the late bus | joshua hong

17. Confession

Y/N's POV

After like an hours drive in the car, we were finally back in our neighbourhood.
I text my mom to say I was staying at a friends- again- as I wanted to spend as much time with Joshua now as possible, scared he would leave again.

Xiumin and Mingyu dropped us off at Joshua's house, and we both sluggishly made our way inside, exhaustion taking over our bodies.

Once I'd slumped myself on the sofa, I turned on the TV, as Joshua handed me some crisps and made himself comfortable next to me, we both focused on what was being said on the news.

As I carried on listening to the person speaking on the tv I choked on my crisp at what she just said.
"ATTEMPTED MURDER. Only a few hours ago the body of the criminal was discovered, as the victims seemed to have left the scene. Though as she was rushed to hospital, the criminal, who now goes by the name 'Sarah Park', seemed to be alive after paramedics received a steady heartbeat on the ECG. It is now known that she has been found to have suffered numerous mental illnesses, and will be referred to an asylum once fully recovered."

I just sat there in shock. It felt like my breath had left me- heck it felt like my whole soul was drained.

She was still alive? I thought Mingyu shot her. I SAW Mingyu shoot her.

I turned to look at Joshua, only the see the colour drained from his face too.

"How?" was all that seemed to escape his mouth. But I only shook my head in response.

It felt like everything was crumbling down. I could feel my breathing quicken, my heartbeat picking up. I took in short breaths and tried to calm myself. If she was back, that means she would come back here. She would ruin our lives once again and try to destroy our future. After everything we've worked hard for.
How can she still be alive?

I felt a hand rest on my shoulder, snapping me out of my train of thoughts.

"Calm down, Y/N." Joshua's soothing voice filled the air, his touch on my shoulder automatically causing my body to relax.

"Let's just be glad we're together again. She can't do shit to us anyway because she'll be locked away. And mental asylum security is quite good. So there's no chance of her escaping. Ok?"

I turned to look at his warm face, a smile automatically creeping onto my lips. This made him smile in return.

"Ok."

*timeskip*

Joshua's POV

Y/N was coming over later- well, she was meant to be here in a few minutes. So I was frantically running around trying to clean up my mess.
I don't know why but I felt anxious upon her visit, so cleaning would distract me from these unexpected nerves.

It had been a few weeks since the incident, but no more news had been released on Sara, this kind of helped the situation because we didn't have any discussion about her either- as we were all trying to recover.

I was just fluffing up the cushion on the sofa, for like the fifth time, when I was interrupted by the chime of the doorbell.

Straightening out my clothes, I swiftly made my way to the door, checking my appearance in the hallway mirror as I passed.
I took in a deep breath and opened the door, only to be greeted by the face that makes my heart race 100 times faster.

"Hey." Y/N smiled up at me, snapping me out of my trance.

"O-oh, uh..hi." I said awkwardly as I stepped aside for her to enter.
Once she walked through I shut the door and followed behind her, both of us sitting down on the sofas.

I put on a drama for us to watch throughout having general conversation- only I was too awkward to start up any conversation- and I couldn't focus on the drama, so I fidgeted in my seat.

Y/N's POV

I noticed Joshua wasn't really paying attention to the TV, nor was he speaking, I could tell something was off.
And he wouldn't sit still in his goddam seat.

"Uhh Joshua, have you got ants in your pants or something?" I smirked inwardly at my remark.
He avoided eye contact though.

Strange.

"W-what? No, uhhh, I..." He trailed off, once again, searching desperately for an easier topic, trying to get the one stuck in his head out of his mind.

However, this just made me frustrated, as I turned back to the TV and carried on watching.

Just as I was about to excuse myself, Joshua interrupted me, placing his hand on my shoulder.

He finally looked me in the eye.
And took a deep breath, the aura in the room changing dramatically.

"Look, Y/N, I'm sorry I've been a bit lost, my mind has just been all over the place."

I was about to question what was the matter, when he put his finger on my lip, shushing me.

"I have something to tell you, t-that I've been meaning to say for a really long time..." he trailed off once again.

I could feel the nerves bubbling up inside me, anticipating what he was going to say.
I hope it wasn't something bad, I would literally have a mental breakdown after everything we've been through.

But he didn't carry on.

I decided to prompt him.
"What is it, Josh-" I was cut off by his sudden action.

He crashed his lips onto mine.

Finally.

I felt like all the emotions he had trapped inside him were pouring out from this one action.
I sighed, relieved he felt this way- wait, but did I feel this way?

The sudden rush of butterflies erupting within me once his lips had made contact with mine were enough to answer that.
I slowly started to kiss back, realising the one thing I'd questioned ever since I'd met this boy.

I love Joshua.

He slowly pulled away, leaning his forehead on mine, keeping our distance small.

He looked me in the eyes once again, taking both my hands in his warm ones.

"I like you. No, scratch that. I love you."

Before I had any time to think the words subconsciously slipped out of my mouth.

"I love you too."