Taehyung woke up groggily as he turned off the alarm clock. He washed his face and relieved himself before wearing the mask to head to the kitchenette.

His slippers made some unneeded noises as he dragged them against the wooden tiles. Taehyung passed by a pillar and saw Sora drying her hair with her towel as she sat in front of the fan.

“Do you need a hairdryer?”

“Oh god! V, you shocked me!” She jumped in her seat.

Taehyung chuckled as he headed back into his room to hand her the hairdryer. Sora put it aside as it would make some noise if it’d being . It’s best to let Ms Lin rest longer before her alarm goes off. Taehyung sat in another chair and stared at her.

“Where were you last night?”

“Café.”

“What’s there in the café that took you four hours?”

“Why are you asking? I just felt like staying there.”

He thought it was unfair that she was caring for only herself.

“Because I waited.”

Sora’s hand gesture became gradually slower and she was swallowed by guilt at that moment.

“I never told you to wait.” She then set her eyes on his face as she glared at him. Sora was hoping that he could let the matter slide easily since she never asked for his concern and she never wished for him to restrict her from whatever she wanted to do. After all, V had no right to control her every movement.

“I trusted that you went there. But when it took you so long, I actually went down to check on you. And… nope, you weren’t there Sohee.”

“V, don’t care too much about me. I can look after myself.”

“You got back at 3am, how the hell can you tell me not to worry?”

“You’re not in any position to tell me what to do. Stop acting like a brother when you’re not.”

Sora exerted a deep sigh as she stood up to return back into her room while Taehyung shook his head as he walked to the kitchenette. She got the idea of everything wrong. He never wanted to be a brother to her. Taehyung wanted her to see him as a man instead.

-

Daehyun waited at the carpark and as soon as Sora appeared, he hastened to pick her up, then drive away as quick as possible to avoid being seen by people.

“Have you eaten?” He asked subconsciously as his eyes looked around warily to see if people reckon that was him in the driver seat.

“Not yet. Let’s go to the hotel near the summer grounds maybe? We’ve went down south already last night.” She was checking out the map and guessed the probability of Taehyung being there, just somewhere around the area.

Daehyun halted quite further up in front and Sora looked at him with questioning eyes.

“Eat up first.” He got out of the car and Sora followed suit. She was really rushing to search for Taehyung, afraid that he’d go away first. “Daehyun, buy me a take-out will do. We need to hurry.” The impatient girl urged him. Daehyun thought of protesting but he gave in as he understood her urgency.

Sora chewed on her noodles uninterestedly as her eyes were still glued to the directory map on her phone.

“Can you please finish your food first? I know the way there, don’t worry.” He attempted to take her phone away from her as the traffic lights turned red. Sora then slid the device into her pocket and slurped on the soup as the car finally came to a stop.

“Does Eunkyung know about this?”

“None of her concern.”

“Daehyun… You’re so mean. Are you going to stay this way even after the both of you get married?”

Daehyun turned to give her a glare. He annoyed him to have Sora encouraging him to be nice to Eunkyung when he knew that she’d hurt so badly once he really does it.

“We talked about this before, Sohee. So what if we get married? Nothing’s going to change even if that happens. Marriage is business when you’re talking about someone whom i’m forced to marry to and i’m not going to invest my feelings in it.”

“Let’s drop this topic, Sohee. Let’s talk about us instead.”

Sora nodded and stoned out at the road as she pondered on what was there to talk about between them.

“What’s your schedule like for your stay here in Jeju?”

“Just a make-up meeting for a tour at our new branch later because I left halfway yesterday. Then… I’m free till the end of this trip.” Daehyun replied and stopped the car as he saw the attraction place in his sight. They made a move out of the car and walked to the lobby of the hotel casually, to not be suspected by the people around them.

Sora sighed when the person at the counter couldn’t reckon Taehyung’s face as she used a picture of the flyer that she’d pin up occasionally in every two weeks. She shook her head at Daehyun who waited for her on the couch and they both left again to their second targeted place based on their assumptions.

-

Their trip to the museum ended and the students returned to the hotel while Taehyung and Ms Lin spent the evening outside, shopping.

Taehyung walked around with Ms Lin who was busy browsing through some of the shirts that were on display. He swayed his body uninterestedly and kept on looking at the time on his wrist watch.

“In a hurry to go elsewhere, Mr V?”

“N…no. You know that you can just call me V, right? Well, I thought that Sohee might need to wait at the lobby if she comes back soon since the cards are with us.”

Ms Lin folded the shirt that was in her grip before then placed it neatly back to where it belonged. “She will be back really late, she told me. Don’t worry too much, we just need to have a good walk around here then we’ll head back.” She smiled and walked out of the store, expecting him to follow behind her. Taehyung did, absent-mindedly.

Unknowingly, Ms Lin walked into an eatery outlet and took a seat while she asked what he’d like for a drink. Taehyung gave the order a pass and then waited for Ms Lin to return back to their seat.

“Ms Lin? Have you given up on shopping?”

Ms Lin chortled and played her fingers around the mouth of her hot cup of coffee.

“No! I haven’t. But I guess I have more of a serious issue to help you settle with.”

Taehyung listened to her in anticipation, hoping to know how serious the issue she meant, would be.

“I heard your conversation with her, V.” Ms Lin lifted her eyes to look at him, cautiously. She didn’t know if it was a right thing to say but she earnestly hoped that she could be a help to this problem.

“I’m sorry but I was at the linked door when you started to raise your voice. I couldn’t help but to listen on. You see, i’m older than you by nine years, I hope you can seek your problems to me as a sister. I just known Sohee recently too and i’m not very sure of her absolute personality but you might want to know that she tends to be all firm when there are things that are bothering her.”

Taehyung cleared his voice and pinched the edge of his mouth mask. He felt embarrassed that Ms Lin was addressing this issue to him but he was assured that she’s a matured woman who was really keen to help him out. He felt confident to confide this matter to her.

“It’s not that Ms Lin… I just got worried that she was out for hours without informing any one of us. Anyways, it’s nothing. Thank you for your concern Ms Lin, but you don’t have to give too much thoughts into it.” He learned Ms Lin’s facial expression. Her sneer was indicating that she had another blow of question to impose on him.

“Mr V, do you like Sohee?”

Taehyung coughed out and the people who were savouring their food turned their heads to look at them.

“Ms Lin, that’s a sensitive topic… I…”

“Spill it V, i’ve been observing the both of you well since the day we arrived and you’re so careful when it comes to her. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. She may be a student but age-wise, you both suit each other well.”

He felt the heat soaring up his cheeks and he was feeling so awful to have this love talk with someone else apart from Ryu.

“It’s complicated, Ms Lin. I don’t know anything about romance and all. It’s probably hard if you were to ask me again what do I see in her that made my heart flutter each time.”

Ms Lin smirked and clapped her hands lightly in achievement. “There we have it, the truth. You like her, V. I haven’t had any successful relationships before but all I can advise now is that, you should take a hasty step forward before someone else does it. Bear this in mind, Sohee has a lot of fans in the waiting line.” She winked at Taehyung.

This morning, Taehyung felt down because of the incident but he was regaining some positive energy from her wise advice. He didn’t want to confess this but he liked the conversation he was having with Ms Lin. Though he was dealing with some awkwardness, he was willing to endure it till the end to listen to every little thing Ms Lin had to give about their relationship.

“Are you encouraging me to go out with her, Ms Lin?”

“Well, why not! You both are still young and already passed the common age to date. Just take my words into consideration. You wouldn’t want her to be in someone else’s arms when she could’ve been yours.”

-

Taehyung sent Ms Lin back to the hotel but he made a short drive to the Eternal Gardens whereby the nature stood so still at night but the breeze was said to be so cooling at all seasons. He made a solo trip there to calm his mind that was filled with only her ever since that morning.

He strolled down the aisle and eventually bumped into someone who seemed to be a little off. The lady was shivering cold and she wrapped her arms around her waist to assure herself some warmth.

Taehyung looked down and slightly tapped on her shoulder to ask whether or not she was okay. The moment her head tilted, he took a step back.

“Eunkyung-sshi… Are you okay?”