Earlier that day
"One flat white please Hanni~" Chaeyoung told Hanni from the counter as Hanni just let out a light sigh. "Is it him again unnie?" She asked while getting the coffee machine ready as Chaeyoung just nodded her head.
Hanni prepared the drink as usual before bringing to the customer and she thought right. It's Jun again. "Here again?" She asked as she's putting the drink on the table. "...you do know; you've been here for ten days straight right?"
"I'm here for this flat white coffee. It's already my favourite. Why, you don't like seeing me every day?" Jun asked calmly as Hanni just shook her head. "Why would I be? Enjoy the coffee~"
"Hanni-ah..." Hanni was about to walk away as Jun called out to her. "Can we talk for a second?" He asked with a light smile.
"Okay..." Hanni sat down across of him, placing the small tray she's holding on the table. "...what is it?"
"Don't be surprise and I just want you to hear me out okay?" Jun raised his hands as Hanni just nodded her head, waiting for him to say what he wanted to say.
"How do you feel about going out with me?" Jun asked confidently as Hanni couldn't hide her widened eyes in shocked. "Excuse me?" She asked.
"Too direct huh...?" Jun chuckled to himself. "...I mean we've been talking to each other these past few days, I get to know you a bit better... and I've actually have taken an interest in you to be honest."
"Is that why you're here every day after knowing I work here?" Hanni asked as she squinted her eyes while Jun immediately shook his head. "Well not entirely. A part of it. Another part is that I really enjoyed this drink here and I kind of wanting to have it every day now..."
"So what do you say..." He asked, eyes never leave hers as Hanni immediately looked away as a certain someone immediately appeared in her mind.
You.
"This is too sudden Jun..." Hanni couldn't find any words to say. "I know, I understand. But you don't have to give an answer now..." Jun added.
"What do you mean?" Hanni asked in confusion. "For now, we can go out together. It's not necessarily a date, maybe we can grab some bite together or have a walk in the park. Whatever you want. But we'll do it for a month."
"A month? Why a month?" She asked. "A month to make a decision. I'm sure during the one-month period, we'll go out on dates multiple times and by the end of the month, we'll each give our decision if we want to continue what we have or just leave it at that."
"Aren't one of us going to be disappointed by the end of this?" Hanni whispered. "That's the idea of the one-month period. I promise I won't be disappointed if you decide not to continue. Sad, probably, but the mutual consents are enough."
"Are you being serious now Jun? This is not a prank right? You can't play with someone's feelings like this." Hanni asked as Jun just shook his head. "We can have our first outing tomorrow if you want?"
Hanni immediately glanced at her watch, checking tomorrow's date was 6th September and then she realized, a month from tomorrow's her birthday. Hanni fall silent for a bit as her head's everywhere but in the middle of the mess in her mind...
Your image's staying there... Your smiling figure...
"Can I give you my answer later... I can't right now... sorry" Hanni rubbed her forehead as she whispered. "I understand. Take your time..." Jun smiled as he slowly finishing his drink.
"I'll be here tomorrow as well if you already decided." Jun said as he's standing up before leaving the table and exited the store.
"You okay mini Pham?" Hanni just shook her head whilst being silent, eyes never leaving yours. "Why? Are you tired? Not feeling well?" Again Hanni just shook her head to your question. "You want to talk inside over a hot chocolate?" And again Hanni just shook her head.
"I'm fine. Did I interrupt you or anything?" Hanni speak rather weakly as you shook your head. "Okay something's not right. Are you really okay? What's wrong?" Your eased expression slowly becoming a worried one the longer she's being like that.
"There's actually something that I wanted to tell you..." Hanni couldn't look at you in the eyes as her head dropped down. "...and I really feel like you of all people should be the first to know."
Your eyes couldn't even leave her for a moment as you tightened the grip on the book you're holding behind your back and your heart's beating up faster and faster it's almost suffocating.
Hanni's fingers fidgeting inside her sleeves as she bit her lower lip while she's trying to gather strength to say what she wanted to say to you.
"Yongjae... I just want you to know..." She breathed out a long one as she finally lifted her head and her eyes instantly locked with yours. "...someone has asked me out earlier this morning."
"Oh..." All of sudden you felt like the whole of time had stopped. Everything became as silent as the bottom of the ocean but slowly after that you felt like your world's crushing down inside your heart.
"W-what do you mean? I don't follow..." You're trying hard to force a light confused smile. "There's this guy... we started talking about eight days ago. And now he wants to take me out on a date."
"Oh... right..." You whispered to yourself as your head immediately dropped down. "...on a date." Then you became silent as nothing's coming out of your mouth as your mind's blank and at the same time, was a wrecking mess.
"Do you have anything to say..." Somehow Hanni's voice came out as urging while your head remained low and your voice was non-existent. As if Hanni wanted you to say something she wanted to hear, as if Hanni's pleading you to have a say on this matter.
"Say something..." Hanni suddenly cried out as she's grabbed onto the sides of your arms. "...anything."
You breathed out a long one as you finally lifted your head. "Congrats..." You said with a smile. "...now go out there and show him why he should be grateful for taking you out..."
Hanni couldn't worked out whether the smile on your face was sincere or just a mask you put on before she let go of your arms slowly. "Is that it..." She whispered as you just forced a chuckle. "What else do you want me to say?"
"Look at you, making progress in your life already..." You patted her shoulders with another not so sincere smile. "...once again congrats on finding someone and I hope..." You tried hard not to choke on your tears that's lumping in behind your throat.
"...I hope he's the right man for you because if he's not, I'm murdering him." You forced a joke as Hanni just chuckled weakly but deep inside, something's actually hurting her heart as she had to believe that...
...Hanni had to accept that maybe your feelings for her were just that of friends. Nothing more than that.
"Thanks... but please don't ever think that now I'm forgetting you. You are still the most important person I have in my life and nothing will ever change that." Hanni whispered with a broken voice as you just nodded without saying anything back.
"You should head home... I know you're tired." You said as Hanni let out a soft sigh as she nodded. "I'll get going now..." She said as she's getting into her car.
"Good night." She waved at you as you nodded while giving her a light wave back before she drove off slowly and imminently out of your sight.
You heaved out a long sigh as you stared blankly at the dark sky above you. "Way to go Yongjae..." You whispered to yourself as you slowly walked your way back into your house.
Every steps you took felt too heavy as you just want to drop down to the floor but you eventually got back into your room. Slowly you closed the door shut before you leaned back against the wooden door.
Your legs immediately gave up as you dropped down to the floor, knees curled up as you let out a sorrow yet silent cry. Feeling as if your world's continue to crumble down fast, you grabbed onto your hair, regretting, blaming yourself for everything.
As you're sobbing uncontrollably, you got your phone as your shaking hand barely dialled someone. Your crying couldn't stop as you hold your phone next to your ear.
"Hey bro!" Yongbok's voice echoed into your ear as you're trying to calm yourself down. "Yongbok..." You cried out. "...I messed up."
"Hey, what's wrong? Are you hurt!?" Yongbok's tone edged a worried one as you're still couldn't stop crying. "I was too late. It's all my fault..."
"Yongjae... is it Hanni?" Yongbok asked as your silence of words and continuous cry screamed that Yongbok's right before he let out a sigh. "...where are you now?"
"In my room..." You whispered. "I'm coming over. I'll let your parents know that I'll be there in a second." Yongbok quickly hung up as you just let your phone fall down to the ground.
Your teary eyes immediately glanced over at the notebook on the floor next to you and just constantly blaming your pathetic self over everything. "All those years... all for nothing..."
Not even you knew how long you've been crying to yourself by the door before you gathered just enough strength to stand up and walking your way back to your desk and sat down. All the pent up frustration leading you to slam your head onto the table.
It hurts. It hurts so bad yet couldn't even match the pain you're feeling in your chest and just a few moments later, someone swung your door opened and in no time, someone's holding onto your shoulders as you're being sat up back straight.
"You're bleeding!" Your eyes were blurry yet you recognized the voice as your vision slowly coming back and Minji was in front of you, getting a tissue from her bag before pressing against the wound on your forehead.
"It's okay... hey it's okay Yongjae." You heard Yongbok's voice from behind you and that explained the hands that were holding onto your shoulders tightly. "I messed up... It's too late..." You whispered as you couldn't contain your cry no more just as Minji's getting a band-aid on the wound by your forehead.
"It's okay... Hey... It's okay..." She whispered to you calmly as she gave you a hug and instantly you buried your face onto her shoulder, crying your heart out in pain.
Meanwhile at the side, Hanni who made her way back to her house, every steps she took back to her room, she couldn't stop thinking about you and that smile of yours before kept lingering inside her mind as she didn't want to believe that your smile was real.
As she sat herself down on her bed, her eyes couldn't leave the hoodie she's wearing, the hoodie you bought her and without her knowing why, tears slowly falling down onto her cheeks. As she's wiping away the tears, she forced herself to believe that...
"I guess you really don't have any feelings for me... Maybe we're just meant to be best friends..." She whispered to herself.
"Good morning miss..." You walked into an office after knocking on the door as one of your lecturer's sitting by her desk and was surprised to see you. "Oh Yongjae... you do know that new semester starts tomorrow right?"
"Yes I know but I'm here to discuss about something Miss if you have the time..." You replied as your lecturer took off her glasses and signaled you to come in. You closed the door slowly as you made your way and sat down across of where she sat.
"What is it you wanted to discuss about? Still confused on what modules to take next semester?" She asked as you just shook your head. You took a short breath in before sighing silently. "It's about the student exchange programme miss..."
"Oh, right so have you made a decision already? I mean based on your last semester's exam results, they're quite remarkable which will boost you into getting accepted into the programme... Australia's a great place as well you know..." Your lecturer explained as you just nodded your head lightly.
"I made my decision miss. I'll apply for the student exchange programme." You made your decision...
So leave a vote and comments(?) maybe, I would love to read your comments. It'll motivates me to write more, it really does.
Loves lot ❤