Evolution of a lover's heart | jjk

35

It's two p.m. on a Sunday when someone rings Jeongguk's doorbell. He groans, pauses the game, and rises from the couch with a quick stretch of his arms above his head.

Since he's not expecting anyone today, he peeks through the peephole, seeing Taehyung on the other side.

"Hey, why haven't you answered your phone?" is the first thing that comes out of Taehyung's mouth the moment the door is opened.

"Hello to you too," Jeongguk chuckles, already turning around and hearing his friend enter behind him.

"I've been trying to reach you to see if you wanted to go out tonight? Jimin said he'd buy."

"Uh, alright. When and where?"

"Well, we haven't decided yet," Taehyung starts, following Jeongguk into the living room where he looks around with raised eyebrows and jokes, "You've redecorated? Was it her idea? Or probably not, since it would've looked nicer than this."

There's no need for Taehyung to say your name out loud. Jeongguk grips the controller in his hand and plops back down on the couch, he doesn't need to look around to know that everything looks different. It's messier than usual and almost every piece of furniture has been moved, found a new position in his home.

It doesn't look as nice as it did before, but who cares?

Taehyung's comment was meant to be lighthearted, and Jeongguk follows on that track.

"We're not in touch anymore," he states, not jokingly so, but casually, his focus now on the screen where he's resumed the game.

"What?"

"Ran her off like two weeks ago. Told her to go fuck herself."

"Wait, what? Are you serious?"

"Not literally, of course. But I might as well have. Told her that she smothered me and that I didn't want it anymore."

Without meeting his eyes, Jeongguk knows that his friend is staring at him. He's not entirely sure what the attitude is about, but he guesses it makes it easier to talk about if he acts like he doesn't care. No one can tear him down if he does so himself.

Taehyung is silent for a few seconds, surely dumbfounded.

"Why?"

Jeongguk kills another enemy on the screen, "You know, after everything..."

But Taehyung's mood changes, and he exhales angrily. "Jeongguk, you need to get over that fucking bet. It happened a long time ago, and you need to realize that you're being immature and that it's hurting other people."

Jeongguk's mouth falls open as he definitely had not expected to get called out like that.

"It's not about the fucking bet," he seethes, pausing the game to give his friend a real reaction. "It's everything! You think that I could make her happy?! Me?! I convinced her to leave her fiancé, but how would I take his place?"

The universe must clearly want to punish him because at that same moment, the doorbell rings again.

"Is that her?" Taehyung breathes, his irritation vanished as he gazes back to the hallway.

Jeongguk quiets down too. It could be? With his heart rate speeding up, he rises again, heading toward the door without as much as a word to his friend. However, the peephole reveals that it isn't you on the other side.

Jeongguk grumbles, but he still opens the door. Yuna's presence isn't the terror it used to be—it's merely an inconvenience. Although badly executed, he's done the right thing, made the right choice, he knows that.