Desire | jjk. *ON HOLD*

22

I take off my apron and hang it up on the rack. The last customer leaves the bar, and I run towards the door to flip the sign to CLOSED. My father sits down on a chair and sighs, clearly exhausted.

"Do you want me to make you a coffee?" I ask him.

He shakes his head.

"No thank you. If you want you can go home, we already cleaned up the place anyways..."

I nod. I don't want to seem excited, but I am. I've spend all of Wednesday and Thursday working until nine pm. I'm really exhausted, and I need to take a break. Especially when my relationship with Hyerin has me overwhelmed: she hasn't sent me a message, she hasn't answered my calls, and by what I've seen, she's missed class for the past two days.

I don't know if she's sick, if she's escaped with Jimin again, or if something really happened to her. It's not like if I can call her mother and ask her where she is: I run the risk of ruining her lie that she's staying at my house. And now that I'm thinking about it, maybe I should. She's my best friend, and if something happens to her, I would never forgive myself.

"Okay, well if you need anything, I'll be going home." I tell my father, and he nods.

I leave by the back door and walk half a block, and once I enter my house, I take off my shoes. I walk towards the kitchen and heat up some leftovers. Simply perfect.

I lean on the island while I wait for the timer to end and I check my phone. I have a few messages from Taehyung, but none from Hyerin. I call her phone number, and it rings five times, until I hear the voicemail.

"Hey, it's Heyrin. If it's not important, don't bother to leave a voicemail, because I never open them."

At one point, I always thought that voicemail was funny. But in this instant, I just wanted to yell into the phone.

I open Taehyung's messages and I read them in silence. The microwave ends and I take out the food, walking upstairs to my room, and I sit on the bed, ready to answer his messages.

Taehyung:
Babe, are you doing anything
tomorrow tonight? We should have
a movie marathon, what do
you think?

I sigh, not knowing how to respond. I really don't feel like seeing him. It's not because of Taehyung, but because of me. I feel extremely confused after what happened Tuesday night at Jungkook's apartment. Even two days later, I'm still debating whether I should write him a message or not. I knew that I had to make a decision: Taehyung, or Jungkook.

But I can't. I like Jungkook. I think that this is the first time that I admit it to myself, but I really do like him. He attracts me in ways that Taehyung never attracted me, and won't ever. However, I know that my future with Jungkook is dull. We might have a few moments together, and then he'll just forget about me.

Taehyung isn't like that. He's nice, and he would never break my heart. I can see a future with him, even if it's not the best.

Areum:
I'm sorry, I'm still
studying :( I have to turn in a
worksheet next week, and
I haven't started it yet.

I press send, and instantly, I feel a wave of guilt invade me. I hear steps coming up the stairs, followed by the voice of my father on the phone, arguing with whoever is on the other side. He hangs up and knocks on my door.