Chapter Sixteen: It's My Turn

“Third command, I want you to be my girlfriend.”

The man in front Mi Ja now isn’t Junmyeon. This isn’t the same coldhearted Junmyeon who would treat them out to Seokjin’s on times he’s in a good mood. This isn’t the same jerk Junmyeon who drove them to school on fine days. This isn’t the same arrogant Junmyeon who would embarrass Mi Ja or Taehyung for something but in the end, it’s actually for the two of them.

This is someone Mi Ja hasn’t seen before. Probably because Junmyeon never showed her.

His pair of ebony black eyes full of unfeigned feelings stares right into Mi Ja’s. His cheeks seem to reflect the red portion of the sky’s gradient at dawn. His lips trembled as if aching to let out words he has been keeping for years. It’s the truth, but Mi Ja just keeps on denying it.

“What kind of play is this? It’s not even funny,” Mi Ja shakes off the awkwardness and says, “What do you really, really want?”

“I just told you what I want and now you want me to repeat it?” Junmyeon chuckles, “Forget it. Just go to sleep. I don’t want you missing more classes tomorrow.”

Mi Ja hides herself under her blanket and buries her face into her pillow just after Junmyeon had told her to. She bites her lower lip, suppressing the tears urging to flow down again. She can still feel Junmyeon’s presence on the side of her bed so she can’t cry yet. Not now, not in front of Junmyeon. Not anymore.

He stands up, not removing his gaze from Mi Ja’s sleeping figure, and says before he finally decides to walk out of her bedroom, “Just so you know, I won’t take it back like what I did inside the car last time. I will face the consequence of this confession heads on.”

She suddenly feels her eyes watering again as Junmyeon’s voice starts cracking. He too is afraid of destroying what they both have right now for something he wants to have one-sidedly. He’s Junmyeon and he gets scared at times he least expects it.

He walks towards the door and Mi Ja can hear the creaking of the floor. The rickety sound of the hinge tells her that Junmyeon is already swinging the door close. Before the door shut close, she hears something rest on the door knob and the sound of the squeaking in the hinge stopped.

One last time, Junmyeon says, “I won’t run away anymore so don’t do that as well.”

Taehyung watches Junmyeon walk down the stairs. He tells him, even before Junmyeon’s feet could land on the first floor ground, “The porridge tastes good. I ate a bit.”

“Yeah,” Junmyeon grins, “That’s great.”

He pulls a chair and occupies it furiously. Junmyeon’s face holds no emotions rather than emptiness and yet the crease between his eyebrows and the wrinkle on his forehead says otherwise. Taehyung breaks the silence even before it worsens, “Now should be the right time I’m supposed to ask you what’s wrong, right?”

“You can, but don’t expect me to answer,” Junmyeon coldly remarks.

Taehyung fakes a shiver and laughs, “Did you feel the gust of wintry wind just now? So cold.”

The older boy stands up and heads to the bag plopped at the armrest of the couch. Instead of replying, Junmyeon pulls a long knitted scarf and wraps it around his neck. Taehyung only watches the view from the kitchen through the small slider window.

Junmyeon has broad shoulders even with an average height. He’s only a bit shorter than Taehyung, but nonetheless, his handsome features take over his short stature. Taehyung has never seen Junmyeon ever dye his hair, and with this, Taehyung actually envies Junmyeon’s natural godliness. Junmyeon is mature, he’s older, he’s smarter and he’s closer to perfection than Taehyung will ever be.

And yet, why is it that Taehyung’s the one Mi Ja fell in love with?

Why isn’t it Junmyeon? He would be happier if Mi Ja ended up with Junmyeon, right? Because the truth is, Taehyung heard everything. He heard the third command. And he knows that Mi Ja wasn’t being delirious. She wasn’t feeling well but she wasn’t lying. Junmyeon wasn’t lying, too. But why?

Why Taehyung of all people?

A twinge of pain suddenly emerges inside Taehyung’s chest. He has been breathing a bit faster than how normally he does and maybe that isn’t good for him. His chest tightens, tormenting him less than he deserves. Picturing Junmyeon and Mi Ja together tortures him more than he could ever imagine.

This isn’t right.

Taehyung shouldn’t be feeling such a lewd, selfish feeling just because he found out the truth. After a while, he slowly fishes out his phone and dials the number of the girl she badly needs right now. Jinri. It doesn’t take too long for him to hear the other line pick up.

“Taehyung? Hey,” Jinri laughs.

Her laughter sounds like the freshness of spring. It’s refreshing. Yet, inside him, he feels darkness looming around his thoughts.

“Jinri,” Taehyung says weakly, “Where are you right now?”

“Oh,” She must have noticed how Taehyung isn’t that upbeat today. She tries brightening up the mood, “I’m in our school. Art room. We’re preparing for the Christmas Ball.”

Taehyung’s eyes widens at the mention of Christmas. He dashes towards the calendar hanging by the kitchen door and sighs, “So Christmas is already few weeks away, huh?”

“And so is your birthday!” Jinri giggles. Taehyung chuckles quietly, too faint that Jinri mistakes the wordless response as silence. She questions him, “Are you okay?”

“I hope I am,” Taehyung says before walking towards the chair and slumping himself on it. The floor creaks a bit and Taehyung assumes that it’s just Junmyeon returning after covering himself with numerous layers of clothing. He tilts his head to look at Junmyeon but he drops his cellphone when he realizes he was mistaken.

“Mi Ja,” He hastily stands up in surprise and then dives into the ground to pick up his phone. He grins at her after returning to his chair, “You’re up.”

“Yup,” Mi Ja nods, walking in small steps towards the water dispenser while holding a glass in her hand. Taehyung slightly leans back on his chair to peek over Mi Ja’s figure and check on Junmyeon.  He sees Junmyeon lying on the couch with his legs dangling. He must be sleeping, right?

The silence is just plain torture to Taehyung and Mi Ja. He doesn’t know how to act natural at all. And all she can do for now is to act as normal as possible. With their actions contradicting each other from time to time, they are both left with no choice but to just stay quiet.

The ticking of the clock harmonized with the sound of Mi Ja’s huge gulps. Taehyung looks away and glances at her from the corner of his eyes. The slow movement of the lump on as she takes gulps. The graceful swinging of the corners of hair when she turns away to put the glass on the kitchen sink. The slight wave of her hands when she walks away and heads upstairs. Taehyung can be honest at times, and now, he can say that Mi Ja is beautiful.

She may have always been.

“Taehyung,” Junmyeon pats his shoulders which startles him, “I have just witnessed the most pretentious drama scene ever.”

“Shut up,” Taehyung tries smiling, although he feels a tad irritated at Junmyeon’s carefree attitude. If Mi Ja likes me, and Junmyeon likes her – wait a minute, does Junmyeon like her?

Wondering, Taehyung glances at Junmyeon, who’s currently peeking up the stairs as if checking if Mi Ja safely went back and seeing that she did, he walks back into the table and