Bartender || Ateez P.SH ✓

flashback.

a/n: this will be a flashback of soyeon and hongjoong's part. this happened sometime before the jaehyun incident with seonghwa!

the two were currently at a nearby cafe where they've always went ever since that thank you coffee hongjoong suggested.

this has been the fifth date they've been on which was sadly disguised as a study meeting.

instead of doing their tasks, however, the two ended up getting lost in a conversation.

it was all fun and games until it reached the topic of relationships.

"so, why don't you have a girl friend?" soyeon asked quite boldly, taking a sip of her drink.

"how about you? you know how many guys came up to me, telling me to stop trying it with you?" hongjoong held up his fingers to gesture quotation marks.

the girl hissed internally. "that can't be helped. i didn't return their feelings, after all."

"so? you don't like them back, right? you shouldn't force yourself to, and it's their job to respect that." the blue haired boy claimed somewhat angrily.

this is one of the reasons why she likes him. he's such an angel. she thought.

"you still haven't answered my question." soyeon reminded half jokingly.

the light atmosphere suddenly had a hint of gloom as the boy cleared his throat.

"i met this girl once. and i really did like her, though i don't know why. she kept competing with me and degrading me. even mingi, the most supportive person you could ever find, told me to let her go." hongjoong chuckled bitterly at the memory.

"i'm sorry. you didn't deserve that." soyeon said through her gritted teeth.

"don't be. you didn't do anything wrong." the blue haired smiled warmly. "i guess that's where my insecurities along with commitment issues started."

commitment... issues? soyeon thought to herself.

"ah, enough about that." hongjoong fanned his hand, indicating they should already forget about the topic. "don't wanna get all depressed." he chuckled.

"yeah."

-

ever since her crush mentioned about his problems about basically not wanting to date anyone, soyeon felt the need to distance herself.

it's not that she wanted to, but she was itching to confess and it was her goal to have a special relationship with him. she didn't make all those moves for nothing.

of course, she wasn't throwing herself onto him. she was willing to take it slow, make what they had develop. however, she doesn't want to force hongjoong into anything.

if he didn't want to commit to anybody yet, then there was nothing she could do but simply respect him.

and in her opinion, in order to do that, she must move on from this unhealthy infatuation.