Chapter 27 - Heartbreak

*Narrator Perspective* 7:00 p.m., Thursday night


After Jin found out that Taehyung and Irene were dating, he asked Jisoo if she would like to hang out and go on a date with him. In simple terms, she was ecstatic. They went to this restaurant for their fourth date and as they were eating, Irene entered the restaurant. Jin tried his best not to make eye contact with her and minded his own business. Around ten minutes later, he noticed Irene shouting at Taehyung that they were over and then storm out of the restaurant. Without excusing himself, he ran right after Irene without a second thought. She makes her way to the subway station and as the train is about to leave, he squeezes his way through the doors. He could tell that she was shocked through the tears that were begging to fall out of her eyes. The two get off at their stop and Jin leads her into his dorm. Luckily it was empty so nobody could hear her if she broke down or something. She situated herself on the floor, leaning on the couch behind her. Jin sits next to her and starts talking after a few moments of silence.


"So, do you want to talk about it?" Jin quietly asks.


"No." she replies.


Irene wasn't even sad, in fact, she was proud of herself for breaking things off. But tears started to form regardless whether they were happy tears or sad tears. Jin automatically put her head on his shoulder and let her cry it all out.


"I can't believe he would do such a thing." Irene says in between her cries.


"I know. I know." he pats her head gently.


They spend the rest of the night snuggled up in a blanket with snacks and watching k-dramas on the couch.


*1 month later*


Irene had fallen deeper and deeper in love with Jin as the days went by. She had finally worked up all her courage to ask him out on a date. Irene called him to meet up at the rooftop of the dorm building and looked out, waiting for him to arrive.


"Um, why did you call me up here?" Jin interrupts.


"Oh, I wanted to tell you something." Irene turns around from the ledge like in a drama.


"Ok." he replies.


"So, you know how I broke up with Taehyung around a month ago, right?" he nods his head. "Well, I think it's time for me to move on."


"Good for you." he smiles.


"No, I mean, would you want to go out with me sometime?" Irene cringes off to the side waiting for a response. A few minutes of silence pass by and then he replies.


"I'm sorry, but I have been dating Jisoo for some time now, and I'm happy with her. I'm sorry if you thought otherwise." he tells her. Secretly, Jin wanted to agree to the date, but he just felt that she was using him as a rebound to make her feel in a relationship again.


"Yeah, I get it. It's fine." she shyly says and then fidgets with her fingers.


"And, not to be rude, but don't you think you're moving on a little fast?" he asks her.


"You know what, I didn't want to tell you before, but I never loved Taehyung. I never wanted to date him. I never wanted him to be my first boyfriend. I never was sad that he cheated on me. I didn't care about anything he did. My birthday passed, and he didn't even care! I got all dressed up, but he didn't even meet up with me that day." she exclaims. "I never had a crush on anyone, until college started. And guess what, it was you." she quiets her voice at the last sentence, stares at him in disbelief and hurt, then leaves, covered in tears.


Jin sighs and wipes his face with his hands before leaving the rooftop as well. He thought that he was too late and that she wouldn't want to listen to him anyways. He decided to continue going on dates with Jisoo to see if they had a connection, but as he expected, it was only one-sided.


He didn't realize how much he took Irene and his relationship for granted and how much he needed it until she broke off all connections. They hadn't talked since that moment, except for partner projects and whenever Jin tried to talk to her alone, she would just dodge him and walk away or change the subject quickly.


Irene felt heartbroken, and she never knew what this felt like, so this was the only way she could cope with these feelings. Her friends helped her through these emotions, but they didn't know what she was thinking or how she was exactly feeling, so they couldn't help much in the end.


Every night, Irene would go to bed thinking what would be happening if Jin had taken her confession. She would then wake up thinking of all the reasons as to why he would say no. Every day, she would try to put on a cute outfit to impress him, or flirt with guys when he was around to make him jealous.


When she got back to her dorm, she would tell herself that if what she did that day didn't work, she would just give up. But did she? No. She kept on trying until she tired herself out. It was now the last week of sophomore year and she just wanted the year to be over and go home and forget about Jin until the next year came.

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