Most are afraid to confess to their best friends. Some fear losing the friendship, others doubt if their feelings will be reciprocated. Leehan and Taesan dared to gamble everything on love. But when misunderstandings and life's challenges threaten t...
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“Was this all a joke to you?” Taesan’s voice, usually a soothing balm, now grated like sandpaper on Leehan’s raw nerves. His face, typically relaxed, was contorted into a mask of fury. “I told you to stop this, Leehan! You’re digging your own grave!”
Leehan, his face flushed crimson with a mixture of anger and shame, glared back. His hands, normally calm, were clenched into tight fists, the knuckles white as bone. His eyes darted around, avoiding Taesan's intense gaze.
He couldn't bear to witness Taesan’s anguish. The pain etched on his friend's face was a torment he couldn’t endure. The urge to flee grew overwhelming. He began to turn away, the slow, deliberate movement a physical manifestation of his emotional turmoil.
“Do you hate me so much that you’ll turn away from me..?” Taesan choked out, his voice trembling. Tears, like shattered glass, glistened in his eyes. Leehan turning his back felt like a physical blow, the wind knocked out of him.
It made him think that they really have no chance anymore and his greatest fear were to come true— Leehan doesn't want him anymore as his best friend. That he will hate him forever and he won't care about his existence, losing him in the process.
A cold dread settled in his heart. He couldn't live a world without Leehan by his side. The once joyful echoes of their laughter were replaced by a haunting silence, punctuated only by the relentless ticking of the grandfather clock. The opulent surroundings, once symbols of their shared success, now mocked their shattered bond.
“Don't turn your back at me when I'm talking to you!” Taesan gritted, grabbing Leehan's shoulder and turning him around to see his face stained with tears and bloodshot eyes.
"Your eyes can be so cruel.." Leehan whispered. A pang of guilt shot through him. He never wanted it to end like this. But the decision was already made.
Taesan’s eyes, once ablaze with anger, softened into a wounded expression, but his voice held its firm tone. "I just want what’s best for you, Leehan. This isn’t you... this isn’t my best friend." His words, though gentle, carried a weight of disappointment that hung heavy in the air.
His words felt like a slap on Leehan's face as he replied. For years he thought that maybe Taesan had an idea of his growing love for him even a bit. But did he still see him as a weak person? “So he still sees me like that,” Leehan thought at the back of his mind.
“Didn't it mean anything to you? Didn't I mean anything at all?” Taesan started crying as he said that, and he doesn't care if he turns out to be weak in front of the person he stood strong and likes for years.
“Of course it meant something!”
"Then what happened? We used to be best friends, right... But what now?" Taesan whispered as Leehan stared at the ground.
"We USED TO BE, that's past tense." Leehan managed to say even though his heart feels like it is breaking knowing Taesan is hurting as he heared him sobbing.
"Things changed, Taesan. Do you really think you know me? Then, think again." he said with bravery as if that's the truth, as if he really meant it.
"But I didn't change. I still want you.... as my.... best friend." At that moment, Taesan feels so weak, he wants to say more than that but he just can't. He is afraid that Leehan will reject him, that it might really be the end of everything between them.
A pang of guilt shot through Leehan. Best friend... That's all I am to him after all this time? His heart ached with the realization. The words he was about to say felt like a betrayal, a dagger twisting in the heart of their long-standing bond.
"Then, let's end this, I don't want you as my best friend anymore." Leehan sounds more determined, more fierce and braver.
Disbelief washed over Taesan as Leehan’s words pierced his heart. His greatest fear—losing Leehan, a thought he'd tried to banish, was now a stark, unforgiving reality. A cold dread settled in his stomach, a heavy weight that threatened to consume him.
"You can't do this to me, Leehan. I gave you everything I had. You know I will always run after you, protect you, all you need is one call." Taesan feels so hopeless as he said that he feels the weakest, his toes feel jelly as the tears keep streaming down.
"I never told you to give me everything! You did that yourself, how come you're using that against me?" He faced Taesan as anger invaded his system. He suddenly felt soft seeing Taesan crying so hard but he couldn't let that show.
"Yes, you never told me to do so but I'm a fool to still do it, to give and care for you so much even if it meant losing my chance as the CEO and still want this friendship! I still want you over anything, Leehan!" he shouted, he feels so upset with their situation because he never thought they would end up fighting each other.
"I never want your friendship. I never want your protection. I never want to see you after being gone for months. I never want you back. So stay away from me, I'm begging you. Just... let me go." Leehan said that as a remark and started walking away but Taesan grabbed his arm.
Taesan’s voice, a desperate plea, echoed in the room. His eyes, bloodshot and filled with a raw vulnerability, held Leehan captive.
"Look me in the eyes. Tell me you never wanted me. Tell me that I meant nothing to you. Tell me that it was all a lie." His words were a desperate grasp at a lifeline, a futile attempt to salvage their shattered relationship. Desperation painted his face in stark hues of anguish as he laughed bitterly at his own pathetic state, the sound a jarring discordance in the suffocating silence.
“Should I really let you go, Leehan?” The question echoed in Taesan's mind, a desperate plea mixed with a flicker of hope
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Author's Note:
(You can read this story first. Check my profile!)
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Guess who's back? (Me). I decided to rewrite the story and made some adjustments.
What do you think about this part? I'd like to hear your thoughts!
Additional: To those who came from the first story (Fool for You), who do you think will suffer more in this universe?
