04 | Feelings Can Linger

The room immediately went silent when Jae kissed Taehyung. She pulled back and pushed her lips to the side in disappointment after not being able to feel anywhere near how her heart raced that night.

"Yang Jae-In!" Hyemi shouted and pulled Jae. "What in the world are you doing?"

Jae shrugged her shoulders. "Testing."

"Testing?" Taehyung asked as he wiped his lips with his thumb, unbothered by the kiss he just shared with his ex. "Is something wrong?"

Hyemi just couldn't understand these two and how they could still act this way even though they had broken up. She knew that the two broke off with no hard feelings but it still seemed strange to her. But then again, those two are similar in a way so strange was normal for them.

"Anyways, I just dropped by to tell you that I do not plan on painting the portrait," Jae informed as she grabbed her bag and turned to leave just like that.

"But you are already halfway done with that."

Jae paused and nodded her head. Indeed she was finishing it but she didn't have that same feeling that gave her excitement anymore.

"I don't plan on continuing something I have lost feelings for."

"Okay but just know that the offer still stands."

Instead of heading back to home straight, Jae dropped by at the convenience store to stock up her fridge with soju and a bottle for herself to drink under the night sky with instant tteokbokki. Hyemi had already returned back since she needed to wake up early for work. Not everyone had luxurious time to spend like Jae and she didn't plan on keeping her friend with her longer.

Pouring a glass for herself, she drank and admired the stars in the sky.

"Nature can bring such beautiful things to live," she hummed happily as she poured another cup. Jae had always been a carefree person and she wished to be seen that way. Ever since her mother died and her father remarried, Jae moved out and had always been alone. She dated a lot but never found one to love. So, it was weird when she felt that way after kissing a stranger. Maybe that was why she desired to meet him again.

"How much do you plan on drinking?"

She looked up and smiled with her eyes barely opening. By the time the boy was sharing a table with her, she was dead drunk. She held her cup up and pointed at him.

"Do you want a drink? I don't mind accompany as long as you don't have bad intentions."

"Why do you always drink a lot?"

"Always? Do you know me?"

"We met at the party."

Jae hummed. She wasn't in the right state and she could barely see who was sitting before her. She blinked her eyes to see clearer but alcohol had already blurred her vision.

"Did we kiss?"

"If we did?"

The lips of hers curved up and she leaned forward.

"Can you do it again?"

Even though she was drunk and the world seemed to be tilting, she could clearly see how his lips formed into a beautiful smile before he leaned forward and their lips touched, igniting that familiar feeling.

And she happened to know that... it was the same boy.

♧ ♧ ♧