Yoongi had an unsettling feeling about the day. It was especially due to the fact that Heiran had willingly decided to stay at home, disregarding her insane pride to appear unaffected by the whole break-up ordeal. He wondered if something happened at the office, but seeing as she was clearly intent on lying about the whole situation, Yoongi didn't question her further. Still, the way she had returned home late, ruffled up and freakish-looking was not a good look. Yoongi concluded something had happened. So he decided to stay home for the day as well, just in case she decided to be unstable today.
It was as he was brewing some hot soup for the hermit who was still asleep in her room at noon that he heard the phone buzz on the table. Yoongi only realized that it was Heiran's phone once he reached there and saw a distinct crack on the phone screen. He frowned, displeased. The girl had only gotten a new phone two months ago and had already broken the screen. Yoongi needed to have a serious talk with her about her expenditures. Just because her grandma was rich didn't mean Heiran could go around abusing her belongings like that. Aunt Yongseo would have been so disappointed.
Lifting the phone off the table, he read the caller ID.
Incoming call...
Imposter
Oh, how he knew this was coming. Jeon Jungkook, that dumba*s-jerk didn't even last a complete 48 hours after that melodramatic breakup in the living room after all. Yoongi had to admit, the guy had some insane nerve to call her back. Even yesterday Heiran had arrived home an absolute train wreck, her eyes red, her hair and dress a mess, rattled by everything she was going through. She was in hell because of this guy. Did he think he could call her up on the phone, hoping to just waltz back in like he didn't try to break her spirit?
Yoongi thought the f*ck not. It was not happening on his watch.
He hung up the call at once and blocked the number. Placing the phone back on the table, he walked back into the kitchen, sighing to himself.
"Do I have to do everything in this house myself?"
* * *
"When I said I will treat you to a Michelin dinner, this is not what I had in my mind." Heiran tucked her hair behind her ears, blowing a deep breath out of her lips, her face flushed red from alcohol. She was at the pub, poisoning her body with all the alcohol she can get her hands on.
Dohyeok sat across the table, dimples dancing on his cheeks, something arcanely expressive about his soulful eyes. He shook his head good-naturedly, his brunette hair flopping around at movement. "For me, this is as good as a Michelin dinner." Plucking a piece of perilla leaf kimchi from the table with his chopsticks, he took a bite in demonstration, widening his eyes as he pretended to savor its taste.
Heiran's lips unknowingly stretched to a smile, half amused and half guilty. "I am really shameless, aren't I? I'm dragging you into all of my problems just because I'm most comfortable with you..."
"Personally, I consider that a huge honor," Dohyeok announced, chewing on some kimchi bit.
She placed the shot glass on the table and exclaimed, "Why does everyone keep saying that? I'm not that great of a person!"
"That's true."
She gasped with great offense, "Excuse you! I was just saying that. I obviously didn't mean it!"
He sighed playfully, "And here I thought you were finally becoming self-aware."
"Woow! I didn't know you had a completely brutal side to you, Hyeok. You're turning out just like Yoongi!" Heiran exclaimed although she was grinning with good humor.
"There's a lot that you don't know about me, ma'am," he countered with a Cheshire grin that made her chuckle.
"Right. I don't even have the right to call you my close friend, do I?"
He frowned, "Do close friends have to know everything about each other?"
"Isn't that what makes them close?" She asked.
"Huh, I always thought it was about the emotional connection."
Heiran nodded, "You do have a point there."
Silence befell on the table and she tossed back her drink, relishing the way her throat burned from the alcohol. Some burns and pains were better than others; they helped her forget about the ones that truly hurt. She poured herself another drink and tried to pluck a piece of kimchi from the dish in vain. The alcohol must be slowly getting to her; no matter how she repositioned the chopsticks, she couldn't seem to get the darned perilla leaves from the dish.
Jungkook would have gotten it for her in a second.
She shook off the unwanted thought from her mind, biting down on her lips in anger. She forcefully stabbed the chopsticks onto the leaves. Why couldn't she peel a simple leaf from a dish? Why couldn't she do anything well? What was wrong with her that she couldn't even do a single thing right in her life? It was frustrating. He was frustrating. Just what did she do so wrong that he had to leave? Heiran sensed a pressure pressing down on her chest and a painful lump forming on her thought. Her eyes started to sting and she paused at once.
Nope. Not today. Not happening. Never ever.
Dohyeok kindly intervened, peeling the leaf for her with a look of concern. "Are you okay, Heiran?"
"O-of course! Why wouldn't I be okay?" she responded animatedly.
"You don't have to pretend with me, you know? If you want to rant about it, go ahead. I'll listen." He placed his chopsticks down and crossed his hands on the table, patiently waiting for her to talk. Heiran was intimidated by his sudden unadulterated attention; nevertheless, she was touched by his efforts. He was genuinely willing to hear her out.
"Well... There's not much to say. I've completely moved on from him. It didn't even take two minutes. What's more, I didn't shed even a single tear for him! So..."
It was a matter of great pride for Heiran that she managed to not cry over that jerk for 48 hours. She had never felt as accomplished as she did at the moment. Dohyeok narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything. He seemed pretty unconvinced about her statement and Heiran felt the urge to defend it. "It's true! Like he was not that great anyway. I mean, of all the guys I have dated, he's just..." She shook her hand horizontally. "Mid."
She gulped down her drink and hissed, "But this is nothing new. I have a bit of a commitment issue so I date around a lot. This is normal for me. Like, he's just one in the long list of my ex-boyfriends and seriously, I don't even know why I dated him. The nerve of that guy to break up with me when he was the one who f*cking begged me to—"
Heiran stopped herself before she could go down the wormhole. Dohyeok was silently listening, his expression neutral. She cleared her throat, trying to bring back her composure. Crossing her hands over her chest, she leaned back into the chair, explaining in the most casual tone she could muster. "Anyways, he was so worthless in my life that it only took me two minutes to get over him. I mean, the only reason I dated him was because he just kept bothering me a lot in high school and won't give me a single moment of peace! I dated him out of pity, you know. Come to think of it, he was always so trashy. Good thing he left. Not that I care that much anyway. I don't even think about him anymore like the thought of him doesn't even cross my mind! Jeon Jungkook? Who the f*ck is that? The local garbage collector? I don't even know who that is! He was so INSIGNIFICANT to me that I did not cry. I'm just out here living my best life!"
Heiran stopped herself to suck in a deep breath after her long ramble. Dohyeok was silent which made her feel awkward, so she poured herself another drink.
"So... yeah. Haha. There's nothing much to say." Heiran added, just to break the uncomfortable silence. Dohyeok took a light sip of his beer, his eyes still boring into her. She waited anxiously for him to say something, his silence left her words and the weight of their absolute untruthfulness hanging in the air. Finally, he put down his drink and opened his mouth.
"Heiran, it's okay to cry, you know?"
Heiran was immediately on defense. "Why? Why would I cry for him? I don't ever care about that guy anymore!"
Dohyeok sighed to himself softly, "That's where you're wrong, Heiran." He spoke with the gentlest of tones, "You don't cry for him. You cry for yourself."
She felt the need to counter his words, to prove him wrong, but she found herself rendered speechless.
"You cry for yourself because you are upset. Because you are heartbroken. Someone you held the closest to your heart...left you. You feel empty. You feel betrayed. You feel all those emotions because...you are only just a human at the end of the day." The harshness of the truth of his words was softened by the warmth of his voice. She listened in silence, unable to look him in the eyes.
"It's okay," he whispered, his consolation threatening to open up a damn of complex emotions inside her mind as she unwillingly acknowledged the pain. Thankfully, Heiran kept them in even if the hurt felt too much to bear. Some undeniably strong agony, this unending emptiness that could choke her to death, all the torturous memories she kept repressed, shoved away to the back of her mind were beginning to claw at the iron-clad doors inside her brain, screaming to be let out. She clenched her shaking hands into a fist, trying to even her breathing.
He went on, "Cry your heart out. Let it all out so that one day you will be able to put this pain behind you and heal."
Heiran forced a laugh, trying to dissemble the turmoil in her brain with flattery, "Whoa... You're like really good at this, Hyeok. It just goes to show how kind and genuine a person you are, I guess."
Dohyeok didn't reply. He only remained watching, a forlorn smile on his lips.
A/n: I'll have the second part of this chapter published soon as I finish writing it. I didn't want you guys to wait too long for me to finish soooo....
What did you guys think? Me personally feel that it was a good thing that Jungkook wasn't there for that Perilla Leaf scene. Otherwise, he would have had a literal stroke, dyt? ;)