“Have you heard about it?” Taehyung asked. I took a bite of my waffle and nodded. I munched on it for a while and gulped it down before answering shortly, “I have.” Taehyung nodded curtly in acknowledgement.

We were at a waffle house today. Taehyung insisted that it was his apology for talking bad about me and my family. I was actually wondering why he would bring me to another treat when he already had done it previously. He said it was not enough yet. But then, when will it be enough?

“I’m sorry. But I swear I say nothing to my parents that possibly trigger it,” I defended myself.  Of course, I mean I rarely met my parents since my father was always at work and my mother was in the hospital. Taehyung didn’t say anything; only nod of his head.

It was about our marriage progress. My parents had already informed me that I and Taehyung would get engaged in two months. They planned to get us married after I graduated high school. I was kind of grateful that they were being thoughtful about my education. I didn’t want to be ended up as uneducated woman even though marrying Taehyung would get my life guaranteed.

“Did you tell Soojung about this?” I dared myself to ask.

I stopped eating, watching his reaction. Taehyung shook his head. His dark cold eyes were suddenly gloomy. I felt guilty seeing him this way. “It’s okay. It is just an engagement. I still have time to persuade my parents,” he spoke up.

I really adored him for having such optimism and determination. Seriously, Soojung is freaking lucky for having this man head over heels for her. Not everyone could meet a partner like Taehyung. His love was genuine and, I believed, timeless. I wished that someday someone would actually love me the way Taehyung loved Soojung. He was like every girl’s dream man. The one that will be your knight shining in armor.

“Why are you staring?” he caught me. I immediately averted my gaze.

“Nothing,” I shook my head a little bit too vigorously. I heard Taehyung chuckled.

I put my focus on my waffle afterwards. Taehyung encouraged some conversations by asking me things about Mingyu. I was still shy after what happened after our ‘little date’. I could literally feel the heat lingered on my cheek after his lips made contact with it. I still could hear his soft yet deep voice saying good night echoed in my ear. Everything was seemed to be surreal. I sometimes wondered if I was dreaming but the movie ticket that I had, proved me otherwise.

“Seriously Hera. It is always you are zooning out. What is it in your mind?” I heard Taehyung asked in irritation. I grinned shamelessly at him; shrugging my shoulders a little. Taehyung suddenly pinched my cheek. I groaned in pain.

I slapped his hand away and rubbed my sore cheek. I glared at him and he just laughed. “You are more like a sister to me than potential lover,” he acknowledged suddenly. I was kind of fluttered at his words but there was this strange sting as well. Am I that childish though?

Taehyung ruffled my hair affectionately before wolfing down his own waffle. We left the waffle house at around 5pm. Taehyung sent me home and I had my phone rang right after I closed the front door.

“Hello?” I heard from the other line.

I instantly knew it was Mingyu. I mean who else? There were only two people that I’d known to have such a deep voice. First it was Mingyu and second it was Taehyung. Obviously it wasn’t Taehyung since he just left. Besides, Mingyu’s voice was too familiar for me to not notice. I even believed that if people scream at the same time, I’d still able to distinguish his voice amongst the sea of sounds.

“Hi,” I replied. A smile crept on to my face.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Breathing,” I joked. I could mentally picture him rolling his eyes.

“Funny,” he replied with cynicism. I laughed.

“How about you?” I asked back, proceeding to my room. I put down my bag and waited for his response. “Thinking,” he said shortly. I smiled to myself, already preparing an answer.

“Oh really? You can think? What is it about?” I jokingly asked, sitting on the edge of my bed.

Mingyu answered something beyond my expectation. “About you.” My mouth gaped at his words. My heart beat hard against my ribcage. A second. Two seconds. All I hear were my own heartbeat and low breaths. My mind was clouded with emotions. I felt like drowning.

I regained my sense in a second and tried to laugh it off. “Haha, funny” I said dryly. I heard him enjoyed my reaction. “It’s true though,” he continued with his lame joke. I just shook my head even though he wouldn’t be able to see me.

“Stop your lame jokes. It’s not funny,” I advised him, not letting my guard down. Good thing we were on phone because the blush on my cheeks was getting more and more noticeable. I blamed Mingyu for this.

“Who said I’m joking? I’m serious you know,” he replied flatly. I flinched, feeling like being struck with a thunder. Didn’t he know how much his words impacted me? He said it casually as if my heart wouldn’t react. I knew I shouldn’t assume things but he should’ve known that women are pretty sensitive to these things. It’d hurt so much if you let your hope high but then it turned out that everything was joke.

“What do you mean?” I managed to ask.

“What do you think?” he questioned instead of answering my question. I sighed. Mingyu was being weird again with all the affectionate acts. Please remember that I still couldn’t get over his kiss from the last time.

Mingyu knew how to make my emotion up and down; just like a roller coaster ride. I didn’t know how to behave properly around him. My reactions were blushing, admiring him, staring at him, or zooning out. I wondered why he wasn’t turned off yet by my foolish responses. I spent most of my times regretting why I couldn’t act prettier and lovelier around him.

“Seriously Mingyu, if you’re just going to be like this, I’ll just hang up,” I threatened; bringing the phone away from my ear.

“Wait wait No! No! Don’t hang up-“ he panicked on the other side. I smiled to myself. I leaned the phone back to my ear; waiting for him to say something. “Are you still there?” he asked unsurely. I hummed in response. I literally could hear him grinning from here.

“But I’m telling you the truth. I wasn’t lying when I said that I was thinking of you,” he confessed. The shock brought my phone slipped out of my grasp; making it fell and hit the hard floor with a thud. I gaped and immediately took my phone. I sighed at my sudden clumsiness, closing my eyes as I figured out that my phone went off because of the crash.

“Great,” I murmured, turning it on again.

Mingyu’s texts appeared once my phone recovered.

From: Mingyu
I told you to not hang up :(

To: Mingyu
I don’t! My phone slipped out of my hand

I pressed the send button. I changed my uniform to a comfortable short and tee. When I was done changing, Mingyu already replied.

From: Mingyu
Yeah, I believe you

I scoffed at his sarcasm and decided to not replying. Two minutes later, my phone vibrated; indicating that I got a phone call. I knew who it would be. Mingyu. Typical him when I didn’t response to his texts, he’d call me right away. I picked up the call and the loud ‘hey’ from the other side confirmed my guess.

“You ignore me,” he concluded. I chuckled a little at his childish behavior.

“Sorry,” I lamely said. Mingyu wasn’t angry. I knew he wouldn’t.

“Mingyu,” I called, after few seconds of silence; neither of us said anything. Mingyu hummed in questioning way.

I took a deep breath. “What if you wake up and suddenly you are engaged to someone?” I decided to ask. I rolled on my bed; burying my head on the soft pillow as waiting for him to answer. Mingyu gave it a thought for a moment.

“It depends,” he started. “If that someone is you, I have nothing to complain. But if it is someone I don’t know, I’ll definitely refuse.” He nonchalantly said. My ears reddened and at his answer.

If that someone is you, I have nothing to complain. What does he try to imply?

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A short update! Xixi. I'll update much slower starting to day. I hope you enjoy this chapter^^