I woke up still in a sour mood after yesterday. Now that I came to think of it, I’d been sulking a lot these days. And there was only one reason behind it; Kim Taehyung and his spiteful words. Even in front of his mother, it didn’t stop him from being a jerk. I couldn’t understand it. I mean did he hate me that much, that everything that came from him about me was always bitter and hateful? He looked at me always with those dark and cold eyes, and whenever his mouth talked in my regards, he spit nothing but hatred.

“What about you Taehyung? What do you think about Hera?” Mrs. Kim turned to his son.

I watched Taehyung with drumming heart as he looked up from his cup. I saw how his jaw clenched as if he was trying to hold back his anger. “I thought I made it clear to you Mom that I’m not interested in this marriage,” he protested.

Mrs. Kim’s face changed. She now looked at her son with some expression I couldn’t decipher. There was a sudden lump in my throat. I found it was hard to breath. “I am against this marriage and I am not interested in her or whatsoever. I already have Soojung and I love her, Mom. Why couldn’t you understand?” his voice went up. Mrs. Kim got teary at his son words. I wished I could vanish because this son-mother quarrel was definitely not mine to see.

Taehyung’s breath got shallow as he continued, “If her family needs money for her brother, then why can’t you just give her money without involving me in it? I have my own-,”

“Silence!” Mrs. Kim burst out, standing up from her seat. Her voice was shaky and she was definitely trembling because of her sudden outbreak. Taehyung looked as shocked as I was, seeing his mother fuming.

“I don’t teach you to behave like that Kim Taehyung!” she pointed her finger to her son. “If it wasn’t because of her father, your father wouldn’t be here. And I don’t like that girlfriend of yours. I and your father trust her and her family with our lives. I don’t care if you oppose this because we aren’t going to break it up,” Mrs. Kim vented out everything inside her heart.

“You will break her up either way Taehyung. You are marrying Hera and that’s final!” with that, she left the dining room and went to one of the bedrooms, closing the door with a loud thud.

I sat there speechless. I didn’t know how I should’ve reacted. I secretly looked at Taehyung and I could see the hurt in his eyes. He must’ve couldn’t believe his mother just said that to him, because I couldn’t too. He froze for a good two minutes and those two minutes were the longest time in my life, as I felt them.

He suddenly turned to me and snapped, “I’ll send you home.”

I frantically stood up and gather my things before dashed outside. I waited for Taehyung in the lobby downstairs. He then pulled over with his car and signaled me to get in. I never felt this afraid in my life than being in the same car with him. He was like, at the moment, a ticking bomb that could explode anytime he wanted.

“Sorry,” I muttered lowly.

“ it,” he angrily expressed and I decided that it was a good decision to shut my mouth the whole ride.

 

I looked around at the occupied students in the cafeteria. None of them sat alone except me. It wasn’t like I didn’t have any friend; it was just I no one really clicked with me. I had a lot of friend but I didn’t really have the closest one. And here I was, sitting all by myself. My hand was busy stirring up the bowl of soup in front of me. I had no appetite to eat.

Taehyung.

Taehyung.

Taehyung.

My mind was too engaged with the thought of him for some unknown reason. I exhaled loudly. He had caused nothing but hurt to me. And the worst part was I would be getting married to him; to the man who hated me with all his life, a man that already found his damsel in distress. Seriously I kind of regretted my life. I mean, first, my brother fell sick and it cost all of my family to heal him. Second, I had to forget my own love because I was tied in this arranged marriage. Third, I was about to marry someone who despised me. I just didn’t know anymore.

Life was just too-

“Hey!” A sudden tap on my shoulder brought some exaggerated reaction from me. I jumped on m y chair as I turned around to see what had caused my heart attack. I got even more surprised when I saw who it was.

Mingyu stood behind me as he joined to sit next to me. He had this awfully handsome smile as he put down his cup of ramen. I only watched him with rounded eyes. What is he doing here?

“The other tables are too full. Here is the most vacant one,” he reasoned as if he read my mind. I my dry lips as I nodded awkwardly at him.

“Sure you can sit here,” I welcomed him, moving a little bit further to give him some space. Mingyu chuckled out of nowhere and I could feel the heat on my cheeks. I mentally fanned myself. Hera, get a hold of yourself together.

“I might melt if you keep staring at me like that,” Mingyu said jokingly. I gasped and immediately averted my eyes somewhere else. Did he just catch me staring?  I scolded myself for being so reckless. How could I mindlessly swooning over him? Oh my God.. I was just so stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

“I-I j-just…” I stuttered, trying to find a good excuse to say. “I envy you,” I said at last. Mingyu turned to me with questioned look.

“What do you mean?” he asked, putting some ramen inside his mouth.

“I mean, you are so good at math. I’m jealous of you,” I reasoned. Please just believe my excuse.

I thought that was one good way to escape. Mingyu laughed with the deep voice of his and that sounded like music to my ears.

“You shouldn’t be. You are an ace in Biology. Mr. Go loves you so much,” he complimented me. I suppressed a shy smile. Mingyu just complimented me! My crush just praised me! My hear felt like exploding.

I slapped his arm playfully; trying to erase the nervousness in me. “I am not!” I denied. Mingyu shot me another smile and for a moment I thanked myself for sitting down because if I was standing, I knew my knees would go weak and I wouldn’t know how to support myself.

“What do you usually do in your free time?” he suddenly asked.

I didn’t mind him asking since I’d love to keep conversation with him. “Mm… I don’t really have much free time. I usually use it to do my homework or reading books,” I softly replied. Mingyu nodded his head in understatement. He then kept our talk going on as he asked about my hobby and such. I slowly knew him better as well.

“Uh… Song Hera,” he called out. “Yes,” I raised my brows. My heart was thumping in such irregular pace and I started to think that Mingyu might hear it.

I saw him scratched the back of his neck nervously as he bit his lips. “Can I have your number?” my eyes rounded in shock at his question. Was this for real? Was I dreaming? Was he kidding? But based on how it hurt when I secretly pinched myself and how Mingyu looked so anxious, I knew I wasn’t dreaming and he wasn’t joking.

“Uh… Sure,” I replied unsurely. He took out his phone and allowed me to make a phone call to my own number. I saved it under my name and returned it back to him. He thanked me and I waved it off, saying it was nothing to be thanked off.

I was at lost of words. Good thing we were saved by the bell that told us the break was over. I excused myself first and ran, dashing out of the cafeteria. I didn’t dare to look back to Mingyu because I was too embarrassed. It wasn’t because of him, but because of my reaction towards him. How my body and heart responded to him was strange and I was afraid he’d notice it.

 

Later on that day, when the class was over, I packed my things and was ready to leave. But suddenly Mingyu appeared in front of me with his bag slung over one of his shoulders. “Hey,” he greeted and I got nervous in instant. I nodded at him, standing up.

He beamed at me. “I’ll call you later,” he said senselessly as his hand brushed my hair over my shoulder.

I was frozen at place. Mingyu smiled heartily and left the class, leaving me with my almost-bursting heart. What is this? I couldn’t understand why Mingyu would act that way. He suddenly became too friendly for my liking. Not that I hated it, I loved it even, but it wasn’t normal for me. I used to admire him from afar but now seeing him this close was very new to me. I didn’t know how to properly react to that. It was too good to be called reality.

He said he would call me. I’d never been anticipating something as much as this time.

---

Days flew by. Taehyung hadn’t made any attempt to contact me or whatsoever for good few days after he brought me to his apartment. I was glad because there wouldn’t be any good interaction if it was with him. It’d ended up hurting my heart or pride. That was just how he was. So I was surprised when I left after school and found his car outside the gate with him leaning against the door. Every girls walked past him while giggling excitedly. Taehyung definitely attracted them.

He was playing with his smartphone but suddenly looked up as I approached him. He straightened on his feet as he pocketed his phone. “Hera,” said him.

I looked at him in annoyance. What does he want now?

“What are you doing here?” I asked, not bother to hide the fact that I was irritated. “Picking you up of course. Get in,” he said casually. I scoffed in disbelief. Did he think that after talking bad about my family, then openly rejected me in front of his mother and me myself, he could freely pick me up like nothing happened? Hello Mr. Kim. I’m pretty much offended until now.

I huffed but nonetheless got inside the car. Taehyung immediately sped up and left the school area. I didn’t know where he was taking me to but it was surely not my home. It didn’t direct in this way. Clearly, he was taking me somewhere else.

I was too lazy to ask about anything as I just propped my elbow on the window. I rested my cheek on my palm as I watched the trees and cars moved in fast speed.

“I’m sorry,” he suddenly spoke. I turned to him, silently asked ‘what’ if I had heard him correctly. His eyes were glued to the road in front of him but he repeated his words, “I am sorry, Hera,” he said this time louder.

I only looked at him; waiting for him to continue.

“I am sorry for everything I said,” he apologized. My forehead frowned at his sudden remorse. I mean, why so sudden?

“Why are you apologizing out of the blue?” I blurted out truthfully.

I saw him shrugged. “I just feel like it is the right thing to do. I must’ve hurt you with my words plenty of times.”

I couldn’t help but to eye him suspiciously. Where did all this soft heart come from? I totally didn’t expect him to apologize, let alone realizing that he had said to me hurtful words. I searched his eyes, wondering if he was sincere. And he wasn’t joking. I was speechless. I didn’t know how to respond to his apology.

“I don’t know what to say,” I confessed.

“You don’t have to say anything. It’s mine to say sorry. I just hope you’ll accept it,” he flatly said. Nothing changed in his voice and it somehow made me nervous.

All of sudden I noticed that his car pulled over to a small café. I watched him parked his car before instructed me to go out with him. I looked around. My forehead frowned questionably. “Ice cream?” I asked, sounding more to myself.

Taehyung nodded his head. “Yeah, let me treat you something as my apology,” he stated.

 

We both sat down a little bit further inside the shop. I had ordered a choco peppermint while Taehyung had himself mango ice cream. We both had the large cup ones. He sat across of me and this was the first time we had actually spent our times together.

“So, how’s your school going?” he started; attempting to make some conversation.

I shrugged, spooning the ice cream into my mouth. “Normal, I guess.” I replied hesitantly. I didn’t know why he acted this way. I mean, he became so kind and pleasant out of nowhere.

“How about you?”

Taehyung laughed a little. “Me? You are asking about my school?” he asked in disbelief. I frowned but nodded at him. He then laughed again. I didn’t hide the obvious scowl on my face. Was my question funny? Did he think so? Because I obviously didn’t.

“I am out of high school couple of years ago. I am on my last semester of college,” he said all this whilst smiling. This was the first time I’d seen him smiling, like in an actual smile. The last time I saw his lips curved up was during our first meeting and it was sort of a forced one.

Truthfully, he looked way better smiling. He looked more handsome that way.

“What? I thought you are the same age as me!” I exclaimed, utterly couldn’t believe what I just heard. Taehyung chuckled at my reaction. My mouth fell agape slightly as I examined him. He looked so young! He suited more to be a high school guy rather than someone who almost finish his study.

“No I am not. I am three and half years older than you, Miss.” He freely informed. He casually put the ice cream in his mouth and I watched him savoring the coldness and sweetness of his flavor. “Can’t blame myself that I looked so young,” he shrugged nonchalantly.

I shook my head at him. “Pfft… You look like five!” I stuck my tongue at him. He laughed again and suddenly I wanted to hear him again. I wanted to hear his laugh.

“What subject do you take?” I asked him and he told me about his college. Now I found out that he took International Business and Management as his major. His father wanted him to take over his business. He almost graduated and when he does, he would immediately run the company. He’d learn to take over as he was the future heir.

He then asked me about what I wanted to be in the future. “I want to be a doctor,” I answered. “I want to be useful for others. I want to help people. That’s what I want to be.” Taehyung nodded and listened to my words attentively. He was a good listener.

“That suits you,” he commented.

“What does that mean?”

“I mean look at you. I think you are quite mature for your age. Sacrificing yourself for others isn’t easy. You are putting yourself for this marriage, for the sake of your brother. No wonder if your dream is to help others,” he clarified. I couldn’t help but to blush at his words. I dared myself to look at him and he was enjoying the ice cream he had.

“That goes for you too Taehyung.” I remarked. “You are also sacrificing yourself and for nothing. You are sacrificing your love,” I pointed out.

Taehyung shook his head at me. “I am not sacrificing anything. I will fight for my love,” he said with full of determination within his voice. I admired his spirit.

“Hey! I think I saw you and your girlfriend walking past a coffee shop few days ago. I’m not sure if it’s really you though.” I recounted when I finally recalled it. Taehyung stopped eating for a moment as he trying to remember the event.

He nodded his head vigorously when the memory hit him. “Ah yes… We just finished watching some movie and decided to stroll around. It was us,” he confirmed.

Right. So she was the girlfriend, the Soojung, he had been talking about. They looked cute together actually. The girl was tall, slim, and pretty. She a nice straight hair and she dyed it blonde, which surprisingly suited her. Even though I only could catch their appearance briefly, but I knew she was one of a kind. I would fight for her too if I were Taehyung.

I only nodded my head in response. Then I just continued eating my ice cream.  It honestly felt weird. I mean, Taehyung and I actually had a nice conversation together. He was supposed to hate me for making his love life hard.

“It is weird, you know,” I admitted.

“What is weird?” he inquired.

I shrugged. “Us. You are supposed to detest me. I mean, it is because of me that you are involved in this. But now here we are, talking like…like friends,” I hesitated.

Taehyung smiled again. “Why should we hate each other? Sure I am now trapped in this arranged marriage thing but I am not stopping fighting for Soojung. Therefore I won’t hate you. I told you already that I’m sorry for things I’ve said. I don’t want you to hate me, to hate Soojung. At least, we can be friends right?”

I meekly nodded. “Right.” I wasn’t jealous at his constantly saying that he wouldn’t give up on Soojung but I somehow felt something wasn’t right. I didn’t know what it was. But one thing was, I was uncomfortable.

We talked for some more before Taehyung decided that it was my time to go home. I agreed since it was dusk already. He drove me home and once I finally got inside my room, I just noticed that I got few missed calls from Mingyu. I quickly typed a reply.