“I wanted to tell you something” Hyerin said, keeping her eyes on him as he turned to her again, “I’ll be going to Paris at the end of next month” she announced, surprising him till he realized about Mr Anthony she had told him about, “For 2-3 days right?” he asked, confirming, as she looked strangely sad.

She shook her head, “Maybe for 6 months” she replied, watching him with nervous eyes, not sure what he was gonna react.

His eyes got bigger as he looked at her confused “6 months?” as she nodded, seeing his jaw drop in disappointment, “Well I have a news too then” he sighed.

“Probably I’ll be starting my training camp anytime through May” he added without looking at her, “The letter may come anytime soon”

She blinked her eyes, trying to wrap her mind around it, “Like your military enlistment?” her heart dropped hearing that, as she saw him nodding silently.

She sat there silent for a few minutes as he was almost counting the keys on the piano with the blankness engrossing his mind too.

She turned to him when the actual picture of this whole scenario caught her mind, “Why are you telling this to me now?” Her voice was sharp enough to scare kkoong off in the pin-drop-silence, as Taemin’s eyes followed the tiny being running down on his lap moving to the floor to disappear into his bedroom.

“The letter is not here yet” he said calmly looking back at Hyerin, “I didn’t want to bring all the sad emotions telling you so soon” Taemin reasoned, a bit taken aback by her fuming eyes on him.

“But-?” she was getting stressed now, thinking about a whole lot of things together, mashing up in her head, “We are left with like a month or two probably to see each other like this?” she asked almost in a murmur, as her voice was losing power as she realized what was coming up.

“Probably!” he sighed, when he was lost himself, trying to get around a bunch of thoughts crossing his mind too.

“I thought you had an idea of my enlistment even though we didn’t really talk about it in words” he said, watching Hyerin for an answer.

“Of course I had” her voice intimidated by his blank look went lower, “But there’s this event at the end of August, that happens once in four years, the best patissiers of Europe are available to teach you for a mega exhibition in Paris for 5 months before the event & it can be a big opportunity for me to learn so much” “I was waiting for this opportunity for all these years and so when Anthony told me, I can go this year-” she paused to breathe, watching him before looking down .

“I couldn’t deny it” she blinked trying to stay calm, knowing she was gonna cry soon,

“I am sorry” “I was so excited I was so clueless, this could overlap like this” she was feeling awful, doubtful, and much insecure to even look into his eyes.

“Why should you deny?” she heard him, as she had to see his face now to make sense of his words.

“What do you mean?” She was shocked, expecting something different upto the point of time, “Are you fine with it?” she said, watching for his genuinely calm face.

“It’s a great opportunity for you” he looked at her, not happy nor sad, “You definitely have to go!” he was actually genuine & she was, so not, expecting him to be this way.

Hyerin stood up, making Taemin stand up too in confusion, “Are you serious with me?”

“What?” “Were you gonna put off the offer just to stay with me?” He knew how important some opportunities are, so, of course he was damn serious!

“‘Just to stay with you’?” “Aren’t you really going to be so casual about it?”

“So do you want me to sulk & be sad or angry, when I’ve got no option & you obviously can’t put down something you’ve been dreaming for so long”

“Why can’t I?”

“No!” “You’re not doing that”

“You shouldn’t” He was more serious than ever when Hyerin’s change of attitude was worrying him now.

She was watching him with a done look in her eyes, as ten seconds passed, them looking into each other, before she turned to move out of the space, as she walked near the sofa to stand there as he followed.

Watching her boiling like a ten year old child he ended up laughing, taking a deathly glare from her,

“Why are you so angry?”

“Why are you not angry?” she turned to face him.

“Do you really think I still don’t know how stressed you are by your enlistment?” she said looking in his eyes, making him look away.

“You missing this chance will be foolish, Hyerin” he said nonchalantly, moving to the sofa to sit, as Hyerin watched him, sighing sadly.

“We have two months together before you have to go” he added as she moved to sit beside him, “You’re gonna make this difficult for me if you’ll leave this opportunity because of my enlistment”

“And what about us being apart?” Hearing Taemin’s strengthless voice made Hyerin soft now, “Won’t you need me?”

“I wanna be there for you when I know you’ll be already feeling worse at that time”

“I can attend it four years later again” “I’ll probably be more profound & confident then”

“Good for me” she looked up to him staring at her in zero, “Listen to yourself and say it again that you believe everything will be fine even if you don’t go this time” he added making her go numb & silent.

“We both know how it is”

“I’m not saying I’m happy about you going” he added taking a long breath,

“But-” She watched him take her hand in his, “you not going will make me feel guilty for sure”

“It’s my fault,” Hyerin replied in a dead-tone, as she stood up in her place, “I am still so obsessed with this French baking thing” “I didn’t even thought about the cafe here” she was getting worked up now, he could hear the shiver in her voice.

Taemin rose too, trying to gauge Hyerin’s words, “You’re not rejecting it” he said in an orderly tone, anxious, trying to stop her thoughts by any way possible now.

She turned to him, leaving a heavy sigh, “I’m not gonna talk to you about it for a while” she said, taking her coat from the hand rest of the sofa, walking to the door.

“So you’re just leaving now?” He followed her, surprised by her sudden departure plan.

“Hmm” “I’ll call you” she looked back, feeling worse watching his puppy eyes, but she had too many thoughts to sort before talking to him again, as he blinked, watching the dilemma in her eyes, as she turned to leave, pulling the door, to step out.

—---------------

Hyerin got her eye on Jinho waiting for her in the hall, as she moved inside dragging her feet to the dining table in the kitchen to fill her a glass of water.

Exhausted from a trail of absurd thoughts, and the first argument which she wasn’t expecting, had happened.

Taemin taking the passive role was taking away her mindfulness, she was feeling selfish & helpless at the same moment.

She was like a sensitive wound left open, painful enough by even a breeze of cold wind now.

“Noona we need to talk” She saw Jinho approaching her as she emptied the glass down , “hmm?” she said, keeping the glass on the table, approaching him near the stairs with the sloppiness that was taking over her body now.

“We should go upstairs” he said, looking at their mother’s bedroom, as she nodded following him to his room.

As both of them got inside for him to close the door behind them.

“Noona, Gaeul-” he uttered and, “What did she do now?” Hyerin’s heart was alerted like a time ticking bomb ready to burst, as she looked up at him with frowned eyebrows.

Jinho paused for a while reading Hyerin’s expressions to leave a chuckle, “Nothing”

“Why she have to do something every time?” he asked, a bit bitter about Hyerin’ question.

“Then why would you mention her?” Hyerin asked clueless, still trapped in her own agony,

“Because she gave this to me” he said, handing Hyerin an envelope from his pocket, “Aren’t you labeling her as a troublemaker for her one mistake” Jinho said watching her with a taste of anger in his eyes as Hyerin felt it from his tone.

“That was a quite big mistake to forgive easily” “Why are you so grumpy suddenly?” she asked, trying to make sense of the conflict she was having while communicating this issue again now.

“Well!” “You should read the letter first”

“I don’t understand someday you’re meeting her parents & doing more than just interfering in her life”

“And now she thinks she needs a therapist to recover” Jinho was blabbering so fast, not giving any of the time at all to wrap her head around whatever he was oozing out now.

“Hold up” Hyerin remembered meeting Gaeul’s parents, “Therapist?”

“Does her parents want her to go to the therapist?”

“Has she returned home?” Hyerin was not in the best state of mind to organize her memory right now.

In all this time, Hyerin was occupied with Paris & Taemin, she had totally forgotten to re-follow Gaeul’s parents, after the day she met them..

When Hyerin went to meet Gaeul’s parents she came across the fact that Gaeul was a silent child, the kind who always kept herself in her room after school, since she had started painting at around seven years of age. Gaeul’s parents didn’t have an issue with her painting but the girl wouldn’t talk & would keep painting some absurd paintings of her surroundings in her own way, they won’t understand, so her parents had started to connect everything with her mental health.

At the start of her high school, she started following Taemin, and her parents started noticing change of behavior in her, which was positive for few months, she would be cheerful, was making new friends, was going out often than before, her parents thought that she was finally turning into a ‘normal’ person who wanted to hang out like others kids of her age, according to them. But Gaeul who was always more fascinated by her own world of imagination, had found herself a muse now, Taemin, the kpop-star, singer, dancer & mainly an artist whose art consisted of this liberating experience, just like the experience she had with her paintings, Gaeul didn’t realized when she started obsessing over his dance & music, and then the person himself.

She wanted to escape away and stay in the world she wanted, which had Taemin and her and her imagination to be left alone without criticism from her parents, where she could paint him, and her worlds with him, and live like that forever.

After a small argument with her parents, she made this decision of leaving her home forever. At least, at that time, she thought, it was forever.

Gaeul’s parents had noticed Gaeul sneaking money from her dad’s pocket, and when her mom had suspiciously checked her phone then, they found out that she was paying someone for these pictures & videos of Taemin. They were extremely worried about her now, and decided to talk to her about it, but she responded with a silent lip, at the moment, and they found out she was gone the next afternoon, not coming back home from school.

She was not going to school, not meeting any of her neighborhood friends either, when there was no way to find her back after that, her parents filed a missing complaint in the police station.

After she left the house, they had found her after a year at Hyerin’s cafe, with the help of police.

But after meeting her, she refused to go back, and her parents were forced to leave her alone, feared of losing her again, as she had agreed to meet them once in a while, if they wanted to see her again.

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