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Taehyung was slightly different the next couple of days. The members thought perhaps it was the busyness of their schedule that had allowed Taehyung to forget about the dark bubble he was in, but when he shared a smile on breaks and carried a conversation, the members assumed something had changed. But they wouldn't dare ask, not yet at least.
All was well with Coco as well. She was getting some where with her designs despite having stayed up past her usual bedtime hours. A week hardly seemed like enough time to develop her characters, especially when she was constantly being distracted by her newly made friends.
Jungkook was quite the entertainer on text, sending memes as responses and sending her the cutest gifs. Hoseok, on the other hand, was a big fan of voice messages and often sent her a whole lot of them, keeping her phone buzzing with notifications.
Taehyung, however, didn't text her as much. He sent a few messages here and there when she initiated them, but they were short and dry.
Coco had been itching to text Taehyung all day, and she finally built up the courage at the wrong time.
*
Already knowing where the packs of beers were, Taehyung thought his run to the market would be quick when Jimin asked him for a favor. But as he was walking out, Kali was walking in, chin up looking pretentious and elegant while her body was closely pressed to a male who gripped her hand tightly.
"Kali?"
Stopping in her tracks, panic crossed her eyes when she noticed Taehyung.
Now wasn't the time. This wasn't how she had planned on telling him.
"Taehyung," she whispered. "I—" she stopped, letting go of the guy's hand and whispering something in his ear before he left her side and entered the market.
"Taehyung," she approached him.
What had Taehyung acting differently the past few days was not Coco. It was Kali.
She had texted him the night after his coffee shop date with Coco saying she had something important to tell him and that she wanted to meet him on Friday. It was Thursday, and Taehyung was giddy with the idea that Kali would accept him like he begged, but what he saw stung.
"I—I thought you were coming back to me," Taehyung's voice was hardy above a whisper, but Kali heard.
"Taehyung, I was going to tell you about beckhyun tomorrow. I-I didn't want you finding out this way."
"But what about us?" He was holding her in a matter of seconds, searching her eyes for an answer he knew he would never get but still hoped for.
"There is no us anymore, Taehyung."
Kali pulled away from him, sparing him a pitiful glance from the bottles of beer in his hand to the sorrowful, vacant look in his eyes. "Goodbye, Taehyung."
It was all too much to process. He was drowning in sadness and anger, unable to control the emotions that crashed over him to the point that he wished for the pain to be numbed, and the only way to do such was through the way he knew best. Alcohol.
He drunkenly walked back home, abandoning the pack of beer along the sidewalk somewhere after downing plenty bottles down his throat with a warm sting. Still, it was not enough.
That's when his phone buzzed and his screen lit up with a text message from Coco.
