𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐒 | 𝐊- 𝐏𝐎𝐏

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗌𝗂𝗑𝗍𝗒 𝗈𝗇𝖾

The walk home was fairly quiet and still a little awkward at first. No one was ready to address the mess that had just gone down – or face the truths everyone had spilled. You were walking a little farther from Hoseok’s side than you usually would since you weren’t sure what the acceptable distance was anymore now that you knew he was in love with you. Wow, that was still hard to think about.

You and Taehyung held each other’s hands tightly, his grip so strong as if he were trying to keep you from running away again. You wouldn’t. You weren’t stupid or cruel enough to do that to them again. Hoseok and Jamie walked close together at your side while the girl rattled off how all of you were in the wrong and how “Eomma Seokjin is gonna kick all your asses for this and I’m grabbing a front-row seat”.

Your head hung low, heavy with your thoughts. The looks on your friends’ faces when you ran away were engraved deep in your mind, haunting you. You were very aware of how stupid running from your problems was and the way it hurt everyone around you. Even facing small things like Taehyung meeting with another girl in the school hall sent you sprinting the other way. It was as if you had no fight instincts, only flight, and for so long, you’d thought that was okay even if it hurt people; it just sounded easier to ignore the problem than hurt yourself by facing it. Now that you saw what you had done to your friends, you felt the guilt eating at you and it felt like a dog gnawing on your stomach.

“You know,” Taehyung sighed suddenly while he kicked a pebble on the road. You looked up from your feet and tried to listen through your thoughts. “I don’t think that apology was as sincere as it could have been.”

Hoseok snorted. “I could have never guessed, considering your amazing acting.”

“Shut it,” Taehyung playfully swatted at him making the four of you quietly giggle and lighten the tension. “I’m being serious. It was insensitive of me to force you to confess like that. I think I channeled the inner high school douche that lies within.”

“I noticed,” again Hoseok scoffed. “That was quite the display.”

“In my defense –” Taehyung raised his voice to make his point heard “– my assumption was correct. But, even though I was right, I’m sorry to put you on the spot like that. I don’t know what was going through my head, but I should have controlled my tongue. I’m sorry.”

The older boy nodded with a small smile. “Thank you. I appreciate that. But, you know, even if we resolve it ourselves, Seokjin-hyung is still going to chew us out.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung hissed through his teeth. “I know. All my muscles are already tensing just from the anticipation.”

“You deserve what you get,” you teased him.

“I don’t know if I’d be smug if I were you, Y/N,” Jamie smirked from beside Hoseok. “You were a bit bitchy yourself. You know running away like that was cruel and stupid, don’t you?”

You sent her a dirty look, but she was right. “I know, and I said I was sorry. You don’t have to rub it in.”

“I think I do,” she said, suddenly turning serious. “It seems your only coping mechanism is running away from your problems – you did it when you graduated high school when you and Taehyung reunited, and countless other occasions – it’s not healthy and I think you’re smart enough to know that. Your brother’s best friend is technically a psychologist DJ, so you have to be aware of the problem on some level, right?”

You sighed. She was hitting on every angle and your shoulders sagged with every word. You should have been wise enough to see how unhealthy your behavior was. Tonight was the last time you would let that flight instinct take over. From now on, you would resolve problems instead of avoiding them. “I promise, no more running away. I don’t want to do that you guys anymore.”