'If, after you sat down and think this thoroughly, or at one point of your friendship with her, you realize that you love her, and you decided to confess to Hana, don't get your hopes high.' Hanbin said, eyes locked on the brunette before him.

Taehyung put his iced chai down. 'What do you mean ?' He asked, a little confused and worried.

Hanbin sigh, racking his brain, trying to find the right way to say this, 'Chances are, she's not going to accept your feelings right away.'

'You mean,' Taehyung hesitated. 'She's going to reject me ?'

'She wouldn't know what to do with it. She would thought she's not worthy of it and that she don't deserve your feelings.' Hanbin stated sadly.

Taehyung went silent. He wondered how broken she really was for her to choose to shut her self down when she was offered love.

How low does she think of herself ?

'But she might accept you though.' Hanbin tried to comfort the guy. 'She might be better than I thought she is. She might love herself more than I thought she does. Who knows ?'

Hanbin paused for a while before continuing, 'But if worst comes to worst, I want you to convince her. Don't leave her to it. Don't pretend like nothing happens. Convince her that you love her.'

'I will.'

'It's not definite, Taehyung.' Hanbin said after watching the boy's solemn face. 'I'm not saying she will reject you, I'm just saying she might. I want you to be mentally prepared for that if it were to happen.'

Taehyung nodded, 'Okay.'

Not okay.

No post-warning from anyone could prepare him for this agonizing pain as he watched her silhouette disappeared behind the door.

Yes. Hanbin's word at the cafe was what held him back from confessing. He thought long and hard about all the way he was going to handle the rejection.

But deep down, he had wished he wouldn't have to deal with it.

He had wished she wouldn't reject him plain cold, or left at that, or both.

He just stood there motionless as the droplets of rains hit his skin, soaking down his shirt.

He thought he was mentally prepared. He thought he could handle it if she was to reject him.

Who was he kidding ?

No preparation would suffice.

All he wanted to do was go home and curl in his bed. He wanted a warm bath. A hot chocolate. He wantedㅡ

No. All he wanted was her.

But Taehyung remembered what Hanbin had said; give her time. Give her time to sort it out. Give her time to let it sink. Then, and only then, should he go and convince her. Give her enough time.

He forgot to ask how much time was enough time.

Now, as his cloth clung onto his body, with rain beating on his back mercilessly, he wondered if he should've ran after her.

No. Give her time.

Taehyung had purposely waited until the day before the weekend to do this. He thought if he did it on a Friday, then if he was rejected, she would have the weekend to think about it.

To have her time.

Also, if she was to accept his feelings, then they would have the whole weekend to spend it together.

Hah.

This is so hard. Who says this was going to be easy ?

No one. No one says it's going to be easy, Kim Taehyung.

❄❄❄❄❄

Hana ran.

Her feets hit the wet pavement of the sidewalk as bullets of rains attacked her skin.

The sky was crying for her, the tears she wouldn't allow to fall.

Water splashed on her skirt as she stepped through the puddles of fresh rain. Her light brown hair plastered on her face and neck, but she didn't care.

She doesn't care.

All she wanted was for her legs to go faster.

She wanted to get as far away as possible from everything.

This is not happening.

She ran. Even when she recognized the familiar road of her neighborhood, she didn't stop.

She ran to the gate of her house, opening it frantically. She slipped out of her wet shoes as the front door slammed close behind her.

She ran to her room, skipping the steps of the stairs. She threw her bag to the bed and slipped into her bathroom.

She only stop running as she dipped her legs into the bathtub. Turning on the shower, she sat on the bed of the tub, letting the sprinkles of cold water to freeze her up.

Freeze everything about her that wasn't already cold. Solidified her walls that was melted by his words. Turning her into ice.

Arms wrapped around her legs, with face buried in her knees, she collapsed.

Her resolution, strength, the only thing that kept her from breaking down, everything that was holding her in places, collapsed.

The dam in her eyes broke, and tears streamed down her face but she can't tell them apart from the water of the shower but her eyes warmed, and her body shook with every sob.

She hadn't cried for so long, but she hasn't ran away for as long too.

She didn't know why she did both, but right now, she didn't know anything.

❄❄❄❄❄

Taehyung got home when the sun already set, and the sky had stopped crying on him.

He had stayed on the rooftop until it's dark. Thinking that his parents must've been worried sick because he still isn't home, he pushed himself up and descended the flight of stairs.

The school was dark and eerie even this early in the evening. He walked to the gate and headed to his car.

He was drenched in rain but he didn't care.

He doesn't care.

He just wanted to go home. He drove slowly, not even feeling like rushing since he knew the lies he has to tell his parents.

He parked the car outside, didn't even bother to open the gate to drove it in. The door was opened before his knuckles could hit the woods.

His mom was staring at him with worried eyes but Taehyung didn't even try to force a smile on his face. He must've looked awful since she gasped and pulled him in before closing the front door.

Haemi's voice broke, 'Tae, what happened to you ?'

The whole thing felt a lot like deja-vú. He got home late, soaked to the bone, his heart hurts more than his head does. His mom looked like her heart hurts too.

The only difference was his father was not there and this time around, it hurts more than it did then.

Oh, one thing he wished was the same was the fact that his mom was wrong then, when she thought Hana turned him down, but mom's always right, eventually.

Taehyung slipped out of his mom's embrace and climbed up to his room. He doesn't even have the care to open the light as he made his way to his bathroom.

He pulled opened the glass door to his shower and stepped in. He didn't even bother to get out of his uniform.

Turning on the shower, Taehyung leaned against the wall before sinking down to sat on the marbled floor. His right hand was on his leg that was propped up while the other one laid beside him.

The high temperature of the water stopped the shivering of his body that he was oblivious to, warming his cold bones.

But it wasn't his bones that needed the warmth, it was his heart.

You can't always have what you want.

Taehyung didn't even know how long he had stayed in the shower, but when his mom knocked on the bathroom door, his fingers were pruning.

Taehyung heard his mom left as the door to his room shuttered close. He stepped out of the bathroom and changed into a comfortable clothes.

Making his way to the bed, his eyes caught the steaming hot chocolate that his mom must've left for him. He curled his fingers around the warm mug and sipped on the sweet liquid.

After drowning half of the drinks down, he pulled the quilt up to his head and curled on the bed.

He got his warm bath, his hot chocolate and his bed.

He was right.

All he wanted was Hana.

❄❄❄❄❄

Unable to sleep a wink until later when the fatigue and exhaustion finally took their toll on his body, which was roughly around 5 am, Taehyung ended up sleeping in.

He was forced awake a few times by the knocks on his door. The first was Haemi, checking if he was okay, which got no reply from him, and another a little later, asking him to come down for breakfast, this was Seojoon, which he only grunted to.

Figuring that their son needed the time alone to deal with whatever was making him locking himself up in his room on a Saturday morning, the couple decided to stop bothering him. They headed out, leaving a note on the fridge just in case he was hungry enough to get out of his den.

Taehyung ended up leaving his bed half an hour after two in the afternoon. Hungry and moody, he made his way downstairs. There were no food on the table and no pots on the stove, so Taehyung went to the fridge.

Glad you still have an appetite !! Me and your dad have a lunch with his friend. There's cheese and egg sandwich in the fridge. Order something if you're still hungry.

- Love, your fabulous Mom

Taehyung shook his head but a small smile was evident on his face. He took out the plate of sandwiches and devoured it in one seating. Still hungry, but too lazy to order and wait, he settled on a tube of ice cream.

After one bite of the cool treat, he groaned in annoyance. He can't believe he's eating ice creams after waking up late in the afternoon because he just got rejected.

He felt too much like a girl.

Putting the tube of pecan praline back in the freezer, Taehyung wondered how he could deal with this in the manly way. Go for a drink ? He doesn't like drinking that much. Besides, it's still early.

Should I call Sehun and ask him if he want to hang out ?

No. He would definitely know that Hana rejected me.

And that was the last thing he needed; a bitter reminder of the bitter rejection.

After a few seconds of arguing with himself about whatever idea that popped out of his head, the brown haired lad came to a conclusion that there's no way he could get out of this mess the manly way.

There's nothing manly about this whole thing.

Climbing the steps upstairs, his feet made his way to the balcony instead of his room. He had spent too much time here with his thoughts the past few days, going back and forth about the confession.

He had really thought that the next time he'll be out here, it won't have anything to do with confessing anymore. That he would have that over and done with, and then no more worrying himself out regarding the topic.

Well, no. Of course it did not went as plan.

Taehyung ended up nibling the sugar sprinkled toast he made.

Guess the only remedy to heartbreak is sweet. Well, it does make sense since everything about it is so bitter and sour.

At least it's not ice cream, Taehyung tried to comfort himself.

❄❄❄❄❄

Knock one.
Knock two.
Knock three.
Knock fo-

The curtain that was covering the glass door to the verandah was pulled aside, revealing an annoyed Hana, before her face turned into one of surprise.

Taehyung just stood there, as he tried to convince himself that the skips of beat of his heart were because of the climbing and not of the girl in front of him.

He could hear Hana sigh even through the closed door but h