“Kookie!”

Tae called after him.

“What is going on?” Hoseok asked bewildered when Kookie ran away without so much as a second glance at Tae.

“Hyung! I’ll explain later. Can you please drop her off?”

Tae said to Hoseok and turned to Sohyun. He grabbed her hand and said,

”I’m sorry it turned out this way. I guess I should’ve just told him the truth.”

“Just go after him,” she smiled sweetly at Tae. He smiled back.

Leaving her hand he ran after Kookie, who was surprisingly very fast and by now, was far away.

Hoseok just stood there watching the back of the head of a running Tae.

Drop her off? Me? Alone? With her? Alone?

“Oppa?”

“Huh?” Hoseok turned his head towards Sohyun who was looking at him.

“Let’s go,” and she started walking.

It took him a few seconds to digest this and took large strides to catch up to her.

As they walked, his hands brushed against hers. Upon feeling an electric jolt he immediately moved his hand far away.

The walk was quiet. Neither of them spoke for about three minutes. It was very awkward. Until she spoke first.

“I don’t think Tae and I are going to last.”

Hoseok paused for a second and watched her walk ahead. Upon realising his halt she turned back to look at him.

He was surprised. His heart hurt. Because her eyes were red and her nose was pink. She was holding in a cry, ready to burst any moment.

Through all those emotions she forced a smile and said,

“Come on.”

He walked ahead to stand beside her. Then they walked again.

“Wha-“ Hoseok cleared his throat and asked again, ” Why do you think so?”

“Because Jungkook hates me,” she said as a ‘matter of fact’. Hoseok knew that Kookie had some issues with her.

But why would he. She is so sweet and kind and friendly. So pure.

He shook his head to clear his mind and then replied,
“Kookie takes time to get adjusted to new people. He will like you eventually.”

“You mean like you did?”

Hoseok paused for a second. And then he said,

”Kind of like I did.”

She shook her head,

“No. Your case is different oppa. Jungkook means the world to Tae! If he doesn’t accept me”,

she took a deep breath and said,
”Tae will never be happy being with me. Its better if we break up.”

Hoseok kept silent until he heard a sob. Sohyun was crying now. And she wasn’t trying to hide it. Taken aback by her sudden change he immediately took to consoling her.

“Yah yah.” He held her hand.

“Look at me.” He raised her face with his other hand.

“Everything will be okay.” He touched her cheek.

“Why does he hate me?” she spoke again.

Her eyes were now overflowing with tears, eyelashes wet, nose as red as it could get.

“Am I a bad person?” she asked looking into his eyes.

“Of course not.” He wiped a tear with his thumb.

“Am I that horrible?” She broke down, sobs getting louder.
He hated seeing her like this,

“No no.”

He slowly leaned forward, touching her forehead with his own…