The days pass by with a blur and I can’t help myself as I try my best to fill my mind with nothing but Taekwoon, letting Daehyun only take over my dreams as I lay my head to rest at night. It was an obvious annoyance to Taekwoon that I wanted to stay friends with the other… But I didn’t find it right to just cut off ties with him all together.

Why did Ravi have to ask this? Why can’t I be blissfully unaware?

I try to fill my day with physical training, telling Ken that I’d rather stay away from any firearm for now… Hell, even forever would be nice.

We eat dinner quietly and Taekwoon visits me each morning and before I rest at night, with Ravi still making himself home on my top bunk in my room. N and Bree finally decided to move to her room last night, but Ravi had already passed out before I could tell him to leave.

Ravi keeps asking me what I think about Daehyun, but I try my best each day to brush him off until the fourth morning when I can’t help but answer him in a cranky manner.

“I don’t know, Ravi. I’ve already told you that.”

“Obviously he means something to you, so why are you pretending he doesn’t?”

“I’m not pretending… I’m trying my best to figure this out, okay?” I whine with furrowed brows.

Ravi nods, patting my shoulder reassuringly as I seat myself on the bottom bunk.

“It doesn’t help that Daehyun’s not even here… At least if they were both around I could actually work this out.”

Ravi  nods, “Just try your best… I’m not going to say anything to anyone, especially not Leo so just stay in this place in your relationship for a while until it sorts itself out.”

“That feels wrong though-”

“Well, you don’t have much choice at this point, Taylor.”

Ravi gives me a look before waving lightly and walking towards the door, knowing Taekwoon would be here at some point to walk with me to the dining hall and eat together.

The door closes loudly and I can tell he’s frustrated with the situation, but it’s not like I asked him to be involved in the first place.

I sit in silence, trying my best to blank out my thoughts when I hear a rap on the door and my heart leaps at the thought of seeing Taekwoon.

 “Strange, he doesn’t normally knock,” I say out loud as I move to open it.

I have a smirk on my face as I turn the handle and as it opens I can’t help myself as a mixture of relief and joy flood through me as I breathe out a name I hadn’t expected to say this morning.

“Daehyun.”

“Long time no see,” he says as he pulls the mask away from his mouth exposing his familiar smile.

The mask sits around his neck and he stands with his arms at his sides as his eyes fall on my face. Part of me is saying no, but I can’t help myself as I quickly wrap my arms around his waist, my cheek pressing against his chest as my hands rest against his lower back.

For a moment he doesn’t respond, only stiffening under my touch but I smile as he finally wraps his arms around my shoulders and pulls me against him and even through the various layers of clothing, I can feel the warmth of his body against my own.

“This is a surprisingly warm welcome,” he breathes as he we let go of each other.

“What’s your point?” I ask with a smirk, knowing all too well the conversation that was going to ensue.

He shakes his head with a soft up turn of his lips.

“Let me in for a while, I got you something.”

I nod, moving away from the entrance so he can enter my room and once we are both inside, I close the door behind us.

“Since I am at fault for what happened to your last pair of clothes,” Daehyun says with a melancholic glow to his irises as he fingers through his canvas bag, “I figured I should be responsible for replacing them.”

He pulls out what looks like a soft blue, cotton dress accompanied with a pair of black cotton pants that look as if they will cling to my legs. He throws a few other things on the bed from his bag before he leans against the wall, burying his hands in his pockets.

“I got you a few other things as well, like training clothes and what not.”

“Daehyun, you didn’t have-”

“No, it’s the least I could do,” he insists, not letting me finish, “Why don’t you put them on?”

I give him a meek smile as I unfold them, laying them on my bed.

“I will, if you turn around…”

Daehyun’s eyebrows rise and as I toy with the top buttons of the shirt I was wearing, he doesn't attempt to move away from his position on the wall.

“Taylor, to be frank, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” Daehyun says with light chuckles.

I redden as his eyes travel over me for a quick moment.

My mind flutters to Taekwoon, wondering how he would feel about the situation, but I can’t help but agree.

What hasn’t he seen of my body at this point? As long as it doesn’t move forward its fine… Right?

I nod and let my fingers dance over the buttons, pushing them out of their rightful holes so it hangs open. I feel the backs of my ears redden and I try to shake away the anxiety surging through me as I pull it off my shoulders and casually lay it on the bed.

I kick off my combat boots, still intact from our first run to Central City and nervously untie the string at the front of the shorts and as it comes undone, they swiftly fall to the floor.

I can’t help it when my fingers tremble as I realize I’m left standing half in front of him… But why should it matter since he’s already seen it? It’s not like we were going to move any further than this.

I grab at the dress as I fight to keep my eyes away from him and quickly pull it over my head. It settles itself well on my small frame and I roll up the long sleeves so they sit at the middle of my forearm.

It doesn’t take me long to pull on the tight black pants he has gotten me, and as guessed, they cling to my skin quite well.

“So, how do I look?” I ask as my face reddens.

“Much better,” Daehyun answers with.

I smile at him while sliding my leather boots on, standing before him and ask him about his run.

He shrugs, explaining that nothing out of the ordinary had taken place but he was happy to come back here.

“Why’s that?” I ask with curiosity.

“So… that we can talk.”

I inhale sharply as we hold gazes.

“I see… About?”

“Us?”

“What about us?” I ask, obviously avoiding the subject entirely.

“That I like you,” Daehyun says while reaching forward and taking my hand in his, “and I don’t want to pretend that I don’t.”

I press my lids closed and my fingers tighten around his hand, and I can’t help but feel comfort at his touch but I know all too well, I can’t just abandon the other man I care about.

“Daehyun… Leo and I-”

He shakes his head, “I know. You and Leo… you have something.”

My lips part to continue but he speaks before I can.

“But so do we.”

My breathing hitches and I feel overwhelmed by his confession.

“Daehyun… I-”

“You come from a place where isn’t taken lightly, so would you have slept with me if you didn’t care about me?”

It takes me a moment to respond and I can’t help myself as I answer him honestly.

“No. No, I wouldn’t have.”

He smirks, “I’m not asking you to make up your mind right now. You don’t have to… I’m just hoping you think about the time we spent together so far... I certainly do.”

I let my mouth turn upward into a smirk, unsure of what to think of his words.

“… you do?” I ask with slight hesitation.

“Of course,” he breathes in response.

I scoff and turn my eyes away from him to stare at the cracks in the stone floor.

"So do I get some time to think this through?" I ask with a smirk.

He chuckles lightly as his thumb the back of my hand.

"Yes... Why would I pressure you to do anything that makes you unhappy?"

"I don’t know… It feels like I’m always being told what is best for me by everyone else," I tell him honestly.

“Well, you can count on me not being a part of that. Besides, you should have some freedom to do what you like… Life isn’t fun any other way.”

I nod, “Alright, I’ll try my best.”

"Good… so, can I do something for the time being?" Daehyun asks.

I look to him and take note of the flaming colour on his ears.

"Depends on what," I answer with a laugh.

"Okay, just don’t hit me."

"What -"

He cuts me off as his thumb presses against my lips to quiet me. He leans forward and my skin suddenly brightens as his lips press against the skin of my cheek. My grip tightens on his palm and I blink in surprise as he pulls away.

"I thought you would hit me at the very least," Daehyun chuckles.

I can’t help but smile as I feel his eyes on me as his hand pulls away from my face.

"That split lip is still healing, how could I hit you?"

He has the familiar bright smile on his lips in seconds as I finally let a bit of my attitude out.

“I’m not the only one with a healing facial injury; what happened to your face?”

I sigh with a half-hearted smile as I think about the now somewhat small bruise that was on my nose along with the almost healed yellowing ones on either one of my eyes.

“There was a ball… there was Ravi and the two of them created this.”

He laughs lightly while nodding in response.

I nod and squeeze his hands before suggesting maybe we could train together later.

"Sure, how about around noon? I should probably stop by and talk to Bree at some point."

I nod and we both move towards the door but before he can manoever away from me as we exit into the hallway Yongguk is walking by while giving me a smile, stopping to talk to Daehyun for a moment.

"Hey, have you seen Bree around yet?" he asks.

Daehyun purses his lips, "I haven't wandered around much yet, but she's probably in our room if you haven't seen her."

Yongguk nods, "I thought she'd be up by now."

I nod, noticing the late time and realize it's surprising Taekwoon hadn't come by yet, but maybe he became busy.

"Okay, well, I'll just go to our room," Yongguk tells us while smirking.

I nod momentarily before letting my eyes widen and grab at his shoulder. He turns his head to look at me, eyeing me with a puzzled expression.

"No, don't go in there... Uh..." I half yell while trying to come up with some lame excuse to hiner him from seeing the two bodies that inhabitted the small room.

I glance at Daehyun whose eyes are scrutinizing me as I smirk back at him before staring at Yongguk.

"She told me she was going ot be in the.. uh... the - the.." I stumble over my own, trailing off on 'uhs' and 'the's'.

Yongguk just gives me a gummy like smile before patting my head.

"It's okay if you don't remember; I'll go looking for her anyways," he tells me with a sweet tone before turning around and stalking towards his own room.

"..." I breathe.

"What was that about?" Daehyun asks while gripping my forearm and turning me towards him.

He smirks at me and I can't help but groan in frustration.

"N is in your room," I tell him flatly.

"So? What's - Oh... ."

We stare at each other for a few moments and he sighs before squishing my cheeks with his hands.

"I hate to be an enabler here... but you really need to get better at lying. I'm going to go downstairs so come meet me later."

I groan as he rubs his fingers in my hair, smirking down at me. He waves before turning away and leaving me to stalk towards the dining hall in a somewhat frustrated manner.

I’m thoroughly surprised Taekwoon hadn’t come by while the two of us were talking, but I’m happy to see him as I enter the hall. I seat myself across from him and Ravi smiles at me.

"Where's your food?" Ravi asks while taking on a strange look.

"Not incredibly hungry... I'll get some later."

Taekwoon hasn’t said a word to me and I can’t help but give him a curious look as he focuses on his plate of food. The hall only has a few people in it so I question him.

"You're more quiet than usual today... How come you didn’t come by my room this morning?"

He scoffs and rests his fork on the table and I notice Ravi's hands slow down to rest on the table.

"Leo -" Ravi begins with but is swiftly cut off.

"Well, you seemed a little preoccupied," Taekwoon says with a frown.

"I... I'm sorry?" I seethe.

"Don’t you think you should be saying more than sorry to me?"

I furrow my brows before understanding the meaning in his words and I let a melancholic expression take over my features.

"... but we didn’t do anything."

"Guys, stop," Ravi tries to tell us.

"And how am I supposed to believe that?"

"Oh you know, by trusting me?" I seethe through tight lips.

He rolls his eyes and I can’t help myself when I have a sudden outburst.

"Why are you being such a ?"

The room is immediately quiet and I feel all eyes on us as he intakes a breath.

"Okay, well looks like you guys need some alone time so let’s go everyone," Ravi commands as he stands up from the table all while his plate stays.

"But my food," Ken pouts.

"You can get it after," Ravi seethes before leaving the room as the few other bodies follow suit.

It's eerily quiet and neither of us are sure how to begin talking.

"Why are you being so defensive?" Taekwoon asks with knitted brows.

He sighs loudly, his eyes keeping away from my own as I try my best to answer him.

"Because I care about him."

"And what about me? Don’t you care about me?"

I nod, "Of course I care about you."

"Then why do you even bother talking to him? It's pretty obvious I don’t like it."

"Well, he’s my friend."

"I don’t care,” he orders as he gets to his feet and slams his fists against the table.

 I jump slightly at his outburst and wait for the cutlery to stop clinking as they bounce on the steel table. He turns away signalling he has finished this argument but I can’t let him get the final word as part of me feels so belittled.

I let my mouth get the better of me at this point as a growing ache begins to take over the better part of my body, the pit of my stomach falling as I stare at him.

"If you’re really that adamant to not give a about what’s important to me, then you probably don’t care that you’re important to me as well… and why is the biggest difference here that he actually trusts me?”

My eyes begin to water but I don’t dare let a single drop fall from them as my mouth takes on a grimace.

He breathes deeply and relaxes his arms as he faces me once more.

"It’s not you... It’s him. I don’t trust him. I shouldn’t even have to explain this," he sighs.

I scoff, “Really? ‘Cause I would have thought that being in a relationship means you communicate with each other and trust each other… and their judgement.”

I feel frustration boiling over and I wait for his reply.

“I’m communicating with you right now.”

“No, you’re talking. You’re not listening,” I say while crossing my arms over my chest.

He scoffs this time and I in a breath and throw my hands to my sides as annoyance finally takes over.

“I’m so done with this right now.”

I move away from the table and move with determination towards the doorway but I am stopped as his hand grasps my own. I let out a loud breath.

“Taekwoon, I suggest you let me go because I don’t have to scream for help anymore.”

He doesn’t pull away so I sigh and try to relax my now tensed muscles.

 “… I promise I will talk to you later, but right now just let me go,” I tell him quietly as salty tears dare to spill over.

Slowly, but surely, his fingers leave my skin and my arm falls to my side and before I can change my mind I am stalking down the hallway and rubbing my hand over my lids as both frustration and pain take over.