| CHAPTER 6 |

“Yejin ah, I…I like you.”

Ailee closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down.

She quickly returned to her room and slammed the door shut behind her.

He finally said those three words that she longed to hear, but the reaction that she thought she would have…it wasn’t there.

What happened to her determined attitude a while ago?

Ailee wondered if the long wait didn’t leave her with much to expect anymore. Or was it just her heart changing?

No, she told herself as she shook her head, she knew she wanted this, but it just wasn’t the right time.

“Yejin? Did I…make you wait for too long? Is this too sudden?”

Taeyang’s worried voice came from the other end of the receiver.

Ailee let out a sigh. In her mind, she still contemplated about what to say.

It wasn’t bad or something she didn’t want, she just never thought this day would come.

For Taeyang to take the first move when it was Ailee herself that had a crush on him all these while – Ailee found it hard to believe.

“Oppa, it’s not that I don’t like you. Can you…please give me more time?”

Taeyang kept silent at her words.

Ailee grew flustered.

In order not to to hurt him, what should she say? What should she do?

Her mind was in a mess – it was a now or never chance, but she just couldn’t sort out the issue of her wanting this relationship but not being able to accept it.

“I’m not ready for anything right now…but I don’t need you to wait for me either,” she continued unsurely.

Taeyang let her answer seep in and chuckled.

“Is that so?”

“I’m sorry. I thought I could move on but after what happened, I’m just so confused and…scared of being in love.”

Ailee’s voice became slightly shaky.

Taeyang tightened his grip around his phone, “Don’t apologise. It doesn’t matter what you say…I’ll wait for you. I don’t see anyone else but you, so one day, you’ll accept me…”

A tear slid down Ailee’s face.

“I don’t want you to be pulled back because of me. If you’ve decided to move on from the past, I don’t want to stop you because I can’t do so myself. I know this is selfish. Oppa, you don’t need to do this either. If you can fall in love with me like you did with another girl before, you can find someone better.”

She let out all her heartfelt words helplessly.

Ailee didn’t want to come out as weak, but the deep scar that was left in her heart made her.

Taeyang clenched his fists.

“Don’t talk about me like that. Seorin was a different case, now, I’ll love you, and you only. You just need to…accept me. I’ll protect you. I’ll show you what’s love. You don’t have to be scared with me. Even if you reject me now, as long as you like me that one bit, I’ll do that.”

Ailee let her tears fall.

She felt so lost, so helpless again that she couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“I’m sorry. I have to go now. I’m…busy.”

“Ah, right. Me too, I've got promotions with Jiyong. Alright, I'll see you around.”

Ailee hung up and threw her phone on her bed in frustration as she sobbed.

“What am I thinking?” she buried her face in her hands, “This isn’t it. It shouldn’t be like this! I must be crazy to reject him like that…”

The person she needed next to her right now was Taeyang, yet she rejected him without a second thought.

Love…it felt so near, yet ended up being so far.

ღ

Taeyang lay on his bed, his arms spread out across the bed as he stared blankly at the ceiling.

“It’s okay,” he mumbled to himself, “You’re a man. This rejection means nothing…”

He thought for a while, sat up abruptly and sighed, looking out of the window.

Snowflakes were falling outside.

“So she’s not ‘ready’? What am I doing? Confessing when she’s not even ready? It seems like I need to work harder to win Yejin’s heart.”

Taeyang stood up and walked over to his desk, picking up the photo of him and Seorin.

After much consideration, he decided that for Ailee to accept him, he had to accept her whole heartedly first.

She wasn’t a replacement for Seorin, but one who also took a special place in his heart.

Even Seorin said so before, as long as he was happy, she would be too.

Opening his drawer, Taeyang firmly reminded himself that this was the only way.

He slid the photo in and locked the drawer, placing the keys on the desk.

The photo was now out of Taeyang’s sight.

“Seorin ah, I won’t let you down. I’ll be happy…”

ღ

Taeyang tapped his feet against the pavement, leaning against a lamp post as he looked around once again.

Was she not going to come out?

It was past lunch hour already.

Ailee caught his attention as she finally exited from YMC entertainment’s building.

He watched quietly, waiting as he saw her enter a convenience stall nearby.

Taeyang noted that her eyes were slightly red and puffy, possibly from crying, and that she was skinnier as compared to the last time they met – probably because she was dieting.

He frowned in worry as he thought about what she went through.

Ailee came out after buying a sandwich, opened the packaging and started munching on it as she made her way back.

“What am I going to do with this girl?” Taeyang sighed to himself, “Eating so little, not having meals on time.”

He got up and followed quickly behind Ailee, finally stopping in front of her, blocking her way.

Ailee, using her phone as she walked, did not notice anything until Taeyang came up to her.

She stopped in her tracks and looked away from her phone, her eyes still glued to the ground.

Those shoes…

Ailee slowly put her hand over to stop herself from gasping.

Her guess was confirmed as she raised her head to come face to face with Taeyang.

“Oppa...?”

| END |