If You Love Me

Chapter 10: It's "Complicated"

"Then why don't you stay with me?"

You cleared your throat just to make sure your ears were working.

Good news, they were. 

Bad news, 

you hadn't misheard. 

You shake your head in disbelief. "Pardon?"

Yonngi brushes his hair to the side with his fingers, still refusing to meet his gaze with yours. "Today's my friend's first stand up performance. So I figured as a thanks maybe we could..." 

A wave of relief washed over you once his intentions had been revealed. 

You observed him with hesitance, eyes trailing from his ebony locks all the way down to the dress shoes snug around his feet. From the exterior he seemed like a very well put-together man—  you could even go as far to call him gentlemanly. 

But from the inside — from the way his brows had always kitted to create a scowl or the way his hooded orbs always withheld a certain melancholy whenever they held contact with yours— you couldn't help but wonder... 

If he had been broken? 

You wondered if the reflection others had seen of him had been warped because the mirror itself had been shattered.

What he portrayed with others had drastically varied from individual to individual. You've seen it all. 

The burning anger enveloping his gaze as he swung his fist though in a weak and despicable state. 

The pain as his shallow breaths rested against your skin as you relied on you to shield him. 

The gentleness carrying his lips... As he thanked you before slipping past the protection of his door. 

Though you had seen many parts of him within such a short time, a stranger will always remain a stranger— and nothing else. 

Especially as your client and a man. 

You refused to ever see him as something more than what professional relationships allowed. Though you had once felt guilty and apologized to him out of pity, you never expected him to mistaken it for kindness and try to return the gesture. 

Perhaps he had mistaken your intentions. 

You never wanted to establish anything beyond two people colliding paths temporarily. Yet he had presented the opportunity neatly for you, to develop into something more... 

Acquaintances.

Yet with new beginnings come the mother of all fears— hesitation. 

Could he be trusted? 

You hadn't known him long but the first step needed to be somewhere right?