Chapter 19: Only him.

“So, friends?”

We were on our way to our office building from Gwangju after we had finished with our meeting. Our new member, Taehyun was driving us throughout the journey and he was quiet the whole time listening to our not so quiet chattering.

“I wouldn’t call it friends but it’s a no hard feelings relationship. I don’t want to be fond of him.” I replied, staring at the road in front, assisting Taehyun on the direction.

“That’s what you say but you will always have a weak spot for Jongin.” Jinae opposed, rolling her eyes at me when I glanced at her and I saw her massaging her temple. Long hours of journey had taken her head spinning, she said. She stuck her head near to the driver seat, surprising Taehyun when she said “You better not bring any of this out of this car, understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He obediently answered.

“Good.” She said in her sweet voice before she turned her focus back at me. “I know how sweet what both of you are considering and I can’t deny it’s hard not to unintentionally hurt you in any way, on both me and Kyungsoo’s part but you don’t have to push yourself so much for it. It’s not pathetic, it’s normal. Besides, you know how much Yerin is not happy with it. Some relationships just don’t work out when it’s done. Taehyun, do you stay as friends with any of your ex?”

Taehyun looked flustered when he realized the attention was on him. He pushed the rim of his glasses up as he struggled to find an answer. “I have never dated before.”

“You’re joking!”

“Jinae!” I exclaimed at her accusatory tone and she just shrugged before continued with “I mean how can nobody wanted to date such a smart and talented guy like him?” That compliments made him blushed like hell. “I’ll see what I can do. I think I can set you up with someone.” She grinned.

“She loves matchmaking people. You should give it a shot.” I encouraged and turned to Jinae with tiring eyes. “Jinae, it’s not like I’m going to hang out with him on weekends because we’re buddies now. It’s true, I can’t remove the fact he used to mean the world to me. But it used to. Besides, he keeps wanting to make peace with me.” I turned my torso around fully towards her from the passenger seat. “You know, I don’t have this burden pressuring on me anymore. I thought I would want to run away from him every time I see him but I don’t feel like it anymore. Right here,” I pointed to my heart. “It feels light. It feels full of-“

“Full of what? Love?” she mocked.

“Well, you can say that.” I murmured lowly and turned back to the front and she groaned loudly in the car.

“Geez! And all this time, you act like you can’t stand of me and Kyungsoo.” She complained, now for the first time in her life, she finally felt how it feel like to be in my shoes. Then, she placed her head on the shoulder of the passenger seat, making me pulled my head away from her creepy face. “Tell me about Baekhyun.” she sheepishly smiled.

“I don’t want to.”

“Oh my god, you’re so whipped. Look at you blushing. Barely anyone could make you like that!”

“I’m not!”

“Duh, Taehyun, look at her. She’s blushing. I’m not colour blinded, right? She’s so red!” Jinae’s loud and excited voice was banging the whole damn car.

Taehyun slightly nodded and before he could mutter a word, I cut him off. “I’ll kill you if you say a word.” I warned and that made him completely shut his mouth.

“Ms. Jinae, are your headaches gone now?” Taehyun changed the subject, showing his concern to Jinae’s earlier complaint. It was weird how he still remembered it when Jinae seemed to have forgotten about it already.

Jinae smiled at his thoughtfulness. “No worries, I could just drop by any convenience store later and buy some painkillers.”

“I could stop if I see a convenience store along the way.”

“That’ll be great. You know, you reminded me of my boyfriend. He used to be this awkward guy, with nerdy glasses too but now he’s wearing contacts and girls can’t stop looking at him. Anyway, he used to be thoughtful just like you even though he was so shy to show that he was-“

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure Taehyun is not that interested to know.” I interrupted her.

“It’s fine, really. That’s nice to know.” Taehyun insisted and Jinae looked at me, mouthing “See?” and I don’t know why I feel that this Taehyun boy is having a little crush on Jinae.

Not long after, Taehyun noticed a convenience store and made a quick stop for Jinae to buy painkillers for her headache. I followed Jinae into the shop while Taehyun waited inside the car as we went in. Jinae got carried away when she found the fridge and started to fumble around the types of drinks she can’t decide upon, forgetting the real purpose.

“What does Baekhyun do for a living actually?” she asked as she looked around the energy drink bottle, contemplating which brand was a better choice.

“A writer.”

“Oh, no wonder you couldn’t get hold of him. I heard writer is usually quite an isolated person. Probably he is off somewhere in the mountain. Places like that don’t really have a good coverage.”

“What is he? A monk?”

“Then, how about you check him at his place? Where does he live?” And when she saw how my eyes were roaming everywhere but her, she got a guess that I’m keeping something from her. “Where does he live, Hana?” she repeated, calling for my attention.

I don’t actually know. “Somewhere…in Seoul.”

She closed the fridge when she had decided. “I see that you don’t really know much about him.”

“I don’t really want to into it so much.” I replied and walked off on my own inside the shop.

I caught a sight on the familiar packaging, making me smiled as it reminded me of him. I slipped my phone out and I couldn’t be any more disappointed when I saw the lock screen was incomplete with notifications.

I punched in my passcodes and went to our chatroom. I saw the past text messages from him and even scrolling it up to see our conversation made me felt all warm inside.

Aren’t you ever going to look at your phone, mister?     1:30 PM

I was about to type more and I know my emotions would waver if I continued because I’m seriously curious what he was up to so I stopped, but a minute after, my phone lighted up with his name on the screen.

“Baekhyun!” I might have sounded a little bit too excited because he chuckled a little before talking.

“Your text came in right when I was about to call you.” He said lightly, I could sense a smile car