Trapped | Hwang Hyunjin

Chapter 15

The two sit on the bench at the park near Han's apartment. It is almost 9 pm, and there are no more people lingering; the peace and quiet brings in the perfect mood to talk about the issue.

Han sighs, her hands trembling because it is really, a huge burden for her.

Hyunjin gently places his hand on top of hers, and gives it a light squeeze, surprising the girl. 

"It's okay, Han. Take your time."

It breaks her heart even more, to see how nice Hyunjin actually is. She knows she has to let those words out of her mouth, but she can't bring herself to do it.

"Or..." Hyunjin clears his throat, "Do you want me to go first? I have some stuff to tell you too..."

He seems nervous as well, but maybe listening to what he would say could change the situation slightly. Han nods at the idea, and receives another squeeze on her hands from him.

"I'm aware that we barely know each other; we've just met literally hours ago, and it wasn't the best meeting either. I was feeling like crap when I knew that I got involved with another girl, but the fact that you acted very chill about it caught me off guard." Hyunjin starts, his voice cracking here and there.

"...I was genuinely surprised. You are the first female who couldn't care less about my visuals. You didn't seem like you want to get involved with me further either...it is really something new to me."

He then gives her a meaningful stare. A soft smile spreads across his lips, his eyes staring at hers very deeply with much adoration and appreciation.

"Thank you for sticking around with me even though I've been rude or annoying to you sometimes. Thank you for accepting me the way I am, Han." Hyunjin's face has pink tints on it, but he doesn't care and still looks at her intently.

Han becomes speechless. Her mind becomes chaotic; all the things Hyunjin has said are sweet, but the things she's about to tell him are the exact opposite. She doesn't want to hurt him, but does she really have a choice though?

"I-I'm not saying that I like you..." Hyunjin lets go of her hand and backs away with a small cough, for at least, 40 centimeters. "I'm just grateful that I've met you as a f-friend..."

Han chuckles sadly at his confession, and looks at Hyunjin, who has a confused expression. "Thanks for being honest, Hyunjin."

"You know, I have some stuff to tell you. It might break our newly built friendship, but since you've been honest with me, I, too, will be honest with you. I don't want any secrets, I want our friendship to be truthful. But are you ready for this?"

Hyunjin's confused self is now replaced with seriousness. He stares at Han, his hands intertwined together as he speaks, "Go ahead, Han."

She takes a deep breath and diverts her gaze to the pond in front of her.

"You see, Hyunjin. This might not make sense but I'm currently trapped in a time loop. I asked for your opinion on soulmates earlier to see how you would respond to my situation. When you find it irrelevant, it really heightened my anxiety." She confesses, not realizing the male frowning at her.

"Yes, being trapped in a time loop doesn't make sense. But I've done my research, and I started experiencing this when we both first met in the museum. Our first meeting didn't go well; we got ourselves into a mini-drama ." She chuckles, feeling her eyes watery at every word she speaks.

"But I found out that after interacting with your soulmate, time would stop repeating. And it didn't work for me, so my little brother asked if genuineness mattered in this case. That was why I befriended you at first." Han bites her lips, can't hold her tears any longer.

"Yes, Hyunjin. I befriend you because I wanted to get out of the time loop." She finally says it, and she tries her best to avoid looking at him; she doesn't want to witness how disappointed he is.

"But over time... after we get to know each other, I realized how you were much more than that. I was being a bad person for prioritizing myself, and I was blinded by the hate I had when I first met you. The café hangout really changed the way I look at you, Hyun." Han places her hands over her face, and starts sobbing.

Hyunjin remains silent, and watches the girl sob before she continues, "I'm happy to actually befriend you for real. I appreciate how you cared for me even though we've just met. But it doesn't change the fact that I used to think about myself, treating you as a means to an end."

Han looks up after she finishes her confession, tears rolling down her cheeks as she turns to face the male. "I'm so sorry, Hyunjin."

The boy sighs gently and scoots closer to narrow the gap between them. He places his hand on top of her head and frowns at her. His eyes are watery too, looking slightly red as if he had cried.

Han waits for him to say something, but all he does is caress her head gently. He stares at her with sadness in his eyes, and she knows she deserves it. She would be heartbroken as well if the situation were reversed.

After another 3 minutes of silence, Hyunjin lets go of his hand wipes off his tears. He sighs at the lonely view in front of him; and gulps.

"Han—"

"SIS?!"

The girl flinches and turns back to see Felix, running towards her with a panicked look. He enlarges his eyes upon her condition and stops his tracks, "W-What happened to you?! I've been calling non-stop and I thought of taking the bus to go to the police station."

Felix then notices the presence next to his sister, then looks back at her again, "I'm sorry—did I interrupt something...?"

Hyunjin gives out a light chuckle and gets up from the bench. "It's okay, we're done anyway."

Han's heart breaks into a million pieces after hearing those words coming out of Hyunjin. She watches him walk away before he turns back at her for the last time with a smile.

"It's a lot for me to take in since I couldn't make sense of your situation... But thank you for being honest with me, Han. Please give me some time to think about us, yeah?"

And with that, Han watches her soulmate leave the area quietly. It really went how she expected it to be; she knew she'd get rejected. Who wants a fake friend anyway?

Han drops her shoulders in dismay. Her legs are forcing her to catch up with him so that they can make amends, and a proper friendship bond is formed to avoid the time loop. But her heart tells her to stay; Hyunjin needs some time alone and he deserves to reconsider all of these.

In the end, Han lets him go fully, wanting to give him the space he needs.

Felix approaches his sister and hugs her tightly, which causes her to sob all over again. Not because her effort are all wasted, but the fact that she hurt someone who has become important to her. 

He gently pats her back to comfort her. "Let's go home, Sis."

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Author's Note: Double Update! I hope y'all enjoyed it :D

Also, I think I mentioned about ending this story in 2-3 chapters... GUESS WHAT I LIED, I decided to prolong the story a bit more LMAO I'M SORRY

And thank you for reading this story so far! I hope it hasn't been boring for you guys XD

Remember to stay healthy, happy, and safe everyone! I'll be back with another update either this weekend or next week!