Chapter 32 - Capital letter A

I nervously rubbed my half sweaty hands over my jeans as I stared at the massive rectangular piece of wood in front of me. It was unbelievable how small I suddenly felt in front of the ordinary door. I breathed out for about the third time before I reluctantly rang Jung Daehyun’s door bell. It seemed to take ages until the door finally flew open.

‘’You actually came,’’ was the first thing Daehyun voiced out once the door had entirely opened. He charismatically leaned against his doorpost, giving me the opportunity to take his glorious appearance in. He was in his comfortable black sweater and dark denim jeans. On his feet he wore simple black socks and on his wrist he wore a big white watch. He somehow looked incredibly y and I did nothing but to simply stare at him as my heart began to beat faster.

‘’I said I would,’’ I tried to keep cool as I tugged a strand of hair behind my ear. He smiled that divine smile of his before he motioned for me to come in. I observed his hallway once I stepped over the threshold, all the while feeling slightly anxious about me being in Jung Daehyun’s house.

I quietly followed Daehyun after I had taken off my shoes and jacket as he walked through his living room and eventually came to halt in his white modern looking kitchen. He had never ceased to small talk to me on his way up there, which made me realize that Daehyun didn’t seem the least bit tense. On the contrary, he seemed relaxed. But then again; that was typically Jung Daehyun. Never anxious. Never fazed. I, on the other hand, was simply Park Aerin. Often feeling awkward. Always overthinking.

‘’Do you want something to drink? Or do you want to eat now?’’ He asked gently as he began to open one of his cupboards, casually taking out two glasses even though I hadn’t even confirmed whether I wanted something to drink or not.

‘’You went ahead already so there wasn’t much of a chance for me to friendly decline anyway,’’ I chuckled as I watched him scratch the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. ‘’And yeah, I’m quite hungry honestly. What’s on the menu chef?’’ I joked good-naturedly, still a bit nervous but definitely more relaxed than I had felt when I just entered his house and undid myself from my shoes in the hallway earlier.

‘’Ramyun?’’ he laughed sheepishly as he headed for his fridge, taking out a bottle of Coke.

‘’Seriously Daehyun?’’ I laughed as I shook my head. I hadn’t expected him to be the type to actually cook complicated meals, but ramyun was pretty basic stuff. Not that I cared though.

‘’Too basic for you?’’ He questioned with a chuckle as he was about to pour the drink into the two glasses.

‘’No it’s fine,’’ I assured him as I let my eyes wander through his kitchen, trying to stop myself from staring at his back while he was casually standing behind his kitchen counter, filling our glasses – and doing so, hot and all. I was distracted by the sudden sound of a meow and soon found the unexpected sight of a prideful cat walking into the kitchen with much grace.

‘’You have a cat!’’ I obviously pointed out as I immediately crouched down and petted the small fluffy animal, unknowingly dismissing Daehyun who had wanted to hand me my drink. ‘’Is it a boy or a girl?’’

I was so much into petting the cute animal that I hadn’t even noticed that Daehyun hadn’t responded to me immediately once I had asked about the gender of the fuzzy creature. When I finally turned up to look at him I noticed him staring at me with an expression I couldn’t decipher. I stood straight again and dusted the cat hairs from my jeans as I turned to Daehyun with a sheepish look.

‘’I think it’s a guy, but I’m not sure. He’s my neighbor’s, not ours. He comes in often though. My mom keeps buying him food,’’ he explained as he handed me my drink, our fingers briefly touching.

‘’He’s cute,’’ I pointed out, ‘’what’s his name?’’ I asked in between my sips.

‘’Not as cute as me,’’ Daehyun wiggled his brows jokingly, causing me to only roll my eyes at his statement. ‘’I call him Daebak,’’ he answered as he absent-mindedly twirled around the liquid in the glass he was holding.

‘’Really?’’ I questioned in amusement.

He swallowed his drink before he opened his mouth to speak: ‘’Yeah. But I don’t think it’s his actual name. I call him Daebak nonetheless. I refuse to call him something else,’’ he grinned as he bent down to pet the animal. I couldn’t refrain from grinning from the sight as he did so. My heart instantly warmed up and I felt somehow fuzzy. Chaerin was right. I always worried for nothing whenever it concerned me being with Daehyun. After all, being in his presence was often totally comfortable.

‘’I haven’t even asked how your day was,’’ Daehyun spoke as he kicked the door to his, I assumed, room open. Both of his hands were occupied as he, in his one hand, carried his bowl with ramyun while his other hand held onto Daebak, carrying the adorable cat to his room. I simply held my own bowl as I followed behind him and quickly observed his room. It was a typical guy’s room. The walls were painted in a soft grey color while the floor was laminated in a darker shade of grey. The room harbored all the basic things a guy would need: closets and cabinets, a wooden desk provided with his laptop, a television in front of his bed and next to his bed a typical nightstand. The first thing I had, stupidly, really taken notice of was his, quite big, bed however and although I didn’t want to think too much about it, I couldn’t help but to suddenly wonder about Daehyun’s adventures in there. I couldn’t help but to wonder if this was the place where all the ‘magic’ - with Yuna - happened. It was a crazy thought and I tried to brush it off as I watched Daehyun gently put Daebak on top of his bed. Daebak immediately sprinted off however, running past me once he was freed from Daehyun’s grip, leaving the room in an instant. I laughed at the sight of Daehyun’s charmingly arched brows as he shook his head. ‘’Stupid Daebak,’’ he muttered jokingly as he laid his bowl on his nightstand.

‘’Should I close the door?’’ I asked in order to voice something out. I hadn’t really thought it through however and I only realized the interpretable double meaning behind the question once the words had left my mouth. I didn’t want him to think that I wanted to close the door because I needed that much privacy with him. God no.

‘’If you want to,’’ he spoke as he comfortably plumped himself down on his bed. I faintly nodded and eventually decided against closing the door. There was nobody present anyway.

‘’My day has been… okay,’’ I eventually answered as I was suddenly reminded of the question he had asked before I suggested to close the door. It hadn’t been a very truthful answer however. The incident with Suji was anything but okay. I wouldn’t bother to tell Daehyun about what has aspired today though. Especially since his name had been mentioned several times in that incident as well.

 ‘’Yours?’’

Daehyun looked at me with slightly narrowed eyes. Almost as if he wasn’t believing my answer. He couldn’t know about the incident of today however and so he simply nodded and told me that his day had been okay as well. I mimicked his nod as I stood sheepishly still in my spot, my hot bowl in hand, not really sure how - or where - to stand. Daehyun, on the other hand, was lying comfortable on his own bed. His legs were stretched out and crossed as he grabbed the remote that lay on the nightstand. He turned his television, located approximately three meters in front of his bed, on and took a big bite from his noodles in satisfaction. He acted so comfortable. So comfortable. It only made me question my own posture.

‘’Don’t be so shy Rinnie. You can sit here,’’ Daehyun teased as he patted the spot on his bed. I made a face - partly because of the nickname, partly because of the spot - which caused him to chuckle, ‘’or there,’’ he spoke as he pointed towards the chair in front of his desk. I faintly nodded as I grabbed the chair he had appointed and placed it just before one of his cabinets, somewhere near his bed so I could watch the television as well. I then sat down and started on my basic but ever tasty food. Daehyun seemed content with my sitting spot, for his ever heartwarming grin started to grace his pretty lips before he took an enormous bite of his food.

‘’So what are we doing now?’’ I asked after I swallowed the last bit of my food. Daehyun had finished his meal long before me already and had therefore focused on his casual conversation with me while he absent-mindedly watched me eat. Something I - unlike many others - strangely didn’t mind.

He thought my question through for a while, moistening his lips while he did so. ‘’Let’s play a videogame,’’ he eventually suggested, ’’You are a pro in them right?’’

I arched a brow. ‘’Were did you get that idea from?’’

‘’Didn’t you say you were good in videogames. You know, that day at Jongup’s birthday?’’

‘’I- I don’t think I said that,’’ I dismissed while I vaguely remembered that I had indeed said something similar to that. It amazed me that he even remembered my words from back then. I had most likely bluffed back then too; I was hardly good at playing videogames. Though I wasn’t necessarily all too bad either.

‘’You did,’’ he pointed out.

‘’I didn’t,’’ I persisted playfully.

‘’You did.’’

‘’No.’’

‘’Oh yes, you did Park Aerin.’’

I groaned, ‘’Alright Jung Daehyun, whatever you want,’’ I eventually gave in with my usual amused roll of the eyes. He seemed satisfied about winning this childish disagreement as he got up from his bed and headed for the spot exactly in front of my chair, looking down at my sitting figure.

‘’What?’’ I questioned with a frown.

‘’You’re a bit in the way of my cabinet’s drawer,’’ he pointed out.

Oh. I was about to grab the chair and move before he motioned for me not to move, which caused me to frown – again.

‘’No need to move, I’ll just—’’ he began as he slightly bent over me in order to reach for his cabinet. He was really close as he opened one of his drawers close to me, ‘’—do it like this,’’ he finished as he showed me the controllers he had grabbed just now. He did so with a wide grin before he closed his drawer and handed me one of the controllers. He then headed for his shelf that contained a bunch of stacked up videogames and showed me a couple of them as I got to decide which one we should play. I honestly couldn’t care less and therefore just chose the game Daehyun had grabbed with somewhat more of a smile. That game happened to be Tekken.

As we were about to pick out our character, Daehyun warned me that my choice - the cute looking female character Ling - wasn’t the best and strongest character to fight with. I stubbornly kept by my choice however. Partly because she was a girl - moreover one of the prettiest - and partly because I liked to playfully oppose Daehyun. Besides that there was a part of me that believed that he had wanted to see me lose. Which is why I was convinced that he was willing to sabotage me through bad advice. Fifteen minutes - and four matches - later, I learned that Daehyun hadn’t tried to deceive me and that his advice was given with good intent.

‘’Honestly is there still fun in it if you keep winning?’’ I questioned beaten out of the field. He had won all of the four matches. I concluded that I by now. Something that was quite understandable as I barely knew what I had been doing – or what buttons I was pressing rather. Everything I pressed was completely random and therefore my chosen Tekken character attacks were very random as well.

‘’You don’t know how much joy it gives to win you over. Especially since I told you not to choose her,’’ he smiled as he brutally smashed me death – again. Making it the fifth time he won. I made a sad face. In this round I had been quite close to winning. Daehyun had teased me every time he had won and I honestly wanted him to be the loser for once. I wasn’t sure whether I could make him lose in this lifetime however and so I laid the controller in my lap in defeat.

‘’Oh come on,’’ Daehyun laughed, ‘’don’t be such a sore loser.’’

‘’I’m not!’’

‘’Never give up, Rinnie,’’ he grinned teasingly once the nickname had rolled of his tongue. He spoke it way too naturally. Which in turn earned him a glare from me.

‘’Easy for you to say. Can’t you just let me win for once?’’

He simply laughed before he opened his mouth again: ‘’Alright I’ll make you a deal. I’ll give you one minute ahead. You can freely attack me and I won’t do anything. It’ll give you an advantage. But whoever wins has to grand the other a favor.’’

There was somewhat of a smirk on his face as he spoke the words, which only added to the doubt I felt regarding this particular challenge. There had been around two times I had been close to beating Daehyun. If I were to have one minute ahead I could win. I was convinced I would. The chances weren’t that slim. I bit my lip as I thought his suggestion through. Was accepting this even smart? What would I make him do for me if I would win? The idea of him owning me a favor was amusing, though I had no real clue of what I would make him do. Just as I had no clue of what he would make me do if he were to win.

‘’Okay,’’ I eventually gave in as I grabbed the controller in determination, ‘’one minute ahead right?’’

‘’You didn’t even spare me an ounce of mercy!’’ I almost exclaimed as I put the controller back into my lap. For good this time, not intending to play anymore videogames after this. Daehyun was partly right; I was a bit of a sore loser right now. Especially because I was so convinced I would win. After all I had been pretty close in beating him. He had only a tiny bit of his stamina left while I had definitely more. But somehow the game had suddenly turned around. I guess that Daehyun’s really gave his all as his pride wouldn’t allow me to win even once.

Daehyun smirked satisfied as he, for some reason, undid himself from his watch. He carefully lay it down next to his phone on the nightstand. He then stood up and walked into my direction with his controller in hand.

‘’So what’s it going to be? Should I do the dishes? Or do you want me to do your homework for you?’’ I started to guess jokingly as I sighed out, half in annoyance and defeat.

‘’How about you take off your clothes?’’ He suggested casually as he grabbed the controller from my lap.

The remark almost caused my heart to jump out of my chest from shock. Daehyun’s expression didn’t seem to have a faint trace of even a teasing smile or whatnot. And so I sat completely dumbfounded as his erted request replayed in my brain. Over and over again. ‘’W- what?’’ I managed to stutter eventually, clearly taken aback.

He started to laugh loudly while he slowly closed a bit of distance between us. He was about to bend over me again in order to store both our controllers away. ‘’I’m joking Aerin. God the expression on your face was priceless,’’ he chuckled.

I immediately sighed out in relief once I realized that it had been a joke, but felt slightly nervous again as I noticed that he was now bending over me – again. He opened his cabinet’s drawer and finally stored the controllers away. I could smell his intriguing cologne while he did so. The whole proceeding of him storing his controllers away happened slowly, almost as if he was taking his time while the two of us were so close.  

‘’But I do know what I really want though,’’ he unexpectedly spoke as I finally heard him shut the goddamn drawer with quite the volume.

Time almost seemed to stand still with this statement and him further, slowly, closing the distance between us. A slight feeling of panic took over and I suddenly - and not to mention stupidly - came to wonder whether this was the same way in which he would approach Yuna before they would— you know, fool around. How I came up with this weird thought in this particular situation was beyond me. Thoughts like this would nearly drive me crazy after all and yet my twisted brain managed to come up with them at the most inconvenient times.

An incredibly hard sounding vibration of Daehyun’s phone against the wood of his nightstand made me soon forgot about those thoughts however. I turned my head to the right and watched the place I had heard the sound come from, noticing the device light up with a message from the one person who had, unconsciously, gnawed at my thoughts for as long as I had been here. I couldn’t exactly read what it said, but I definitely took notice of the sender.

At almost the same time I felt Daehyun’s left cheek brush against mine. Everything was happening in a flash and confusion started to paint over me as I tried to apprehend what was exactly happening.

I mean, had Daehyun attempted to kiss me just now?

On the same time I asked myself that question, and even before I could answer it, I felt his arms lazily wrap around my torso. ‘’I- I just wanted a hug from the great Aerin, that’s all,’’ he laughed sheepishly before he faintly patted my back and eventually withdrew himself as he stood straight again. The hug had only lasted for a couple of seconds but it didn’t even have to take much longer for my heart to start beating incredibly fast, causing me to mentally pray that he didn’t somehow heard or felt my heartbeat in that short period he had pressed his body against mine.

He cleared his throat and then cracked his usual smile, making him seem unfazed with the entire situation of just now. Him smiling so, seemingly, at ease made me all the more confused over his actions of just earlier. It was safe to say that my mind was a complete mess at the moment, not being able to conclude what Daeyun truly had wanted from me just seconds ago.

Initially I had been sure that he wanted to kiss me and that had made me wonder whether we would be making out right now if I hadn’t turned my head to look at his phone and Yuna’s haunting message. This simple thought alone made me feel as much awkward as it, on the same time, made me feel disappointed with how things had turned out. But it was only seconds later that I started to doubt the kissing theory. It had most likely only been wishful thinking on my part. I couldn’t help but to conclude that I had been overanalyzing the situation. He had probably wanted to hug me just as he had said so. Daehyun was always rather straight forward. If he had wanted a kiss as a reward he would’ve said so. He was Jung Daehyun after all.

‘’Aerin,’’ Daehyun snapped me back to earth as he looked at me with slightly furrowed brows. He sure didn’t look the least bit uncomfortable or awkward. Something that was honestly expected if this had truly been a crash and burn situation on his part. That he didn’t seem the least bit tense only confirmed my theory of him never intending to kiss me in the first place. I damned myself for having my hopes up.

‘’Yes?’’ I answered him absent-mindedly.

‘’Are you alright?’’

I nodded faintly as I brought myself to smile in a way to reassure him. Or perhaps to reassure myself. It was silent for a moment. And to me it felt as a suffocating one. I couldn’t bring myself to crack a joke. I couldn’t bring myself to ask him what he thought we exactly were and what he had wanted to do just now. I couldn’t bring myself to ask why he wanted me to come over in the first place. I couldn’t do anything whenever it came to Jung Daehyun. 

‘’I know what’s up,’’ Daehyun eventually grinned as he started to walk up to his desk. He opened one of his small drawers and started search through them.

‘’What?’’ I asked as I wasn’t sure what he was talking about now.

‘’You are sad because you lost,’’ he figured out for me as he laughed with his signature laugh, ‘’but don’t worry Rinnie. I have a consolation prize for you,’’ he continued as he stepped towards me once he had, apparently, found what he had been looking for. There was something in his hand, but I couldn’t make out what it was exactly.

I stared at Daehyun as I tried to force a faint smile. I didn’t know how to feel. I didn’t know what Daehyun was thinking or doing. Nothing was making sense right now. First I had felt so comfortable and care free, but now I was only pondering over stupid things. I suddenly felt lost with myself. Daehyun didn’t seem to have that problem and kept his usual charming act. As always.

‘’Open your hand and close your eyes,’’ he commanded with a bit of a smile. I only gave him a look in response and he laughed before he closed his eyes as an example of how I should do it. I mentally scoffed as I thought that I knew perfectly well how to close my eyes. I eventually - and reluctantly - did as I was told though and inwardly sighed as the darkness of my eyelids forced me to recall the happenings of just earlier – again. I felt so completely disappointed with everything at the moment. I honestly wanted to go home and slap myself for being anything but smooth today. How did girls usually manage themselves in situations such as these? Why was it that I suddenly desperately wanted affection from Daehyun? Why was I so disappointed that he didn’t kiss me? I guess that spending time with him like this made me realize that I secretly did want us to reach a higher level on the ‘relationship ladder’. I was too proud to lead us to that higher step however. I was the worst in that aspect; I wasn’t even making much of an effort, solely because I was afraid and therefore wanted Daehyun to take the first step. It was perhaps hypocrite but, quite frankly, simply how I worked as well.

‘’Can I look already?’’ I asked impatiently. I then felt him place something that felt like a certain piece of jewelry on the palm of my hand. He couldn’t possibly give me any jewelry however. That would be quite unexpected and moreover absurd.

‘’Alright, look.’’

Apparently I was wrong.

In my hand was a simple silver bracelet. On it were two silver pendants. The letter J followed by the letter D. I looked up at Daehyun in confusion trying to find out what he was thinking but I met with his usual smiling face. He wasn’t exactly different from Moon Jongup in that aspect.

Daehyun apparently found it funny that I looked so clueless and I couldn’t exactly blame him. I probably did look like a deer caught in headlights.

‘’You’re not even looking at it,’’ he spoke after a silence that had felt like eternity.

‘’H- how did you get this?’’ I could only stutter in surprise.

‘’I got it from my aunt some years ago. I honestly never wore it since it is looks girly. I don’t know what she thought when she gave me that honestly.’’ He didn’t even seem the least bit uncomfortable while he told me the story behind the bracelet, making me assume that he wasn’t lying about it. Besides, there was no possibility for him to lie about this anyway; if he were to lie that would have meant that he actually bought this for me and that was just too hard to imagine.

‘’Honestly isn’t it the best consolation prize? Or at least it’s the best I can come up with as of now. I doubt you would want my socks or anything.’’

‘’Why would you want me to have something with your initials?’’

‘’I don’t know, I’m not going to wear it anyway. It’s only rotting in that drawer. I always fail to clean it out. You can remove the initials if you want to. You can do so very easily,’’ he explained as he demonstrated how the letters could optionally be removed from the thin band. I glanced down at the bracelet and watched the shiny piece intently. The design wasn’t necessarily girly. After all, it was simply a silver bracelet with two letters. I hadn’t seen guys wear bracelets such as these before though and it also wasn’t exactly something Daehyun would wear either and so I got his point.

‘’I can’t possibly take something that you got from your aun—‘’

‘’You can,’’ he interrupted as he suddenly held my wrist and attempted to put the bracelet on, ’’see it as a friendship bracelet. It’s a small thanks. To show my appreciation,’’ he smiled once he had successfully put the piece of jewelry on. The two silver letters dangled gracefully around the thin band as I moved my arm slightly.

‘’Right,’’ I muttered as I wasn’t sure what else to say. There was an unexplainable kind of conflict going on within me right now. I was somewhere slightly disappointed with what he had said just now; I had hoped that he would tell me that we were more than simply friends. Right now had been the perfect opportunity to say so after all. The definition of our relationship was vague however. I wasn’t sure of our status and therefore I shouldn’t expect Daehyun to know exactly what we were either. But on the same time I felt extremely touched with Daehyun’s attempt to cheer me up as well. It was a quite nice bracelet after all and though he had said it was for friendship, I couldn’t help but to let it mean something different to me. I had something that had belonged to him. I wore his initials. I didn’t even seem to care about the fact that he had apparently gotten this from his aunt.

He gently tugged on my wrist again, causing me let go of my thoughts and to instead look up to him. ‘’I mean it Aerin. You’re really cool to hang out with.’’

All the worries of just earlier seemed to suddenly disappear as I looked straight into his eyes. Jung Daehyun was breathtaking. I almost forgot what I was about to respond to him, simply because the sincere and genuine sight of him immediately distracted me from anything.

‘’You’re not so bad yourself either.’’

I fidgeted with the D letter shaped pendant again once I had my Nikes on. I couldn’t stop touching the bracelet. I couldn’t stop looking at the bracelet. It was crazy how meaningful this suddenly had become. Especially since I was so reluctant in accepting it in the first place.

‘’So aren’t you feeling grumpy anymore?’’ Daehyun questioned as he handed me my jacket.

‘’I never said I was grumpy,’’ I laughed as I gratefully took it from him and attempted to put it on.

‘’Yes you did, you said: A bit. Don’t go denying now Aerin,’’ he laughed as he playfully punched me in the shoulder.

‘’You can’t use violence against girls Daehyun, that’s wrong,’’ I joked as I playfully punched him in return. He then gently punched me back in which I only returned the gesture once more. Before I knew it we were frolicking, neither of us of wanting to be the person who was punched the last. I was about to push Daehyun away until we heard the door open with a click, immediately causing the both of us to stop.

It seemed to take hours until the door finally entirely opened and I swallowed thickly as I mentally prepared myself for the explanation I probably needed to do. After all, I should present myself properly to Daehyun’s parents.

But instead of his parents I was met with the sight of an older version of Daehyun, automatically making me assume that this was his brother. There was another person behind Daehyun’s brother and if there hadn’t been enough awkwardness for today that person just had to be my newest colleague Kim Kyoungjae. What were the chances?

Awkward. With a capital letter A.

‘’Hi Aerin,’’ Kyoungjae greeted somewhat pleasantly surprised. He had greeted me chirpily, almost as if there was no slightly awkward atmosphere present. I noticed Daehyun arch a brow at the sight of Kyoungjae casually greeting me. His brother had the exact same expression on, making me realize that Daehyun physically resembled his older brother a whole lot.

‘’Hi,’’ I greeted semi awkwardly back. Kyoungjae scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. I could sense what he wanted to ask. What was I doing here and how did I know Daehyun? Or even: What was I to Daehyun? I honestly couldn’t answer that question even if I had wanted to.

Daehyun’s brother seemed to recover the fastest as he bowed slightly before he stuck his hand out and introduced himself polity even before I could. ‘’Jung Sanghyun. Daehyun’s brother.’’

‘’I’m Park Aerin. Nice to meet you.’’ I shook his hand awkwardly. I truly wanted out on this situation and watched Daehyun pleadingly as I wanted him to somehow save me by speaking up. I noticed him watching me intently before he stood a bit more straight and walked up to me.

‘’Oh right, Aerin was just on her way out,’’ he began as he excused me, ‘’you didn’t forget anything, did you? Sure you got everything?’’ He spoke gently. I shook my head to answer his question as I allowed him to bring me directly in front of his door. I had expected Kyoungjae and Daehyun’s brother - Sanghyun - to be gone by now but they simply stood in their spot, watching the two of us intently. Making this the more awkward.

‘’Alright, so I’ll see you tomorrow. Perhaps,’’ Daehyun spoke sheepishly as he opened his door slowly.

‘’Yeah maybe,’’ I could only bring myself to say. Not quite sure if this was another indirect invite or if he was simply referring to coincidentally meeting in school. I usually didn’t see him as much during school. Except for when I would purposely look for him during lunch.

‘’And otherwise on Friday,’’ he reminded me. Right, our students’ year would be going to see a play in the theatre on Friday and so I would, indeed, see him that day. I would see every student and every second year class in that day as a matter of fact.

‘’Yes. Alright. I’ll be taking my leave now. Bye!’’ I bade goodbye to the two older guys who still hadn’t moved a muscle. I then directed my attention to Daehyun and softly bade him goodbye shortly after.

He only smiled that sincere smile of his while I did so.

That smile that would become the end of me.

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