It had been three days since the beach incident, and I was beside myself with slight worry that I had really offended Jongdae. After being ignored for the whole day, he drove us back with cool silence on his part, and even though my mother and Sehun made an effort to talk to him, he merely responded accordingly, while making no attempt to talk to me or even face me. The only thing he said to me was a simple "good night" when he dropped us off to my house, but I bit my tongue and stared back in confusion as I got out.

There was nothing in his eyes and the usual warmth in them had vanished. I tried searching for any sign of emotion, but they were void of anything positive and I gulped.

Then he left, and I stood there, stunned. He's never not talked to me, and just the fact that he barely did had me reeling.

Despite that, a good few days had passed by and I was beside myself with worry. He hadn't texted me in so long and when I tried texting him what's up, he merely left me on read.

Was this a cruel punishment?

Part of me felt an existential crisis quickly making its way to me, as I thought about how forgettable I really was. Even though he insisted that his feelings were real, I couldn't help thinking to myself that I really truly ruined this and now he's going to forget about me.

It was pathetic but I couldn't help it.

With a sigh, I leaned back onto my couch and rubbed my aching temples. I hadn't been sleeping well since the incident, as I laid there, thinking about all the various possibilities, but it was just too hard to understand.

What was I supposed to do? To say?

Of course I could just apologize and hopefully we'd forget about it, but this time, he definitely seemed to be quite annoyed with me and I've definitely never seen this side of him before. Even at my most annoying hour, he'd accept all the things I had to say readily, so this was a shock to me. Sighing once more, I pulled out my phone from my pocket and proceeded to stare at my messages with Jongdae.

We hadn't said anything to each other since the incident, and even though he usually says good night at least to me, there was nothing of that sort. Should I say good morning? It was already well into the afternoon though...

My thoughts were interrupted by someone clambering down the hallway, their slippers noisily hitting against the flooring. I peered from over the couch and saw Sehun walking in, a drowsy look on his face.

"Did you just wake up?" I asked increduously and he looked over at me.

"Good morning," he yawned. There was a cowlick in his hair, and he definitely looked like he just rolled out of bed. "I was busy binging this new season of a series I'm into. Are you gonna hang out with Jongdae today?"

I stared back sheepishly at him before shaking my head. "I'm busy," I said, watching him open up the fridge and pull out some almond milk for his cereal. There was a suspicious look on his face after I answered him and he groaned loudly.

"I knew it, you did something to annoy him, didn't you?"

There was a slight bout of silence as I wondered how to respond, but Sehun only took it as an affirmation of my actions. He shook his head in mock disappointment, as if he already knew what had happened. "So what now? You and him are over?" He asked.

"We never even began," I scoffed. Sehun sent me a strong glare.

"You're doing it again," he stated, and I looked at him, puzzled. "You know... That thing you do whenever you find a guy you're interested in. I don't know why but you never want to admit your feelings. Even with Jongin, you took forever to open up to him! And he was such a catch! I can't believe you..."

He continued to assemble his bowl of cereal as I sat there, growing defensive. How is it my fault that I want to protect my own self and don't want to get played by someone else?!

Sehun sat down next to me as I fumed over his words, and sent a side glance my way. "Do you want to say something to me?" He asked, leaning back into the sofa.

I paused, unsure of what to say before slowly mumbling, "...Is it that obvious?"

"Huh?"

"Is it that obvious that I... uh, take forever to open up...?"

Sehun frowned, looking tired of me already. His eyes seemed to scream Are you kidding me?!, as he set down his bowl on the table in front of us. "Listen, I am just your brother. If you actually want to hear what Jongdae's point of view was like, why don't you just hit up Jongin? I'm sure he'd be happy to finally get it off his chest."

Kim Jongin. I hadn't talked to him in so long, and I wondered if he even had a day off today, since he did say he was getting busy with work the last time I saw him.

"Hm, maybe..." I said. "By the way, people think I'm the meaner one out of the two of us, but you can definitely be mean yourself. You have some harsh words for a brat."

Sehun merely flashed a cocky smile, a slight glint in his eyes.

Sometimes, this brat is so annoying.

I tapped my fingers against the table in front of me as I sat inside a cafe that felt very familiar with string lights hung around the walls and a soft ambiance throughout the room. After Sehun had told me to contact Jongin, I reluctantly texted him to ask him to meet up, and luckily he happened to be free tonight, so we arranged to meet at some new cafe he found on social media.

I didn't expect the freaking cafe to be Chatfé though - the cafe I went to with Jongdae.

Biting my lip, I started to curse at myself. How was this a good idea? I should've picked something else.

Before I could ruminate even longer in my thoughts, I could hear the door opening and in came a handsome Jongin, his bright smile lighting up the entire room. Even though I was no longer interested in him, Jongin definitely had an aura that always brought a smile out of everyone, even if it were only a slight grin.

"Hayoung! How have you been?" He asked, sitting down in the chair in front of me. His hair was slightly dishelved and he was still in formal attire, except he probably left his suit jacket in the car.

"Did you come from work?" Jongin sheepishly laughed, grazing his fingers against his hair in a weak attempt to fix it.

"Yeah, I had work today, but I wanted to come hang out because it's my day off tomorrow anyway, so don't worry about it! Plus, you never really ask me to hang out, so I figured you might've had something on your mind? Or maybe you just missed me, huh?" He flashed a teasing grin, and I couldn't help but scoff and nudge his arm with my hand.

Perhaps it was because he couldn't stop laughing or because the mood was so friendly between us, but I couldn't help but crack a small smile. I definitely remembered this from when we dated. It was so fun all the time because Jongin would always be so playful, and even when we would have fights, he would always fix it just by being himself.

"So did you have anything you wanted to talk about?" Jongin asked curiously.

"Oh," I said, suddenly unsure of what I wanted to say to him. How was I supposed to voice out my concerns? "Well... I was just wondering, what were your thoughts like while we were dating?"

There was a brief look of surprise on his face, as he registered the question into his brain.

"Oh, and I mean like, was it difficult dating me? Or like... general thoughts, you know? Like if I may have seemed too closed off, something like that..." For once in my life, I had become quite sheepish, and Jongin took notice of that.

"You're awfully shy right now," he laughed. "I suppose you have someone in mind or something since you're asking me so out of the blue?" He took my silence as an affirmation, and nodded resolutely. "Well, I mean I do think we had good times, though."

Jongin paused, taking a moment to think about what he wanted to say. "Even though we had good times," he continued, choosing his words carefully, "I do think that maybe you were a little guarded? I figured that with time, you'd probably open up and things would be fine, and I don't know if it's the right vibe or if I'm just thinking of it wrong, but I felt like you were hiding something from me. Or perhaps you didn't just want to share your feelings with me, that's all."

Before I could ask him to elaborate, the door opened and my eyes landed on a familiar figure.

Oh , Kim Jongdae did not just walk into here right now.

And we did not just meet eyes with each other.