By the time Eunha was heading back home, it had stopped snowing. With her umbrella held in one hand and a plastic bag in the other, she walked quickly, wanting to get home as soon as possible. She'd stopped by the convenience store shortly to buy some ramen since she didn't feel like cooking anything. She felt rather emotionally and physically drained, and at times like this, Eunha wished she had a car so she wouldn't have to walk all the time. Well, her father did own a car but that was his car. She didn't know how to drive anyway.

Eunha saw her house in the distance and felt relieved, knowing she was just seconds away from her bed. As she wearily walked closer, she noticed Taehyung sitting on the porch, holding a cigarette between his fingers gracefully. He was dressed in a brown blazer and matching pants, wearing a lilac dress shirt underneath with a spotted tie loosely hanging around his neck. Smoke blew out of his mouth as his glazed eyes stared into the distance, seemingly lost in thought.

He looked as fancy as ever, charming and elegant. Eunha's pace slowed down as she took in the sight of him. She wished she looked half as beautiful as Taehyung did. She wished she could wear clothes like that; an expensive suit, a stunning gown, high heels, anything. She wasn't born rich, but she also didn't consider herself beautiful. She thought it was unfair. She deserved to be at least one of the two things. Even though the clothes did not originally belong to him, Taehyung had the looks. He could totally bluff about being rich and anyone would believe him.

Then she remembered last night and realized she had stopped walking. Letting out a heavy sigh, she tried to shake off the feeling as she continued towards the porch. How had he said those words so bashfully without considering how she would feel? Taehyung was just as cruel as he was beautiful. But Eunha wasn't necessarily mad at him. It wasn't their first time having a moment like that anyway. It was almost too usual for them to be gnashing their teeth at each other. Eunha often lost her temper with him too, but they would always go back to acting like everything was normal.

When she was close enough to be visible in his peripheral vision, Taehyung looked up, his eyes focusing on Eunha's thin figure.

"Hey," He greeted weakly. "Where were you?"

"At my job," she answered unenthusiastically, sending him an absent glance.

"Oh, you got one already?" He asked, his lips etching into an awkward smile.

"Yeah. Where's Jungkook?"

Taehyung grumbled something incoherent under his breath before answering.

"In bed,"

He stubbed out his unfinished cigarette, waving the smoke away with his hand. Eunha hated cigarette smoke.

"Already? It's barely 7 pm," she uttered, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"He said he was tired. When I asked him what was wrong, he got all annoyed so I just let him be," Taehyung explained with a sour expression as if talking about Jungkook was leaving a bad taste on his tongue. Eunha believed the bad taste was because of his damned cigs.

"I'll go check up on him,"

"Eunha, can you sit with me for a while first?" Taehyung blurted, grabbing her wrist before she could walk away. Eunha's eyes glanced down at where Taehyung's fingers wrapped themselves around her fragile wrist before they moved back to his face, and she tried not to glare.

"No, Tae, it's cold, you should come inside too,"

"Please?" He added ever so softly, looking up at Eunha with pleading eyes. She contemplated for a moment before sighing and dropping the umbrella along with the plastic bag on the porch as she settled down next to Taehyung.

"Why are we sitting here anyway?" Eunha pondered, looking at the familiar scenery before her with a bored expression.

"Because it's comfortable. Let's sky-gaze?" Taehyung leaned closer and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him. Eunha didn't protest as he practically forced her to cuddle into him. She loved his sweet scent and the warmth of his body, but she would never admit that to Taehyung.

"I think the concept is star-gazing," she corrected, sending him an unimpressed glance.

"Yes, we can sky-gaze until the stars come up and then we can star-gaze too," Taehyung said.

"You sound ridiculous,"

"Not as ridiculous as you look,"

"What's wrong with the way I look?" Eunha cried, her hands reaching up to flatten her hair as if on cue. She wiped at her face arbitrarily just in case there was something stuck to her face that Taehyung hadn't pointed out before because he thought it'd be funny.

"Nothing's wrong, dummy, I'm just messing with you," Taehyung chuckled, grabbing her hand and placing it down on his lap. "You look perfect." He added as he placed his hand on top of hers, her small hand almost disappearing under his long fingers.

"You're such an ass." Eunha grimaced, earning an unappreciated grin from Taehyung.

She let out a soft sigh as she felt Taehyung intertwine his fingers with hers. She knew what was coming next. She didn't want to have this conversation. It was like bad déjà vu.

"I hurt you again, didn't I?" Taehyung spoke, disturbing the stillness of the evening and the silence that came with it.

"What?" Eunha feigned being oblivious.

"I'm talking about last night," He clarified, his voice deep and cautious.

"I forgot about it already." Eunha lied, feeling edgy.

"I'm sorry," Taehyung sighed and even though she wasn't looking at his face, the strain in his voice told Eunha that his eyebrows were knitted together and he had squeezed his eyes shut.

"It's fine," she told him quietly as she watched the setting sun, a sight she had loved since childhood. "Look." She pointed towards the sun, trying to change the topic. Taehyung's eyes followed her finger's direction, landing on the orange hue.

"It's almost set. Another's day's passed." She heard Taehyung whisper then ask. "How many more days do you think will come and go before it's all over?"

"I don't know, but I hope the world keeps turning until both of us find happiness," Eunha said, her eyes transfixed on the fading sunlight.

"It might have to go on forever then,"

"Don't be so hopeless. Things will change one day. Life is all about change." Eunha stated confidently.

"Sure." Taehyung said but he sounded just as disheartened as ever. They both sat in silence again, watching the sun until it completely disappeared from view and darkness started to spread, the orange hue melting into a charcoal grey color that would eventually deepen into a black one.

"Hey, Eunha," Taehyung's voice pierced the thick silence once again and Eunha realized she was slightly shivering. It was so cold. What were they doing still sitting outside?

"Hmm?"

"I know you don't want me to keep bringing it up again and again but I just want to clarify," Taehyung cleared his throat. "all I meant by last night was that you should accept the truth instead of so desperately trying to fool yourself. Your parents did you dirty. Your sister ran away and left you behind. It's a fact. Don't try to justify their shitty behaviors. Don't tell yourself they're good people when they're not. You said yourself that accepting is healing, remember? If you don't accept the reality, you won't be able to heal from it." When he was finished with his premeditated speech, Eunha just stared at him for a moment before looking away with a bitter smile, slightly disappointed and annoyed that she was a part of this conversation.

"Hypocrite." She muttered, turning her head away.

"You can call me whatever names you want but you need to stop defending your parents instead of seeing them as the villains they are."

"Everyone's a villain in somebody's story, Taehyung," Eunha sighed, removing his arm from around her shoulders. She noticed his expression dull at the action. "You and I are not pure victims of mistreatment. We must've been a bad person at some point too. Maybe this is all karma. Maybe this is just a punishment for being a useless daughter, a disappointment, a failure." She shrugged.

"You are not a failure." Taehyung scowled. At that, Eunha let out a laugh, shaking her head.

"It's funny how you don't believe that yourself but expect me to believe it," Eunha said as she suppressed a sarcastic smile. For a moment, Taehyung seemed offended. Then he looked away, visibly annoyed, but stayed quiet as he poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue. Obviously, he couldn't argue with that.

Eunha continued. "I'm just saying maybe it's fair. I did not live up to their expectations. I let them down so they let me down in return."

"But that's not how it works. They're supposed to be your parents!" Taehyung pressed, sounding agitated. Eunha thought it was an absurd sight; him trying to save her by saying things he did not and would not believe for himself. "You're not their slave. You're your own person, Eunha. You are allowed to live however you want. You shouldn't have to follow everything they want you to do. You have your own dreams and desires. You're not a bad person for wanting to be who you are. If they loved you, they would understand that!"

"You're right, they don't love me, but I don't love them much either. I don't think I care much anymore. But I still don't want to hate them."

"Why not?"

"Because hating them wouldn't make them feel bad or love me." Eunha insinuated. "You walk around with grudges on your shoulders and that's why you poison everything you come in contact with. Let it go, Taehyung. Lately, I feel like there's no point in holding onto one's misery."

"It's not that easy. You don't understand." Taehyung deadpanned and Eunha felt him suddenly pull back like a powerhouse shutting down. He was refusing to listen like usual.

"I wonder if we ever will understand each other." Eunha thought out loud but Taehyung did not respond. Of course, the conversation was over the moment they start talking about him. He was such a hypocrite, but Eunha knew that she was not much different.

"Are you sure Jungkook isn't ill?" she asked. Her mind was still curious about why Jungkook was in bed so early. He would usually watch TV or scroll on his phone.

"I don't know. He was having some breathing problem in the morning, maybe he's still not feeling well," Taehyung shrugged.

"What? And you're telling me that now?" Eunha panicked. "I should have checked up on him when I came back." With that said, she got up immediately, collected her umbrella and plastic bag from the porch, and walked towards the door.

"What if he's already dead?"

"Taehyung! Why would you say that?!" She let out a loud gasp as she turned around to stare at him with her mouth wide open. "Don't ever say that again!"

Taehyung smirked as he watched Eunha turn back and hurry into the house, likely heading straight to his room. His gaze shifted back to the darkening sky as he contemplated smoking another cig since he hadn't gotten to finish his last one. To his disappointment, the stars he had anticipated seeing were nowhere to be found; the clouds had covered them completely, hiding them away from the naked eye.

Taehyung could hear Eunha shouting inside the house, asking Jungkook if he was really okay, if he was feeling sick, and if he had eaten something yet or not. He felt a tinge of jealousy erupt in his chest and told himself it was childish. There was nothing to be jealous about. But then again, this strange boy had shown up in their lives out of nowhere and Eunha was caring so much for him. Taehyung felt annoyed at the thought. What had Jungkook even done to deserve her kindness? But he knew that he also wasn't very deserving of her affection, yet she readily gave it to him like he had always owned it. He reasoned that it was just Lee Eunha's nature. She truly was the biggest empath he had ever known.

He could hear Jungkook's voice from the living room, asking if Taehyung had left for good. Eunha was laughing at Jungkook's remarks about celebrating getting rid of the "buzzkill for a human" and making more nasty comments about Taehyung's personality. Before Taehyung could react and go inside to fight with Jungkook, he heard a sudden thud followed by a groan. Eunha's laughter grew even louder. Jungkook had stubbed his toe.

"Jeon Jungkook...such a lackey," Taehyung mumbled to himself, feeling half annoyed and half curious about the somewhat amusing brunette.

______________________

A/N: Summer just started and I already want it to end.