| CHAPTER 5 |

Taeyang kicked off his shoes before entering, sighing as he took off his leather jacket.

“I’m back.”

He spoke when he noticed that the maknae was using his phone in the living room.

Seungri turned his head.

“Hyung, could it be…you said something wrong to Ailee?”

Taeyang threw him a fed up glare.

“What are you talking about?”

Seungri scratched his head, “Just…you know I’m friends with Amber from f(x), and Ailee is one of her best friends. We kind of chatted to match make you two together. She said that Ailee went back home looking really sad and all, so she wondered what happened.”

Taeyang threw his jacket at the maknae’s face in annoyance.

“Lee Seung Hyun, when will you learn to mind your own business?”

Seungri caught the jacket hurriedly and pouted, mumbling under his breath, “I was just trying to help. You two are such suborn people, you need your friends to match make, you know…”

ღ

Taeyang sat down heavily beside Seungri.

Did he really do something wrong?

He thought hard, but recalled nothing that might have made her upset.

Perhaps he was just really bad at relationships.

Although he tried his best to make Ailee happy, she ended up sad…

ღ

Ailee sat on her couch, hugging her favourite plushie as she sank into deep thought.

Amber poked her.

“Come on man, tell me what happened.”

Ailee shook her head half-heartedly.

“Was he mean? Did he do something he shouldn’t have? If he did I swear I’ll beat him up like-“

Amber growled, putting up her fist.

Ailee rolled her eyes.

“No, he didn’t do anything. It’s me…”

“It’s you? What did you do?”

Amber sat up straight, ready to listen on all ears, but Ailee refused to speak anymore.

As her best friend, Amber had a good guess of what she was thinking about.

“Don’t tell me it’s about Mingyu, that bastard. You haven’t forgotten about him?”

Burrying her face in the plushie, Ailee kept silent, but Amber knew that silence was confirmation for her words.

Amber gently punched her in the shoulder, “Are you an idiot or something? You spoiled your date with Taeyang just because you thought of Mingyu?”

Ailee sighed, “You think I wanted to? I thought I forgot about him too! It’s because Taeyang was too nice to me…”

Rolling her eyes yet again, Amber scolded, “You’re sad because he was too nice to you? You’re really crazy. Are you expecting him to be mean to you just for that? Or do you think that you’re the only one that’s been hurt in a past relationship?”

Ailee looked up at her best friend.

“Your last sentence…what do you mean?”

Amber looked away, wondering if she shouldn’t have mentioned it, but decided that it would be better for Ailee to know.

“Taeyang, he…”

ღ

Ailee frowned as she processed in her mind all that Amber told her.

“You know,” Amber started carefully, “Taeyang’s situation seems a lot worse than yours…I think you should be thankful that he shows some interest in you.”

Ailee shook her head, confused.

Who would have guessed that Taeyang had such an episode in his love life?

His girlfriend’s death must have had hit him hard.

Everything suddenly pieced together and made more sense.

 Taeyang’s music, the lyrics, and the emotions- they meant so much more now.

“Are you okay?” Amber put her hand on Ailee’s reassuringly.

Ailee sighed, shaking her head.

“What should I do? I feel like I did wrong. Just now, the way I acted…it probably hurt him more. I need to make it up to him some way or another.”

Amber smirked.

“I knew that you’ll be like this. Trust me on this. Accept his feelings if he confesses. That’s how you can make it up to him. When you two date, you’ll heal each other of the past you can’t seem to forget.”

ღ

After Seungri finally convinced Taeyang to listen to him, the two sat down on the couch.

“Hyung, promise you’ll listen to me until I finish,” Seungri looked at Taeyang in the eye.

“I got it. If you don’t start already, I’m going.”

Seungri smiled, satisfied at the answer he got.

“I managed to get some information from Amber over the phone. She’s really easy to talk to, you know-“

Taeyang glared at the maknae, “Get to the main point.”

Seungri nodded, “Okay. So I’m guessing something happened with Ailee just now, ‘cause Amber told me that Ailee is really sensitive when it comes to guys because of a past relationship, something like in your case.”

Taeyang raised an eyebrow.

“What past relationship?”

Seungri cleared his throat, getting ready to tell a long tale.

ღ

Ailee looked at her friend, as if asking if she was sure about what she said.

Amber nodded, “You either take this chance, or loose it all.”

Ailee ran her fingers through her long, wavy hair in frustration.

“I never expected this. At most, I thought that I would be the one with one sided love, and then it turned out that he likes me too, but I can no longer accept him like I wanted to before.”

She paused and sighed.

“This fate of us having the same background, yet having me fall in love with him- I don’t know anymore…is this to bring us together or draw us apart?”

ღ

Taeyang grabbed Seungri’s shirt collar angrily.

“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? My actions when we met up- it must have caused her to remember some painful memories…”

Taeyang blamed himself for hurting the girl he loved and wanted to protect, for he knew very well how painful it was to remember the past that she wanted to put behind so badly.

Seungri removed Taeyang’s hands.

“Yah! Hyung! I only knew about it after you left to meet her. Don’t get physical with me just because of her…”

Taeyang kept silent and wondered about what he should do next, leaving Seungri to figure out what he was thinking about.

Seungri nudged Taeyang, “If hyung and Ailee are both willing to give love another try, you two would be a perfect match for each other.”

Getting up, Taeyang headed for his room.

“Hyung, did you listen to what I said? What are you doing??”

Taeyang shut the door of his room and sat on his chair as he held his phone in his hand.

Come on...call her, do it!

He convinced himself to have enough courage to talk to Ailee- he didn’t want to miss another chance.

Dialing Ailee’s number which he already somehow memorised, Taeyang took a deep breath.

“…yoboseyo? S-Sunbaenim?”

Ailee’s sweet voice melted his heart.

“Ailee ah, we need to talk.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t know before. Seungri told me about you. I did something wrong today, didn’t I? I’m sorry.”

“Ah, no! It’s okay. I should be the one apologising and also on behalf of my friend Amber.”

Taeyang shook his head although he knew Ailee couldn’t see him.

“Apologise for what? You don’t need to.”

Ailee mentally scolded herself for bring the topic up rashly.

“You see, sunbae, Seungri oppa told Amber about you as well…I’m sorry.”

“That idiot,” Taeyang mumbled, ready to teach Seungri a lesson after the phone call ended, “ I see. It’s really fine but Ailee…”

“Yes, sunbae?”

“Can we be a little less formal? You don’t have to call me sunbae or my stage name.”

“Eh…? What should I call you then…?”

Taeyang chuckled, “Youngbae. Oppa would be good too, since you already called Seungri that,” he added.

Ailee blushed, “Arraso…then oppa…you can call me Yejin.”

“Alright," Taeyang replied, smiling at himself for the achievement, "You know, your name is beautiful. Just like you, your personality and your voice.”

Taeyang’s comment caught Ailee off guard and she couldn’t think of a reply.

He smiled as he finally told her the words he longed to say.

“Yejin ah, I…I like you.”

| END |