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Chapter 6

Maya

"Do you live close by?" I ask Taehyung, my eyes lazily moving to look at him.

"I live close to the hotel," he answers calmly as we walk out of the subway station.

From all the events of the evening, and from whatever I have been hearing and observing all along tonight, I cannot help but delusionally assume that Taehyung had probably liked me at some point in the past.

Maybe before I liked him? Maybe he liked someone else afterwards? Maybe he is trying to tease me and make fun of my interest in him? But how does he still remember my favorite song? I was shocked when he remembered my name, and the song was a total boom on my face. I never expected it.

My mind has been revolving around a lot of confusing thoughts which I don't wish to discuss now because the feelings and actions from our past would probably mean nothing to him now.

For all I know, his heart might be somewhere else now, no matter where it was in the past. So bringing up something from years ago isn't what I should be doing, and it's also not what I intend to do.

I mean, he even bought a rose for someone. So it means that I should just zip up my mouth.

"Maya, can we take a bus?" Taehyung's deep voice almost sends a shiver down my spine, and I know this reaction in my body shouldn't be happening. I can't believe that his voice has this effect on me after a whole ass fifteen years.

"Sure," my mouth blurts out something that's not in sync with my thoughts.

Taehyung and I get into the bus, and he sits close to me, making my whole body go stiff, once again. Our shoulders and thighs are touching, and the contact is definitely making my body react in weird ways which I'm trying hard not to show too obviously.

"Maya, why aren't you speaking anything? Am I boring you?" His words make my eyes lift and look at his eyes that have morphed into much softer, puppy eyes that look so adorable.

"Not at all, Taehyung. I- uhm, I don't know what to ask you"

Way to go, Maya!

"Yeah?" He laughs a little, lifting a hand to ruffle his fluffy hair, his hand brushing against mine in the process.

"We've never spoken to each other back in school," he says before looking at me, his intense gaze peeling away my layers of nervousness and replacing them with more at the same time. "Although I've always wanted to," he adds, letting his head drop with a shy smile making its way up his lips.

EHHH??? WHAT DID HE SAY?

"You did?" My eyes go wide and my voice turns a bit squeaky with surprise, and Taehyung nods fervently.

"I did. But I wasn't so confident. I was always looking out for you, observing you and wishing I had the courage to look into your eyes and talk to you," Taehyung confesses with a prominent blush painting his entire face, and it almost gives me a cardiac arrest; the urge to literally clutch my chest in my hands but unable to do it for obvious reasons is killing me right now.

"How come I never knew that you were looking out for me?" I tilt my head to one side, still hoping and praying that he is only trying to play a prank on me and mock me for my sickly sweet crush letters.

"Because you weren't interested in me....I guess," he shrugs with a sad smile.

NO WAY! I thought it was the other way round.

"So did you like me or something?" My mouth, really. Why the hell can't it shut up? Why can't I stop digging the past?

"I did," he smiles his big square grin that I never thought I would see again in this lifetime, except in the group photographs that I treasure so much. "I liked you a lot, and almost everyone in class knew about it, except you," he chuckles softly, fiddling with his long fingers, yet keeping his gaze strongly glued on me, and his words make my heart deflate within my chest.

"I really didn't know, wow! How dumb I must have been," I shake my head in disbelief, turning my head to look out the bus window to conceal the disappointment in my heart that is being reflected in my eyes.

Taehyung doesn't speak anymore, but he softly pats the back of my hand a few times, silently telling me that it's okay to have been dumb in the past.

After a few seconds, when I realize that I could in fact ask him more because he liked me back then, I turn around to look at him.

The devils inside me are truly getting the better of me tonight.

"Tell me more?" My question makes Taehyung nod with a big smile.

"Do you have any memories about pink roses?" He asks, twirling around the single rose that he is holding in his hand.

"Pink roses? Mmm..." I jog my memory a little, my eyebrows coming together as I try to recollect the events from the past. "Yeah, I do," I reply, and Taehyung's eyes shoot up to look at me, and he nods, encouraging me to continue speaking.

"Someone left me a small bouquet of pink roses at the doorstep of my house every Friday evening... or was it Thursday? I can't remember well, but I found them there when I returned home from school." I tell him my only vague memory associated with pink roses.

"Friday evening, but is that it?" He tilts his head and quirks a brow questioningly.

"Yeah, Friday, and umm... there used to be a little hand-written message as well. Like have a nice weekend, sleep well, don't stress out or something like that, and I kind of started enjoying those little messages that showed someone genuinely cared for me, and I was actually looking forward to it on every Friday, although I never knew from where I got them," the moment I finish speaking, my smile vanishes, my mind quickly puts together two and two, and my eyes go wide when they see Taehyung laughing softly.

"Well, do you know now? Or do you want me to tell you more?" His voice deepens, causing the beats of my heart to screech to a halt within my chest.

"You? Did you re- I mean, was it really you?" My words choke my throat, failing to fall out properly.

"I bought this for you," he tilts the rose in his hand, and it softly taps the back of my hand. "Too bad she had only one pink rose. I would have loved to buy a whole big bouquet for you," he says with a smile, and I bet I heard my pulse inside my ear and felt it as twitches in various parts of my body.

 

Taehyung

I wish this night never ends.
I wish I could always keep talking to her just like tonight.
I wish I could turn the clock back to when we were still in high school.

The bus drops us a few hundred meters from the hotel, and we head back to collect Maya's car.

Tonight, I'm a happy man because I finally expressed my feelings to her, and it feels as though a heavy weight that was bonded to my heart and twisting within my chest has finally unshackled and liberated itself.

It is almost midnight, and, luckily, we don't bump into any of our classmates when we walk towards the valet booth outside the hotel lobby. I decide to walk to the subway station after Maya leaves the hotel safely.

Her car arrives, and before she climbs in, she turns to look at me.

"Come on, Taehyung, I'll drop you home," she offers, keeping her expectant eyes on me.

My heart whispers to me that I shouldn't turn down this last offer to extend the little time that I have with her, yet I feel a little embarrassed to do it.

"Don't trouble yourself, Maya. I'll take the sub-"

"Please don't say no," she crosses her arms under her chest and stands facing me; the chill midnight wind blowing past us and making our hair fly and our clothes rattle and cling to our bodies.

Maya's eyes make me want to give in to this simple request. Her presence has literally enchanted me—my mind, heart and body are behaving as if they have no control over each other, and before my brain can process the situation, the corners of my lips lift into a smile, confirming that I would spend some more time with her.

Getting myself comfortable in the passenger seat, I watch her every move, intently, patiently, as she drives us along the road that's almost devoid of any traffic at this hour.

"Music?" She quizzes me, and I nod in response, after which her fingers gently tap on the stereo controls and turn on the radio. She uses the stereo controls on the steering and tunes in to a channel where a song request program is being aired.

I chuckle softly when I suddenly get nostalgic over this particular program on radio.

"What happened?" Maya asks with a soft smile, and I turn a little to look at her.

"I'm surprised that you're still listening to this program"

She laughs softly, nodding a few times.
"Yeah, back in school I used to attend hagwon and then a supplementary music class for credits and return home at midnight. So after I showered and got to bed, I almost always slept while listening to this show on the radio," her eyes briefly leave the road to meet mine.

"I know," I smile, nodding a few times.

"Huh?"

"You once wrote that in an English essay that we had to submit," it's raining confessions tonight.

"And you read it?" Maya looks and sounds shocked as she stops at a red light.

"I did. I read through everything that I could lay my hands on"

"Wow!" She nods, impressed. "But, I don't think they take in requests from actual callers. I mean, do radio stations even do that? Like, who would be awake past midnight to call and ask a radio jockey to play a song for them?" Maya laughs shaking her head.

"They do," hearing my calm response, she pauses laughing. "Callers do call in and request songs. I don't know about other programs, but this one sure does," I nod in confirmation.

"Have you called them?" She chuckles again.

"I have"

There's a short moment of silence between us, which is filled in by a soothing melody playing on the radio, after which she speaks.

"Tell me more?"

"I called them many times back in high school because I knew that you always listened to this program, and I hoped that some day you would hear me requesting a song for you" I can feel the heat in my cheeks even as I keep speaking, and it's unbelievable how refreshing it is to discuss these beautiful memories from the past.

"Did you really do that?" She is completely amazed, once again.

"I- kind of... I never mentioned your name though" I laugh at my own foolishness. "I don't even know what I was doing back then. I was just lovesick"

"But it's nice to hear these things now, Taehyung," Maya laughs softly. "I haven't asked you where I have to drop you," she adds worriedly.

"Which way are you headed?"

"I have to go back the way we came"

"Then it's best you drop me right here. It's way too late, and I think you should get back home now," my insistence has no effect on her.

"I'm not going anywhere without taking you to your home," she declares firmly, and that shuts me up, and I only tell her which way to go to reach my house.

In about five minutes, we arrive outside my house, and Maya pulls over to the side.

"Thank you so much, Maya. I never thought I would get to spend so much time with you and talk to you after all these years. Tonight, my dream has come true. I will go to bed as a happy man," my smile mirrors the happiness that I feel within.

She smiles big, and it definitely makes my heart beat a little faster.

"Thank you for everything, Taehyung. Tonight was amazing, and I really enjoyed spending time with you," Maya's hands loosely stay on the steering wheel as she speaks with a smile.

I know there's still something that's fighting within my chest to come out, but I'm not entirely sure what it is. The moment of pain where I have to step out of this dream-like night and set foot into my reality, suddenly begins pricking my heart.

My mouth opens and closes, unsure what to say, and I just sit with my eyes glued to the girl who refuses to leave my mind.

"Stay in touch," she says in a breathy whisper, and it makes the hair on my arm raise.

"I will. Drive back safe, okay?" My hands are twitching to give her a parting hug, and I'm having a very hard time holding it back, but I'm completely thrown off tracks when she leans forward and wraps one arm around my shoulder and neck, engulfing me in a loose hug.

The soft fragrance of roses surrounds her, and I bring my hands to return her gesture in the most modest manner possible, before slowly pulling away.

I know that if I stay here any longer, then I wouldn't want to leave her side at all, and the strangest thing is that she seems as if she too wants to keep staying by my side.

Part of me is ecstatic that Maya is enjoying my company, whereas the other part is totally distressed that I have to leave right now.

"Good night, Taehyung," she smiles, leaning back against her seat.

"Good night," I give her a good night salute that makes her laugh, after which I climb out of her car and watch her drive away and disappear into the distance.

Sighing, my shoulders drop as I drag my feet towards my house. Today is the first time that I spoke to Maya, as in, holding an actual conversation and being by her side for so long. The most that I managed to do back in high school was pick up things which she dropped now and then or volunteer to distribute the test sheets, just so she would thank me with a pretty smile, and that itself would put me on the clouds.

I would happily spend the rest of my week smiling and dreaming about her.

I think back to all the days in the past when I used to linger around after school, waiting for her to leave first so that I could follow her wherever she went. It wasn't creepy to me, and I really wonder how she never noticed me doing that.

Maya was almost always on her own, and I feel so dumb to think that I never spoke to her, not even once. I should have, but I didn't, and I feel so stupid for not doing it.

I don't really know what got into me and made me pour out everything to her tonight, but I'm so glad I did it. My secret won't just go to the grave with me. She knows it now, and I can't be happier. The way her eyes widened with surprise upon hearing every little confession made me feel all fluttery.

God! I miss her already.

Our man finally opened up to Maya!!
💖

Please, his laugh is so precious!
🥺💕

Published on : 04/22/2022

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