“Why the do you smell like smoke?”

Although Taeyong instantly felt bad as he saw Seulgi jump at his sudden outburst, he didn’t have time to regret it. It was time for him to stop going around all clueless and finally get the answers he deserved to know.

“Watch your language, Taeyong!” she scolded him, trying her best to ignore his question.

“Don’t change the subject, Seulgi.” He could feel his jaw clench as she just stood there, looking at him disappointingly. She had absolutely no right to be disappointed with him.

“Why do you think I smell like smoke, huh?” she asked him, shooting him a glare. “I just had a panic attack at the airport. It’s a very obvious answer to that question if you ask me.”

“Then why would you smoke?! You know that it only increases the risks of further panic attacks!” he raised his voice at her, feeling done with her behavior and attitude. “Why have you been acting weird? Why have you been ignoring me? Just tell me why! Is it that hard?!”

“Please,” he then practically begged, sighing as he ran his hand through his hair before dropping it to his side. “Please just be honest with me for once.”

“I’ve been smoking because it’s the only thing that makes me calm, okay?!” she suddenly hissed at him and he saw the tears forming in the corner of her eyes. She was starting to get stressed out and he could see that.

“Hey, hey. I’m sorry,” he spoke softly and tried to reach for her hand but immediately took it back as he noticed her move away from his touch. “Please, just talk to me. I’m here for you,” he comforted her and she shook her head and wiped the corner of her eyes.

“I-” she started, her voice sounding loud and angry before she took a small breath, calming herself down. “I am so sorry,” she then whispered.

“It’s okay,” he assured her. “You don’t owe me an apology for smoking again.”

“No,” she breathed out and walked over to her bed, sitting on the edge of it. “I am sorry for being selfish.”

Taeyong stood still on his feet, not knowing if he should walk over to her and sit down beside her or not. In the end, he stayed quiet and decided to not move from his position, because he knew he had to give her some space before she could talk. Also, even though he wanted to, being too pushy or angry was seemingly not a good idea at the moment.

“I am so sorry for ignoring you and keeping things from you,” Seulgi fiddled her fingers as she looked anywhere but at him. “I really don’t want to play the victim here, because I know what I did to you was wrong and that it definitely affected you a lot. I’m sorry for being a bad friend,” she then apologized to him.

Taeyong felt his shoulders loosen up and his expression softened. He could tell how nervous she was at this moment and he knew she could break down at any moment. What had happened that made her feel this vulnerable? Youngho had told him that she had been feeling bad about their scandal involving Chungha, but that scandal surfaced on the internet just one month ago, so what about the other time? What was the actual reason?

“Do you want to tell me what’s been going on for the past two and a half months?” he asked her after a short while and this time she looked at him. “You don’t have to, if you don’t feel like it,” he then quickly added but she could probably tell that he would’ve preferred if she told him the truth.

“I-” she hesitated.

“It’s fine, I don’t want to put any pressure on you if you’re not ready to tell me,” Taeyong assured her as he scratched his nape.

“No,” she then stated, catching him a little bit off guard as she stood up and walked over to him. “Screw this ,” she then mumbled to herself while taking a deep breath.

“Wha-”

“I like you, Taeyong.”

…. What? Taeyong blinked twice, struggling to open his mouth to say something… What did- What did she say now again?

“And when I say like,” she paused and took another breath, already regretting this whole situation. “I mean as in more than a friend- like- I have feelings for you.”

Taeyong didn’t know what to say. Seriously, he didn’t know what to think, what to do, what to say. He could only stand there in total shock.

“Uhhh,” was the only thing he could utter and Seulgi’s lips formed a small, thin line. There was no turning back now.

“For some reason I started liking you last year,” she joked with a nervous smile but it quickly faded away as Taeyong kept the same shocked look on his face. “But then I found out that you were dating Chungha and I noticed how much you liked her,” she then told him honestly and paused, waiting for some type of response from him but he just couldn’t do anything.

“I realised that I had no absolute chance with you and had to find a way to get over you. However, it was hard since you still saw me as one of your best friends and wanted to hang out with me and, unfortunately, the only way I thought of to get over you, was to ghost you. But that obviously d