"Let's break up."

Taeil stared in shock at Jihyun's statement, barely grasping what she said. "Wh-what?" He stuttered, clearly caught off-guard. "Break up?" 

Jihyun stared back at him seriously, slightly faltering with her decision. She didn't know if she was making the right choice with this impulsive move, but she also knew that she didn't want to keep having to deal with this issue. "What am I supposed to do when you literally want to do the bare minimum with this? Just brush it off and let everyone walk over me?" 

Taeil was at a loss for words, simply staring at her with disbelief. Jihyun didn't mean to hurt him like this, but she couldn't allow this to happen any longer. She didn't particularly enjoy being a toy played by Haemi, and at this rate, if she didn't do something about it, she'd continue resenting Haemi and Taeil about it even more.

"W-wait..." He stuttered, unsure of what to say. "Let's not get hasty here. I know you're mad, b-but I really don't want to break up." 

Jihyun bit her lip as she saw the hurt in his eyes. It almost made her falter, but she cleared and remained resilient. "Taeil...," she started to say, "I don't know about this. I don't want this whole ordeal to keep happening, but I do really like you, but it's also been bothering me for such a long time, I don't think I can take it for much longer."

She grew nervous when he didn't answer. He seemed too distraught to actually say something concrete, but he met her gaze and his next statement came out in a broken plead that made Jihyun ache. 

"Can't this just be a break for now? And not a break up?" 

She stood there, frozen. Even though she desperately knew that it was a bad idea, she couldn't bear to break his heart even further and gritted her teeth in frustration. She just wished that circumstances were different and things didn't have to be like this. 

"O-okay," she mumbled, wondering if she was going to regret her decision. "Let's meet back in a week and see how things are." 

"A week is really long... Can I ask to hold your hand for a bit?" 

Jihyun wanted to crack and just bury her face in his chest, engulfing herself in his scent. Despite that, she remained calm and didn't allow any of her emotions to betray on her face. "Sure," she said casually, grabbing onto his hand.

It was warmer than she expected and she knew anxiously that she was going to miss it. He gave a gentle squeeze and she looked up at him, pain knitted into her brows. 

"I thought I was the only one feeling hurt over this," Taeil joked weakly. "You seemed so stony and cold just a second ago." 

"You know I couldn't be distant forever," she mumbled, fighting the urge to just hug him. She cursed herself for feeling so weak. 

"Yeah, I know," he softly murmured, before pressing a kiss onto her forehead. "I'll leave you with that for now, but I expect a full-blown kiss in a week, you hear me?" 

Jihyun couldn't help but let out a small giggle. "Well, we'll just have to see." 

Taeil cracked a small smile, and pat her on the head with his free hand. "Just so you know, I don't have any feelings for Haemi. You're the only one I have eyes for. Can we cancel this break?"

"Nope," she shook her head profusely. "We're going through with it. I just need to think about everything." 

He gave a wry smile in response to her statement and sighed. "I guess we can't help that, but I'll be thinking about you... a lot."

Jihyun could feel a blush growing on her cheeks. "Me too..." She mumbled bashfully. 

"Okay then I won't keep you much longer," he stated, letting go of her hand. She could immediately feel the loneliness that followed. "I'm sorry for everything... I know I thought that things were fine, but I can see that they're not and... I was insensitive, I'm sorry."

"I'm not going to say it was okay, but I forgive you. I'll see you later," she replied, and he waved in response. 

"See you," he called out, as Jihyun turned away and left. He had never thought that the sight of her back could ever appear to be as burdened as it did in that moment. 

When Jihyun returned home, she immediately headed for the comfort of her own bed and stared at the ceiling, absorbing everything that had just happened. And then the tears hit. 

She didn't expect the flurry of hot droplets to cascade down her cheeks, but sat under the covers, bitterly recalling everything. She could barely process anything that happened, and before she knew it, she had already dialed Aeri. 

"Hello?" 

Jihyun melted at the sound of her best friend's voice and she sniffled before croaking a weak greeting back. 

"Oh jeez, you sound like absolute right now," Aeri mumbled with concern. "What happened?" 

"It's stupid, I'm stupid," Jihyun bitterly stated, moving to wipe away the onslaught of tears. "I said I wanted to break up, but he didn't want to and asked for a break. And guess what? I caved into it. He gave me those puppy eyes and I was so stupidly weak." 

She didn't want to admit it, but she felt incredibly pathetic for agreeing to his request, and the surge of tears only increased. 

"Hey..." Aeri cooed. "You're not stupid, don't say that about yourself. And about the break thing, I mean... it's just a trial, you know? If you want to break up still, then break up, but if not, you guys still have a chance to fix things."

"But do you think we could fix things? He literally told me that Haemi won't change."

The line was silent for a moment before Aeri proceeded to speak. 

"She might not be able to change, but he can. He doesn't have to be friends with her, you see his whole posse. He has a lot more friends than he needs, to be honest. If Haemi isn't willing to respect both your wishes, then I don't know... first of all, she seems like a , but second of all, so is he."

Jihyun giggled in agreement.

"Thanks Aeri," she sighed into the phone, nuzzling her face into her pillow. She felt tired, so tired. She couldn't believe that all of this happened to her and she just wanted to be comforted like a small child. Perhaps her best friend sensed that too because the two remained on the phone for the rest of the night, chatting and laughing about stupid things. 

And for the first time that day, Jihyun felt the tiniest sliver of relief course through her. 

Despite that, she still continued to wonder how Taeil was taking everything. Was he okay? Did he seem distressed? Was he upset about it the same way she was? A flurry of thoughts swirled throughout her brain and she didn't know what to think. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but she also wanted to have faith that he was who she thought he was. 

But little did she know, he was ranting to someone at that very moment - Haemi.