comes in waves ↠ kim sunwoo

chapter twenty seven

Third Person POV

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Heiji stood before her angry best friend, unsure of the right words to say. Why didn't she tell him?

"I don't know," she shakes her head, pacing back and forth in her room, Haknyeon sitting upright on her bed with an unpleased look on his face. "Forgive me, please."

"Nuh-uh, not that easily," the boy sasses shaking his head. "And then you thought it was okay to kiss him at the dinner?"

She plops herself down on the bed beside him, lying down with her head in her hands. "I didn't think it was okay, of course it wasn't. It was either him or you."

"Excuse me, you're lucky I'm not easily offended," he looks down at the girl. "You could have just kissed me, quick two seconds and we would've forgotten all about it."

"Yeah right," Heiji rolls her eyes. "I would've kept my mouth pierced shut, and you still would be tormenting me for months saying I had natural garlic breath or something. We both know it wouldn't be forgotten."

"Of course it wouldn't, I'm an excellent kisser," he jokes. "But why Hyunjae?"

"What do you mean 'why Hyunjae'? You're acting like I've confessed my love for him," Heiji shakes her head again, sitting up to face the boy. "We were drunk, it happens. I'm even sure I kissed Lia that night - it's not a big deal. And we didn't even kiss then, he just leaned in and I didn't move."

"I think it is," the boy shrugs casually. Heiji was prepared for Haknyeon's reaction to the whole thing, she valued his opinion the most but most of the time she didn't like him telling her what she didn't want to hear. "You heard him, he asked to kiss you when we looked uncomfortable."

"Isn't that just him being a good friend? He knows how it would affect us."

"Keep telling yourself that," Haknyeon looks at her with suspicious eyes, before smiling lightly. "Isn't it a good thing, though?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for one - you have someone else who is attracted to you, always a good thing after a heartbreak," Haknyeon rhymes off the reasons, tapping his fingers as he holds then up. "Two, it doesn't have to be more than what it is, it's just a casual attraction - a pretty grown up thing."

Heiji shakes her head, there was no way she was going to be engaging in something 'casual' with anyone. That wasn't her style. 

"And three, you kissed someone," Haknyeon smiles. "Someone who wasn't him. Didn't that feel good?"

"No," Heiji replies bluntly. It wasn't terrible, but she remembered how two weeks ago she had came home and broke down straight after, the feeling of shame lingering on her lips whilst she thought of Sunwoo. "I was a mess, Hak."

He looks down at her, with a sad smile on his face, trying to make a positive out of her situation was hard - but he wanted her to see that there was light. "Exactly, you've been a mess over it for months now. Hyunjae won't be the only other boy you kiss. I know you probably don't like me saying that, but it's the truth. You'll move on eventually, Heiji, maybe just not now. There isn't any rush."

He pulls her in for a side hug. His words meant a lot to the girl, and for the first time in a while - she didn't feel like crying over the thought of Sunwoo. There was progress, slowly but surely. 

"I feel better, you know," she says quietly from beneath his arm. "I'm getting there. I will get there. I'm not rushing into anything, but I know after the first proper date or the first actual kiss with someone else, everything will become much easier, I'm just not holding out for that day."