“What is the Sun thinking about so deeply that he isn’t listening to this beautiful goddess here?” someone from Youngbae’s right side chirped.

“Huh? Goddess? What goddess? Where?” he said as he looked left and right acting as if he’s looking for someone.

“Yah!” the same girl yelled and slapped his arm.

Youngbae chuckled and rubbed his arm. “Noona, that hurt.” He said while feigning a hurt expression.

“Hmph. Serves you right!” Dara said as she crossed her arms. She was actually in the recording studio with Youngbae and Teddy that time. There were still some things that she had to record and it so happened the Youngbae also had a recording. She was talking to Youngbae about his upcoming album but he was uninterested. Hell, he didn’t even give any reaction so Dara thought he must be thinking of something and indeed he is.

“Sorry, noona. What were you saying?” he said, now giving his attention to her.

“Nothing. Never mind, you’re not interested anyway.” She said, not intending it to sound offended by his lack of attention but it did come out that way.

“Eyyy~ noona, come on. I was just thinking of something a while ago. I’m all ears now.” He said, scooting closer to her on the couch.

She still didn’t say anything. So Youngbae started feeling really guilty. He was coming up with ways to make it up to her when he heard sniffs coming from his side.

He only saw Dara’s hair and it was covering her face but it was unmistakable that her shoulders were moving. ‘Oh my God, is she crying? Great, Youngbae, you just made a girl cry.’ He said to himself as he mentally slapped himself a couple of times.

“Noona, don’t cry. Come on, I’ll buy you food. Noona~” he said in his softest voice while patting her back.

“Noon — huh?” he was startled when Dara suddenly faced him with a smiling face.

“Aigoo. You fell for that huh?” she said while smiling mischievously at him. “I guess my acting skills are getting better kekeke.” She said while smiling proudly.

Youngbae was still stuck in his place. His noona just fooled him and he fell for it. Ugh. His pride is definitely bruised.

Dara then suddenly stood up and headed to the door. Youngbae was just following her with his eyes. She turned around to him “Well, what are you doing there? Come on!” she said while waving her hand to him, signalling him to follow her.

“Where?” he managed to ask.

“You said, you’d buy me food. Let’s go! I’m hungry. Hurry!” she said as she already exited after bowing and saying good bye to Teddy.

Youngbae just shook his head and went out too. ‘This noona really is something.’

As they sat down and ate their ice cream, Youngbae couldn’t help but let his mind wander back to what happened about a week ago.

The time when he made his decision.

One week ago

‘Hunchae’

That was what was written on his phone. His breathing skipped a bit as he grabbed his phone, debating as to whether he would answer or not. Yes, he was waiting for her call but he didn’t actually think it would come so he didn’t prepare himself and now that it’s here, he wasn’t sure what to do.

A few seconds passed and his phone still kept vibrating but just as he made his decision and was about to slide that green button, the vibration stopped.

A sudden rush of disappointment ran into his body. Was fate really playing with him?

But just as he was about to set his phone down on the table again, it started vibrating again and without a second thought he picked it up.

“Oppa…” the person on the other end of the phone said.

He let out a big sigh, a sigh of relief mostly. Relief that it was her voice he heard.

“Oppa, where are you?” that sweet voice asked.

He didn’t answer though. Not yet. He was just waiting greedily for her to talk again because he wanted to hear her.

After a few seconds, “Oppa? Are you there?” she asked again.

This time he answered, partly because he was scared she would hang up if he didn’t speak.

“Chaerin…” that’s all he managed to say though.

“Oppa, where are you now?”

“At a café…”

“What café, oppa?”

He looked around and saw the name of the café in big, bold, yellow letters.

“Sun Rise Café…” he said and as soon as those words left his lips, he remembered his best friend.

“Okay, I’ll be there. Wait for me.” And with that she ended the call.

He chuckled bitterly as he once again read the name of the café in those big, glaring, yellow letters. The words were looking at him as if mocking him of his current state. And that was the first time he hated that word. Sun.

When she arrived, they both just sat there for a while, exchanging a few words and just looking at each other, when he decided that he wanted to leave already. So he left some cash on the table and told her to follow.

He didn’t actually know where they would go. He just felt suffocated in that café and wanted to get some air. As soon as he stepped out of the café, he remembered he didn’t bring his car there because he actually ran there. He inwardly sighed and went to the first thing he saw which was a bus. Probably not the best idea right now but he’ll take it.

He was still hearing her footsteps behind him so he was sure she was still following him. They sat at the back area, him, totally not caring if anyone recognized them. Honestly, he didn’t know where the bus was headed to but that was the last of his concern right now. He had bigger things to think about.

He can feel her shift uncomfortably on her seat beside him. He glanced at her and saw her looking left and right, probably checking to see where the bus would lead them to. His chest felt heavy and constricted. ‘Did she want to leave him already and go back to Youngbae? Was she itching to get out of there already? Was she wasting her time?’ all these stupid thoughts ran on his mind. Then his body just acted on its own.

He removed his cap and leaned his head on her shoulder, partly because he didn’t want her to see the tears b on his eyes. He felt her stiffen a bit but didn’t hear her say anything which just added to the weight on his chest. He finally let go of the tears threatening to fall that very second and released a sob unintentionally. He saw her arm move but before it could touch anywhere, he held it with his hand and said “I’m so s-sorry. P-please don’t leave me Chaerin.”

That was what he was really feeling. He was so scared that she would just leave him. He was too unsure of their current relationship and what he saw and heard earlier just erased that little certainty and hope he had for them. He thought that maybe she had changed her mind. Maybe she couldn’t really forgive him yet and that she didn’t love him anymore. All the possible insecurities crept up on him and he just couldn’t brush it away. He was still sniffling and was now holding her hand, entangling their fingers together a bit too forcefully and gripping on it tightly as if his life depended on it.

After that, Chaerin didn’t hear him say anything else. He didn’t actually need to say anything more since his actions spoke for him. Chaerin felt the strength of his grip on her hand which hurt a bit but she didn’t say anything, afraid that she would just worsen the situation. She didn’t want to add to the things that made him cry, even though she was practically the reason he was crying right now.

A few minutes passed and no sound came from him anymore, his hold on her hand also loosened a bit which brought her comfort.  

She peeked and saw his calm, serene, sleeping face. Tear stains on his cheeks still clearly visible.

She smiled soflty and brought her free hand to his hair, gently massaging, offering whatever little comfort that she could give him.

They had been sitting there for a long time and the bus was already empty. She also noticed that she was already familiar with the road they were on and the driver spoke, saying that there will be a stop-over in five minutes so she decided to wake Jiyong up.

He woke up, hearing her gently call his name and nudge him. He sat up straight and wiped his face but the hand he used was the one holding hers, making the back of her hand touch his face. He didn’t mind though and he certainly had no intention of letting go.

Youngbae entered their dorm feeling tired and frustrated. Up til then, Jiyong hasn’t called nor replied to his texts as to where he was. He didn’t know where else to look so he decided to wait at their dorm. He had to come home at some point right? His frustration was not only because of that though, he still kept on thinking about the conversation he had with his TOP hyung a while ago and he couldn’t seem to just brush it off.

This actually made him feel like . He was actually thinking of sacrificing his friendship with Jiyong for a girl. But then again, she wasn’t just any other girl. She was ing Lee Chaerin.

A part of the reason he was still kind of holding on to her was that her relationship with Jiyong was still unsure, unstable, unknown. He still doubted their relationship even though he trusted them both. There was just that inkling inside him that somewhat still hoped. Hoped for him and her. But he promised himself that once he sees something that reassures him her happiness, he would gladly step aside and move on. But right now, he hasn’t seen anything that made him sure that giving way to Jiyong was the right thing for her and for all of them. The thoughts in his ing mind were fighting with each other and conflicting. Now to top it all off he has a headache.

He groaned as he went to his bedroom to change. But before he reached his room, he had to pass through Jiyong’s. He stopped and decided to check if maybe he just went home.

He turned the knob and opened the door slowly. What he saw sent pricks to his heart but was overshadowed by the feeling of relief from his chest. He felt like a whole lot of load was lifted from his shoulders. A smile was brought to his face.

In the bed he saw the sleeping figure of his best friend and the woman he loves. Jiyong’s arm wrapped protectively around her petite body as her face was buried in his chest. They looked so peaceful and looked so perfectly fitted with each other.

That was the moment he made his decision. He chose both, love and friendship. That was the assurance he was waiting for. The signal for him to move on.

I wanna take this chance to fangirl over Taeyang’s new album, Rise. I really like the tracks and I love that the intro was in English. It really hyped me up! I really like Love You to Death, not only because CL featured in it but even before her part came up I got hooked! Aaaand the lyrics of GD’s rap in Stay With Me just freakin’ reminds me of CL! (You know, the club thing and everything but I don’t know, maybe I just always seem to relate them together so please excuse my delusional mind :)) But really though, YG is killing it this year!

And I don't understand the hate on Taeyang being shirtless in his MV. I personally think it was good. He was able to portray the right emotions. I felt it.

Anyway, tell me what you think about this chapter :) Thanks once again for reading and sorry for the long author's note :) Thanks for subscribing and commenting!