Title: Too little, Too late
Characters: Jaehyun x You
Genre: slice-of-life / angst / bestfriends-au
Word count: 1.3K+

“I think that we need time away from each other.” Jaehyun announced solemnly, daring himself to pronounce these words while maintaining eye-contact with an unsuspecting you.

The deafening silence was rapidly settling in. You could however hear your heart beat slower and slower per the second. What a strange feeling. It first came with a skipped beat, then you could swear that your heart dropped all the way to your gut. And eventually it came right back to its initial position, only now it was beating horribly slow, as if it was fighting for the strength to carry on.

Whilst the expression adorned to your face was rather passive, the look of betrayal that flooded your eyes easily gave away your current feelings. Jaehyun however, looked totally fine. He looked unaffected by the news he had just broken to you or better said the decision he had abruptly come up with when no later than last night, he had been whispering sweet nothings into your ears.

You struggled to find the right words, the right questions but nothing besides wanting a reason haunted your mind.

“W-Why?” you asked, feeling your throat grit with this simple word. Simple but bearing the weight of your overwhelming confusion. It felt like he was breaking up with you, ironic really, when you were not even in a relationship to begin with.

“I know, I’ve known for a while actually.” He stated, digging his hands in his hoodie’s front pocket. Hoodie that was a gift from you for his birthday. Hoodie that was of your favourite colour. Hoodie that he wore every single day ever since, except when it was in the laundry.

What a mockery really. Because he knew. And so, for a while. The tide wave of realisation that slapped you across the face was nothing compared to the deepened betrayal you felt from Jung Jaehyun. Your bestfriend of years. He knew about your feelings. He had known for a while now. And yet, he was still cuddling you the night prior, repeating words of comfort and love during movie night. Only to reject you this Monday morning, like a used tissue to the bin.

Yet, trust in Jung Jaehyun to further give you an explanation even if now, it was the last thing you wanted, you did not want to hear his reason anymore. But he would give it to you.

“I feel suffocated y/n. Every time you look at me, I see it in your eyes. Your hope for more. I thought that with time, it would subside. We’re best friends, maybe you mistook our closeness for something more, so I kept pretending to be oblivious. But I can’t do this anymore.”

And that’s when that strange feeling of betrayal that settled in morphed into an unexpected rage. He spoke of you like a pity party. Was it your ego taking the lead in your critical thinking of the situation, most probably, but now, all you could see when you thought about the last few months, was how Jaehyun was nothing but pretending to be oblivious.

On the contrary, he had grown more attentive, more touchy, more sweet and ambiguous. He had picked on habits he never did before, such as, texting you every day from morning to night on end. He would randomly visit you during his lunch break if he happened to be in the area. He even brough