31
"Since when did you come back here?" I asked, taking another sip from my hot chocolate.
"We actually just arrived here this morning." He replied.
"How long are you gonna stay here..?" I was almost whispering.
He put down his cup of coffee first. "We'll leave the day after tomorrow. I just wanted to show Seoul to my friends."
"Oh.." I was running out of words to say. I just stared at him and noticed that he's still as handsome as ever. Damn.
"How have you been?" His voice was soft, I was really taken aback.
"Good. School's fine, you know graduation's just around the corner so we're just getting the best of everything." I answered. "How about you?"
"I'm good too. My friends are great and we're all in the same dance group. Busan is still as beautiful as ever." He smiled. "I'm glad that you're doing fine, Hyerin."
I only smiled back. I was happy that he's also doing great but somehow I just can't utter a word.
"It's getting late, I'll walk you home." He suddenly suggested. I just nodded.
He told stories about his life in Busan on our way home. I could only chuckle at his cute reaction because he was really happy sharing his great adventures there.
I didn't even notice we're already in front of my house. And I also didn't notice a certain guy waiting on the gate.
"Yah Hyerin, give me back my wallet. It must've fallen when I was on top of you."
I saw Daniel with a confused expression so I immediately explained it.
"We had this game earlier at school and Yoongi accidentally fell on top of me so yeah I must have unconsciously picked up his wallet." I laughed nervously.
"Wait who the fuck is this guy?" I heard Yoongi ask.
"I'm Kang Daniel, have you forgotten, Min Yoongi?"
"Well bitch sure I did." Yoongi smirked.
"Anyways, see you tomorrow Hyerin. Goodnight." Daniel waved before stuffing his hands on his pocket again.
"Yeah, night." I waved back. He told me before that he'll visit our school again tomorrow.
I heard Yoongi beside me. "Don't tell me you still have a stupid crush on that guy."
Without facing him, I answered. "Well believe it or not, he's actually my ex-boyfriend and I'm over him a long time ago."
"Lol what?" He sneered. "You hang out with Hoseok too much, you're also making dumb jokes."
I gritted my teeth. "I'm not fucking kidding, Yoongi." I then showed him the only picture I have of Daniel and I.
I watched as his confused reaction changed into a serious one.
"You...you really had a boyfriend.." He muttered.
"Yeah, unbelievable right? But it did happen."
"You know what? Fuck that wallet, I'm going home." He snarled and suddenly walked away.
"What the fuck?" What's wrong with him? I thought he valued money much more than his own family?
So why the sudden change of heart, Min Yoongi?
°°
"WHAT? KANG DANIEL IS BACK?!" I immediately covered Chunyoung's mouth.
"And he brought friends too." I added. I then recited the names Daniel told me last night.
"Daebak.." Hoseok mumbled.
"Who's coming back?" Seokjin suddenly appeared and put down his tray of food on our table.
"Hey sorry bout yesterday." He apologized. I just smiled. "Nah it's cool. Sorry too."
"What are you guys apologizing for?" Hoseok asked.
"Didn't you know? They were snatching each other's weave yesterday. It pretty much became a topic in our section's group chat." Chunyoung explained. Hoseok just bursted out laughing.
"Okay but who really is coming?" Seokjin repeated.
"Hyerin's ex—" Hoseok clamped his palm on Chunyoung's mouth.
"It's Kang Daniel." He grinned.
Seokjin just uttered an "Oh." and then started to eat.
"Who's Kang Daniel?" Taehyung asked while munching his sandwich. Of course he didn't know since he just transferred on our school when we were first years on highschool. Same with Chunyoung and Jina.
"He's pretty popular on our middle school days and he's the mvp before Yoongi." Namjoon said. Taehyung then nodded before giving Yoongi a glance.
And Yoongi? He's been quiet all day and even now he's just quietly eating his pasta.
Also, I tried giving his wallet back before but he just ignored me. Son of a bitch.
I just continued eating, not really listening to whatever the hell Chunyoung was talking about.
°°
"Damn, I thought I'll get to see Danny boy." Chunyoung pouted.
It was now dismissal time. And yep, Daniel was still nowhere to be found.
Or so we thought.
We heard a random bitch suddenly perked up.
"Hey I heard Kang Daniel's in the gym. He really came back."
Hoseok, Chunyoung and I exchanged looks before dashing off to the school gym.
I immediately spotted a group of boys—probably 10 or 11 boys. Wow they're many.
"Hyerin!" Daniel called. I looked ahead and saw him jogging towards me, his friends following behind him.
"Hey." I waved. He smiled cheerfully.
"Guys, this is Hyerin. Hyerin, these are my friends." He presented.
"Oh is she..?" I heard a boy said. He's tall and to be honest, he's freaking handsome.
"Yeah." Daniel smiled sheepishly.
Chunyoung then stepped forward and approached Daniel.
"You must be Kang Daniel."
"You must be Chunyoung?"
"And we must be going." Hoseok interrupted and pulled Chunyoung away from Daniel.
I only noticed that there was Yoongi and the rest behind them.
"Damn buddy I missed you." Jimin said and hugged a boy who's height is kinda similar to his.
"I missed you too buddy."
"I heard you like cleaning and cooking. I'm Minhyun." Another tall guy said while stretching his right hand.
"Seokjin." Then they shook hands.
"You're the leader too? How bad is it?" Namjoon asked a guy shorter than him.
"Well bad is such an understatement. Let's just say it's like I'm a babysitter of 10." The guy then laughed.
"So you like games?" This time it was Taehyung talking to another guy.
The guy only nodded, pink tints on his cheek. Wow he's cute.
"Aww Jihoon is shy in front of his senpai?" A brunette teased the cute guy.
"S-Shut up, Woojin!"
"So you're the maknae too? I'm Jungkook."
"Guanlin." Then they patted their shoulders and talked about cartoons.
I turned around and saw Hoseok laughing with another two guys.
"You're so fucking funny, Jaehwan. Let me have your number." Hoseok beamed. Jaehwan nodded. "Hit me up anytime, brother."
"Daehwi, part your bangs again." Hoseok instructed. The guy who's adorable nodded and parted his bangs in the middle that earned a laugh from Hoseok and Jaehwan again.
Daniel and that handsome dude were talking to Chunyoung.
"As William Shakespeare once said,hello." Chunyoung greeted the handsome guy. Damn she slick.
I then saw a guy in the corner, probably too shy to interact with anyone so he's just staring at the floor.
"Hey." I decided to approach him. He looked up and immediately got surprised.
"H-Hello." He said nervously. Wow this guy is so cute.
"Are you okay? Why aren't you talking to the others?"
"I-I just don't know what to talk about." He confessed.
"Well first of all, what's your name?" I started.
"J-Jinyoung. Bae Jinyoung." He stuttered again. Bae? Totally.
"Well Hi Jinyoung, I'm Hyerin! Wait you look so young. What grade are you?"
"I-I'm still in eleventh grade."
Oh. I'm one year older then.
We talked for a while and eventually he became more cheerful and smiley.
"Well since we're all here anyways, why don't we have a friendly match on basketball?" The handsome dude gained our attention.
"Sounds cool, Seungwoo. Right, Yoongi?" Namjoon clarified. Yoongi was already dribbling the ball.
So it's 6 vs 6. Hoseok didn't want to play so he joined us in the bleachers.
It was Daniel, Seungwoo, Sungwoon, Jisung, Woojin, Guanlin against Yoongi, Taehyung, Jimin, Namjoon, Seokjin and Jungkook.
I was surprised Seokjin participated. I expected him holding pompons while cheering for Namjoon lmao.
The game started with the ball on Daniel's team. I somehow started to become nervous.
I can't believe I'm watching him play again.
I suddenly felt nostalgic.
Chunyoung was obviously cheering for Daniel's team whereas Hoseok was cheering for Bangtan.
A few years ago, I remember screaming my lungs out to cheer for none other than Kang Daniel, the boy of my dreams, but right now, I'm over him and that's final.
I got new friends and I got new people to cheer on.
Inhaling, I finally cheered.
"GO MIN YOONGI! YOU BETTER WIN OR ELSE YOU WON'T HAVE YOUR WALLET OR ME EVER AGAIN!!" Boom.
A series of laughter were heard. I watched as Yoongi stopped for a sec before giving me a slight smirk.
He then faced Daniel and somehow I heard what he said to him.
"Well sorry but I can't lose. I can't risk to lose my wallet."
Daniel grinned. "Scared of losing just your wallet?" He hinted.
The game continued and now it was a fucking tie.
I was sweating and everyone was nervous.
"Yo this is a friendly game but it doesn't look that friendly at all." Hoseok muttered.
"I agree." Chunyoung bit her nail.
Jimin and Sungwoon were chasing each other while Jungkook was trying to block that giant Guanlin.
The only thing that made me laugh was because Seokjin was just standing in the side with his arms crossed around his chest. Lol
It was down to 10 seconds and it's still a tie. I crossed my fingers and prayed that Bangtan will win.
The timer buzzed just in time for a three point shot by..
"YAY!!" Hoseok immediately ran to the boys.
They won. Bangtan won. Yoongi was the buzzer beater who scored that 3 point shot last second.
"That was great. Continue being a great leader to the team." Daniel shook hands with Yoongi. I guess he's referring about Yoongi's basketball team. And yeah he's the leader and the mvp now.
"You were great too, man." Yoongi acknowledged.
"Wow Jimin you didn't go easy on me." Sungwoon pouted.
Jimin chuckled. "Neither did you."
"I did nothing but run lol." Jisung exclaimed. Namjoon nodded. "Same, man."
"You were cool back then." Taehyung praised Woojin. "You too. Such a waste, Jihoon didn't join. He's good at this too but I guess he was too shy."
"Jin you only stood on the side. Why didn't you move?" Hoseok teased Seokjin.
"Bitch I was observing them." He fought.
"Damn you tall." Jungkook commented to Guanlin.
"And you big af." Guanlin winked. They both laughed.
With two bottles of water on my hand, I approached the boys.
"Here." I gave Daniel the bottle of water. He gladly accepted it. "Thanks, Hyerin."
"You were great back then and even now." I mentioned. Daniel just ruffled my hair. "Well thank you."
Yoongi came to my side, eyeing the other bottle of water on my hand.
"Aren't you gonna give that to me?" He smirked.
"This? I'm gonna drink this lol." I chuckled and made a face at him. He just pouted.
I flicked his forehead before giving the water to him. I reached for something in my pocket.
"And because Bangtan won, Yoongi will treat us chicken!" I announced while waving his wallet in the air.
Everyone cheered and Yoongi could only groan.
We then went to our favorite chicken house and Yoongi really did treat us all.
I sat across Daniel with Yoongi unwillingly on my side since there's no more available seat.
Daniel was giving me my favorite parts of the chicken since we used to feast on chicken before too. Yoongi was glancing us from time to time.
"Hyerin, aren't you eating too much?" I heard Namjoon say. I just shrugged, my mouth still full.
"Let her be, she's damn hungry for chicken." Yoongi sipped on his cola.
"It's my fault, I should stop giving you chicken because you'll soon have a stomachache." Daniel defended. I shook my head.
"I'm gucci. I can still handle it." I gave him a thumbs up.
An hour later I was clutching my stomach as it hurt so bad.
Daniel was again walking me home with Yoongi trailing behind since his house was just on then next street.
After eating, we all bid goodbye's to each other. I remember seeing Jimin and Sungwoon tightly hugging each other. I also remember telling Jinyoung to study well and talk more, he just smiled shyly while the others started teasing him. I also saw Taehyung hugging Jihoon goodbye who was pretty much red like a tomato afterwards. We all felt sad but were happy that we still had a chance to meet each other.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have spoiled you with all those chicken." Daniel frowned.
"Nah. I just need a good shit and I'll be fine." I laughed. He just smiled.
"Sorry I can't hang out with y'all tomorrow since we have this long ass seminar after school." I immediately saddened at the thought of that damn boring seminar.
Daniel just grinned. "It's fine but I'll miss you."
I abruptly stopped on my tracks causing Yoongi to bump on me back.
"Hyerin what the funk." He breathed. I mumbled a quick sorry to him before facing Daniel again.
"I'll really miss you. Even after what happened to us, you were still a great friend to me." Daniel explained.
"Same." I could only mumble. Daniel bid goodbye and turned on the next street.
I was silent til I reached our house.
"Hyerin, be honest with me. Do you still have feelings for Daniel?" Yoongi's voice was dead serious. I swallowed a lump on my throat.
I already got through this. I've made my decision.
"No. I don't have any feelings for him anymore. It's just that.." I trailed.
"I keep getting flashbacks that somehow trigger what we were before but other than that, I'm gucci. I'm just glad he's gucci too." I smiled at him. He just pursed his lips.
"He's leaving tomorrow night right?" I nodded. "Then make sure you give him a proper goodbye, you might not see him again for a while."
The gate clicked open and I entered right away.
I turned around and gave him a sincere smile.
"Don't worry, I will and I'm ready for it."
°°
"Goddamn, I ain't ready for this." I heard Jimin curse. We all plopped down at the gym where the seminar's about to happen.
The teachers said that our seating arrangement was the same with our arrangement in our class so Yoongi was beside me with his gray neck pillow wrapped tightly around his neck.
I don't like these kind of seminars but at least I brought food. I grinned as I casually ate my snacks as the seminar started.
I only know that this seminar was about us being graduates soon so yeah, I'm not gonna listen to this shit.
All throughout the seminar, the students were either sleeping or staring through thin air. I was the latter who was just staring into space.
Yoongi was snuggled around his neck pillow as he tries to not get caught sleeping by the teachers.
Unconsciously, I reached for my pocket and felt that thing around my hand.
I took it out and examined it again.
It was one of Daniel's favorite necklace that he asked me to hold on to for a while since he's scared he'll lose it.
He was always the type to always lose his things. That was one of the things I find cute about him.
I suddenly muttered. "I'm gonna give this back to Daniel tonight and I'll say goodbye to him...forever."
I glanced at Yoongi who just stared at me with a weird expression. Somehow, I saw a hint of worry on his eyes.
This bitch is worried about me, how cute.
I smiled at that thought as I wait for this stupid seminar to end.
At last, after two hours of staring at the floor, the seminar ended and Chunyoung and I decided to have dinner first.
"They're really leaving tonight right?" Chunyoung asked. I nodded.
"Damn, I wish they stayed longer. They were fun boys." I second that.
"Are you okay though?" She peeked at my reaction.
I smiled. "Of course. He's happy and I'm happy so if you're happy and you know it clap your hands."
Chunyoung laughed hard.
We had dinner together and Chunyoung never failed to ease the tension forming around me as I get ready for later to confront Daniel.
It was almost 9 in the evening when Chunyoung and I decided to part ways.
I walked down the road and instantly saw Daniel's house.
He informed me before that they're all staying at his old house.
I walked up the stairs and knocked at the door. Luckily, he was the one who opened it.
"Oh—Hyerin?" He looked shocked to see me late at night.
"Hi, I just want to give this back." I gave him a small box containing the necklace inside..
"Wow, I almost forgot about this. Thanks, I guess." He looked at me. "But you could have kept it. It's fine."
I shook my head. "I know that's important to you because your Mom gave it to you so just take it." He only nodded.
"Uh—also. I just wanna say thanks for walking me home before and I hope you and your friends have a safe flight tonight."
"Thanks, Hyerin." He said. "Take care of yourself okay. And be healthy, don't eat chicken that much again." He let out a soft chuckle.
"It was nice seeing you again, Daniel. I really mean it. I hope you stay happy in Busan, take care too."
He smiled, his bunny teeth showing. "You too, Hyerin." He paused. "I see you've really moved on." He pointed at my hair.
I deliberately looked at my hair and asked. "What do you mean?"
He looked at me playfully. "Don't you remember? The promise you said about your hair." At first I didn't get it but then I apparently remembered those words that I've said a long time ago.
I know Daniel really liked short hair on girls.
And I'm pretty much contented that my hair just falls back down my shoulder and just in line with my collarbones.
I faced him and smiled cheekily.
"Yah Kang Daniel! I promise that as long as I have feelings for you, I'll keep my hair short!"
That was years ago, and now my hair falls down til my hip. I actually liked it straight and long.
"Don't get it wrong though, you still look beautiful with long hair." He added. "I'm glad you moved on too."
"Well do you have a girlfriend at the moment?" I don't know why I just fucking asked that.
He immediately shook his head. "No and I don't plan on having one again since I'll only focus on graduating and dancing." He stared. "What about you?"
"Nah. I have no time for love, gotta graduate and make money." Daniel just chuckled.
He suddenly lowered his tone. "I'm still sorry that I wasn't there for you when Sulhee died. I only knew what happened after a year and I couldn't come back because I was too busy."
I shook my head. "It's okay, Daniel. It's not your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault."
He nodded and looked at his watch. "It's getting late, shall I walk you home?"
This time I declined. "Nah, Im cool. Just get ready to leave and maybe catch some sleep. Y'all would leave at midnight right?"
"Yeah, you sure you good?" He sounded concerned.
"I'm sure." I waved at him before retreating slowly. I stopped when he called my name.
"Hyerin-ah." I turned around. "Be happy always and don't forget to show your beautiful smile."
For the last time, I flashed him a smile. "Don't worry, I will. Bye Daniel."
"Bye Hyerin." I walked down the stairs and looked up at the sky.
It's over. It's gonna be okay.
I didn't notice a figure that looked like he was waiting for me, at the last step of the stairs.
"Yoongi?" The boy stood up.
"I had a hard time bribing Jimin to tell me where his friend was currently staying just because I was so damn worried that your stupid ass would break down in front of your Danny boy."
I almost laughed if it wasn't for his serious reaction.
"Don't worry, Yoongi. I didn't break down or anything. We just said goodbyes and that's it."
"Are you sure about that?" He suddenly asked.
I looked up again, seeing so many stars in the sky.
"I'm supposed to be fine now but why...why am I still sad?" I began. "I don't like him anymore but I liked the memories about him and I. It kept flashing back on my mind that it started to upset me. Seeing him again was okay but seeing him leave again was another thing."
"Why do they always leave?" I croaked out. I'm sure I'm pretty much crying now.
"People come and go so it's only best if you'll accept it." Yoongi whispered. "But there's always some people who'll definitely stay. So cheer up because I'm not leaving you."
I looked at him, tears streaming down my cheeks. I can't believe his words but at the same time it comforted me.
"Wow, thanks Yoongi." I smiled. I started to panic again as I remember how bad I look when I cry as I still have to go home.
"Ah shit—my face—" I was stunned when I felt a cap cover my head. I faced Yoongi and he was looking straight at me. He figured that I'll definitely panic about my face so he removed his baseball cap and put it on me.
"Let's just go home." He took my hand as we walked home with our hands intertwined under the bright starry night.
°°
The last scene was actually inspired from one of my fav manga, tonari no kaibutsu-kun.
Behold my otp^^