Hurt me Harder | on hold

o n e

year 2025 month xxx

A girl in her early 20s sat by herself at a table near the window of a cafe. Her eyes were glued to the poster which was being hung by the workers on the opposite building.

"BTS COMEBACK STAGE"

It read.

It's already been 3 years since an OT7 comeback. And here it was. She felt her eyes water and she controlled the urge to cry with happiness.

"Chaeri Sunbae!" With a sudden jerk, she came back to the present. In front sat Daehyun looking at her suspiciously.

"You know, If someone saw you right now will think you broke your heart real bad," he said sipping on his mocha. "What are you doing here?" Chaeri asked avoiding his earlier taunt, "That's what I asked you. What are you doing here spacing out like that sunbae-nim?" He retorted still sipping on his drink.

"Do I need to rearrange your face again to beat some sense into you?" clearly annoyed chaeri responded.

Daehyun choked and coughed. He should have stopped while she was being nice. Surprisingly the guy sitting at the table behind them coughed as well.

"The couple behind you gave me a weird look haha maybe you should stop with your savage threats Chaeri noona."

"Of course, I would if you unexist." Daehyun was about to say something but he stopped when he saw her zoning out again while staring outside.

"What's bothering you?" he questioned with a tiny concern on his face.

"They-"

"Who?"

"They are-"

"Yes, who what?"

"Fuck! Will you let me complete it first?" Chaeri snapped.

Daehyun, a little taken aback waited patiently for her to complete. He would kill for her if that would make her smile. She was not just his noona because he wanted to benefit from being an acquaintance at work or anywhere, but because he truly cared for her like his own sister. The one whom he lost when he was 7.

"They are going to perform as seven again-" she couldn't hold it in and tears started to flow down her cheeks.

"What!!" Daehyun threw his hands up in frustration and sighed. After a moment of silence, he suddenly burst into laughter. Chaeri shot her head up and gave him a death glare to which he immediately stopped.

"Okay, spill. I'll listen."

"I'm overwhelmed right now" She looked at him with a sad smile "A lot of things have changed since 2022. I tried changing into someone better and now I am what I worked for. I'm proud of myself for making it through all that time and becoming someone more independent, happy, and successful. The reason I'm here is because they-" she pointed at the poster outside "made me feel loved and heard."

Daehyun nodded and patted her shoulder. He was aware of all the hardships she went through before "And when their agency announced them going to military... It felt weird not seeing them all together for a while. Them being seven is such a relief and that alone brings utter happiness and joy seeing them all together." heaving a sigh she continued "I felt a part of me break inside. I had promised myself I would never give any part of me to anyone ever again after what happened years ago but unknowingly I had already devoted my whole self to them. That realization made me weak. But then I thought I should trust them. Trusting them helped me keep going and achieve what I have today." Chaeri said wiping off her snot.

"Noona, just say you missed Kim Taehyung's naked selca posting on insta why make me emotional with all this talk-" Chaeri stood up quickly to shut him up. With her hands on his mouth, she scanned the cafe to see if anyone heard. The guy behind them shifted uncomfortably. She couldn't see his face since they sat facing each other backs.

Poor him. Must be thinking of her as a weird-pervert fangirl.

"You shut your mouth before I tear it off your pukable face." She said through her teeth.

"No, it's a fact. You can kill for that guy" he continued "I mean have you ever seen yourself looking at his posts and pictures? If anyone saw, they would call you a pervert" he sniggered while finishing off his mocha.

"I LOVE THEM ALL EQUALLY!" she slammed the table and regretted it the very second she did.

Everyone in the cafe turned their head towards them making them both apologize for being loud.

"I'm not coming to this cafe anymore because of you! I'm leaving." she whisper-screamed and stood up collecting her belongings.

"Oh c'mon, you don't really mean that! Stay a little longer noona" Daehyun pleaded with a puppy face.

Faking a smile that made Daehyun shudder she said "I've watched you all evening, and seeing you breathe has been an utter torture. I would really like you to stop-" pausing for a second she grinned "breathing. Thank you."

While moving to leave, Chaeri bumped into someone. It was the guy from the other table. She moved back to give the couple space to walk out but the guy didn't move an inch. Sensing no movements she lifted her gaze only to get clashed with his mystical ones.

He had a hoodie on and a black mask covering his features. The girl behind him was busy texting someone who had the same hoodie and the mask covering her face. They both looked strangely familiar. Chaeri confusingly looked at both of them until Daehyun dragged her towards the door to exit.

"What were you doing staring like that!? They got uncomfortable thanks to you. What has gotten into you today?-" He continued to blabber but Chaeri's brain was working at a dangerous speed trying to remember who they were until her eyes landed on the poster.

Her eyes flew back into her skull and she stopped walking abruptly.

"Those eyes..." she muttered.

The guy sitting behind them was none other than Kim Taehyung... and... and the girl... must be his rumored girlfriend Iseul Kwon!

**************************************

unedited :*

Okay, beautiful ppl. How was it?

If you enjoyed please vote and comment. Let Ilaaa know that she's doing a great job. Things will get spicier soon so get your tissues and get ready.

Wanted to ask if y'all want more author x ilaaa content or not. *will add anyway*

Made a few changes because the og version was kinda offensive to me :) I mean I love the boys and making a story *like that* was pretty disrespectful. I apologize if I offended any one of you with that, which I highly think is not possible bc not a lot of ppl read that (and will read this book in the future) but it was misleading.