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Taehyung arrived at the restaurant ten minutes early. He sat in his car as he waited for Shireen to arrive, wishing he would have insisted on picking her up. She was coming from her part time job, so it made sense for her to drive herself. But Taehyung wished he could have been with her already. The anticipation was killing him.

He must have zoned out for a while, because he slightly jumped when he heard a rapping on his window. A smile erupted across his face as he took in his girlfriend. 

Taehyung got out of the car and enveloped Shireen in a hug, pulling her tight against his body. "I missed you."

"You saw me yesterday," she mumbled into his chest. 

He pulled away, running his hand through her platinum blonde hair to gently hold the back of her head. "It's been too long."

He lowered his mouth to hers in a soft kiss, molding his lips to hers. She tasted like roses and her mouth was as smooth as their petals. She sighed before pulling away. 

"Are you hungry?" Taehyung asked, slipping his hand in Shireen's. "I heard this place is really good." 

She squeezed her hand in his. "I'm so sorry Tae, I ate at work. My boss brought in food to thank everyone for our hard work and -"

Taehyung cut her off. "No worries, hun. Another time."

"We can still go in, you must be hungry."

He shook his head. "I can grab something later. Here, let's take a walk."

The restaurant was situated at the edge of a lake, giving splendid views of trees, mountains, and deep blue water. Taehyung had picked this spot for its romantic appeal, thinking the backdrop would be the perfect setting to ask Shireen to move in. He wasn't deterred, however. In fact, he thought it would be even better to have this discussion away from the clatter of dinner plates and chatter from other guests. 

The two walked behind the restaurant, hand in hand as they started on the dirt path. The setting sun painted them in gold, and Taehyung had trouble keeping his eyes off Shireen.

She noticed. "What?" She blushed.

"You're beautiful," he responded. "I don't know what I did to deserve you."

Shireen looked away, but Taehyung kept going.

"When I met you a couple years ago, I never thought we'd end up where we are today. We were both clueless freshman at this big school, thinking we'd just enjoy a few weeks together. But soon enough, I realized that weeks would not be enough. Months would not be enough. You're everything I've ever wanted."

"Are you proposing?" Shireen asked suddenly, cutting off the rest of Taehyung's speech. He noted how wide her eyes were and stopped walking. 

"No, we're still in college after all. But, I did want to -"

"I met someone," Shireen let out, speaking just above a whisper. "I met someone else."

Taehyung stared at her, his hand still clutching her own. "What?"

Shireen looked down at their joined hands and quickly moved away. "I'm sorry Tae, I didn't mean for this to happen."

"You cheated on me?" He asked, his heart lurching in his chest.

She shook her head firmly. "No, I would never. But… I wanted to." 

Taehyung just stared at her, not knowing what to say or do. Not knowing what to even think.

"Why? When?"

Shireen met his eyes for a moment before looking away again. "I don't know. Six months ago?"

"Six months! You knew for six months you wanted to be with someone else?" Taehyung took a step back from the girl. 

"I'm so sorry," she cried, tears welling in her eyes. "I really tried to stop liking him. I tried to make us work. I tried to like -"

"Like me more?" Taehyung finished for her. "What happened to you loving me?"

"I still love you, Tae. I'm just not…"

She didn't have to finish. Taehyung knew what she was going to say. She just wasn't in love with him anymore. 

"But I'm in love with you." He pleaded with her, not caring if he looked or sounded weak. 

"Don't you think we've just become too comfortable? That we reached a plateau and haven't moved forward?" 

Taehyung ran his hands through his hair. "I was going to ask you to move in with me." 

A couple tears slid down Shireen's cheeks. "Tae. I am so, so sorry. I will always care for you. But I need to think about what I want. And I want someone who completes me."

His heart hurt. His body hurt. He wanted to say that they completed one another, that they belonged together. But his words wouldn't come out.

"I deserve the chance to find real love. So do you, Tae."

Real love. Taehyung's hands curled into fists. How dare she say what they had was not real love. 

"I'm going to go," she said. "I...take care, Taehyung."

He watched her go as he stood alone at the edge of the lake. What was supposed to be one of the happiest nights of his life became something so ugly, so twisted. He stood there for a while, unable to move or process what happened. 

It grew dark quickly after that, and the drop in temperature finally forced Taehyung to leave. He climbed into his car and slammed on the steering wheel, causing the horn to blare. Passerbys glared at him, but he didn't care. He repeated the action over and over. 

It was over. 

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