Everything was beyond awkward the next day. You couldn’t look at Kibum anymore and neither could he look at you. But the both of you had seemed to reach a wordless agreement to continue going about your daily lives as per usual and everything seemed normal, at least on the surface.

The both of you could no longer be alone in the same room. If the other members were around, the both of you would be completely comfortable but whenever only the both of you were left, one person, usually Kibum, would get up, mutter some excuse and leave.  

It became painfully obvious to everyone that the both of you were avoiding each other. No one said anything though. It was as if they were afraid of what would happen if they brought it up, much like a taboo. You continued to talk and laugh with Taemin and the others but it was all for show. You had to show Kibum that you would be fine even without him. Your laughter was empty though and your thoughts often wondered back to Kibum.

By the end of the day, you were exhausted from all the effort it took to avoid Kibum. You didn’t know if he felt the same but avoiding someone was tiring. The worst part of it was that you were already starting to miss him. You wanted to talk to him, or share a witty remake with him, or simply enjoy his company but you couldn’t. You were the one who had started this so now, you had to wait for Kibum to talk to you.

You came out of the kitchen with Minhyuk’s last bottle before he slept and saw Kibum out on the patio. As much as you wanted to go and join him, you resisted. “I’m sorry for doing this to you. You’ll understand right? You won’t hate me right?” You sighed. You took one last look at Kibum before heading back into your room where Taemin and Minhyuk were waiting.

You had never imagined that it was possible to feel lonely even when you were constantly surrounded by people and to miss someone so badly when you lived in the same house.

By the end of the second day that both you and Kibum were avoiding each other, you had gotten semi-depressed. You spent most of the day watching and helping everyone, mainly Taemin, pack their luggages as they were flying back to Korea in less than a day. They had booked an early morning flight and had to leave the house at around 2 in the morning in order to be at the airport in time to check-in.

You had planned on sesing them off at the airport but all of them, even Taemin, had strongly opposed against this. You tried to insist on going on to try and force Kibum to talk to you but in the end, Jinki stepped in and had the last say since he was the oldest. Like the rest, he too, didn’t want you to have to find your way back to the apartment by yourself in the early hours of the morning so you would have no choice but to say your goodbyes before you went to bed.

ou hugged everyone and told all of them to work hard and that you would miss them but you didn’t get to say anything to Kibum. He was still in his room and refused to come out even though Jinki and Jonghyun tried their best to force him out. In the end, the both of them came out of the room with slumped shoulders and matching defeated looks.

You tried not to look too bothered even though you felt your heart squeeze that much tighter; the dull ache in your chest becoming more acute now. You gave them a quick smiled and shrugged before making a beeline for your room.

You sank to the floor once the door to your room closed; your back slid against the door and you clutched your chest as your breath came to you in gasps. You felt your cheeks become wet. You didn’t even realize that you had started to cry. You wiped the tears away and took a few deep breaths to get yourself under control. I will not cry. But you ended up breaking into sobs immediately after that thought. You covered your face and brought your knees up and rested on head on them while continuing to sob.

What you didn’t know was that despite muffling your sobs with your hands, the other members could still hear you pretty clearly from the other side of the door. They had followed you worriedly and now were standing outside your room, helplessly wondering what to do.

Taemin was the first to speak up. “Lets go get Kibum hyung and force him to talk to her.” He said before trying to walk off in the direction of Kibum’s room but he was immediately pulled back by three pairs of hands. Minho and Jonghyun each grabbed onto one of Taemin’s arms while Jinki covered Taemin’s mouth to prevent any protests as the three of them hauled Taemin back into the living room.

“Hyungs! Didn’t you hear noona? She’s obviously sad that Kibum hyung is not talking to her. Why can’t we just force them to talk?” Taemin huffed when he was finally released and not happy about being manhandled.

“Taemin-ah, even if you force Kibum into her room and lock them up, if Kibum doesn’t want to talk, he won’t. You know that.” Jinki reminded.

“Yeah, I know. I just don’t like hearing noona cry. I guess I was being foolish. Sorry for yelling, hyungs.” Taemin bowed his head slightly.

“Oh, it’s alright!” Jonghyun said and ruffled Taemin’s hair roughly. “Besides, that was kind of fun!” He added with a cute grin.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it, Taeminnie. I don’t like hearing ------ah cry too.” Jinki said as Minho walked over to Taemin and slung an arm around his shoulders in a comforting gesture.

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SO..... One the first day of the lunar new year, my body decided it had enough with the abuse I've been dealing out on it and I fell sick! GAH. Totally evil.

BUT, enjoy the update guys! I'm going back to writing the next chapter! I'm in a writing mood today so hopefully you'll get another update really soon :D

AND.... if you haven't seen this clip, WATCH IT! BEAST and MBLAQ are just such cute dorks :)