“What are you staring at?”

“Wha… I wasn’t staring. Sorry.”

“I saw you!” you insisted, you voice rising in volume. “What, never seen a broken-hearted girl before?”

The guy sitting at the next table frowned. “Look, miss. I really wasn’t…”

You lurched to your feet drunkenly, banging a fist on the table and causing an empty soju bottle to topple over and roll off the table. “Do you think I’m pathetic too?”

By now, everyone in the food tent was staring at you, but somehow your brain wasn’t really processing that. The man stood up too as you stumbled towards him. “Miss, you’re really drunk, and I think...”

“Drunk?” you shrieked at him. “You men are all the same!” You grabbed the lapels of his jacket. “What do you want from me, huh? Tell me!”

Shocked by your attack, he backed away from you, causing you to lose your balance. Just when you hit the ground, you felt someone grab you and haul you to your feet.

“Sir, I’m so sorry,” the person apologized profusely. “Forgive her. She’s really drunk. She doesn’t mean any harm. I’m sorry.”

The man shook his head. “Take care of your friend. A girl shouldn’t be out drinking by herself at this time of the night, especially if she can’t hold her liquor.”

“I’ll take care of her. I’m so sorry. Enjoy the rest of your night.”

You felt your arm being draped around someone’s shoulders, and then the cool night air hit you as you were helped out of the tent. Everything was spinning, and you felt like you were going to get seasick. You turned to look at the face of the person beside you.

It was Dongwoon.

“What are you doing here?” you slurred at him, struggling to free yourself from him. “I was giving this guy a piece of my mind.”

He tightened his grip around you and continued walking. “I know you were. Let’s just get you back home, okay?”

“No!” you yelled, flailing against him. “I’m not going home with you!”

A few people turned to stare at you, and Dongwoon paused to bow apologetically at some passers-by, embarrassed by the racket you were making. “Shh,” he hissed at you. He stepped to the side of the curb and flagged a cab. “I’ll make sure you get back to your home, and then I’ll leave, okay?” After a while of futile struggling, you let him put you in a cab, although you kept ranting at him the whole time. You didn’t really know what you were yelling at him, but it felt good just to let it all out, and Dongwoon calmly let you.

You hadn’t wandered too far from home, so it wasn’t long before he was wrestling you into your own apartment. You were making such a scene that you were sure all your neighbors could hear you, but you were beyond caring. You felt irrationally angry with Dongwoon for trying to help you. Why was everyone trying to ing help you? Couldn’t they see that you just wanted to be left alone? Why was everyone trying to tell you what you should do? Couldn’t they leave you to heal in your own way? The only person who could really help you was the person who’d caused all the hurt in the first place, and knowing he was the one person who didn’t care . You were hurting so much that you didn’t think anyone could even begin to fathom it, and yet they were all so determined to help you. Screw that.

Dongwoon helped you over to the couch, leaving you there while he went to turn on the lights and disappeared into the kitchen. You were so exhausted after yelling at him the whole way back that you fell silent, slumping onto the floor in front of the couch. When he came out of the kitchen to see you sitting on the floor and staring silently into space, he rushed over to you and crouched beside you, handing you a glass of water. “Here, drink this. Are you feeling okay?”

You could only nod as your eyes filled with tears. The momentary high that alcohol had offered you had dissipated by now, and the ache in your chest was now worse than ever. You took a drink from the glass that Dongwoon had offered you as he your back reassuringly.

“Feel better?”

You placed the empty glass on the coffee and pushed his arm away. “I’m fine. Go home.”

He remained where he was, unconvinced as he watched the tears cascade down your cheeks. “You don’t look fine.”

“I’m fine,” you insisted, wiping your face with the back of your hand. “Just leave me alone. I’m fine on my own. I don’t need anybody.”

Dongwoon sighed and pulled you into his arms, letting you bury your head in his shoulder. “Hana, please… You’re not fooling anybody. You don’t have to pretend to be strong.”

That opened the floodgates. Your entire body shook as you started sobbing. You’d kept it together in front of everyone until now, but once you started breaking, you completely crumbled. You didn’t know how long you stayed in that position, Dongwoon holding you while you cried your heart out. “I-it hurts so much,” you managed to choke out in between sobs.

“I know,” he said gently, continuing to rub your back. “Just let it out. You’ll feel better.” You said nothing for a while and neither did he. All he did was comfort you with his presence, holding you in his strong arms and letting you know that someone was there for you when you broke down. He only pulled away when he felt your body stop convulsing. He wiped your cheeks with the sleeves of his shirt and smiled at you. “Better now?”

You attempted a small smile of your own, pointing to the dark stain on the front of his shirt. “Sorry. I think I ruined your shirt.”

“It’ll dry,” he dismissed with a chuckle, looking down at the splotch for a second before looking back up at you. “What matters is, how do you feel?”

You ran a hand through your messy hair. “Like a complete wreck. My head is pounding.”

“That’s because you had too much to drink,” Dongwoon chided. “What were you even thinking, getting drunk at a street stall in the middle of the night?”

“I guess I wasn’t thinking,” you admitted. “I just needed something to distract me from my own thoughts. I just thought some alcohol might help me sleep.”

Dongwoon frowned at you. “I hope you know that’s not the answer to recovering from a break-up.”

You felt a twinge in your heart again at his last word. “I know. I just… I don’t know what I can do to make all this pain go away.” You’d thought that you’d cried yourself dry, but your disobedient tears were determined to prove otherwise. “I just can’t accept that he doesn’t want me anymore.”

“He doesn’t know how stupid he is to let you go,” Dongwoon said firmly, cupping your face with his hands so he could wipe your tears away with his thumbs. “It’s his loss. You’ll get over this, okay?”

“What if I can’t?” you asked, sniffling. “I still love him.”

“Well, you’ve been with him a long time,” he pointed out, putting his hands down. “Are you sure you’re feeling like this because you still love him, or is it just because you’re not used to him not being your boyfriend anymore? I mean, if you keep seeing him around, you’re bound to miss him for sure. Humans are creatures of habit.”

“How will I know which one I’m feeling?”

“Maybe you have to try...” he trailed off, looking down.

You blinked at him. “Try what?”

He hesitated. “Try… being with someone else.”

“What? No, I’m not…” you trailed off when you saw the look on Dongwoon’s face, and it finally dawned on you. “Oh.”

Suddenly, it felt awkward sitting so close to him and you scooted back a little, but he took your hand to stop you. “What Soojung said about me still having feelings for you… it’s true. I’m sorry if you feel like this is a bad time for me to be telling you this, but I can help you. I can make you happy again. Let me help you.”

“D-Dongwoon ah,” you stuttered, trying to pull your hand away, but he held on tightly. “I don’t…”

“I know you don’t feel anything for me right now,” he interrupted you. “You’re still upset over Bang Yongguk and I understand that. But if you give me a chance, feelings can develop again. You may think you don’t have feelings for me, but I know it’s in there somewhere. Ever since I came back and saw you for the first time, I just kept thinking of you and wanting to see you. And every time we’re together, we have fun, don’t we? I’m the one who can make you happy, Hana.”

You stared at him in shock, your alcohol-fuddled brain unable to fully process what he was saying.

“It may sound crazy,” he continued. “But I’ve been going out of my way to run into you. I changed my salon to the one that BAP goes to, and I hang around your area just so I could see you more often. You don’t know how happy it makes me feel when I see you smile, or how mad it makes me when I see how he treats you, even though I should be happy when the two of you fight. I’ll never make you cry the way he does.”

Seeing no response from you, he moved closer.

“I’m not asking for you to make a decision now. I’m just asking for a chance to stay beside you and help you get over him. I’ll wait however long it takes for you to feel like you’re ready to love again.”

No. This wasn’t supposed to be happening.

You looked down, the intensity of his gaze too much for you to bear. Your mind was so clouded with confusion that you didn’t even know how you were supposed to respond. You tried to wrack your brains for any mixed signals that you could have sent him. How could you not have sensed that something was wrong? Yongguk was right about Dongwoon after all. You should have listened to him. Was he right about you subconsciously wanting to be with Dongwoon too? Was that why you never pushed him away no matter how many times you fought with your boyfriend over him? You were so confused and scared that you could feel your heart pounding loudly somewhere in the vicinity of your ears.

His eyes were pleading when he lifted your head so you had no choice but to look at him. “Hana… please… say something.”

You wanted to say something, but nothing came to your mind. All you could do was stare helplessly at him, distressed. Your mind went completely blank when he started moving closer to you. You wanted to push him away, but somehow your entire body was frozen.

And then his lips were on yours.