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April 7, 20XX Tuesday
"I'm in love with Irene."
Who wasn't?
Sungjae didn't elaborate yesterday. I decided to just leave it at that since I'm sure that it was pretty painful for him to see Taehyung and Irene like that.
As Sungjae walks into our office space, I quickly start typing on my computer, pretending that I hadn't just spaced out for a couple of minutes thinking about him.
I could feel his eyes on me for a while before I hear him finally pull out his chair to sit in, turning to his computer to get to work also.
Sneaking a peek at him, I see how messy his hair is, far from his usual look of keeping it nicely styled.
He suddenly turns around, "Ha!"
I gasp, practically falling off my chair.
"Sungjae!"
He laughs, turning towards his desk as he covers his face with both his hands as his shoulder shakes.
Peaking from his fingers, he apologizes. "Sorry."
I place my hand over my heart. "Ugh, I hate you."
"But you don't." Sungjae teases, wheeling closer.
I smile and shake my head. "Sorry, I should've greeted you. I just didn't know how to react after..."
Sungjae nods, "I get it."
I bite my lip, wanting to ask him so many questions. This is the only time that would be great to bring them up.
"Um so about yesterday. Like I get that you work here because of...you know, but how did you even know about her?"
Sungjae looks outside the office before leaning in closer to me, almost giving me no space.
"Sorry, I just don't want anyone to hear," he whispers.
I nod my head, letting him know it's fine.
"Irene's actually from my hometown, we grew up on the same block and everything. I used to meet up with her and talk about photography and stuff, but she was more into modeling. Anyway, she left for Japan to study at Scenery and I, unfortunately, couldn't follow right away."
"Right away?" I whisper.
"She's older," he explains, "But eventually I ended up getting accepted into the program. I studied under her, along with our boss."
"Taehyung," I whisper.
He nods, "Yeah, I wasn't close with him or anything. I only got the job because Irene recommended it to me, so I followed...like a fool in love."
He smiles, but behind it, I can sense the pain.
"And now she's in love with..." I tilt my head, telling him we don't need to say the name.
He nods in agreement, a tiny, "yeah" coming out his mouth.
My heart drops slightly.
"Just like you are, right?" Sungjae picks up my hand, holding it in between his.
"Was." I correct him.
I was in love with Taehyung, but that was in the past. Sadly, the past is something that I'll always carry.
"Sungjae, I know that you said that you didn't know Taehyung that well, but...did you know about his accident?"
I knew when I asked that maybe I shouldn't have. By the way, Sungjae looked back at me, I knew that he probably knew more than I did, but he wasn't going to tell me. At least not here.
He leans in closer, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear before whispering,
"Someone's watching us."
I tilt my head slightly, catching Taehyung's gaze from Ga-In's desk.
Sungjae pulls back, letting go of my hand before turning to face Taehyung bravely.
Taehyung averts his gaze, saying something to Ga-in with a smile before walking away.
"They aren't dating, you know."
I give Sungjae back my attention.
"How do you know?"
Sungjae chuckles, "Because I share an apartment with her."
What?
"With Taehyung too?"
"Huh? No. He doesn't live there. I mean, Irene finds ways to get him over there, but he never spends the night or anything weird."
With that sentence alone, I feel a weight off my shoulders.
"You're relieved." Sungjae acknowledges. "So I'm right then. Taehyung and you have a deep past. It wasn't always one-sided like Irene and me."
I lean back against my chair, staring at the ceiling. "Sungjae, if I told you everything right now, we wouldn't get any work done."
Sungjae playfully spins me around.
"Well good, I wasn't planning to."
I giggle.
Sungjae suddenly stops me, "I say we do something about this."
