"You're late. Again."

You smiled as you sat down opposite the boy, but it wasn't as bright as usual. "Yeah, I guess I just like annoying you."

He was quiet for a moment. "Do you remember this place?"

Your smile fell. "Our first date."

It was the same secluded area in the same diner where he had brought you for your first date, and it was nighttime. The place was dimly lit by candlelight.

He nodded slowly, lost in thought. "Yes." A sigh escaped his lips, and something about his vulnerable expression told you he was no the same Taehyung from before. He was different—he was raw, stripped bare of his classy charm. "I wanted to..." He trailed off, looking away. "I wanted to tell you..."

You pursed your lips, sad eyes skimming over his lost-looking face. Even after all he had done, you felt sympathy towards the boy. Though he had done worse things in his life, you knew that this situation was unfamiliar to him. He was vulnerable, scared.

"I talked to Lee," you said, before he could say anything else. "I thought you should know that."

His face turned somber, and he sat up straighter in his chair. "She told you."

You didn't reply, but the expression on your face must have been confirmation enough.

Taehyung nodded slowly, comprehending, though his features were tightened in pain. His hand rested on the table, the other in his coat pocket, where the box containing the ring was. One decision, one opportunity, right in front of him. One chance, one choice that could change his life.

If he chose right.

"I'm sorry," he whispered hoarsely, and your jaw tightened. "I didn't mean to hurt you—not, uh, not in the way I did."

You almost scoffed, but stopped yourself. "She said you were trying to protect me. I'm sorry for what I did, Taehyung, I really am, but that just seems very counter-intentional to me."

"No, she was right. In a way." He hesitated. "Stop me if I get too personal, but-well. When I was your—" he swallowed— "your boyfriend, I saw more of you than anyone else did. Even more than Jimin did." There was discomfort in his expression, and you pulled away. "I noticed you, noticed things that no one else would have seen. Whenever you talked about him, or your family, I saw it."

It. One word, so many implications.

"I noticed the little changes in your behaviour, the sadness, the cracks in your bright façade that even you didn't know you had on." He frowned. "I thought I would be able to help you. That we would fight it together, you know? I was so hopeful, and so happy, because this was my first real relationship since—" He broke off, but you knew he was talking about Lee. "And then she happened."

You focused on him, not speaking a word. "I was so scared when I saw her," Taehyung continued, looking down at his hands. "I thought she would tell you, and you would hate me forever. And if you hated me, how could I help you? For the first time in my life, Y/N, I cared about someone more than I did about myself." He shook his head. "I grew to hate myself, even if what I had done was in the past. It was then that I decided that you would be better off in someone else's hands."

"What are you talking about?" Your voice was sharp, cutting.

"Jimin," he stated firmly. "I knew that you two cared for each other, but I didn't know the extent of it. I thought that if-that if I made you leave me, then he would come to you. And help you. My methods were horrible and crass but—" He raised his hands, looking like he didn't know how to say it. "I thought you would believe that I had cheated on you, because that's what everyone had been telling you. If you doubted me, then you would grow to hate me in a way that didn't make you blame yourself. So I did." He shrugged, helpless.

Closing your eyes, you tipped your head back. Guilt gnawed at your mind, even as you wondered whether he was telling the truth or not. But he was, and deep down, you knew it. Taehyung was a lot of things, but a deceiver wasn't one of them.

"You weren't cheating on me?" you asked, tone rough and lost.

"No," he said, biting his lip. "Not until the day I did. To complete the, the deception." He smiled weakly.

You blinked the tears out of your eyes. "I don't forgive you."

"Forgive and forget." He tried to smile a little. "Guess your dad didn't really teach you well, huh?"

You smiled slightly, sadly. "I never knew my dad."

His already weak smile faltered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." You shrugged. "It's not your fault."

His next words were hesitant. "Did he..."

"Die? No." You shook your head, the memories too familiar to even be painful. "When he accidentally got my mom pregnant, after promising her he would never leave her, he...did. He was just...gone." Taehyung's eyes softened as you smiled ruefully. "I guess that's why my mom was always overprotective...and having never been exposed to the world, I guess I was just too eager to get out."

"I can see that."

You shrugged. "I guess that's why I was so smitten with you. Well, the only thing I'm glad about is that the two of you are educated about condoms."

"I'm glad about that, too." Taehyung pursed his lips into a smile. "God, I'm sorry."

"You couldn't help it." You reached over, placing your hand on his,resting in the table. "And you're getting so much better, Tae. You're learning, you're learning every day—you just have to keep at it."

He raised his eyebrows at you, but there was no asperity in his tone. "But you still don't forgive me."

"Healing takes time. No matter what your intentions were, it's not easy for me to get over that quickly," you said.

He didn't reply.

"Taehyung, look," you said, making him turn to you reluctantly. "No one is bad just for the heck of it. No one's a villain—not me, not you, not Lee, and Jimin..." Your voice cracked. "...Jimin..."

Taehyung breathed in, taking in he brokenness of your expression and the warmth of your hand on his. "You love him."

It was not a question.

You leaned back heavily, biting your lip. "I don't know," you confessed, lips trembling as he watched them. "I don't know, and that's the problem."

He licked his lips, blank, feeling the velvety cover of the box under his fingertips, a heavy numbness spreading through him. One choice. "But you can."

Slowly, you nodded. "I can't hurt him," you whispered. "I tried to tell him, once. I tried to apologize, to say that if I tried..." Shaking you head, you sighed. "If we tried, we could figure things out. But he didn't even answer. He's been avoiding me for days. He even left the apartment, living out with some guy I don't even know the name of."

He was quiet.

"I think he wants to stay away," you whispered, looking at the candle's flickering flame. "I don't really blame him. Maybe it's best if he stays away from me."

Taehyung felt like he was drowning; he didn't know what to do, and he couldn't see the surface. "Y/N, I—"

Your phone ting-ed.

Your eyes flickered to the device on the table, and you retracted your hand, giving him an apologetic look as you opened the message. Immediately, he felt the chill against his skin.

The screen was lying in the middle, visible to both of you as you clicked open the text.

JUNGKOOK:

Jimin

JUNGKOOK:

he's at the airport

Your wide eyes flickered to Taehyung's, fixed blankly on your phone screen. Your pulse was pounding in your throat, blood rushing in your head as he slowly looked away, into your eyes.

You could feel your heart punching against your ribs.

Without realizing it, you were trembling.

"Still want him to stay away?" Taehyung cocked his head to the side, with wide, poignant eyes. There was an ache flaring in your chest, pulling you under. Panic and fear. Fear and panic.

You released your breath slowly. Indecisive, you glanced at him, but he didn't speak further.

Taehyung swallowed harshly, his gaze fixed on yours. He could feel your rush, your indecisiveness, your vulnerability.

He could feel the coldness of the ring's metal against his fingertips.

He could feel his heart strain against his ribs.

One choice.

"Go."

You blinked, thrown off guard.

"Don't worry." Taehyung smiled ruefully, straightening. "Go."

He had to learn, right? And that included letting go.

Your eyes softened as the barely contained pain in his voice. You stood, cupping his face, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead, his eyes fluttering shut at your touch. One last time.

"I'm sorry," you whispered, before stripping off your heels and running out.