Wildfire And Rain

Chapter Twenty-Three

"I'm sorry in advance, Taehyun. For any trouble that I may cause you in the future. I hope you will find in yourself to forgive me."

Taehyun stares into his blank, white ceiling. He abounded his books long ago in favor of replaying Kai's words in his mind repeatedly. Kai had dropped him off a few hours ago and since then he has not stopped thinking about the breakfast they shared.

He should have said something. But he couldn't. Kai sounded so sincere, his words said with resolve. Nothing he could have said would defy them.

part of him believes that Kai could break his heart in the future. But despite it, he's not ready to give up on him.

He accepted Kai's apology. Not knowing for what, but he did.

A phone call from his mother breaks his line of thought. He answers.

"Well Mom, you know how dad is." Taehyun sighs. "If he put salt in your coffee then maybe he is upset." He smiles, amused by his parents' never-ending antics. "I need to go now, yes, yeah... you are obviously right, Mom. Hmm- I'll talk to Dad. Okay, love you, Mom."

"Your parents?" Soobin walks in. Taehyun nods. "Yeah, my dad decided to prank my mom, and she pranked him back and now it's a whole thing." he sighs. "They can be so..."

Soobin laughs, knowing exactly what he means. "Yes, believe me, I met them." Taehyun's parents are the ultimate mix of childish and strict, it is honestly impressive how they managed to be sickly in love and hate each other at the same time.

"What are you studying for?"

Taehyun groans. "Statistics."

"Ahh... good luck."

"Hey." Taehyun sits up. "You're not offering any help?"

"It's statistics. You are on your own." Soobin flashes his dimples. "By the way, where were you today? I woke up and you weren't in your bed. Early class?"

Taehyun bites his bottom lip. "I went out... "he drags his words. "With Kai," he admits, awaiting an explosion. He completely forgot his friends knew about Kai and Beomgyu.

"Oh." Soobin's eyes widen. "How is he?"

"Huh?"

"Kai, is he okay now? I heard panic attacks are a bitch to recover from."

A switch flips in Taehyun's mind. "Wait! You talked to Beomgyu today?" he remembers.

Soobin looks at him and he has the you-are-so-dumb look in his eyes. "I did," he says the obvious. "Did you forget?"

"Kind of."

"Kind of" Soobin parrots in an annoying voice and Taehyun pulls a face. "Yeah, we did."

Taehyun hums in understanding. "How did it go?"

Soobin sits on his bed and unties his shoes. "I didn't see it coming, you know? Remember how we talked about Beomgyu, his behavior in the last few weeks was different. I just couldn't put my finger on what changed. It makes sense now, but in the weirdest way possible."

"Right."

"I think he'll ask Kai if he wants to maybe meet up, all five of us. What do you think? You know him pretty well by now, don't you?"

Taehyun opens his mouth and stops. He reopens it. "I'm not too sure, Hyung."

"I feel like a douche." Soobin falls on his bed.

"You are." Taehyun agrees. "You were, at least."

Soobin nods. "So." he bends his head to look at Taehyun. "How is it going between you two? Today was a date?"