Chapter Fourteen: Day Off

It’s already a bit past seven when Junmyeon drops Taehyung and Mi Ja at their houses. And now, few minutes after eight, Mi Ja can still see light emitted from Taehyung’s dimly lit room. The lights in his room are already turned off, but there’s still a prominent glow from amidst it. Mi Ja guesses it’s his cellphone, and as much as she wants not to assume, but she thinks that Taehyung’s actually texting Jinri.

Mi Ja can’t help but feel jealous, childish as she may seem. She pulls out her cellphone from the charger and starts typing a short message to Taehyung. She starts with a ‘hey’ but ends up erasing it. She restarts, starting with another hello but she feels as if it’s too unnatural. She settles with sending him a message of simple good night, and once she presses the send button. Her phone rings.

Taehyung calling…

Decline? Hell, if she was too decline, surely Mi Ja has already stopped being mentally stable. She starts quivering as her fingers reach the accept icon, but once she slides it, the grainy sound from the other line seems so odd and yet so comforting. There’s silence from the other side of the call but she knows he’s there. Taehyung’s there.

“Taehyung?” Mi Ja is the first one to break the silence of their call conversation. She receives no reply, so she speaks again, “You sleeping?”

“No,” Taehyung firmly states, finally making Mi Ja feel the anticipated butterflies and wind effects. The usual ‘girl-in-love’ effects that pumps up the mood; the grumbling of her stomach due to the butterflies feelings and the quick pacing of her heartbeat. To add another factor to Mi Ja’s excitement, Taehyung chuckles and says, “Talking to you through phone is…wow.”

“How do I take that ‘wow’? I really don’t know if –” Mi Ja gets cut off by Taehyung.

“It’s a wow that technically means I feel much closer to you,” Taehyung says, not to assume but somehow, he sounds so happy.

Mi Ja chuckles, although surely, she could die happily right now. She rolls over to the other side of the bed and says, “Why are you talking to me at this time of the night?”

“I don’t know,” Taehyung admits, “Maybe I wanted to make up for something.”

“And you think calling me in midnight will do both of us any good?” She didn’t mean it to sound so cold, but once it left her lips, she knew there’s no more taking it back. But Taehyung understood her more than anyone, and he knew how to take those words correctly. He laughs, “I guess so, because you love m—“ he stops talking and alters the topic, “Oh, right. I remember you asking me if I notice something different from Junmyeon. What made you ask that?”

Ah, Junmyeon.

Now that she’s lying on her bed with the luxury of free time in her hands, she ponders on the topic. What really made her ask Taehyung – and herself – that? Is it because she feels like Junmyeon really does harbor romantic feelings towards her? Is it because she feels like Junmyeon who she always found irritating is starting to change into someone gentler? What? She asks herself repeatedly, what.

“I was wondering if he wasn’t feeling well,” Mi Ja lies, “Because during the whole trip, he seemed so gentle and so un-Junmyeon.” Now, this isn’t a lie at all.

“Well, if I were you, I would wonder about that as well.” She could hear Taehyung’s hearty cackle from the other side of the line. Next thing he hears is his soft hum, followed by few words, “Hey, Mi Ja, do you want to hear a story? Just like I have sworn you?”

He doesn’t hear any response, so he concludes that she doesn’t mind. But in reality, she does. She minds because the promise includes him swearing that he would tell stories…of Jinri and him. Mi Ja might be the last person who would want to hear stories revolving around that subject, and that subject surely might be the last one she would want to hear.

“Last year during Jaehyung’s middle school graduation, dad wasn’t around because of work. He asked me especially to buy flowers for Jaehyung – as to why he wanted flowers I don’t know,” Taehyung chuckles, as if he’s an old man sitting on his rocking chair while narrating his youth stories to his grandchildren. He continues, “So, I went to the flower shop nearest to Jaehyung’s school. And while waiting for the flowers… Guess what happened?”

“You met Jinri.”

Taehyung was out of Mi Ja’s reach, and currently out of her sight. But when she hears what he says next, she gets assured that Taehyung was smiling. He cheerily says, “You’re right!”

“I’ve heard of that story over and over and over again,” Mi Ja complains.

“But do you know why I started liking her?”

Mi Ja guesses, although a bit lifelessly, “Do I look like I want to know?"

"You sound like you do," Taehyung laughs, a bit groggily at the moment because he maneuvered to his right to find a comfortable place. Mi Ja doesn't shoot back and her silence makes the atmosphere awkward. Taehyung doesn't even know why he feels awkward as well when there's no reason to feel so. He then speaks up, "Fine, fine. If my love life doesn't spark your interest, then perhaps you're willing to tell me yours?"

"Do I sound like I am?" She says, on the same tune she used earlier.

Taehyung plays with her sarcasm and responds, "You sound like you are."

"Do I seem like someone who would tell you?"

"You will tell me," Taehyung says cockily, "After all, you love me."

I would say you know me so well, but then I’d be wrong

Caught off guard by Taehyung’s dull-witted comeback, Mi Ja finds herself clearing to begin narrating what she’s asked. She starts with a simple sigh followed by strings of words.

“I met him when I was young. I don’t remember when I started falling in love with him until the truth just dropped inside me like a boulder crumbling down my own walls. Realizing it brought nothing but mischances for me. The truth made me realize – in the harshest way possible – how I stand no chance to gain mutual love.”

“This might be the first time I’m hearing this,” Taehyung says with a bit of amazement lacing his voice, “Continue.”

“It’s embarrassing,” she groans, “We should go to sleep soon.”

“No,” he insists, “Now isn’t soon. Besides, I don’t think you’re sleepy yet anyways. We should continue talking, like how we did when we were in sixth grade and we didn’t want to sleep at Junmyeon’s penthouse in Busan. We linked our rooms with stringed cans and used it as our phones, right? Remember?”

“But I had my own phone then,” Mi Ja laughs, “You were the only boy in class who didn’t have mobile phone after all because you always said your excuse that: ‘now is too soon’. God, Taehyung, if I weren’t a true friend, I would have laughed at you.”

Taehyung snorts, “Nuh-uh, if you really were my true friend, you would have laughed at me. And you are, so you must have laughed at me behind my back!”

“Maybe,” Mi Ja snickers, pulling the blankets over her body, “Seriously, I don’t think my eyelids could hold up any longer.”

“I guess this is good night then,” Taehyung sighs.

Mi Ja nods, as if Taehyung could see b