--- Six Months Later ----

 “What the hell do you mean you’re leaving? We just got together!” Hoseok didn’t intend to raise his voice, and he regretted it the moment her body physically flinched from the impact. She was never scared of him before, they went through a perfect three years of friendship together, been through worse than arguments. Yet she never flinched nor backed away from him, she always stayed strong at his side, his shield while he was wounded.

“I have to go home, my mother is ill” she explained, but her eyes no longer looked at him, they were casted towards the floor.

“Is she okay?” A soft sigh produced the words he needed to speak at the moment, the words that would gain her attention.

“Yeah” she responded, a sad smile taking her lips “she’ll be okay.”

“Then why must you leave me!?” His anger, it was a snake that bit hardest and created chaos. It could not be tamed, unpredictable just like the serpent named. “Our 100 day is coming up doesn’t that mean something to you? Or am I alone?”

“Hoseok” she hadn’t called him that name since he confessed to her, since they shared their first romantic kiss, since she promised him that she would be his, and it sounded foreign from , as though she called a stranger instead. “My mother is sick, and I offered for you to come with me, but you said you can’t.”

“I have a job!” He spat the venom that kept poisoning them, separated them, severing their relationship and the ropes that founded it. “If you leave… Don’t come back. I can’t stand this anymore…”

“Are you breaking up with me?” Her eyes finally found his own, and they were wide and full of immense pain.

“I’m not going to stay” his mouth turned thin, his eyes losing hers and instead finding the wall that he managed to corner her into, ashamed that those words left his lips, but too proud to swallow them back.

“Neither am I” she responded, grabing the purse she dropped when his hands pushed her shoulders and enclosed her into his presence. He didn’t have the strength to pull her back, he could only watch as she removed him from the picture, and walked away from his life. He knew he would regret it, being selfish and not understanding her point of view, but pride was a deadly sin for a reason.

As promised, she was along the booked flight back towards America, her eyes growing wide when a man took the seat next to her, grabbing her hand and pulling it towards his erratic heartbeat. “What about your schedule?” She whispered, lifting the arm rest to surround him with her embrace.

“Somethings” he responded, pecking her forehead with a tender kiss, his long fingers getting lost within her wild curly hair “are more important” he explained with sincerity, hoping she’d never look away from him again.

--- Last Night ---

“Are you seriously drunk!?” She yelled at him, scolding him the moment he walked into the door, struggling to keep himself balanced, the smell of a famine perfume cladding his shirt. “The hell Hoseok, were with another girl?” She accused instantly, yet still her arms wrapped around his form and kept him from falling into the abyss of darkness. Angry, she still defended and protected him.

“Tired” was all he could mumble out, to intoxicated to hear the broken sigh that stole her lips as she laid him inside of their bed, her hands working through his hair and placing comfort and warmth within his cold world.

“You kill me sometimes…” she whispers, allowing his arms to drape over her middle, pulling her closer into his embrace as though desperate to feel her.

“Why do we keep fighting” he whispered a broken sob, his tears warm as they rolled down his cheeks and onto her neck, staining her heart with pain and questions that could never hold an answer. “I love you so much” he continued to sob, burying his fingers within her freshly cleaned hair, staining it with alcohol and regret.

They did argue early in the evening, it had been so important at the time, that neither one could back down and swallow their pride. Now? As she laid within their shared bed, hearing the sobs from his mouth, inhaling the perfume on his body, she couldn’t recall what had started it, or who had ‘won’ the topic. It honestly didn’t matter; it was insignificant when compared to the way her heart was content within his arms.

“Did you touch someone else?” She braved the question that wouldn’t leave her side, her eyes slowly falling towards him, terrified of his ability to break her.

“No” he muttered and she almost inhaled a breath of relief “but I really wanted too. We’re just not happy anymore… We should break up.”

“Okay” what else could she say? She was only an obstacle in his way.

--- Present ---

The argument happened gradually. Questions of why being thrown about every which way until their voices began to raise and the attention of staff began to tune in. At this point, they were no longer speaking to be understood, they were past the point of trying to understand one another. At this point, they were saying things that purposely hurt one another, words spoken to inflict pain and hatred. It was why she walked away, without sparing him another glance. She was tired of being hurt, and hurting the man she was supposed to love.

Hoseok went home that night instead of the dorms as she had suggested, but being his best friend of nearly five years… She knew him well, and knew he was to stubborn to listen, as to why her apartment had been empty of her presence when he arrived. Instead, she left behind a beautifully decorated paper, shimmered in gold and her perfected cursive writing, and he struggled to read past the heading.

‘My dearest Best Friend’ Not lover, not Jagi, not baby. Best friend. He already knew at this point that he lost her, but like a masochist intoxicated by her special type of pain, he refocused his sights and began reading the letter that would destroy his plans of the future, and the engagement ring hidden under their bed.

My dearest Best Friend,

I hope this letter finds you in good health and in a good state of mind. It was never my intention to hurt you, you must know that deep down. I would never purposely harm you. You’re my best friend, the man of my life and the highlight of every smile that drew across my lips. I am so thankful to ever had the chance to call you mine, and the years of memories and discoveries that you had given me? I’ll cherish them and carry them into my future. A future, that will no longer contain the word us.

I’ll miss you, so dang much. There are things you have given to me, that could never be replaced nor would I want them replaced. They are permanent, inside my heart and forever etched into my mind, body, and soul. I hope I have given you things too, I really tried my best to be good for you. However, time is fickle and things change, we change. Sometimes, we just can’t hold onto a fading moment, memories of our youth gradually fade.

Signs of our existence, they will writher away in time, and soon we’ll be able to recall a memory that once made us smile and laugh. I selfishly wish to keep those memories as good ones, so I will take my leave so they can remain constant. You will not be a regret in my life, but instead a part of myself that I can hold onto when I’m afraid. When I’m lonely, when I need you again.

Until I no longer need you, and you no longer feel that you need me. Let’s stay apart, and maybe if we are lucky, life will draw us back together. By then, maybe we can smile at each other again.

Best of luck to your future.
I love you ~

• You’re best friend always.