Deja Vu - parkjisung

ch.6

"Okay," He replied once more, as he stared at the basement door.

. . .

It was a silent drive. Donghyuck's fist gradually loosened its hold on the steering wheel as they pulled onto the side of the road— nightly traffic zooming past. The truck was finally stationed on a patch of grass, and the truck couldn't have gotten quieter, but it did. The silence was deafening, and it hurt their ears, comparing it to the rapid noise outside the safety of their windows.

The pair sat in their seats as statues, unmoving as both were too caught up in their heads. They stared ahead to the cars that drove out of sight, and the dark vacant city sky that blanketed above them. Their brows were knit together as they thought deeply, processing the events of the last hour, and the emotions that tied with it.

One's heart beat quickly. It panicked. It was frantic to find a solution, find something, a flaw maybe? It wanted this to end quickly, and perhaps gain a happy ending— if it was even possible.

The other beat slowly. Their chest raised up and down, as the only thing they could do now was breath. They didn't know what was to happen, if this whole thing would blossom or collapse. They despised the uncertainty of the future and the lack of knowledge they had surrounding it.

Turning his head to the woman, Donghyuck tousled his light brown locks. His eyes traced over the delicate features of her face which were illuminated elegantly with the moonlight of the evening. He could see the frown forming on her lips, and the following actions of fiddling with the hem of her shirt out of anxiousness, bouncing her right leg up and down and cracking any of her knuckles that were possible.

However, despite the numerous coping mechanisms she tried, stress still had consumed her whole, and did not have any mercy whatsoever.

"Ae—" Donghyuck began softly, though he was cut off as her voice layered over his in pure, genuine curiosity.

"He doesn't love me anymore does he?" She asked lowly, refusing to lock eyes with her friend as they stayed put to the truck's dashboard.

He knew she'd ask sooner o later, but still, he couldn't help but feel his heart face. It anticipated her reaction to his prompt answer. "I don't honestly know Ae,"

As the truth rolled off his tongue and was spoken into the crisp air conditioned air of the truck, Aeri tilted her head back— her eyes locking with the ceiling before fluttering her lids closed. "Okay," She croaked quietly.

A tremble bit the ending of her response.

And although Aeri was a strong woman, and would always be able to set aside her emotions and ignore them completely, the tears that began to flow proved her wrong. They trailed down from her closed eyes, down the sides of her cheeks and to her chin, where it fell to her folded hands. Small whimpers escaped her lips as she began to shake with despair.

It rattled in her ribcage, and vibrated her body as she tried to hold in her inner conflict that seemed to win.

Donghyuck's heart clenched painfully in his chest to the point it felt as if his chest was physically aching from an injury. He never knew seeing her cry would hurt him so much. And he wished she'd stop.

Immediately the tanned reached out and wrapped his arm over her shoulder, pulling her across the one conjoined seat to the warmth of his side. He had so much to say to her in the moment. But ultimately, he made himself recollect his thoughts to not explode as he would normally do.