BESTFRIENDS

[24] Almost

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One beautiful evening, the two are standing in the balcony having a slight sight of the stars above.

"I wonder why didn't you ask about my girlfriend when you came here."

"Okay, so who is Anne?" Nayeon immediately asked even if she knows his girlfriend is not real. She thought that maybe Jihyo really sent a screenshot of their chat that's why he started to open the conversation.

Jin laughed.

"Anne Hathaway," he replied. Nayeon turns her stance towards him.

"I know you don't have a girlfriend Jin, Jihyo told me. Now, why did you lie?"

"Anne Hathaway is my crush by the way," he said chuckling. The girl crossed her arms and looks at Jin impatiently.

"I don't care, Jin. Answer the damn question."

"Jihyo sent me a screenshot a while ago, and I guess you badly want to know everything." Jin became serious.

"Yes. Now tell me."

Jin also turns his stance and faces her.

"Is that the reason why you came here? Just for that information? Not really because you want to take good care of me?"

"Can you stop shifting topics? You're getting away with the question."

Jin looks away, but the girl is still staring at him waiting for an answer.

There was a silence.

"Jin-"

"I love you."

He took all the courage to say those to her. Jin looks at her to see her reaction, she is surprised.

"I can't tell a lot about your questions but that's the only thing I can say that sums up the answer you want to hear," Jin said looking directly in her eyes.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Yeah but tell me more. Why? How? When?"

"You don't need to know those anymore. You're already married. This isn't like a confession."

"You still have to tell me!"

"No, I don't have to."

"Do you even know why I want to know?"

Jin looks at her confused.

"Why?"

"Because I loved you too!"

"Loved?" He chuckled.

Nayeon's eyes are getting teary.

"Don't say you loved me too Nayeonie because saying 'too' means we're the same and we are not. My love for you is not in the past tense." He said straightly looking at her.

"I'm still the Kim Seokjin you met in college. The Seokjin you started a conversation with. The Jin you befriended. The Seokjinie you took care of. The Jinnie you accompanied to learn new things and to become independent. Lastly, the Jinjinnie you shared almost half of your life." He walks closer to her before continuing.

"From Kim Seokjin to Jinjinnie, I love you and nothing changed."

Nayeon is silenced. His words made her speechless. Jin cups her cheeks and wipes her tears with his thumb.

"Do you want to hear more? Your tears indicate you're not ready for the whole conversation."

"I can take it. Just tell me everything." She said in between her cry.

Jin didn't remove his hand from cupping the girl's cheeks.

"This house that you're standing in right now is actually yours. This is the girlfriend I was talking about. This is the only reason why I ditched all our hangouts because there were problems while it was being built so I had to deal with it immediately. And this was supposed to be my birthday gift to you when I also decided to confess my feelings, but I was too late and you never knew how much it hurts because someone else confessed and he was the one you accepted." Jin, almost crying, expressed.

"Nayeonie, you are my whole plan and the future I was talking about. I planned to build this house so I can have something to give you." They are still looking at each other as if their eyes are the only things they can stare at.

"The confession I was about to make at your birthday isn't only about wanting you to be my girlfriend, but also to be the woman I will spend the rest of my life with. But again the painful thing is, I am too late. I-"

"S-stop Jin, enough," she said, tears continuously flowing.

He's right. She can't take his words. She never knew how big his love is for her that looking back to the time she loves him, they almost ended up together if only they confessed.

They almost loved each other.

But almost is never enough.