"If it's what I said a while ago, can you just forget about it? I just thought you were avoiding me but you can figure out your own problem so.. Yeah." He says, cutting you off. Your lips pursed into a line as you nodded.
"Huh? Um.. Yeah. Thanks..", You looked away a little ashamed to have let that chance run away again. "I guess.." You mumbled, hoping he doesn't hear. You don't even understand why it's so difficult to tell him. He was your roommate. Your best friend. Why did every situation have to turn against you? Was it just not meant to be? You didn't like to believe in meant to be's. They proved to be stupid and here was another reason why it was. If you chose to believe, then that would mean you'd have to give up on any of this. Should you?
"Here you go. Sorry for keeping you waiting.." The guy from before said. You shook your head with a smile as he placed the drinks down.
"No worries. Thank you.", You said, taking a small sip. "It's very good. Thank you for the recommendation." The guy smiles at your cuteness and nods. Yeonjun didn't seem very pleased with the both of you smiling and blushing at each other so he wrapped an arm around your shoulder, making you blush even more.
"Yeah. Thanks.." He says a little blatantly to the waiter. He was a little embarrassed as he took it that you were just here with your friend but to think, you two were more.. He bows a bit and leaves off to the other customers. You look over to Yeonjun, a little confused but still a bit happy. But before you could ask him anything, he drops his hand off you and scoots back to his position. You smiled, shaking off the thought.
After a while, you two finished up your drinks and made your way out of the cafe. The last few days have been hectic. You didn't completely understand what you were feeling and what you should even do at this point. He didn't like you. Right? He called you just friends. Literally. You let out a sigh subconsciously as you walked along Yeonjun down the street. He had noticed from earlier that something was bothering you and it was quite ironic cause he had something bothering him as well. He had felt guilty of what he said to you the other day. Even though you might not like him, he at least thought that he stood a chance if he confessed but there's no chance in that either anymore. Usually, whenever you showed the smallest sign of stress, he'd always walk over to you and ask if you wanted to talk. But now it's hard for him to do that too. All you both needed was communication but fear and confusion blocked both of your views.
"Wanna head up to the hotel and just rest? We don't have to be in the room. Maybe explore. I guess.. We could freshen up, maybe change our outfits. Most places open up at night here, especially those fun events." Yeonjun drags on his words, waiting for your response. You looked up, noticing that you didn't answer. This whole situation was actually making you space out.
"Huh? Uh.. Yeah. We can do that. Um..", You pulled out your phone and clicked on the address you had set on your maps. You handed it to him with a small smile. "That's the place. I can get another hotel room by tomorrow morning if I book one today." You said, feeling a bit worried about sharing the same bed, especially with these feelings stirring inside you that were growing and growing the more you thought about him.
"Uh. Yeah. I can pay for that.", You smiled, not knowing what else to say. He took in a breath and took out his car keys. "Okay then. I guess we can go over. Get in the car." You did as you were told and climbed in the passenger seat. It didn't take long, which was good for you because you couldn't bear the silence any longer. Once you reached the hotel room, you got yourself situated as well.
"So.. Where should we go?" You asked. It wasn't like it was too hard to talk to him. Just a bit.
Before you could think any further, Yeonjun interrupts you.
"Hey Y/N.." You look up at him, who was sitting down at the bed.
"Yeah?"
"Can we talk?" Already? You gulped and walked over to him slowly but not too noticeable. You sat down next to him and lowered your head in case you blush from the embarrassment.
"What is it?", He took in a deep breath before smiling. The questions that roamed in his mind were so pushy and complicated: Should I do it or should I not? Would it scare her away? Would it creep her out? What if she hates me after? "Yeonjun?" You said, noticing how he was spacing out after he was the one to call you over.
"Yeah.. Um.", He bites his lip and runs a hand through his hair. "Promise me that whatever I say or do won't ruin our friendship." Here goes. Just break my heart. People say the faster you rip a bandage off, the faster it will get rid of the pain. But there'd still be pain. Right? How bad would it hurt? You took in a breath, preparing yourself for his talk.
"Yeah.. I promise." You didn't even want to act dumb anymore. You just wanted to get it over with and honestly, that released some of your tension in your shoulders. Yeonjun nods his head and pushes the hair covering your face out of the way. He chuckles to himself, now realizing that this was a lot more difficult than he had assumed it would be.
"You know how I always tell you that words are meaningful but it's the actions you take upon it, gives off the better impact?", You nod, recalling those moments where he had said it a few times. Sure he was only referring to how you take actions in life rather than just saying you'd do it but this case was special. He stared down at your lips and back to your eyes. "Well.. That's exactly what I'm going to do right now.", Actions? What he could possibly do? Slap you? "And if you hate me for it, hate me. Just-"
"Yeonjun. What are you beating around the bushes for? Just straight u-"
In a swift move, he lifts his right hand up to the left side of your cheek and the other down to your waist, sending an instant warmth down your body. Pulling you in, both your lips meeting for a soft kiss. Not feeling you react to it, he slowly tries to let go but to yours and his surprise, your arms wrap around his neck, pulling yourself closer. Smiling, his lips begin to move against yours. Before he could graze his tongue over your bottom lip, you pull away slightly, creating an instant pout along with the confused look of Yeonjun. You took that time to stare at the features you've learned to admire lately.
"Y/N, you-"
"Yeah. I like you. I thought.. You.. Didn't like me?" Yeonjun's smile brightens up as you look so cute.
"Me? Not like you? Where the heck did you get that idea?", He says sarcastically, causing you to laugh. "I'm sorry about that day. It's actually been the only thing on my mind lately." You took his hand in yours with a faint smile.
"Well at least now.. I know." Seeing you so confident all the sudden reminded him of the day he realized he liked you. The day you backed him up into the bathroom sink because you were playing around with who's more dominant. Obviously, it was him since he picked you up and placed you on the counter with a winning grin. He pushes you down on the bed and climbs next to you, placing you in his arms.
"By the way.. I am very clingy."
"That. I already know.." You laughed, staring into his eyes. This time, the silence wasn't awkward. Rather more, it comforted the both of you like a blanket. You laid your head into his chest and got comfortable.
"Can we just cuddle today? I'm feeling rather sleepy." Yeonjun says, playing around with an accent on his last sentence. You laugh, taking some time to think about it. But, why not? He took time off his breaks just to spend time with you, even though it must have been boring.
"Sure. How about for an hour? Then, we could go out and get food." He smiles, his eyes almost disappearing. His pout turns into a cute expression as he pats your hair, combing through it.
Like you two had planned, an hour passes by. Nothing happened. Just the continuation of you being engulfed in his embrace and almost falling asleep. But Yeonjun being quite the eater, his stomach grumbled softly, causing you to wake up and smile. You slowly sit up and look over to Yeonjun who smiled like a kid.
"Morning.." You check your phone, seeing the time.
"Yes.. Morning at almost 7 at night. Alright. Get up. Let's go eat.", You say, standing up and reaching out your hand which he accepts with a smile. "What do you feel like eating?" Yeonjun takes a minute to think about it before realizing this would be your first dinner date together.
"It's our first.."
"Huh?"
"Our first dinner date. It has to be something memorable." Yeonjun was thinking too much of it. All you wanted was to eat right now. You could go on your first dinner date tomorrow. It's only your first if you considered it anyway.
"I'm down for pho." You gave out an option that you knew for a fact he cannot say no to.
"Fine. You convinced me." You laughed at his little eye roll.
"Oh come on.. I didn't even try. You just wanted it." You said, clarifying your role here.
The night passed as you had originally planned and you two decided to just get pho and stop by a bar. Within three hours, you two headed back, passing out on the bed. It was nothing you weren't used to but yesterday was a lot different from all the other times you had gone clubbing with him. You two were back to talking like usual and all the awkward tension between the two of you disappeared.
It was now the next morning and you slowly woke up with a bit of a headache. You chuckled as you saw Yeonjun's arms around your waist, waking him up. He hums as a response, not letting you go.
"Morning.." You said, a little groggily. Luckily, you took off your makeup at the last minute out of habit. Otherwise, your skin would have broken out. You blinked your eyes a bit, adjusting to the light shining through the crack where the curtain was lifted. Yeonjun looks at you with his right eye that was only slightly open.
"I still don't get why you wake up so early." He claims, slowly sitting up. You smile at his morning voice before combing your hand through your hair.
"Hm.. Well, you get used to it. Plus, sunrises are a good sight to take a photo shoot." You defended. Taking a moment to let your head calm down, you place it in your hand before noticing the clothes you still had on. Even more, the position you were in. You were literally almost man spreading in a dress. You closed your legs, standing up in an instant which made Yeonjun look over to you, still a little sleepy.
"Wha- What?" You look over to him, shaking your head.
"Nothing.. Let's get changed. I'll make you breakfast." Yeonjun suddenly shot up with a smile. You hadn't cooked much but one time, you had to because you were testing foods but then you just made too much so that became your lunch and dinner. Ever since, he has been bugging you to make more but you were just too lazy to. Now, well, you just thought you at least owed him that for ignoring him these past few days.
"Really?!" You chuckled at his reaction and nodded.
"Yeah. Now let's stop by the supermarket to get ingredients.", You looked around for your suitcase before remembering something "Oh. And also.. Can we not tell my brother about us yet? And the rest of the guys.. I just don't want them to tease us, you know.." Yeonjun nods, understanding. It wasn't his position to tell you to tell your own brother. He knew you'd tell him someday. And plus, he was wanting to take things slow too. Just wanted a solid relationship with you before anyone could say anything to break the two of you apart.
"Yeah. I won't tell him. Promise.." The day quickly passed by as you still had pictures to take because after all, you were only here for your project. You and Yeonjun decided to not label things for now and just know you liked each other. You just found it weird that all of the sudden, you two were a couple. And you figured, once you label something, it becomes so official and it gets all eh.
Itaewon went by really quick, especially because there were so many sights you wanted to take pictures of. You were now back at the dorms and at first you were planning on telling Sooah but you thought it wasn't fair because you had asked Yeonjun to keep quiet about all of this to his best friend. And as much as you wanted to tell her, you didn't want to ruin the relationship and lose his trust. So instead you were getting ready for class and organizing your photos that you took last night.
Class went by quickly too and about your final project, your teacher had assigned you to give a small summary on where you've gone so far and how many photos you've taken. He was very surprised and proud that you had already visited two cities and had already taken the time to edit most of them. He praised you for that and even wanted to give you extra credit since you have the most photos in the class so far. You didn't know if he was being honest but you were so happy.
After all your classes, you went back to your dorm room to find an empty room. You were wondering where Yeonjun went until you noticed a few clothes lying on his bed. Figured since you were free now, you could just clean the room. You weren't a germaphobe or anything but if you could keep things clean, you would. You started off with dusting off all the drawers and counters even though there wasn't much. You did all the laundry of clothes you found a little wrinkled. You cleaned up the fridge and organized all of it. Finally, when you cleaned up the bathroom and vacuumed the entire place, Yeonjun had come home.
Seeing you placing the vacuum away, Yeonjun smiles, wanting to tease you.
"Honey, I'm home!!", He says in a cheerful voice. You hadn't noticed since your back was faced towards him. You turn around at his tone, smiling. You instantly ran over, slamming your body into his. "You cleaned the dorm." He says, stroking your hair.
"Yeah.." You reply with a nod.
"Thanks." He massages your scalp softly, making you shiver from the light touch.
"Mhmm..", You hummed as you let him hold you in his arms when all the sudden, he picks you up and you're in his arms, flying over to your bed. He places, or rather drops you on your bed and chuckles childishly. "Yah!"
"Na na na na!! You can't catch me!" He stuck his tongue out in a playful manner before you stopped, hearing a knock at the door. Your head snapped over to where the sound echoed as did Yeonjun. Both of you look at each other before you walk over to check. You look through the peephole and see nobody. You frown and look back to Yeonjun once again.
"There's nobody there." You said, confused. Yeonjun walks over behind you and looks through the peephole, trapping you against the door. He looks down at you confused.
"Nobody ever does a ding dong ditch. What the heck?" You nod your head since no one in university is childish enough to do that and plus, they're probably too busy to do so. Yeonjun backs up, confused as to why somebody would do such a thing on a school campus.
"That was weird.." You stated, a little disturbed. Even the boys wouldn't do something like this. The night settled and you two just ignored the little prank. What you didn't know was you knew the person. And well too. Three days passed and you were almost done with your project since next weekend, you were going to Jeju Island. But within those three days, you've been getting weird texts. Such like:
I know you still want me.
I'm back. Miss me?
I watch you at night. You still dream of me.
Just creepy messages like those. You assumed they were some spam so you just read them and never answered. You didn't know they could actually check since you thought it was some robot or something. They didn't send a link or anything so you figured it wouldn't hurt to see. That was your first mistake. You hadn't told Yeonjun about it. Second mistake. You let it go on for more than two days. Third mistake.
That day, you were out by the supermarket down the street to get some lunch for you and Yeonjun. You should have gone with Yeonjun like you usually do but you didn't. So many mistakes. While you were lurking around the snack aisle, a guy walked in the store, looking kind of sketchy. Of course you didn't notice since you were too busy shopping and it was normal for a person to walk in at any time.
You finally finished and bought everything before leaving the store. The guy followed after you and midway back to the dorms, a hand stopped you. You turn around, surprised before seeing the face. Your eyes widen at the person.
"Hyunwoo." You said, seeing your ex boyfriend in front of you. The dude from before. Tray girl? That whole situation. Your breathing gets a little uneven as it's been a while seeing him. After the fight, you hadn't seen him. So it's been about eight months. You were shocked that you didn't notice that he was still holding your hand.
"I'm back. Did you think of me while I was gone?" You blinked a few times, trying to get a grasp of the situation.
"It was you..", You looked up at him. "The text messages. Wasn't it?" You shook your hand off but he just held on tighter.
"Yes. It was me. But, I just wanted to see you. I still love you." You scoffed.
"Love me? You cheated on me." You shook your head, trying not to show your pain.
"No. I cheated on her for you. You're the one I want." You almost fell for his trick before realizing that he probably did the same with the other girl before you. He cheated on you anyway for having another girl. You didn't care who he cared for more. It was that he lied to you.
"Stop. You're not getting me back."
"Why not? Don't you still love me?" He pulled you closer in a rather aggressive way.
"No!" You pushed him back but his hand didn't leave yours. You stared at it, wanting him to let go so badly.
"Come on! Liste-"
"She said you're not getting her back." A familiar voice interrupted as your hand was taken away from your ex. You looked up to see Yeonjun who slowly backed you up behind him. Somehow you began to breathe normally again as if you had held it in.
"Jun.." There slips that nickname again, making Yeonjun happy he came to save you. He noticed that you guys were out of tea packets and since you weren't answering your phone, he wanted to come down and buy it himself. He glimpses back at you with a smile. Looking back at the man in front of the both of you, Yeonjun clears his throat.
"And you are?"
"That would be my question. Who are you?" Hyunwoo says as if he was the one protecting you.
"I'm her boyfriend." Yeonjun has never said that ever since that night. Well, only a week has passed since but you two hadn't really discussed what you were yet.
"Oh really? But I'm the one she truly loves." You scoffed as soon as Hyunwoo said that.
"Then how come she never talked about you...."
"Hyunwoo."
"Yeah. Never heard of the name. I'm Yeonjun, by the way.", Something about the way he said it so cockily made you shiver. "Come on. You don't need to be with this guy." Yeonjun grabs your hand that was until recently, held by Hyunwoo. It reassured you that he was here to save you at this time like he was your Prince Charming. Of course, you were never one to believe in fairytales being true in reality.
"Are you sure you want to leave like that? After all those nights together? You know what I'm talking about. Do you still have that apartment? Or did you move out after you got into your dorms?" You flinched at the mention. Yeonjun knows you've lost your virginity already but it felt weird having your ex spill stories.
"Yes. I left it. Didn't want the presence of you hanging around me." You said, quite spitefully. Yeonjun looks at you with his back turned from Hyunwoo.
"Have you done it with him yet? Probably not since he still looks pretty cautious around you." Hyunwoo chuckles, glad to see that he still held an impact on you. You shivered, frustrated that you couldn't say anything.
"You mean slept with her? Yeah. I have. Actually, it's been quite a while since we first did." Yeonjun says, confusing you but you didn't want Hyunwoo to think you didn't, otherwise, he'd still try. Hyunwoo smiles and nods his head.
"Sure you have. I'll see you again, Y/N." And just like that, Hyunwoo left. As soon as you lost sight of him, your knees gave out, almost dropping to the ground if it wasn't for Yeonjun catching you.
"Hey.. Hey. It's okay. Look at me.", You take in a deep breath and look up at Yeonjun, comforted by his warm smile. He pulled you in softly, wrapping his arms around you. You weren't gonna cry or anything. It was just shocking. You could feel a soft kiss on the top of your head so you closed your eyes, taking a minute. "Ex?" You chuckled, slowly letting go. You nodded.
"Yeah. He.. He cheated on me with another girl. Actually, the other girl was being cheated on too so not the girl's fault." You said, smiling. Yeonjun takes the bag in your other hand that you were still holding and laughs.
"Well.. He clearly was not thinking right. Cause why would he let you go?", He grabbed onto your hand before walking you back home. "He won't come back. I promise. I mean he saw me. You really think he could compete against me?" You rolled your eyes at his remark.
"No. No way in hell."
"That's what I thought too."