THE TRANSFER STUDENT

It Came Unexpectedly, Pt. 3

"Seokjin-ah," Byulyi pulled herself closer, putting a hand on his back, patting his back gently. "Shh... it's okay, it's okay."

Byulyi had been friends with Seokjin for more than a year... but not once did she see him cry this badly. She had only ever seen him on the verge of crying once... and that was when she told him she didn't want to be friends anymore.

He had been through many times when he was upset and sad, but she had never seen him shed a tear about all those events. But both of these times he was crying - it was because of her.

Seokjin looked up from his hands, looking at Byulyi with tears still streaming down from his cheeks.

Byulyi laughed, trying to cheer him up.

"I-" Seokjin choked on his tears. "I'm sorry."

"Seokjin, no!" Byulyi exclaimed. "You literally just saved my life. Don't apologise for crying. You must be traumatised, you can just cry-"

"I-It's not that," Seokjin pursed his lips. "I'm not crying because I'm traumatised."

Byulyi raised her eyebrows.

"I'm crying because-" Seokjin took a shaky breath. "We haven't talked in so long and... for a moment there, I thought the last proper conversation I was gonna have with you was... was on that bus."

Byulyi's memory flashed back to that eventful bus ride - the bus ride when she and Seokjin had made up. That bus ride when she woke up with music from their shared Spotify playlist blasting in her ears, her head resting on Seokjin's shoulder... just like the good old days. The bus ride when they promised that they would go back to being friends after that... but things never did go back to normal.

And come to think of it, that was the last conversation they had.

Silence fell over the storeroom as the two of them reminisced the past.

"Byulyi," Seokjin finally spoke after a while.

"Hm?" Byulyi looked to her right once more and unexpectedly, she found herself staring straight into Seokjin's eyes.

"I wanna go back," Seokjin's eyes were welled up with tears and Byulyi knew, in her heart, that he meant every word he said. "I wanna go back to the time before all of this happened. Before all of this happened to us."

Byulyi didn't have to ask in order to know what he meant. That was the time when they were happy; that was also the time when they weren't always arguing or on awkward terms, but that- that was also the time Jisoo hadn't come into his life. "Seokjin-"

"I regret everything, Byulyi," Seokjin spoke softly, as he inched closer to her. "I regret every single thing that happened between us to make us the way we are today. I wish I could turn back time, to the day Jisoo had confessed."

Byulyi could feel the gap between her and Seokjin closing and as he leaned closer, she could also feel the temperature of the air around her increase. Why was he coming so close?

"I would have done it so differently," Seokjin allowed his tears to fall, drip drip drip, onto the cold hard ground between them. "I would have made a different choice.

Different choice?

Seokjin's face was a few inches away from hers, but he still wasn't stopping. Byulyi felt her now calmed heart start hammering against her chest once again and her hands clench into little fists and she felt him draw near. Then she realised - it wasn't the near-death experience that was making her heart beat so fast.

It was Seokjin.

"Things could be so different," Seokjin continued. "It's all my fault, I should have, I should have just-"

Seokjin was crying. Byulyi felt her hands instinctively go up to his face, as he drew even nearer. As her hands cupped his face, her thumbs brushed gently at his cheeks, trying to wipe away his tears and calm him down.

It was only when Seokjin's forehead touched hers that Byulyi realised what she was doing and knew, in her heart, that it was wrong. This man, whom she so deeply missed and loved, had a girlfriend. She shouldn't be touching him like this. No matter how much she wanted to, she shouldn't.

She let go at once, but Seokjin's hands shot up to hold hers firmly against his face, as he looked deeply into her eyes.

Their foreheads were now touching and their faces were literally an inch away from each others. Seokjin's face was nestled perfectly in the palm of Byulyi's hands, as if it was meant to be there. Seokjin's hands grabbed on to hers firmly, not wanting to let go. The two of them were breathing in each other - the scent was all too familiar. Yet, they had never seen each other this up close before.

"Byulyi," Seokjin whispered, his lips not far away from hers. "I want to be with you."

It was like someone had set off fireworks in Byulyi's heart. Byulyi's heart had stopped beating so rapidly at once - not because he no longer made her heart flutter, but because she felt relieved. Seokjin wanted to be with her.

Seokjin liked her.

Byulyi watched as Seokjin leaned closer, seconds feeling like minutes, and she thought for once, that it was really going to happen. Byulyi closed her eyes. Their lips were literally this close from touching, just a few seconds more...

But then it hit her. She couldn't do this. This would ruin everything. Sure, she loved Seokjin and now, she knew Seokjin loved her... but this was wrong. If they really did it here, did it now-

Byulyi would never forgive herself.

Byulyi opened her eyes, pulling her hands out of Seokjin's grasp. She stood up, as Seokjin opened his eyes, looking confused.

"I'm sorry, I gotta go."