I Choose You: Pt. 3
Jung Jaehyun x OC
g: friends with benefits au
summary: “more than friends, less than lovers.”, Jaehyun would remind himself all the time whenever he was with you. It started as a joke and for fun, always having in each other’s minds that there would definitely be no strings attached. what if one of you suddenly patches up the string and doesn’t want to let go?
requested? nope! pre-written ♥
a/n: suggestive content! you’ve been warned. also I’m so sorry this took a while for me to finish writing chapter three! I really forgot how I wanted to plot to be ugh but now I got the hang of it and Part 4 will be up soon, but not too soon :^)
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
He woke up to the sound of birds chirping by his windowsill and the light that shone over the side of his face, groaning lightly as he felt like his slumber was not enough. He sat up and moved to put his feet on the wooden floor of his bedroom, still feeling dazed as he kept blinking to try and wake himself up properly. He let out a sigh and slowly stood up to walk towards his kitchen, rubbing his face as he went before grabbing a glass of water
His phone rang from across the room, not really fazing him as he just continued on drinking his glass. The second time it rang, he just walked over to his side table to see who was calling. He wasn’t at all surprised as to who was calling
“What?” he said after a couple of seconds after answering
“Jaehyun, I’ve been trying to reach you five times!” the other person yelled from the other line
“No need to yell, Doyoung. It’s 8 in the morning and I have to get ready for work. What is it?”
“You’ll never guess who just came back.”
Jaehyun wasn’t expectant on who Doyoung meant, since he really wasn’t feeling like doing the guessing game that morning. He was all groggy from tossing and turning from his sleep the whole night, he even had times where he’d wake up suddenly at 3am in the morning for no particular reason. After blanking out for a few seconds, he gave up on trying to point out who Doyoung was referring to
“Okay, I give up. Who are you even talking about, and why should I be worried?” Jaehyun asked in a whine, scratching the side of his head as he walked over to his bathroom and to his sink
“Y/n came back from America.”
For some reason, Jaehyun was a mix of both being not so surprised and being slightly confused. It had already been two years and yet he still felt indifferent for whenever he could hear, or even remember your name. He took a deep breath and looked at himself at the mirror, grazing his bottom lip lightly with his teeth
“Are you guys planning a reunion?” he asked without hesitation, clearing his throat after
“She wanted to see all of us tomorrow night and I was wondering if-“
“She invited me?” Jaehyun cut Doyoung off, feeling slightly taken aback
“I mean, she told me to tell you and-“
“Only you?” Jaehyun cut him off again, making Doyoung slightly confused
“She hasn’t come back ever since we graduated college. She probably changed numbers and lost a few contacts.” Doyoung gulped as he tried to explain at least a good reason, when he didn’t even know himself why you only contacted Doyoung for the gathering
Jaehyun wanted to speak on why you didn’t even think about contacting him. In his mind, he was feeling irritated. But outside, he wanted to show he was unfazed.
“Alright. I’ll call you later. I gotta shower.” Jaehyun rubbed his face with his other hand as he responded
“Wait.”
“What?”
“1pm. Roadhouse café in Apgujeong.” Doyoung spoke directly without hesitance, confusing Jaehyun
“You know my lunch break is only an hour.” Jaehyun said in monotone
“Just go.” Doyoung immediately hung up the phone, not even saying goodbye to Jaehyun
Jaehyun looked at himself in the mirror one more time, feeling quite irritated. However he realized he didn’t really want to think much of it since he wanted to move on. And yet the more he tried to, the more he could only have recurring thoughts of you.
And he hated it.
-
Jaehyun didn’t really care much if he was going to be working undertime that day, so he decided to go to the café Doyoung had told him. He felt like he knew what was going to happen, what was coming, even who he might even see at the café with. Once he arrived, he just stood outside with his eyes in his pockets as his eyes scanned the whole area inside, to which his sight stopped as soon as he recognized you, with your back facing the entrance.
To him, you hadn’t changed. Maybe a haircut once every few months, but your locks were still the same as the last time he saw you. He felt nervous all of the sudden on whether he should go inside or just ditch the whole scenario, but he wanted to show he had already moved on. Even though nothing had happened beyond what you both had, he just really wanted to get on with it and leave the past behind.
He opened the café door and walked over to you, standing behind you and looking at you in wonder. You were busy checking your phone for messages, not realizing Jaehyun has been behind you for already a minute. He cleared his throat as if he was doing it naturally, making you turn slightly to see if the guest you were expecting had arrived—and yet you were in for a whole new surprise
“Jaehyun.” you gave a small smile, standing up from your seat as his eyes roamed from your eyes, downwards, then back up to you whilst the smile in his face hadn’t left the whole duration of you facing each other
“Been a while.” he spoke as he took a step towards you, making you suddenly take a step back yourself
“Ah, did Doyoung tell you?” you asked, trying to be civil with him
“Yes, he did. I’m not sure if he’s coming right now.” he looked at his watch before looking at you again, trying to show how he wasn’t fazed by the fact that you had met again after having no contact with each other for two years
“Actually, I asked for you to come. Only you.” you admitted, to which Jaehyun was quite surprised with your words as he walked over to the seat across from you
You both were quiet for a while ever since he arrived, him taking a couple of sips of his drink and you not even able to speak. You ended up looking at him the whole time as he tried to not look back, afraid he’d say something wrong. But he wanted to be direct and wanted to know why you left, why you came back,
Why you never told him what your plans actually were after graduation, leaving him all of the sudden without telling him where you were to go right after.
“So, how’s everyone?” you asked, trying to kill the silence
“Fine.” he nodded, crossing his arms
“Jaehyun, I came back because I wanted to say sorry.” you said directly without hesitation, in hopes you could just patch up things together
“Well, for what?” he coldly replied, making you somehow feel disappointed by his response
“I left all of the sudden. After the competition, you know how we only focused on finals so we could graduate. And now…” you paused, trying to get yourself together
“Now, what?”
“I just want us to get back to where it was before.”
Both of you went silent yet again, but Jaehyun couldn’t contain himself from feeling betrayed and pissed
“You know what’s funny? You’re the one who left without a word, and yet you come back out of nowhere without explaining what happened.”
Jaehyun had a point, and you felt nothing but guilty from your mind up to your gut. As much as you didn’t want to admit everything, you really had no choice but to do so
“Okay, listen carefully.” you sighed, leaning back on you seat with your hands fidgeting on the ends of your skirt, Jaehyun’s eyes fixated to you the whole duration without any some sort of movement from his own seat
“I wanted to leave because I was afraid of admitting the fact that I might have, well, fallen in love with you. I was given an opportunity to work abroad thanks to a relative. But as soon as I about to leave, I felt like it was wrong. It was so damn wrong, that I forgot how much you actually meant to me as I took a step inside that airplane. I wanted to run back out and just run back to you, but I knew you would still feel betrayed. It’s been a couple of years and I still think that was the dumbest reason for me to leave. We were just friends, very close friends. Friends that, you know, mess around. And the more we did, the more I actually grew feelings inside that it suddenly felt weird seeing you on a regular basis. Maybe I was scared? Or maybe I was just trying to not let things become harder for you. So I chose to leave in the end so I could answer for you.”
Oh how much Jaehyun wanted to scream as to why, of all times you could leave, was once he had also realized he may had felt the same. He has been feeling tense the whole time you explained and the more he tried to grip on your words, it felt like daggers from every corner trying to pass right through him. As much as he wanted to yell how much you actually meant to him, how much time he had spent trying to figure out where you went, how long he had waited for your return, how much he needed you to be there for him even if you both weren’t to advance into the next level in your so-called “friends with benefits” relationship.
How many pieces he had to put back from that so-called heartbreak he had never gotten before he had met you.
But all of that was shattered by one mistake you had done, and that was leave without a word.
“So why didn’t you tell me beforehand?” Jaehyun looked down, containing himself from the whole time from trying to walk out
“I was embarrassed.” you let out an exasperated sigh, looking at your hands that went shaky all of the sudden
“I just want to ask one more thing.” Jaehyun was again, hesitant on asking what had been on his mind lately, but he just wanted to know the truth after everything
“Did you use Yuta, just to make me jealous, at one point?”
“For the most part… yes.” you didn’t have the guts to look at him as soon as he looked at you whilst raising his head, slightly appalled but he also expected it either way
“Did you both…” Jaehyun paused, taking back his words
“Yes. And it was all because I wanted to get my mind off of you.”
That sentence itself, had already broken him for the second time. No, he probably thought it was one of the many times he had tried to move on but couldn’t. He had no choice, everything had already happened. The worst thing he could think of had happened. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, the fact that you both spent nights together made him feel like he wanted to have you all to himself, and him only.
But again, all of that was gone in just one go. One mistake made it more evident that it was likely over.
“I need to go back to work.” he stood up, grabbing his coffee as he was relieved to have it taken out, holding on to the already-cold beverage
You froze for a while as he stood up and took a few steps away, making you stand up immediately and turn to him even when his back was facing yours while he were to leave
“Are you coming tomorrow?” you asked out of the blue, making him pause for a minute and turn to you with a forced smile
“We’ll see.” he gave a light chuckle, turning again to walk away without even looking back to you
He got back to his workplace, as he only settled for a normal office job that he had been enduring for a year before he could resign. He walked in and took sips off of his coffee as if nothing had happened, not even getting any attention from his workmates, some of them your friends, who had no idea you both had met during lunch and that it made him late for work for almost an hour.
He got back to his cubicle and sat down, leaning back on his chair as he let out a sigh from tiredness, putting his hand over his forehead whilst letting his thumb massage one side of his temple as he closed his eyes. He opened his eyes slowly again after a while, looking at his computer screen to see if he had any work to do that could help him do an hour overtime to make up for his time at work. But in his mind, all the memories suddenly came back and made him pause from holding on to his computer mouse. He suddenly lost focus on what he were to do, as your name kept repeating in his mind. But again, his heart told him that what’s done, was done.
And all you both could do was move on and not look back, or else consequences were to arise.
