The pitter patter of rain continued in the background, drowning out any other sounds the cars trudging down the city streets had to offer, or of any tapping of footsteps along the pavement of those who lived in their neighbourhood. Eyes grazing gently over the paper rose bud still on the nightstand, Taegi found herself no longer weary. The lamplight by her bed flickered slightly in the aftermath of the raging storm, but she felt protected in the blanket draping over her in her bed. It... smelt of her childhood best friend. Then, she remembered. Myungsoo had taken her home and gotten her changed out of her wet attire. He made her a cup of hot chocolate before leaving, and albeit untouched the smell of it still wafted through the room.

Now it was 3:00am.

Myungsoo knew she was afraid of the dark, so he must have come back again later in the night and left the dim table light on. That would explain the warming glow that kept disappearing and reappearing on the brink of her dreams in her peripheral vision as she laid to rest earlier. She must have been that tired to not have realised it at the time. Suddenly impatient, she disturbed the soft folds of her bed sheets until eventually it was left untreasured of her mobile phone.

Inbox (0)

Skimming slowly down the screen, Taegi caught onto something that made her heart skip the slightest beat.

Missed Calls(8)

She clicked into her voicemail.

Taegi sighed upon realisation that Sungyeol had not called to check up on her–of course he hadn’t, he didn’t know–and began dialling his number into the key pad. The numbers glowed at her every touch and for some reason, they only did more to remind her of her stupidity. Her glance was diverted for a second moment to the rose bud on her table top, when her mind unravelled with a frenzy of thoughts that took away her last reachable threads of hope.

“Sungyeol already chose someone else.”

“You need to stop lying to yourself.”

“Even if it hurts to let go, it’ll only be temporarily.”

“You still have me, you know that.”

Maybe Myungsoo was right.

He was the one who was always there for her, anyway.

He would be thinking best for her, right?

Defeated, Taegi stopped dialling altogether. It was far too late into the night, after all. Bringing trouble now wouldn’t do the both of them any justice. She slumped back on the pillow and snuggled into the sloppy pyjama jumper she borrowed which smelt, again, of her childhood friend. She really needed to stop violating his belongings. Taegi waited for the rest of the fragments of their conversation to creep their way back into her mind, her heavy subconscious eventually slipping into quiet slumber.

❖❖❖

For three years, he was only able to watch her from afar, but now that he was with her in her room, sitting by her bed, he didn’t know what to think. She never felt so real. It was probably the first time Taegi ever even let anyone so close to her haven, especially not after her parents got caught in that traffic accident and left her all alone to fend for herself in the world, anyway. It was his parents’ estate, yes, but he never actually had the chance to wander into it. Ah, so this was the room Taegi would always resort to when she felt she needed comfort, he would tell himself quietly. Tidy, lightly decorated with garnished furniture probably handed down from his own parents, and showered with soft plush dolls still contained in their crinkled clear wrappings, which led Myungsoo to suspect that they were farewell gifts from her friends and possibly parents from her previous hometown. Unlike his own room, it looked like an ideal place to snuggle. The shutter was wide opened and the room well-ventilated, but it was still the closest he had to feeling warmth, just the way he imagined it to be. Myungsoo always had a soft spot for Taegi's innocence in that sense, and knowing that he marked his place here before Sungyeol was given the chance to made him happy for some reason. He liked feeling important.

“Oppa, how far is Paris from here?”

Her voice seemed to startle him at first, but it certainly wasn’t long until he regained his composure and completely sunken into the airy atmosphere enclosing the two. He cleared his throat once, then twice, before managing to say a few words that had clumped by his throat from the nervous sensation of the impending conversation.

“Quite... I heard it was about 8 hours behind us here. Why?”

8 hours.

Considering Taegi had never thought about how she could function for even a day without hearing at least once from Lee Sungyeol for the past three years, 8 hours was a drastically distant amount of space.

“Hmm, nothing. I was just curious.”

Knowing her, Myungsoo wasn’t convinced.

“Taegi-ah, are you sure you want to come with me? I can’t guarantee we’ll be able to come back until a while… Wouldn’t you want to discuss a bit with your friends first, and with… you know…”

“That’s okay, I felt like I needed a good break away from everything anyway.”

‘Besides, he didn’t need me.’

“Oh.” She felt his eyes on her now. “Well, thanks for not abandoning me.”

Something in his voice this time made Taegi realise that Myungsoo wasn’t as happy as she expected him to be, but she persisted.

“I should be the one saying that, but you’re welcome.”

“No, I really meant what I said.”

“I did too.”

“But not as much as I did.”

“… You’re so stubborn oppa!”

Of course he was. He had to be. How else was he supposed to stay within Taegi’s sight amongst all the other obstacles life had thrown at her and let her know he loved her? Myungsoo chuckled.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop and leave you to sleep now. Make sure you get sufficient rest. And when I come by your place next, I expect your fever to be all better... I'll take care of the rest.”

Taegi complied immediately, warmth spreading inside and seizing her hollowed cavity. She knew how worried about her Myungsoo could get sometimes.

“Ne, oppa. Don’t worry about me. Goodnight.”

“If you need anything, call me okay?”

He tucked her into bed straight afterwards, pulling the warmest blanket he could find in the house over her torso as he prepared to settle himself outside the bedroom. He turned off the lights on the way out, and soon, all was quiet again. Left alone with her thoughts for a daunting second time that day, Taegi wasn’t sure who it was better to keep lying to anymore. Herself, or Myungsoo?

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a/n: how long has it even been since I last updated ;A; good to be back, hehe <3