BEHIND THE SCENES

chapter 118: friends

<OST: It's You - Chungha>

Seokjin lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.

He hadn't spoken to Byulyi since the last time they met. Work had gotten so busy that he hardly had the time to call her... much less find the time to go look for her. But he promised her that they'd continue the conversation soon... and he was determined to fulfil that.

After mustering up all his courage, Seokjin pulled out his phone, dialled Byulyi's number and held the phone up to his ear.

Ring... Ring...

"Hello...?"

Seokjin's heart skipped a beat. He was so tired he wasn't even thinking straight... and hadn't even thought about what he wanted to say when... or if Byulyi picked up the phone. But here he was, already on the phone with her... as if he had skipped a few steps by mistake.

"H-Hello?" Seokjin muttered. "Moon Byulyi, it's me - Kim Seokjin."

Silence.

"Yeah... I know."

Seokjin almost facepalmed. Of course she knew - he was calling her on his own mobile phone. Why would he even say his own name? That sounded so stupid. But then again, anything he could have possibly said to her in that moment would sound stupid to him, regardless.

"Ah, um..." Seokjin hesitated. "Sorry, I... I've been really busy. I just found the time to talk to you."

"It's okay."

"About the conversation we had that day..." Seokjin began. "I called so we could continue. Am I calling at the wrong time or...?"

"No, it's fine."

Seokjin was racking his brain every minute, at lightning speed, for what to say.

"Like what I said that day outside your house..." Seokjin sighed. "I'm sorry for leaving without any warning, I'm sorry for being so heartless and making it seem like the time we spent together didn't even matter to me. I said that all in the spur of the moment and I'm really sorry... because I didn't mean any little bit of it... at all."

A short pause.

"Really...?" Byulyi pouted. "You didn't mean any of it...? Why did you say it then?"

"Because I was mad," Seokjin confessed. "I was really mad... and I said all that on impulse. Moving out too... it was because I was hurt and angry."

"Why?" Byulyi probed. "Why were you hurt and angry? What did I even do to you to make you feel that way?"

"You-" Seokjin hesitated. "Because I felt like... I didn't matter much to you?"

"How?" Byulyi didn't understand. "Did I say anything to upset you?"

"It's a combination of a few things..." Seokjin was trying to be as honest as he could this time. No more secrets, no more hiding. "Remember when I called you when you were in Busan? You were with that childhood sweetheart of yours... and when I called, you asked me to hurry up. I was pretty hurt by that."

"Oh... did I?" Byulyi paused for a while. "I must have said that without thinking, I'm sorry. But I thought that you might have been busy with filming too... so I was wondering why you were taking so long."

"I was busy-" Seokjin pursed his lips. "But even then... I still made time to call you."

"Ah..." Byulyi hesitated. "Just to update me about JK-ssi and our Jieun-ie? Mm, I admit that's a pretty nice thing-"