo followed as they sat on either side of her bed, wiping her tears and stroking her back.

"What happened?" Theo asks.

Laila shakes her head and cries, and her friends didn't push her. Instead, they laid down beside her and let her cry, waiting patiently until she would be okay again.