Eunji spent the next week working. She served her internship from Monday to Thursday. At home, she slept, studied English, and scrolled around on her phone—a stark contrast to last week, when she'd been constantly out, either with Namjoon or her friends.

Her parents had found it strange that she had been busy all week last week, but was now constantly in her room like a hermit. Eunji couldn't blame them—she would've been concerned as well, for her mental state. Her parents voiced their concerns over a dinner of bulgogi, kimchi, and rice.

"What's happened?" said her mother. 

"Nothing's happened," she replied.

"Last week, you were constantly out with friends, but now you're constantly in. While we appreciate you working, we also don't want...January to happen again."

"It's nothing to worry about," Eunji said defensively. "I'm fine. Yerim had her birthday party last week, and you know she always makes it a big deal." She really did have a friend called Yerim who threw magnificent parties to celebrate her trips around the sun, but her birthday was all the way in November.

"All right, Eunji." Her mother sighed. "Could you pass me the kimchi?"

After dinner, Eunji retired to her room and picked up her phone. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw a slew of text messages from Namjoon, all along the lines of I hope you're doing okay.

She had to put down her phone. No one had ever cared about her like this; no one had ever sent her text messages like this. It was the first time she'd been cared for in this manner. Neither Sumi nor Eunji's parents had ever shown this care to her—to see these words, addressed to her, was a relief like getting an A on an exam that you stressed about for days. Seokjin, her therapist, had made her want to survive, but Namjoon made her want to thrive.

But it was too early in their friendship to tell him this, so Eunji replied, I'm doing fine, thank you.

This would have to do.

Her internal monologue, however, had revealed something quite alarming—alarming to her, at least. Eunji knew she shouldn't have been feeling this way towards Namjoon, and yet she was. She'd agreed to further their friendship, and that had come with unforeseen consequences.

The decision was made—Eunji wouldn't be dating Namjoon, no matter how much her heart wanted him. Once the dopamine and serotonin wore off after three months, he would leave her and she'd be heartbroken all over again.

And, besides, who would want to date her? Best to not burden Namjoon with her depression. He had his own problems; why make him manage hers, too? Namjoon could do so much better.

Eunji picked up the phone again and eyed the messages. Impulsively, she deleted his contact. 'Kim Namjoon' became a string of numbers on her phone. She also deleted their conversation for good measure.

Next, she considered blocking Namjoon on Twitter and Instagram, but decided against it, opting to mute him instead.

Once the deed was done, Eunji called her best friend, purely for advice. Maybe Sumi wasn't an expert on relationships, but she could at least offer some help.

Thankfully, she picked up. "Annyeonghaseyo!" she said brightly.

"I need help," said Eunji.

"How may I be of service?"

"There's a guy—"

"Is it Namjoon?" Sumi interjected.

"Yes."

"Do you like him?"

No answer.

"You like him!" Eunji could hear her smile. "Hold on."

"What?" Eunji said, taking the phone from her ear. Her best friend's face popped up on the screen. "I like him," she continued. "But..."

"If you like him, date him," said Sumi matter-of-factly.

"There's so much more to consider," Eunji said. "Like, I can't just date him. He has enough problems in his life already. I can't push mine onto him. And besides, who would want to date...me?"

"Elaborate," she replied, and Eunji told her an abbreviated summary of the songs, the picnic, and the cookie incident.

A pause. "Eunji-ssi," said Sumi quietly. "I hate to be so blunt, but you have such low self-esteem. I know what happened to make you feel this way, but open. Your. Eyes. Namjoon likes you. I don't know what's happened, or how well you two know each other, but I can see what's going on. And besides, he showed you his innermost thoughts. I don't think he would've readily shown those songs to any other girl."

"You have a point," said Eunji. "But what if I'm mistaken and he doesn't like me back?"

"Eunji," Sumi said. "How about this: If you're still uncertain, schedule a meet-up with him again, face-to-face, and watch his behavior around you. You think you can do that?"

"About that...I may or may not have deleted his number."

Sumi sighed loudly. "You, ma'am, are a special brand of stupid."

a/n: it's prolly my low self esteem but this chapter is so?? bland?? idk but it'll pick up soon y'all

as always, please vote & comment.