The Director • Seo Changbin

11

Baram sat down with two mugs in hand, sliding a black coffee towards Changbin who was sitting across from her while she kept her latte.

"Thank you.." the boy muttered before taking a sip of his bitter drink

She nodded doing the same.

"Your new place is nice..." he awkwardly said looking around her kitchen and living room area.

"Well, when you're a personal assistant to a rich idol, you upgrade well." She gave a small grin

A long awkward pause consumed the two as they sat at the breakfast bar in her kitchen.

"Look... I'm sorry for everything I said. And I'm sorry for showing up like this. I had to force your address out of Woojin for a few weeks."

Baram nodded again. Even though she moved more than 30 minutes away from her previous place she still made sure to have movie nights with Woojin and Chan often. Slowly Chan stopped showing up and not long ago Baram received the heart breaking news that Woojin left the band and broke up with Chan. Regardless Woojin always showed up every Friday night with boba tea and cake for movie night. Except tonight, Changbin took his place.

"I'm glad he still talks to you.. After he left the group he quit talking to us for awhile." Changbin said looking into his drink

"Woojin is just focusing on himself, it's good for him."

"Just like you did?" At his reply Baram locked eyes with Changbin's sad eyes.

"Changbin... What happened, really messed me up. You probably know that... Why're you here? What do you want from me?"

"A second chance."

She scoffed at this, "Seriously? A second chance? Like you deserve it? What even was your issue? Do you just wanna safeguard my whole life so I'm only here for you always?"

"I understand you're confused and mad at me but please let me at least, explain myself."

"Go ahead."

Changbin sat up straighter in his seat with the mug cradled in his palms. "You were one of my closest friends outside my members and the other idols I knew. And you were the first person I met personally that didn't care about my job title. You just saw me as another dude and I liked that. I know I'd didn't make smart decisions throughout our friendship, I'm sorry for that. And when I introduced you to the members I was happy for a bit. But, it felt like they would take you away from me, they knew I didn't treat you like a booty call. So, when you started hanging out with Seungmin, I got jealous and started flirting with you to show the guys to back off. It's so dumb to think back on, I really wasn't thinking at the time.. but it doesn't matter it didn't work. You ended up in some kind of relationship with Seungmin anyways. I'm sorry I lashed out that day, I really hurt you."

Baram gave him a small guilty smile. "If I knew you were jealous I wouldn't have hung out with them as much. You should've just talked to me, emo idiot.."

At the sound of his old nickname he smiled bashfully. "Are we ok now?"

"It'll take some time to get over all this but, sure, we're ok..."

"Good, it's getting late, I should head back. Give me your new phone number so we can keep in touch." Changbin said getting up and handing her his phone. She quickly dialed her phone number and called it so she'd have his number too. The two slowly made their way to Baram's front door.

"Have a good night. Again, I'm sorry for showing up like this."

"It's no problem, get home safe."

Changbin made his way out the door but quickly turned and embraced the shorter girl in his arms softly petting her hair.

"I missed you a lot, thank you for letting me back in." He said in a almost inaudible whisper.

Baram hugged him back, the reminiscent smell of his light cologne and bitter coffee invaded her senses. The man radiated a comforting warmth and the thumping of his racing heart was calming.

He unlatched himself from her and waved a quick goodbye before making his way to the elevator.

Baram stepped back inside her apartment and shut the door softly, leaning against it. "It's so cold without him..."

•730 words•