stranger siblings: (ii)

“So, you weren’t lying when you said Yeseo didn’t take the breakup too well.” Yuri said in way of greeting as she placed her tray down on the table.

“She’s glaring holes into the back of my head right now, isn’t she?” Taeyeon sighed into a mouthful of skinny fast food fries.

Yuri gave a sympathetic nod as she slid into the booth opposite. “I’ve never seen such hatred.”

“I swear I was nice about it.” She said, exasperated.

“What exactly constitutes as ‘nice’ in Taeyeon World?” Yuri tore open a ketchup packet before squeezing it out onto her open burger.

Taeyeon shrugged. “I just said that I didn’t love her anymore.”

“Taeyeon.” Yuri facepalmed herself. “That’s like the least nice way to go about it. No wonder she ing despises you.”

“What? Was I supposed to just lie?” She didn’t quite understand the point of sugar-coating or attempting to spare ones feelings. If Taeyeon had fallen out of love, then she’d fallen out of love. What other way was there to phrase it?

“No, but you could’ve at least tried to soften the blow a little, instead of hitting out with ‘I don’t love you anymore’. I mean that’s a pretty heavy statement.” Yuri tried to reason.

She regarded her best friend for a moment before swiveling her head around to look at her ex-girlfriend who was seated a few tables over, glaring at her, angry tears in her eyes. “Maybe.” She receded.

While she may not love Yeseo anymore, they did spend some enjoyable months together as a couple, and at a time Taeyeon did love her, really loved her. But love can whither just as easy as it can sprout.

“Why don’t you go over and apologize?” Yuri suggested thoughtfully. “Maybe that way you guys can go on and be civil without any hard feelings? You don’t want things to be weird when school starts again.”

She breathed out a heavy sigh, knowing that her friend was right. “Fine.” Begrudgingly, she got up and went over to Yeseo’s table, hands stuffed into her pockets. “Hey,” She greeted casually despite the tension sitting between them.

“What do you want?” Yeseo’s jaw was tight as she spoke, refusing to meet Taeyeon’s eyes now that the proximity between them had shrunk considerably.

“I just wanted to apologize.” She let her shoulders rise and fall, an awkward hand coming up to rub at the back of her neck. Taeyeon had never been good with this kind of emotional stuff. “Uh…can I sit?”

Yeseo shrugged, crossing her arms tight over her chest, casting her gaze out of the window.

Taeyeon looked around at Yuri helplessly who only gave her a thumbs up and a smile of encouragement. Throwing caution to the wind, she sat down and laced her fingers together atop the table, wondering what the she was actually supposed to say.

“Well?” Yeseo snapped suddenly. “Are you gonna say something or are you just gonna sit there staring at me?”

“I’m sorry, okay?” Taeyeon exhaled. “I went about ending things between us the wrong way. I should’ve been kinder…” She trailed off for a moment. “I should’ve considered your feelings more instead of…-”

“Breaking my heart?” The tears that Yeseo had tried to keep at bay were now trickling down her face, and Taeyeon couldn’t quite help the guilt that was beginning to fester inside of her. “You didn’t even give me any warning. You didn’t even let me know that you were unhappy. We could’ve tried to work things out, but you didn’t even give me the chance.”

“Yeseo, I’m sorry-“

“No!” Yeseo cut her off with a yell, slamming a hand down on the table. Upon realizing that most of the occupants in the fast food joint they were in were looking at them, she recoiled quickly, attempting to recompose herself. “No.” She repeated, volume now at something more socially acceptable. “You don’t get to just come over here and apologize just to clear your guilty conscience, or just because Yuri told you to. You can’t go around hurting people, Taeyeon, and then expect everything to be fine just because you gave some half-assed apology. It’s not fair.”

Unknowing what to say in response, she sat in silence and watched as Yeseo hurriedly gathered up her belongings and stood. She looked down at Taeyeon with contempt evident in her brown eyes, as if Taeyeon was nothing other than gum on the underside of her shoe.

“You’re such a ing .” Yeseo whispered harshly before whipping around and exiting the establishment in a flurry.

“Well that went ing horribly.” Yuri grimaced as Taeyeon slumped back into the booth.

“Really, Yul? I didn’t notice.” She retorted throwing a straw wrapper into Yuri’s face in annoyance. “I knew that was a bad idea. I have no idea why I even listen to you.”

“Doing the right thing usually hurts. That’s how you know you’re doing the right thing.” Yuri said pointedly, chomping down on a chip.

“Oh, shut up. You take one psychology class and all of a sudden you’re a licensed therapist.”

“Hey, I only gave the advice. You’re the one who followed through with it. It’s not like I held a gun to your head.” Yuri defended. “Besides, at least now you can say you tried.”

“I guess.” Taeyeon sighed, pushing her tray away slightly, having lost her appetite. As blunt as she was, she wasn’t heartless. Hurting Yeseo was never her intention, but she couldn’t see why staying with her would be at all logical. Being in a relationship tha