ᖇOOᗰᗰᗩTᗴՏ ᗯITᕼ ᕼIᗰ 《C.TZ × J.JK》

Chapter 60: Instinctive Mistake

"Oh, she's here! I better get going. Bye!"

"Okay, lover boy. Good luck." Smiling from ear to ear, Tzuyu gave a short laugh and did a belly flop on her bed. May twenty-eight, Dahyun's birthday. Her plan. Sehun's crush. It was all working out. Tzuyu and her other friends had already bought gifts for Dahyun before hand, so Yeri was the only one who hadn't yet. Tzuyu thought it was a perfect opportunity for Sehun to take her out to the mall and maybe . . . bond a little?

"Short steps," she had said to him. "Short steps. And don't make a big move on her before time. It would ruin everything that was set in stone for you if she's not given enough time to develop her feelings. I know her, if she begins to like you, she won't play hard to get."

Already having been a victim of love's cruelty, Tzuyu felt like an expert on dealing with its satanic plots. If she couldn't keep her love in her control, the least she could do for her own sake was to help others keep theirs. It was like an teacher teaching her young students about repugnant obstacles that come in the way of growing up. Well, Sehun was older than her and most of her friends at the high school, but . . . Just leave it at that.

Tzuyu just hoped he didn't mess up. The guilt on his face was sincere when asking her, but the determination was real too. He wanted to be quick with confessing before some other no-good staked claims on Yeri. Tzuyu was glad that he came to her, especially because it was bold of him to think that she could help him even when her own love life wasn't running on the preferred path. But if he failed, she'll feel like the one to be thrown blames at. Maybe she had made him go after Yeri ahead of time. Maybe Yeri would guess his intentions and decline him beforehand. Sehun wanted everything to be in Tzuyu's control because he was not one bit familiar with this. And if even one thing went wrong, it'd be her fault.

No, Tzuyu, she abruptly thought, don't think like that. Keep your thoughts on the positive track. Negativity is the only thing that can mess this up. Just do your best and Sehun will understand.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and smiled. She had just began acknowledging how everything was going well after the half-break up. A heavy sack of burdens had been lifted off of her shoulders and she hadn't realized how much it had been pushing her down to the ground of shame until she was finally able to stand up for own life again. Living together and loving Jungkook felt like a chore, a task assigned to her by her luck and feelings. And if she didn't stand by the rules, the report card of her life would be laughing at her with big, red "F"s.

But now, no more of those efforts of looking extra attractive would be taunting her for good grades. No more forcing out extra cheeriness and cuteness would scratch away her content mood. No more struggles of keeping her actions to herself would itch her insides to keep him unoffended. No more of anything that was going to change her true personality, the little firecracker Tzuyu who had no care for boys. Because what he made her do unintentionally, was not being herself.

Life was just more easier this way. Right now. Live for yourself, she thought. If the majority of others around you are happy with the way you are, then don't change yourself for the rest. Those few were just stuck up excuses for possible but unnecessary negativities in life and their attitude wasn't going to affect you in any way (unless you let it), or help them either for that case.

But if one thing she had learned in the course of her love life, it was that love wasn't demonic. But the bitter reality was that it's love's fragility that was villainous, not the force itself. And it was humans themselves who chose to take power over its weaknesses, thinking that they're immune to whatever posed harm to it. But truth to be told, it's just them walking into a perfectly laid-out trap right in front of them, with their eyes open. And becoming its next prey.