WISHING FOR AUTUMN | kth

08 | WISHING WELL

TAEHYUNG'S CHEST HEAVED as he took a breath in nervous anticipation. he was not really certain how his day was going so far. after all, only half an hour earlier, he'd lost his lucky penny to a wishing well.

the chaos in his head had been far louder than the water rushing down each tier of the water fountain. he'd been so distracted, he hadn't realised he had accidentally tossed his lucky penny into the wishing well until it was too late. and all he could do was stare at his chipped coin sitting at the bottom of the fountain with other coins helplessly.

he tried desperately to find an upside to the unfortunate situation. and clung on to the notion that he might get double the luck on his wish thanks to his lucky penny. he was about to put that hopeful theory to the test.

the sound of the door being unlocked only set his heart on a marathon. he fiddled with the bracelet on his wrist as the door opened slowly to reveal autumn's face peeking out. it was brief but he caught the moment she froze at the sight of him.

"hey," his lips curved in a nervous smile. "can we talk?"

she sent him a small smile in reply, stepping back and opening the door wider. rubbing sweaty palms against the denim fabric of his jeans, he strode in. "i'm not sure where to—" the rest of his words lodged in his throat when he spun around only to find her right behind him.

she took a step back first, avoiding his gaze. taehyung felt a weight push down painfully on his chest, but chose to ignore it. "uh," he cleared his throat, a forced smile on his lips. "i need to talk to you about so many things, it's all a bit overwhelming."

"take your time, and a seat. do you want anything?" she asked, curling the end one of her two french braids around her finger. he cast his gaze down, wishing his heart wouldn't react to how detached she sounded. "i'm fine."

the air was far too tense and awkward that it was making it difficult for taehyung to breathe properly. "you should sit too." he said, sitting on the sofa. she did as he told her, still not looking at him.

"i guess i should start with the obvious. the kiss." he let out the last word breathily as though the mere thought of it knocked the wind out of his lungs – which it did. he caught autumn twiddling her thumbs at the word, almost shyly.

"i know it was sudden and took you by surprise. hell, it even took me by surprise." he said, biting his lip. "the timing couldn't have been more wrong. i felt very stupid the moment i realised what i did. and i'll say i regret the way it happened, but i can't tell you that i regret that it happened. because the truth is, i've thought about kissing you more times than i'm proud to admit."

taking his glasses off, he ran a hand over his face, feeling warmth travel up his neck at his own words. his heart was racing faster than a charging horse in battle. there were so many ways this could go wrong but he was banking on a positive outcome.

he got on his feet, fingers sifting through his hair as he paced back and forth. what he was about to say was going to change the dynamics of their relationship and affect what he was going to tell her after. but it was far too late to go back.

he halted mid-step, spinning on his heels to face her. "autumn," he took a step closer to her. a steadying breath left his parted lips as he crouched down to be level with her.

his warm hands wrapped around hers, trying to get her full attention on him. her eyes finally met his. they were glistening and taehyung wasn't sure what emotions were swirling in them. the only thing he was certain about was how they made him feel. how the girl who had those beautiful eyes made him feel.

"i'm in love with you." he finally confessed. "i think i have since i was sixteen. even then it took me a while to realise how i felt and even longer to wrap my mind around it. i tried to figure out what changed for so long but i could never really put my finger on it. all i knew was that it oddly felt so right, like nature coming back to life after a frigid, dead winter."