sincerity || k.sj

三十七點五

the phone that yue had earlier thrown across the room was ringing. it had been buzzing all day with different notifications and she was tired of it. she wasn't going to pick it up, afraid that it would be her parents, but the device continued to go off incessantly.

the brunette sighed and picked up her phone and looked at the cracked screen. she was surprised by the caller id and immediately accepted it.

"yue?" the deep voice greeted. yue bit her lip. it was really him. what was he going to say?

"hi, seokjin sunbae," she responded. her heart was racing, mentally preparing herself for humiliation or laughter. but instead, she was asked a question.

"are you busy right now?"

"um," yue began, rubbing at her eyes with the heels of her palms. she had locked herself in her room and been crying all morning. "why?"

seokjin sighed. "i wanted to check in on you." yue's breath hitched. "are you okay?" she was excited that he cared, that he wanted to see her. but then she realized something else.

"you saw the post," the girl stated, eyes glazing over.

"...yes," he hesitantly admitted. yue felt tears threatening to pour down her cheeks again. "and i'm sorry." 

"w-what?" she managed.

"you don't deserve what's happening to you. i'm so sorry someone violated your privacy like that," seokjin told her. the girl smiled. she was right to believe that he was different from everyone else. seokjin would never ridicule her like the previous people in her life.

"thank you. and um, i'm not busy," yue said, finally answering the male's question.

"awesome, text me where you are and i'll see you soon," he told her and she agreed. yue began to text seokjin as the phone call ended.

she felt like she could breathe again.

-

"hey," seokjin said, stepping into the girl's dorm.

"hello, sunbae," yue greeted. she had tried to make it seem like she hadn't been crying, but the older could still see how red and puffy her eyes were. "how're you?" she weakly asked.

"i'm fine," he responded, nervously scratching the back of his head. he didn't know what he was supposed to do in this kind of situation. "are you okay?"

the girl looked up at him with a purse-lipped smile. "i'm doing alright. thank you, sunbae," she told him. it unnerved the male how formal she was being during a time like this. 

"i-it's okay if you're not," seokjin told her. yue's eyes widened for a moment, a look of contemplation on her face. but it faded as she smiled even wider.

"i know," she assured.  she was scared that one wrong word would turn seokjin away from her forever. "i guess i could be doing better." yue continued to look him in the eyes, and the older didn't understand why she was so composed. why she wasn't mad, furious, or showing something that would reveal how she was truly feeling.

"is it really you in the photo?" he asked. the question had been on his mind the entire time. he knew how easy it was to fake photos like that, it wouldn't be the first time someone sent a doctored photo to the gossip page.

the girl's eyes shifted away. "yeah," yue nodded. "that really was me." she felt so ashamed of her past appearance and hated that the boy she loved so much had seen it. tears began to well up in the corner of her eyes.

"h-hey, don't cry," the male stuttered, noticing her expression. he reached his arms out but didn't know what to do with them. yue tried to suppress her tears, but they spilled down her cheeks regardless. she hugged herself to try to make herself stop. seokjin hated seeing her like this. yue seemed so vulnerable, just standing there, shaking and crying.

"i'm s-sorry," yue apologized, trying to hold back her stifles.

"no, no," seokjin stopped her. "you have nothing to be sorry for." he pulled her in for a hug and let her rest her head against his chest. yue's crying ceased as she felt her breath stop. she could feel his large hands on her back and warm skin radiating against her own. it was better than she imagined hugging him would be like. this was all she needed.

"thank you, sunbae," yue softly mumbled. her body relaxed and her arms went back to her sides. she finally stopped trembling and when the older noticed this, he let go.

"sorry, i didn't know what to do," seokjin said, his ears turning a little red as he realized what he had done. "i should have asked before touching you."

"no, it's fine!" yue assured him, a little too eagerly. she regretted it immediately, but this feeling faded when she noticed that it made her sunbae laugh.

 "do you want to talk about it?" he asked with a smile. her enthusiastic answer seemed like a promising change in mood, but he also worried that he might be pushing her too hard. "or we don't have to. that can wait until you're ready, but we can still chat. i mean that's what friends do."

"friends?" yue unconsciously repeated. her stomach fluttered from the words.

"i mean, yeah. that's what we are right?" he questioned. the male was a naturally amiable person and he didn't think twice about the label. whereas yue, on the other hand, was overflowing with joy at the simple term.

"yes, we are," she contently confirmed, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. she stepped further into her room and pointed seokjin towards the seat at her desk. he happily took this as an invitation to stay and sat down.

the conversation was awkward at first, but seokjin, being his charming self, got yue to warm up. and before they knew it, the instagram post was far from both of their minds.