"I guess we won, huh?"

  Frowning, I paused before the door, my hand hovering above the brass knob. As usual, I'd come to the music room where Taehyung and his friends usually hung out after school, practising and talking and fooling around. Although there had been a time when I was jealous over how much of my boyfriend's day was spent with his friends, I'd gradually gotten over it since we spent every morning and weekend together. Our love story was generic and boring - classmates, became friends, first date, steady relationship - but every single moment I was alone with him was anything but.

  I was on good grounds with all of Taehyung's friends, and didn't mind as much as he did when they tagged along occasionally. But the tone in usually-frighteningly-happy-Hoseok's voice made me pause all of my actions. Even my breath hitched in my throat.

  "Oh, shut up," Yoongi mumbled. "We underestimated Tae's abilities, okay? Admit it, even you didn't expect he would be so..." He trailed off, but the notion that something was wrong was already there, implanted just at the mention of my boyfriend's name.

  "...so good at picking up girls way out of his league? Definitely." At Hoseok's response, I could barely discern a slight huff of annoyance that I automatically knew came from Taehyung. Dread started creeping into my gut, but I tried to push it down, standing completely still as I battled inwardly between barging in and leaving the conversation unfinished or staying and possibly letting my world crash down within the group of friends' exchange.

  "Don't push it. Shouldn't a slave respect his master?" Taehyung's voice preceded a slap of palms I knew was a high-five between him and...

  Him and...

  "I still can't believe we lost the bet," I heard Namjoon grumble. "Who knew Joori would actually accept him?"

  Wait... what?

  I'd had a crush on Taehyung since we were both wide-eyed freshmen about to be introduced to the horrors of high school, that little bit of first-day nervousness causing him to bump into me and knock me over. With the way the sunlight framed his oddly orange-colored hair, the little sheepish smile on his face as he bent down to help me up, I knew I wouldn't be seeing the last of him. Over the past two years, we'd grown closer, occasionally project partners and occasionally running into each other at the library, in the cafeteria, hallways, etc. When he asked me out, well... you could just picture my ecstasy. The first date the very next week was perfect, and the rest of them followed suit. Sure, we fought from time to time, but when we saw each other's downcast faces the next morning everything was fine again. Basically, it was the most perfect relationship I could imagine.

  And now I was finding out that it had all been a bet?

  I wasn't sure which emotion compelled me to kick open the door, but there it was ricocheting off the wall, announcing my presence to the room and most likely the entire school. The look of shock on their faces blurred into dashes of colour as I stormed right towards my 'boyfriend' and grabbed a fistful of his collar.

  "You little bastard," I breathed out unevenly, panting from the sudden flurry of motions and the hurt brewing in my stomach. "You told me you really liked me, you even told me you loved me, all for a ing bet? You played with my heart for a ing bet?"

  "Joori! Wait, no, it's not like that-"

  I scoffed. As if I actually wanted to hear the words with which he was trying to get me back. "Save it." No, Joori. You cannot cry. You will not cry. You will not-

  A tear slipped down my cheek.

  Dammit.

  "No, don't cry," he said helplessly. I hated the way my heart panged at the faked sadness in his eyes. "Please don't cry."

  "Don't tell me what to do," I said quietly. "After all, you don't care about me at all, right? I was just a way for you to have some slaves for a month, wasn't I?"

  "That's not true," someone said, but that someone wasn't Taehyung. All eyes in the room whipped around to my soon-to-be-ex boyfriend's best friend.

  "He really, really liked you, Joori, from the moment he knocked you over on the first day." Hoseok smiled at me. "To be honest, I was kind of jealous at first that he was paying more attention to a random girl he just met than to his best friend of nine years. But he was too cowardly to ask you out-"

  "Hey!" Taehyung protested, but a quick glare from both Hoseok and me effectively shut him up.

  "-and so we had to make a bet for him to do it. He really does like you, Joori." Hoseok finished. Despite myself, my heart was starting to lift at his words. Although Taehyung wasn't to be trusted - I could see that now - his friend was the most (sometimes painfully) honest person I'd ever met.

  "Joori," Taehyung said quietly. He stood up, and I automatically craned my head back to look him in the eye. Why was he so tall? "Listen. What Hoseok said isn't true."

  My heart plummeted to the ground.

  "I don't like you. I've realized now - finally - that I have fallen completely and utterly in love with you.

  I love your weird fear of bunnies, your wonderful laugh, the way you get to know a person before judging them. I love that you can find wonders in the things everyone else takes for granted. Maybe this won't be forever, but for now and a long time afterwards I'm absolutely and utterly sure you're the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I love you, Joori. Forgive me?"

  My logical, tough, no-nonsense mind tried to tell me to be more careful, more cautious. After all, he'd betrayed me once, couldn't this be a lie as well?

  And then I looked into his eyes, and found no traces of lie in there, just a deep and pure love for the person standing right in front of him.

  Me.

  And then I asked myself, Do you love him?

  I smiled. "Forgiven."

  And his friends burst out into applause and cheering as Taehyung, the most amazing boyfriend I could possibly wish for, swept me up into an engulfing embrace.

  Forgiven, indeed.