minyoung stepped into the cafe and her eyes searched for the person she had come to meet. she finally saw soobin seated at one of the seats next to window, where he was looking at the dimly lit street outside.
"hey soobin," she said awkwardly taking a seat, "sorry about calling you out at this late hour."
"oh, its fine." his reply was soft, "i wanted to talk to you too."
they sat in silence for awhile as minyoung sipped at her hot tea, warming herself up. soobin did not say anything either, he simply continued staring out the glass panels, eyes slowly following a petal that had fallen from the tree.
"hey-" both of them started at the same time.
"you go first." soobin leaned back in his seat.
"thanks." she took a deep breath, "i really appreciate everything that you have done for me, but-"
"please don't," he stopped her, "i get what you are trying to say."
"i'm sorry," she said again, "you're really one of the best friends i've ever made. i don't want anything to change between us."
"its going to change," soobin replied, "i won't always be there to save you anymore."
he let out a small smile and minyoung let out the breath that she had been holding.
"if yeonjun does something to make you cry though, i won't hesitate to fight him again."
minyoung laughed as the mood lightened up, and they soon left the cafe.
"i'll leave once i see you go in," he waved, "its a gentleman thing."
once he had made sure she was safe in her house he turned to leave, a single tear subconsciously running down his cheek. he wiped it away with a small laugh, because he knew despite him telling himself he was feeling fine, he was not.
instead of heading straight home, he went to the park nearby. being late at night, it was almost empty, with only the occasional jogger jogging past. he kept his head bowed, choosing to focus on his footsteps.
he approached a park bench and sat down, deciding whether he should turn back and tell minyoung that he would still keep liking her. it had barely been a minute before his thoughts were interrupted by a shout.
"oi, soobin!" a familiar voice followed the footsteps.
soobin looked up to see a boy with broad shoulders running up to him.
"seokjin?" he was surprised to see his senior.
"where are the rest of your gang? aren't you guys always together?"
"i would ask you the same." soobin smiled as seokjin took a seat next to him, "what are you doing here at such a late hour?"
"can't sleep," he stretched his long legs, "big game against Japan tomorrow."
"you'll do fine, you managed to train me to follow in your footsteps!"
"enough about me, what about you?"
at his question, soobin gave a small sigh which did not go unnoticed by the older boy. he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder and looked up to see seokjin smiling at him.
"chin up, stand at your fullest height!"
soobin could not help but laugh. he soon found himself telling all his problems to seokjin, who did not once show anything but attention. he told him about minyoung, about seulgi, as well as...
"who cares if one girl doesn't like you back? there are plenty of fish in the sea!" seokjin comforted him, "as for seulgi, she's a real dear, i hope you let her down gently."
"of course i did... i hope."
"thats a good boy," seokjin ruffled soobin's hair as he laughed.
-
"yeonjun, come here." his dad gestured for him to take a seat opposite him the dining table once he entered the house, still in high spirits after his day out with minyoung.
she was now his, his and only his, oh the places he wanted to bring her to! the things they would be able to do tog-
yeonjun's thoughts were interrupted by his dad turning his laptop screen to face him. yeonjun squinted at the screen, registering whatever was written on it. it was an email from his coach, and it included an airplane ticket.
"your coach contacted me and said that he wanted to send you to there to continue your training. he recommended applying for a scholarship to save on school fees, which i did, and it has been granted! isn't that great news?" his dad smiled at him excitedly.
it was clear that his dad was really excited, since they had been discussing this possibility ever since he started training professionally. it seemed like a given that they would eventually reach that point, but at that point in time, yeonjun had not been able to find a reason to stay.
he was now feeling very conflicted. while he was indeed excited about getting to study and train on a scholarship, this meant that he would have to leave his friends, most importantly, he would have to leave minyoung just after they had gotten together.
"dad," he started, "could you give me some time to think about this?"
"why are you hesitating?" his dad's quick temper was showing, "this is an opportunity you may never get again!"
"its just that..." he trailed off, hesitating when he say that his dad's gaze had changed.
"is it that girl you've been hanging out with?" he asked, his voice dangerously soft, "its alright, i won't do anything to her, i just want to hear the truth from you."
"dad..." yeonjun protested weakly, "i just need some time."
"it was her dream for you to be able to achieve that."
at that statement, yeonjun swallowed the lump that formed in his throat. he knew that his dad would eventually use that to convince him to go, but he was hoping that he would not.
he gave a sigh.
"when do i leave?"
+hi okay, first off, let me apologise for not having updated in months. i got too caught up with work and school, plus i completely lost track of the storyline i had originally planned. but i've managed to kind of salvage it, and hopefully i'll be able to wrap things up very very soon. its been almost 4 comebacks since i started writing this, and that is 4 comebacks too long. i would like to apologise in advance if the characters have some inconsistencies in their personalities LOL but yes, thank you for the support still, i thank you all from the bottom of my heart, and (hopefully) the rest of the story is satisfactory 🤍