Absquatulate

009

Iseul had stopped thrashing about, the pain inside her head gradually lessened after she kept pulling her hair before. Now, she was exhausted and drained.

Her eyes roamed around her room until it landed on the picture frame of Taeyong on her bedside drawer. She grabbed the frame and clutched it to her chest, curling herself on her bed.

"Will you be happy without me, Tae?" Wiping tears from her eyes with her hand, she failed to suppress a sob.

Her gaze was then drawn to her study table next to the bed. The white tulip that Taeyong gifted her for her 19th birthday grew up well although she told Taeyong that she despised flowers. She also had some polaroids of her and Taeyong taped to the corkboard. Looking at the polaroids brought back childhood memories of barefoot walks down dusty lanes.

A slow smile spread over her mouth as she reminisced about the good memories, "I wish we could've a happy ending..." she murmured to herself.

Queen🤍

Monday, December 6, 2022

Are you eating well? Don't skip your meals ok? Love you, Tae💗
Delivered, 9.15pm

Taeyong stared for a long time at the notification of Iseul's chat until his cellphone screen went dark again.

Uncomfortable feelings plagued his heart, but he ignored them as he turned his cellphone screen down. He wasn't ready to face Iseul yet. He knew he was a coward, but he couldn't bear the sight of Iseul crying in front of him.

Hana's chuckle made him glance up to see that the girl was already looking at him with playful expression. Taeyong raised his eyebrow but Hana just shook her head in amusement.

Hana leaned forward, placing her face on her intertwined fingers, "You guys are funny, y'know?"

"What do you mean?"

"One side is so straightforward about her feeling, and one side," Hana pointed her finger at the male sat opposite of her, "is a fucking coward."

Taeyong's jaw clenched at the statement.

"What? Am I wrong?" Her intent gaze
challenged him to deny her words but when she noticed Taeyong's shoulders sagged, she smirked a bit.

"Up until now, I don't understand why you still don't want to confess. You literally look at her like she hangs up the moon and stars in the sky."

Taeyong ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I don't want to ruin whatever we have now. I'm afraid that..." he paused, a faraway look displayed on his face, "what if we didn't work out? What if the relationship that we thought would last is now falling to pieces? Sometimes it all looks so good in the beginning, but... what if our relationship starts to unravel for seemingly no reason...I can't bear to lose her after that."

Hana rolled her eyes in exasperation, "Aren't you already losing her right now?"

Taeyong bit his lips, had no idea to retort to Hana's question.

"Taeyong, you overthink things. Nobody knows what the future holds, but you can choose how it goes," she said, intertwining her fingers in his. Iseul and you both. I'm sure you'll fight for your relationship until the bitter end, don't you?"

After a prolonged moment, Taeyong inhaled deeply, "Yeah, you're right."

Hana snapped her fingers, a proud smile on her face. "Atta-boy! Go confess to Iseul tomorrow. She's been suffering for too long."

Taeyong lifted his eyebrows, "I thought you like me."

Hana twirled her hair, disinterested, "I did. But if I insist on having you when you're obviously mad in love with someone else, just too coward to take the risk," she teased Taeyong, "I'll only end up making a fool of myself."

Hana then raised her hands in mock surrender, "So yeah, no thank you. I won't wasting my precious time to fight for your so-called love, mister."

A short laugh escaped his lips before he cleared his throat, "Thanks Hana."

Hana gave a nod, "Not a big deal. So I guess this's the end of our 'mutualism' relationship too, right?" she said, bending two fingers on the word mutualism to add on the emphasis.

Taeyong didn't reply instead stood up and walked to Hana's side before giving her a hug. Stunned, she was speechless for a few minutes before her body relaxed against his.

"Thank you for everything," he whispered, "I hope you find the right person that'll treat you with love and respect to the extent in which you deserve."

Hana bit her lips to keep them from quivering and blinking her eyes to get rid of the blur, "I hope so too."