He gulped two shots already, and found Wendy’s hand on his arm, pulling him out of the stool, making him slide the shot glass on the bar table he was leaning on, as his head was fuzzy because of the tequila shot he had gulped.

He was not a shots person, but he needed exactly that tonight.

He needed distraction from the world today, a getaway from the frustration he was feeling right now.

“Come on oppa, let’s dance!” Wendy was screaming aloud, on top of the music that was piercing his ears already, as he scrunched his eyebrows to clear his blurred vision, trying to take a proper look at her, who was standing behind him.

Wendy was noticed, but behind her, he came across another figure, the one he was trying to escape tonight, Son Naeun.

His college crush, then a girlfriend for an impressive period of six years, but an ex now since two years, she was in front of him today, suddenly, all at once.

After being out of his sight for these long two years, she was here today with his childhood buddy, Minho, who was back after a long time as well.

Taemin and Minho were neighborhood friends till Minho’s family had to move to California because of his father’s promotion, eight years ago, which made the boys lose contact with each other during that time, and that person was back now, with Masters in Architecture like him.

They had met each other six months ago, when Minho contacted him telling him that he was back in Korea, and it didn’t take them long to bring back the bond they had before, as Minho was quite the same person even after all these years of their disconnected lives. He was as funny as then and the very heartwarming person Taemin knew as his friend.

Eventually they had resurfaced their friendship and would get together often to catch up, taking time out for each other from their work schedules whenever possible to meet each other.

For Taemin, he was finally successful in getting a big project through the private firm he had founded on his own, which was his dream since he decided to be an architect after school.

While Minho was working as senior executive for Seoul’s renowned construction firm with his prestigious masters from California. 

Since Minho was back in Korea for good, his mother wanted him to get marry as soon as possible, and was arranging blind dates with all the daughters she knew of her friends. Being a devoted son, he agreed and met a few but the results were unsatisfying as expected.

Naeun was an accidental encounter in the middle of all this setup movement..

Minho was waiting for his blind date that day when Naeun was in the same restaurant to meet her client. She mistaked Minho, who was the one she found at the table she was informed to be her client, who was described to be three years older than her apparently, as she ended up presenting the whole plan in front of him in an attempt of winning the client with her confidence.

He misunderstood her for the date too at first look and was about to introduce himself but she was in much hurry to put forward her proposal before hearing him out.

He learned she was an architect too after listening to her blabbering about her project plan, and was honestly, slightly impressed by her plan, along with her being pretty good at convincing to listen to interrupt the second time.

Naeun found out the truth, when she noticed a girl standing near their table after a while, staring at her with judging eyes, making Minho smile finally to reveal the confusion. 

The client was an important deal and being the team leader, Naeun was responsible for convincing him anyhow, when he was being unnecessarily grumpy & stubborn for changing their best plans presented earlier by her teammates. She was already nervous and thus messed up the situation in that anxiety.

Minho handed her his card that day, telling her that he was an architect too. After that, they met a few times for work, but Minho being a straightforward person had to ask her out when he realized he was attracted to her, and then they were officially dating since two weeks now.

Today!!

Minho was insisting Taemin that they should meet from a few days now, so that he could introduce his girlfriend to him. And eventually, Taemin ended up talking about him having a girlfriend too, so they agreed to have a double date then.

Wendy, Taemin’s girlfriend, was a cheerful, bubbly girl who had newly joined Taemin’s firm as a project manager three months ago, and apparently ended up having a crush on Taemin in literally days , impressed by his cute personality, that was paired with an extreme passion & dedication to his work. 

She had the confidence to ask him out in hardly two weeks after joining, and he agreed really without thinking much. There was no reason to disagree, she was pretty, smart, and great in bed, as much as that he hadn't imagine Naeun there this time, which had grown into a trauma for him to even give up on dating for a while, since they had ended the relationship.

After two years, Taemin and Naeun were face to face with each other again, as familiar strangers.

He was stuck on her figure, grooving to the music in arms of another man in front of his eyes, Looks like you have managed to forget everything well?

He was lost in thoughts when he felt Wendy shaking him, holding his shoulder, making him shift his eyes on her, “What happened?” she asked, now concerned noticing his teary eyes, as he reached to hug her waist, the pain inside him taking over his emotions.

“Taemin, what happened?” Wendy was rubbing his back warmly, puzzled by his reaction, as he continued to cry, hugging her tighter.

Naeun had got her eyes on them from the moment she had caught Taemin going forward to hug Wendy, and Wendy hugged him back. She had her calm, quiet gaze on the scene, watching both of them silently, as her feet slowed down on the floor gradually, she was standing there strengthless hardly feeling her limbs after a while. It was strange feeling of weakness she was experiencing suddenly seeing him clinging onto someone else in front of her, jealousy or betrayal or just that unexpressed pain, her aching heart was taking over her brain again.

The moment she saw him here earlier, old pain came back like a big wave on her, she was drenched in memories of them like they broke up yesterday, to not get caught in her agony, she asked Minho to dance with her for a while, to take some time & wrap her head around the situation but it wasn't that easy as she wanted it to be.

Should I be happy or not about seeing you move on? She thought watching them wrapped in each other's arms, feeling all the anger and sadness drowning her again.

After all these months of processing her feelings carefully, and deciding to date again after coming across a person like Minho, who was sincere and honest about his intentions & their relationship, she was back to the moment of their breakup, feeling her heart dispersing in pieces again like that day.

She wanted to move on too, from all these emotions that were back like some hidden bugs from the cracks she had filled till today, day by day, through the months, just to live a life without him again.

How was she supposed to dismiss a part of herself when she was the happiest?

“I am getting a drink” she was startled by Minho’s energetic voice as he leaned closer to her ear, because of music, “Should I bring you one?” Minho seemed oblivious to her gaze on another man, he was standing across her with his back to the bar table, holding her arms to keep her close in the crowd.

He noticed her drowning face now, when she was quiet & disturbed, “Are you okay?”. He was worried why Naeun was so out of place suddenly, gauging the sadness in her eyes, when she looked into his concerned eyes, feeling bad for being this way.

I think I am still not over missing you.

She was feeling guilty now looking into Minho's eyes when she was still yearning for someone she had lost long time ago.

Nothing had changed. Ever. 

“We should go!” she got her hands on Minho’s wrist, dragging him to the exit, ”But?” he was flustered, of course, seeing her act weird suddenly.

“Let me inform Taemin then” he asked, stopping her feet from stepping ahead, as she turned back to him, “Okay” “I’ll go ahead then” she released the grip, walking forward, as he looked back at the place Taemin was sitting to find it empty, searching around, but they had disappeared from the club. He was perplexed, but he followed Naeun then, as they walked out of the exit together, to notice Taemin and Wendy near the elevator.

“Are they leaving?” he murmured, stepping forward to go to him to talk, but Naeun had reached his wrist, “I need to tell you something”

—-----------

Both went through another hard breakup that night, but the hurt was the older one.

Every memory was like the running records of those days written on pages in a permanent ink, unfaded on the worned out paper. 

He still had all her pictures in his phone he would scroll through on the multiple nights he missed her smile, and she still bought that cologne, he liked which would make her sleep in peace with a fantasy, when she would be wriggling in bed with insomnia.

They decided to call it a habit, and it was practically a habit, feeding the illusion that they were happy, satisfied and in peace, not fighting everyday, and not making up everyday, not walking on shells to cater to each other anymore like this, distanced forever.

That’s what they wanted to achieve from this breakup.

Peace!

But they were wondering now if they understood that word precisely. Because life was never so unpeaceful before this.

Small fuss and big debates, they had it all in those six years, till they started calling them fights instead of arguments.

He knew he was a bit more sensitive to little things and she knew she was always slightly, or highly impatient, when it was about him.

And like those six years, it was still a necessary need for her to discuss with him the every plan she had drawn, even after parting with him now.

And he wasn’t over the fact that he couldn't tell her that the project he was ranting about to her everyday that she knew the details more than him, he was owning it finally.

—-----------

(After a year……)

An architectural exhibition was being held in Suwon this year, for which many potential architects were invited, including Naeun and Taemin as well.

Naeun was a head designer now who had her project displayed for the exhibition this year, and Taemin was there with his architect team for the field research.

He knew she was here, he even attended her talk in the morning, but she was unaware of his presence, busy and nervous all day for her design to get the grant today for her to survive in the company.

They were at the after-party in the evening, when he recognized Naeun sitting alone on a stool near the bar, as he walked himself in the direction.

“You have improved on your building envelope, huh?” she was startled by his voice, as she turned her head to recheck if she was mistaken.

“Didn’t I tell you creativity can work hand-in-hand with sustainability” he got a seat for himself on the stool opposite, making her stare at him with squinting eyes.

She chuckled, going back to sipping her drink again, trying to act casual as possible, “You must be proud of yourself!” 

“Just saying you did well today” he shrugged, nonchalantly, as she eyed him with a blank glare, before taking a deep breath, giving a nod, as her expression eased out slowly.

A silence crept in, as they continued gulping down the whiskey to make the bartender fill another, as it went down too, very soon, as the dead air continued to grow with the slow jazz music in the background, for a few more minutes....

“You broke up with Minho?” he finally opened his mouth, watching the bottles decorated in the rack in front of them.

“It’s been a year” her voice cold like the whiskey he was sipping on, warning him, "There’s nothing to talk about” she drew a line, as he went quiet again.

He knew everything that happened between Minho and Naeun, what Naeun told him that night, and why they decided to stop dating, as Minho wanted him to know about it.

“I broke up with Wendy too” and she now hummed in response, taking in the remaining whiskey, pushing it down , before standing to walk away. 

Seeing his face was the last she would do in such emotions whirling her conscience again.

She was angry with herself, how incapable she was of forgetting him, even after three years, since they had passed down the lane of separation, even after making sure that they were not seeing even the shadow of each other.

She didn’t know anymore if the burn in her chest was the whiskey or that same old pain she was so familiar with, because she was quaking inside, analyzing his words in her head again and again now.

Are we both going to keep going back and forth like this forever?

She was too clumsy for trusting either her or him at this point in this push and pull of her mind.

She had experienced once how it was to break up with him, and if this would happen again, she knew she would never recover that for life.

“I did it because of us” she heard his voice, as she was now in the corridor.

He had followed her, and she knew now what was coming up, “There's no us” she murmured, clear enough for him to address it in the silent space between them.

“Didn’t you break up because of the same reason?” his voice elated to reach her, who had walked further away from him, when his feet were stuck to the spot, watching her for answer.

She had stopped in front of the elevator, pressing for her floor number, taking a glance at the changing floor number above, silently.

It was frustrating to watch her escape the decision, ignore what they were still feeling about each other, and not talk to him about anything again.

He saw her running her hand through her hair angrily. She was equally frustrated. It was a known gesture to him, he knew she was breaking too, but would still keep up the silence forever.

Yes, he was being childish now, wanting to get on her nerves again to get her reaction, and she was giving him the reason to act up.

Her grip started to tighten on her phone, when she heard his loud footsteps getting closer, as the elevator door opened in front of her, but before she could move in, his hand was holding her arm turning her to him, as she came across his contorting face, his jaw tightening in anger, his tormenting gaze stinging her, knowing exactly what was going on in his mind.

Don't run away, Stay. She could read the words on his face, when his lips were locked tight. Holding back the anger & trying to talk in this situation was not easy for person like him.

She was scared now if she had hurt him more than she was hurt by him.

He reached for her hand to lock his fingers with hers, pulling her into the elevator with him, as it closed, trapping them into the small space, with her eyes on him now, when he was looking straight at their reflection on the metal door, his face heated up.

His calmed eyes turned to her, making her look away, when she found her vision blurring with the unknown tears.

She was embarrassed to be the expressive one, her tears were depicting her weakness already, before she could even try to act stronger.

She felt his releasing grip, as he pulled back his hand, making her close her eyes, knowing he would not convince her anymore, and that was just more hurting somehow.

They went silent again.

He wanted to apologize for upsetting her, but he knew she didn't even want to be together with him in that closed elevator, with the short, slow moving time between them right now, when he saw the tears in her eyes again, because he had reappeared.

His presence was only hurting her again, and that was not his intention.

With the love, they had shared a lot of hate for each other as well, which was irreplacable too.

The elevator had opened at her floor, but she was standing inside, waiting with her head blank now, as she snapped out when the door had closed again, reaching to open it, stepping out to walk to her room.

He watched her stamp the floor with the frantic steps, as she disappeared from the corridor and his vision gradually, she had disappeared from the one chance he had to express his need for her, and she was gone again. 

Their words were lost in the silence again.

After hurting each other with all the vicious words they had back in time, both of them were hesitant of picking the words for each other now.

A/N :

Minho and Wendy had a small cameo in this story^^

Hope you liked it!! Should I give a warning in start as it's became much angsty than I expected?? I don't know if everyone is up for so much angst but the mood of the song got me too strongly so I decided to go with the flow. 

Thank you for reading !!