Tao, who was on his way back to the company from a coffee break, saw you entering the company. He didn’t know why but seeing you made him feel ecstatic. A broad smile formed on his face as he quickened up his pace and called your name.

“~~~!” Tao jogged towards your direction with a hot coffee in his right hand.

You were too deep in thought to notice Tao’s call and was about to pull open the doors when Tao tapped you on the shoulder—making you jump.

“Hey.” Tao greeted with a warm smile.

You faced him with swollen eyes and tear-stained face, making him crease his brows in surprise.

“Woah, meimei, what happened?” He asked as he wiped the remaining tears away with his thumb.

You started sobbing again which made Tao panic.

“Come, I know a good place to let your tears out.” Tao grabbed your hand and led you to the nearest bus station.

~

“I can’t wait for night time!” Tao exclaimed excitedly and flashed you a smile. Tao brought you to Namsan tower wherein you both sat on a bench surrounded by love locks. The seat offered a delighting view of the city. Tao said that when the sun sets, the city lights of Seoul sparkles like colorful stars.

The wind of the coming autumn that blew gently brought a calming feel to you.

“So, aren’t you going to tell me why you’re crying?” He asked in a polite manner.

You smiled at Tao. You didn’t think there was a caring side out of the crazy and wild teenager that he is.

“Tao, have you ever liked someone?” You asked him with your gaze far away.

Tao was taken aback with your question but he answered anyway. “Of course, I’ve had several relationships to tell you.” He bragged with a wink.

You quietly laughed at him and sighed.

“I even dated 8 girls at the same time.” He continued bragging.

“Out of all the girls you’ve liked, have you ever found someone whom you had a hard time admitting to yourself that you like her?” You looked at him with hopeful eyes.

Tao smiled calmly. “You know what, out of all the girls I have dated, I don’t think there’s one whom I can say that I liked to the core.”

“But there’s this one girl…” He gazed far away with a solemn smile still on his face.

“She’s beautiful inside and out but she doesn’t know it. She’s fragile but determined and hardworking. Whenever I see her, a smile would never fail to form on my face.” Tao continued with sincerity.

“So, I guess, this is the girl you really like then.”

“Yes, I think so. I think I really like her.” Tao looked at you with affectionate eyes that you failed to notice.

“Then, why don’t you say it to her?”

“This is where I’ll answer your earlier question; I couldn’t say to myself that I like her because I’m afraid to lose her. It’s hard to tell her that I like her because someone important to me likes her…a lot. Maybe more than I do.” Tao said the last line with a shrug and sighed.

You remained silent as you didn’t know what to say. No words would express sympathy to how hard he’s going through.

In your case, you are afraid to love because you don’t want to end up hurt. In Tao’s case however, he can’t express his feelings because he’s afraid that he’ll hurt someone else.

Viewing both cases, yours was selfish in your opinion.

“The sun is setting…” Tao’s gaze was fixated on the horizon. Though he just opened up something delicate to you, there was still a hint of smile on his face which is very impressive.

He’s good at hiding his feelings.

Your phone suddenly rang, interrupting the moment. You took it out of your pocket and Kris’s ID name which was in Chinese letters appeared.

Tao snooped at your phone and saw that it was Kris calling. He knew that Kris used “acquaintance” on your phone ever since he “borrowed” his gege’s phone.

He quickly snatched the phone away from you hand and smiled like he was teasing you.

“Yah.” You argued effortlessly. He does steals phones.