The Dawn of Destruction || Kang Taehyun

Chapter 29

"This place even has a couch?" I asked when we were at the destination. "Somehow." Taehyun shrugged as he let go of my hand. "I was surprised to find that out too. But that's not the catch." Taehyun walked up to the curtains that were drawn.

I decided to sit on the couch while he opened the curtains that revealed a dark night sky filled with tinkling stars. Even if the ground below was in chaos, the sky looked like it had no relation to it.

Taehyun then opened the windows as well. A cool breeze flew into the room through the window. Taehyun took a seat beside me. "Wow, how did you find this?" I awed.

"Was grieving around and found this." Taehyun didn't look at me. He was busy staring into the sky. "I'm sorry... For Hyemi..." It came out as a whisper.

"It's not your fault. It was just meant to happen." Taehyun sighed out. "You must be sad." I didn't really intend to say those words. "I am.. the saddest I am is because I never told her that I loved her..." He said.

I turned to him. "You never...?" It was kinda hard for me to believe as they had been dating for around 6 months now. "I....." Taehyun swallowed a gulp as if it was hard for him to say, "I couldn't lie to her that I loved her..."

It was hard to believe. "Excuse me?" I blinked my eyes. "Yes..." He let out a sigh that he seemed to be holding in for long. "I'm at fault.."

"I never loved her. Yes, I would lie if I had to say that I never felt anything towards her. After we broke up, and you moved on, I saw Hyemi from a distance and seemed to think she was pretty. In no time we interacted and started dating. But it was not long after that I realised that I could never love her. Infact, I could never love anyone. But I couldn't break-up with her. She seemed to genuinely like me and I couldn't hurt her. This was why our relationship went on for like half a year even though I never loved her. I could never lie to her that I loved or missed her... Cause I never did... Maybe I'm the bad guy... Now, I feel I'm at great fault..." Taehyun sank into the couch.

"You had just gotten yourself in a situation..." I tried to comfort him. But I couldn't find the right words to do so.

"That was why I tried my very best to treat her well. Treat her in the best way possible. But maybe that's where I made a mistake, I should've just told her the truth that I loved someone else." Taehyun's eyes finally met mine.

It did give me a tingling sensation as when he said that he loved someone else, I couldn't help but assume that the person he's referring to, is me. However, I might be very wrong.

"Maybe you were just bound to make that mistake." I leaned back on the couch as well. "Things happen, situations arise, people make mistakes, that's what humans do. No matter how much you or I regret what happened to Hyemi, we cannot undo it."

Taehyun didn't reply. He just let out a heavy breath. I have no idea if what I said was right or wrong, but at this moment it just seemed like the right thing to do.

"We've lost many people.... Many friends..." Taehyun suddenly said. It seemed as if he was holding back all these emotions in the bottom of his heart while he fought the zombies bravely. No matter how much it hurts to see him break down, but atleast it feels good that he trusts me enough to break down infront of me.

"It couldn't be helped.... I deeply regret everything. None of this should've happened." I decided not to act cool either. "We messed up. We should've saved them." Taehyun did say the words to me but it felt like he was talking to himself.

"Kiara, Michiko, Soobin,Hyemi.. Yu-" But he spoke over me.."Don't even say that name." Taehyun hissed as his expression suddenly changed into a frown. "If I had gotten the chance, I would've fed her to zombies by myself. She was more of a nuisance rather than a help." He rolled his eyes.

I let out a small chuckle. No situation would make him feel guilty towards Yuna it seems. And then in silence filled us. Not only did neither of us utter a word, the night was silent as well. No growls of the zombies could be heard from this height and the students downstairs were asleep.

The silence continued for a good amount of time.

"You know.." I broke the ice between us. "I'm s-scared.." I played with my fingers that were on my lap as I felt Taehyun shift his gaze towards me as if signalling me to continue. "I don't know.... I... I am just scared.... Why am I so scared?" I don't know why I said those words.

Taehyun stared into my eyes for a few seconds before he shifted his weight closer to mine and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. He brought me closer to his chest as his hand rubbed my forearm in a soothing way.

"I will not tell you not to be scared. It's.... it's okay to be scared, Y/n..." He made my head rest on him. I feel like I'm going break down really bad now.

Before I even knew,tears started to flow out of my eyes as I started weeping. He didn't stop his hand that was motioning up and down my forearm to comfort me.

"T-Taehyun... M-my mother.... She's no more...." I cried out. "W-what?" His hand stopped. "I called her last night and was informed by an official of the camp who held onto the phone that the camp where she was, it was attacked and.... She..." I couldn't continue.

"Shhh" Taehyun's voiced seemed to break a little as he pulled me even closer to him. "W-why didn't you tell anyone about it?" Taehyun asked. "I didn't want to look like I wanted others' sympathy and attention." I said in a broken breath.

"Oh Y/n, why would you think of it like that..." Taehyun patted my head a little and then we sat there in silence for some time while he caressed my head with his hand gently. We didn't spoke as we were both trying to calm ourselves down.

Some time passed by....

I realised what I was here for. "Did you eat?" I questioned. "N-no..." Taehyun whispered, guilty. I pulled the choco pie out of my pocket and handed it to him.

"I didn't see any choco pie when I walked past the food supply here." Taehyun raised a brow. "J-just eat it." I didn't look at him. Taehyun gasped dramatically.

"Don't tell me you had been saving this for yourself this whole time and that you didn't want to give this to anyone before this even though you possessed it." He dramatically said. "I- I had it in my pocket and forgot about it." I lied.

"Doesn't sound convincing." Taehyun said. "Just eat it before I snatch it back." I tried to grab the choco pie but he pulled it away. "Fine fine. I will eat it." He let out a small chuckle and began unwrapping it.

"We'll get out of this." Taehyun suddenly said, in a low voice while taking the first bite of the choco pie. "Will we?" I was hesitant. "I'm sure, we will." Taehyun caressed the side of my head.

"We will fight those ugly creatures and get out of here safely and finally...." His words vanished into thin air. I might be wrong but my heart wants me to believe that he wanted to finish it by saying 'we will be together again.'

"We will survive." He cleared his throat. I looked up at his eyes.

"Together?"

"Together."