"So he asked you if you wanted to break up with her..." Baekhyun stated.

Junmyeon nodded, taking a sip of his warm beverage. "Yeah, he did."

"And you decided not to break up with her..."

"Yeah."

"And that's all that happened?" 

"Yes."

Baekhyun tilted his head slightly, staring at Junmyeon intensely over his folded arms on the couch's headboard. "Are you sure you're telling me everything?" he questioned.

"I've told you everything. Why do you think I'm keeping something from you?"

"Well, because a situation like this can't be over so quickly and effortlessly. There has to be something you're not telling me."

"What's with that sort of interest?"

"Was it really over just like that?"

"What is with you, Baekhyun?!"

Baekhyun looked disappointed. "You seriously have no sense of drama at all," he mumbled.

"Drama?" Junmyeon asked in disbelief. "You think we're living in a drama?"

"Don't we all?" Baekhyun said. "Isn't everyone's life a drama of its own?"

Junmyeon paused. Even though he was an idiot at times, other times, he said some really deep stuff. And the more he dwelled on it, the deeper it seemed. 

He almost forgot the reason he was mad. Almost.

"Anyway, did you tell her yet?" Baekhyun asked.

Junmyeon looked up. "Who?"

"Eunji," the black haired idol clarified. "Did you confess to her yet?"

Junmyeon shook his head. Baekhyun's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Why not!"

"Why should I have to?" Junmyeon coolly asked. 

Baekhyun was almost sure the person sitting in front of him was not his leader. How could someone be this...?

"Isn't it natural to confess?"

"But why should I have to burden her with something like this?"

"You should still confess."

"I don't know if she even likes me back."

"Hyung, she didn't break up with you when she had the chance. She likes you."

Junmyeon shook his head, settling down in the couch. "I'm still confused about my own feelings, Baekhyun-ah," he said, lowering his voice. "I won't confess to her until I'm absolutely sure I like her."

Baekhyun shrugged. "It's your confession, hyung," he said, standing up. "But I do think that you know what your feelings are, you're just afraid of getting rejected."

***

On the 22nd, he gets a call from Eunji, asking to meet up at the café they went to for their first date. He doesn't know why, as they'll see each other anyway on the 24th before they leave for the holidays (Apink, VIXX, Girl's Generation, BTS and INFINITE were special guests on the Christmas Live. The company wanted to bring in groups from other agencies for small performances as well that night.) 

She still asks to meet up, saying that it had been a while and she missed eating with him like they normally did.

So he chuckled and told her he'd see her for breakfast the next day.

Hence he found himself waiting for her in front of the little place, throwing his hands in his pockets to keep them from freezing over. 

There were almost no people in the place that evening, which he thought was surprising. Apart from them, the only other people were an old couple, so they took advantage of the situation and took off their masks to relax for a while.

He also found it ironic how they got the very same seat that they did the first time they came here. 

And so, because he was feeling nostalgic, he ordered the very same dish he ordered that day.

Eunji gave him an amused look when he gave the waiter his order. "The same thing as last time?" she noticed. "Why?"

He shrugged, a smile on his face. "I was feeling nostalgic."

She laughed at it. "Then I guess I should've ordered what I ordered last time as well."

He smiled. "Why did you suddenly call me here, Eunji?" he asked, once the waiter had left.

"Huh?" she asked, taking a sip of the water provided.

"We'd anyway be seeing each other tomorrow, so why did you want to meet?"

She turned her eyes down for a moment. "I...uh..."

"Eunji..." He leaned over the table slightly. "Is something wrong?"

She quickly shook her head. "No-nothing's wrong."

"Eunji," he said. "Look at me."

She stayed silent, eyes focused on the table.He leaned a hand over and placed two fingers under her chin, lifting her face up. "Look at me," he repeated. 

She found it hard to look away from him once she was actually locked in a gaze with him. "Now tell me what's bothering you."

She took a deep breath. "What I said was true, Junmyeon. nothing is wrong. I'm not in any trouble at least." She absent mindedly grabbed a lock of her hair and twirled it around her finger. "It's just something that's been on my mind for a while."

"Tell me."

She stopped, definitely hesitant. "Well...you know how we were given the choice to break up since the problem was taken care of?"

He nodded. "Yeah, go on."

"I actually thought to myself before that when all of this would be over, I wouldn't regret breaking up with you," she said. "I told myself we'd still be friends even after, so I wouldn't have to worry about it. It's not like we couldn't meet outside of our relationship. I mean, we've become friends, or so I thought-"

"Eunji," he interrupted her, "what are you saying?"

She avoided his gaze again. "I...uh...um..." she stuttered. "When President Park...told me I could break up with you if I wanted to...I...said...no..."

He wondered why that would be a cause for concern for her, but he pushed his own thoughts aside so he could get her full story. "And why has that been bothering you?"

She looked up at him. "Did you say no too?"

He gave a slight nod. "I did," he affirmed. 

"And it doesn't bother you?"

He shook his head. "Why should it?"

"Because we're not a real couple?" 

He raised his eyes to meet hers, watching as they widened in horror. She then clasped her hands over her mouth. "I-I shouldn't have said that."

"It's true," he cut her off. "We're not a real couple. The only reason we're together is to create a distraction so that the companies can clean up a mess without having the press all over them. We provided enough news to take media attention off them." He sighed. "It wasn't supposed to mean anything, and yet...when we had the chance to end it, we chose not to."

She stared at him with big brown eyes. "Were you worried about it too?"

He shook his head, chuckling lightly. "I've been worrying about this a lot longer than now, to be honest."

She narrowed her eyes. "You should have told me then. I would have helped you."

"That was something for me to worry about, not you."

"But still, I'm also in this relationship."

"It was my burden to bear. I didn't want to trouble you."

"Why did you still keep it from me? I had no idea you were having such intense thoughts."

"Like I said, because it was my burden to bear."

"Is it because you didn't trust me?"

"It is because I care about you. I don't want you to be distracted from your job."

"But it's perfectly fine for you to carry such a huge weight, isn't it?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Why do you want to be troubled? I'm bearing the brunt of it so that you won't have any trouble."

"It's not like I want to be troubled," she clarified, lowering her voice after taking a couple of deep breaths. "But it's also not like I want you to buckle and crumble under the weight of the world. I want to carry it with you, so you don't have to do it all by yourself."

"You won't enjoy it," he pointed out.

"I may not enjoy it, but you don't seem to be enjoying it either," she countered.

"That still doesn't mean you should go to the trouble to help me out," he said. "You do have your own burdens to bear."

She let out a light laugh. "That's not a very healthy extreme, Junmyeon," she told him. "I'm offering to help you carry the weight, and you're refusing?"

"I'm refusing for a reason," he said. "I don't want to trouble you."

She rubbed her eye, getting visibly tired of his stubbornness. "Why are you going to such lengths?" she lightly asked. "It's like you even like me-"

"What if I do?" 

She looked up, startled at that. She saw him looking at her, something stirring his his eyes. "W-what?"

He leaned over the table a little. "What if I did like you?" he repeated. "What would you do?"

She opened her mouth but found no words or sounds. She sat there looking like a gaping fish, wordlessly opening and closing her mouth.

He leaned back against his chair with a deep sigh. "You see why I didn't tell you? I didn't want to burden you." He turned his eyes up to her. "And I still don't." He placed his clasped palms on the table in front of him.

"Look, Eunji, I didn't want to tell you this because I didn't want to burden you with such information. But I want you to know, I don't want you to feel obligated because I confessed so suddenly. In fact, I'm not even expecting a reply." 

She stared at him, like all of her systems had shut down.

"If you want to give me a reply, fine. But just know, whatever your decision, where we are now, I'm happy with it."

She hurriedly stood up. "I-I need to go," she quickly said, grabbing her purse. "I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly."

He nodded as she quickly exited the café. He sunk in deeper into his chair, running a hand through his face.

"Good going, Kim Junmyeon," he muttered to himself. "You screwed up again."

***

A/N: Wasn't really sure how to get into this chapter, but I found it easier to just dive in. I've never written a confession scene before (or any sort of romance) and I thought it would be hard to write, but I just treated it as a normal conversation.

Now that I look at it, it's dramatic. I could be a drama writer!

Speaking of dramas, Lee Hyun's "My Heartache" was the perfect song for this chapter, so I included it for you guys to listen to. I wrote the second scene while listening to it, it helped a lot with setting the mood. And it's a pretty good song. The drama it's from, A Gentleman's Dignity, is also pretty good, good enough for my mom to enjoy it, so I guess that's something good.

Also got inspired while writing with the idea for a graphic, so there's that too. Yeah...it's not my best, or even a good job even normally. Just serves to prove that I'm colorblind, and I wanted to experiment with layer masks, which didn't go down too well.

Hope you enjoy!