"The Teleporter, the one dating Krystal?" You croak.


His mouth opens and closes but no words come out.

He doesn't deny it.


So he was thinking of someone else.

The twist in your heart is sharp and burning.



Kyungsoo...

No.

Soo Jin.


So Soo Jin likes someone else.



A real guy.

That's why she is projecting all her feelings unto you.



You feel like laughing and crying at the same time.



Suddenly you remember why you don't fall in love.



Because it hurts when you care.

And now you are caring too much.


_______________


As if to rub in the situation, Kyungsoo hears the ever familiar voice of his room mate ringing at that very second.


"Hyung...?"

He jumps and sees a flicker of emotion on your face.


"Just... Wait a second."

He pushes out of the room and meets Kai halfway across the living room.



"Hyu-- "

"Look." He hisses and clasps a hand over his room mate's mouth.

"__________ is in our house right now and you are not supposed to call me hyung. I'm Soo. Jin. And say you are my... " Kyungsoo scrambles for a reason in his brain. "My brother's friend."


The Teleporter's eyes widen in bewilderment.



"Soo Jin?" He hears your disoriented tone in the back and promptly releases his friend.


This is getting too complicated.

Why did he take up Kai's excuse in the first place?



He swings around to face you.


"___________ " He utters your name, all other words failing him.



"Hello." His room mate greets you in a casual manner.

You greet and bow slightly in response.


"I'm Kai," He sneaks a glance at the jittery ShapeShifter. "And I'm looking for Soo Jin's brother."

He places a hand lightly on the elder's shoulder. "Soo Jin, is your brother at home?"



Kyungsoo feels the heat of the embarrassing fib flushing his ears red.

"N-No. Would you like to... Come back later?"

The Teleporter shrugs nonchalantly and waves a hand to you.


"I'll come back later then, see you guys around."

As he turns, he drops a whisper at the elder's ear.


"You owe me one."


Kyungsoo fights to not roll his eyes and snatch his friend back into a head lock right now.


The room is deathly silent and the door shuts with a deafening click.




"I can see why you like him."

You offer after several seconds.


Kyungsoo gives a weak smile.

"So, does he come over to look for your brother often?"

"Y-yeah, my... brother comes by during Friday nights."

"Oh."



You nod.

"I'll... better get going... I'm feeling a bit... tired from the practice today."

He is almost certain fatigue is the last thing that he saw on your face when you greeted him at the door just now, but he doesn't say anything.


"Would you like to... erm... stay for dinner or something?" He attempts feebly.

"No, it's ok." You smile, moving towards the main door. "And... Soo Jin." You stop a distance away from him.


He stills and looks at you, expectant.


"I'm sorry, too. You know, for just now. I-I got carried away cos... You look... " You sweep a hand over him. "So much like a guy and... I guess I... got confused as well."

You look so vulnerable now he is already regretting the lie and wants to seize you back into his arms and apologize.


He opens his mouth but you are stepping out of the door.



"See you around, Soo Jin."


You smile but there's a lack of mirth and conviction in your tone. Suddenly he's afraid that's the last sentence he'll ever hear from you.


__________________


You don't know how you got back to your dorm.


By the time you are lying face down on your bed, the sky is dark and you can only hear your own muffled breathing in the pillow.

Rolling yourself over to face the ceiling, you let out a long, drawn-out sigh.


However, even with the release of breath, the weight in your heart doesn't dissipate. It clenches and unclenches, a tight and heavy ache in your very core.

You should be feeling relieved, you think.


After all, Soo Jin has just admitted that the outward showing of affection towards you is really, just an erroneous projection of her feelings for another male. You were engulfed in the same exact turmoil when it's really the facade of her male form that you got attracted to.


The two of you made a mistake.

Now that the slates are clear, you should stop harboring ideas about Kyungsoo and move on.




But somehow you don't want it to be a mistake.

It can't be.


Not when the feeling is so real.




The ardency in Kyungsoo's eyes when he looks at you.


The heady neediness when he takes you into his mouth.


It feels all too shockingly genuine.



Even when he is confessing his mistake to you, there's a catch in his voice, almost like he doesn't want it to be true.



Or maybe you're the only one in denial.




You sigh again, your eyes already adjusting to the darkness when your phone lights up with an incoming message.

Your heart skips with expectancy.


Grabbing your phone, you read the text.


 

From: Chanyeol

Hey, are you free at 11 am tomorrow? I've got a pair of free tickets to a movie and it's something I know you'd really like to watch. You can bring Kyungsoo along and I'll just buy my own, ok?






After ten minutes of contemplating, you click and send a message.




From: _________

Ok.