“Let’s have a talk, shall we?” you mentioned exhaustedly, opening the front door to your apartment and inviting Brian in.

He seemed out of his depth, and for a moment, the old you wished to reach out and reassure Brian. However, you maintained your distance, offering him a seat at your small dining table whilst you took the one adjacent.

“I mean what I said,” Brian stated, turning to face you.

“I’m sure you did.”

“I don’t know when it happened but--”

“I’m not in love with you, though,” you announced calmly, Brian’s eyebrows furrowing together.

“No, that’s not right. You’ve loved me for years. That’s why it worked so well for us to be partners.”

You stared at the man across from you silently, watching as he realised his slip up. Brian sighed heavily. “Wait. Don’t think of me as a bad person for--”

“I won’t think of you as a bad person, Brian. You’re right. I’ve loved you for ten years. I spent my high school, university and even some of my career years looking only at you. Like a fool. And when you offered the fake dating opportunity my way, the part of me that wanted to be noticed by you was overjoyed. I was convinced because we worked so well together that eventually you would catch up with your feelings and see this as more than just an agreement.”

“I do. What you hoped for, I’m starting to genuinely feel.”

“Ironic, isn’t it?” you murmured, and Brian’s gaze narrowed slightly. You smiled sadly. “What I felt for you all these years turns out wasn’t real at all. I was in love with the Brian Kang I had conjured in my head. I thought I knew all about you, but you’re more of a mystery now to me than when I started this game with you three months ago.”

“What do you want to know? I’ll let you know it all,” he offered, but you shook your head. “We’ve made love together.”

“No, we’ve just shared the same bed and our bodies one too many times than we should have.”

Brian laughed once, and then another time, shaking his head. “I honestly thought you would be embracing me right now. Instead, it hasn’t gone how I expected this to.”

“The same for me. I was convinced meeting your family wouldn’t end in me hurting them. That their dreams of us walking down the aisle together would come true. My dreams with you too. But now I’ve come to realise they aren’t the type of dreams that give me what I want in this world.”

“What do you want?” Brian asked, tilting his head to the side. “Or is it a who?”

“It’s not you. I’m sorry.”

Brian nodded softly before getting up and heading for the door silently. And when it closed, you dropped your head onto your table, unable to cry, unable to process the feelings within you. Whilst you knew telling Brian once and for all you were no longer interested and wanted to close the ten-year long chapter in your heart with him, it didn’t bring you relief. It didn’t make you feel better or even provide you with the clarity you needed to make your next move.

You simply remained there, feeling numb.

---

 

A week passed without once seeing Jae, and your hopes dashed the longer he avoided you. Eventually, you came across him in the mailroom, darting forward towards him.

“Jae, can we talk?”

“Nope,” he answered curtly, swinging around you and heading out the door.

Rushing after him, you stopped the elevator from closing and hopped inside, peering at the man looking up at the ceiling. “I don’t like him.”

“Good for you.”

“Can’t I at least explain myself? Don’t you owe me that much?”

“As your neighbour-”

“As someone who likes you, a lot.”

Jae’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything else. The doors sprang open then to your floor, and Jae departed immediately, your steps much shorter than his and causing you to hurry along again. He had already reached his front door and stepped inside when you got there, the door beginning to shut.

And much like with the elevator doors, you stuck your hand in the way again, but this time the door came into contact with you. “Ow!”

“Why the hell did you do that for?!” Jae exclaimed, yanking the door back open and taking your injured hand gently into his. “Y/N, your fingers are swelling!”

“Will you just let me talk to you?”

“You need to go to a doctor! Honestly, why do something this stupid?”

“Because you’re avoiding me over something that looked more than it was!” you answered exasperatedly, and Jae stopped fussing over your hand, his dark eyes connecting with yours.

“Really?”

“It’s a long story, but I hope you’ll let me explain.”

“Not right now,” he answered, and you whined immediately. Jae stepped out of his apartment and shut the door with one hand, still holding your injured one. “Because you need to get this looked at first.”

“You’ll come with me?”

“Do you think my anxiety will cope with letting you go to the doctors on your own? What if it’s broken?!”

You smiled and then winced with the pain. “Then you promise you’ll listen to me? Ow, this really hurts.”

“Injury first, Y/N,” Jae confirmed, leading you back down the hallway and out of the building. You hadn’t ever been in Jae’s car before, but it made you smile giddily when he leaned over for your seatbelt to secure you before he started the car up.

Glancing at your reaction, Jae rolled his eyes. “You’re already injured and couldn’t belt yourself. That’s all.”

“Allow me to enjoy the experience.”

“You’re driving me insane, Y/N.”

“You’ve been doing that to me all week by avoiding me.”

Jae let out a grunt and otherwise stayed silent for the rest of the trip to urgent care. After x-rays and a two-hour wait, you were relieved to be released with your hand in a splint, thankfully with no broken bones, just a severely bruised and swollen hand.

“I’m still mad at you for throwing your hand in my door.”

“Should I have used my foot instead?” you teased, noting the ghost of a smile haunting the corners of his lips. “Oh! You finally reacted.”

“Stop distracting me from the road, Y/N.”

“I’ve held my end of the deal. Now you have to follow through with yours.”

“You mean, I have to look after you because some idiot threw her dominant hand into my threshold right when my door was slamming shut.”

“Well, if you hadn’t of slammed it-”

“There it is,” Jae groaned, and you grinned. “Don’t smile. This isn’t funny. Do you know how upset I was-”

“When you were going to confess how you felt about me, but some guy stepped in and did it first? Yeah, I saw.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“I told Brian I didn’t feel the same way.”

“He has a name. Of course, he does,” Jae muttered and glanced at you when you didn’t continue. “So, it’s really over between you?”

“There was never anything that had really begun,” you announced, launching into the whole situation. You didn’t hold back, and thankfully Jae didn’t interrupt you either. You explained your crush, the fact that you had hoped for something before you met Jae, and then when you realised that having what you had wanted with Brian was what you’d rather have with Jae instead.

“Really? You don’t want to end up happily ever after with that guy? Sounds like his family adore you.”

“They do, well, they did. I’m sure he’s told them by now.”

“Still time to go back to him.”

You shook your head. “We’re not right for one another.”

“Even after sleeping together?”

“Jae, I didn’t tell you all this for no reason. I’m being honest with you in hopes you can see that I’m happier this way.”

“With a guy who lets your hand get slammed in a door because he’s being petulant?”

You smiled and nodded. “Who comes over to my house looking for sugar when I know full well you don’t even make coffee at home to need it. Or someone who grips onto me asking for ten more minutes in the morning after falling asleep on my couch with me again.”

Jae’s lips twitched. “Sometimes, you would fall asleep first.”

“I knew it!”

“Hey, who am I to wake you up from drooling on my shoulder when you’ve crashed out against me?”

“I don’t drool!”

“My sweatshirt stains say otherwise,” Jae remarked, and you gasped noisily, pouting as he started to chuckle.

You watched him for a moment before joining in, laughing at all the antics you had both been through together. As if he read your mind, Jae smirked. “Including a nearly broken hand.”

“If you wanted an excuse to come over and stay with me, all you had to do was ask,” you teased, and Jae shrugged.

“Would I have? It took me too long to admit I had feelings for you.”

“You still haven’t,” you replied, and Jae gaped at you as he pulled his car into the parking lot of your apartment complex.

“Really? You’re going to be like that? After everything tonight?!”

You nodded, lifting your arm away so he could undo your seatbelt for you. Instead, Jae inched closer, gauging your expression before he pressed his lips to yours.