Rise Till' We Fall [TAEGYU]

#14: I thought I lost you

(Taehyun's POV)

I was planning to just do some work and keep my mind off whatever Gyu is doing. He's just being a jerk at this point. Just as my thoughts wandered, my phone rang. 

"Hello?" I said. 

"Tae, the school contacted Jun and me," Soobin said worriedly. "They said there's a campaign led by student parents that are demanding students in the LGBTQ+ community to leave school. They've targeted Jun and me along with some other openly gay students."

"What? That can't be true, are you guys leaving?" I said, not believing what I heard. 

"No, the school supports LGBTQ+ rights, but they just wanted to notify us about this issue," he said. "We're okay, I called you to talk about Beomgyu." There was a pause, and with a shuddering breath Soobin said: " Gyu's Mum......I've heard, that she's leading this, whatever it is. And well....... Okay, I'll say it, I think he's gay. Judging from his behavior when he's around Chaeryoung, he isn't enjoying her company, even though I'm sure they're on good terms. It just doesn't feel genuine as a dating-sort of relationship, more like a friendship." 

I blanked out for some seconds, my mind completely deprived of other thoughts as I felt the weight of the situation. Soobin must have sensed my silence, so he kept talking: " I might be wrong but--if my observations are true, it explains perfectly why he dated Chaeryoung right after that affair with you. The time fits too, the campaign sent a big file of objections to the school office on the next day."

Yeah, I told Soobin about the day, about the kiss, because I figured he would know what to do. He's always been the big brother of our group and I trust him. I just hadn't talked to him much since I was pretty occupied with my silly crush, so I decided to let him in on this secret. I need someone to confide in anyways, all these thoughts are slowly breaking me, so letting this one secret out is bound to help.

"He might like you, though." He concluded through the phone. "Now it looks like he's just using Chaeryoung to get over you." 

I set my phone down and rubbed my eyes. I shut them really hard before opening my eyes again. It was dangerous to harbor such hope. But it's shining so bright, so beautifully in the midst of this darkness, and it just feels so safe, so comforting to believe that he likes me back. It fills me with so much happiness and joy. 

"Tae, you still there?" Soobin's voice came from my phone. I set it on speaker mode. "Yeah," I said. 

"Do you like him?" he asked softly. "You know, if someone I don't like romantically kisses me, I'd report him or her of sexual harassment." 

"Well, yes," I said finally. "It's been a long time. I've had a crush on him for two years." 

"You two should talk," he said. "Keeping your feelings to yourself isn't going to help."

(Beomgyu's POV)

Taehyun was hugging me, his face buried in my neck as he held me tightly. I was stunned for a moment before hugging him back, my hands resting on the small of his back. I took in the scent of his lavender shampoo as time seems to stop flowing. 

He pulled away, blinking away the tears, "Well, I should stop hugging someone else's boyfriend. Not gonna be a bitch." 

"Nope I'm single," I said, can't help smiling although my eyes are wet. 

"You are? What about Chaeryoung?" he asked. "We broke up. She knew I liked you. We decided to just be friends." I replied, not being able to contain my happiness. 

"Oh, then--wait, what?" his eyes went big with realization. I ruffled his hair. 

"Yeah. I- I like you. So I wrote that letter with the flowers."

"Then why did you throw it away? Oh god, I thought I lost you!" he exclaimed, and choked, resulting in a fit of coughs. 

"Are you okay?" I patted him on the back worriedly. "Yeah," he said. "Why did you throw those flowers away? They look expensive!" 

"Do you like me?" I responded with a question. 

" Yes. Yeah. It's been a long time," he said with excitement and relief in his voice. "Oh gosh, it feels so fucking good to say this out loud. Yes, I like you, I've had a crush on you for who knows how long." 

"So the things Kai said," I said slowly, processing everything, "he knew you liked me?" 

"I never told him but he was always great at observation," he said.  

"Hmm," I said mindlessly, distracted by his pinkish lips.

"But still, you can't just date someone for getting over another person! I thought you knew better than this! Even if your mom-" he was rambling while caressing my fingers.

"Can we continue?" I interrupted.

"What?" 

I guided him to the bed and placed my lips on his.

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Hi everyone! 

I've been busy lately but still, I managed to update this today! 

I hope you like it! 

I'm patiently waiting for Bighit to release the complete movie of Eternally.