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Yuk Junghwan’s tourney ended well even though the Park twins didn’t win. They won bronze and that’s all that matters. Taeyang got injured and it would’ve been too much for Taejun to play the final match alone.
They returned to the dorms after their vacation and everyone was gathered in the boys' dorm. They were eating snacks while watching some random match on the tv.
“Oh, you guys are back already?” Seungwoo asks as he stops massaging Youngsim’s leg.
“Yes. We both thought that we shouldn’t be off for too long since we’ll get out of shape. It’s not like we won gold at the tourney,” Taeyang answers while standing behind Taejun. She, of course, felt like she wasn’t welcomed, but Seungwoo was the only person other than Taejun, to whom she can speak normally.
“Exactly. What did you guys even do to deserve the vacation?” Dongwan speaks up, annoyed for some odd reason.
“We worked hard to get to the semi-finals. I’m pretty sure we did enough to deserve a week-long vacation. We didn’t win gold but getting there was hard for us,” Taejun says, trying to contain his anger.
“Park Taeyang. Why didn’t you just bribe them? That way you could’ve won,”
“Hey! Don’t you think you’ve gone a bit far,” Taejun asks, getting closer to Dongwan.
“Hey? Did you just call me ‘Hey’? That’s not how you speak to a senior,”
“Then act like one. What gives you the right to say that? Because you’re her senior? Because she’s an outcast here? Taeyang has worked harder than anyone here the second she joined. She got calluses on her hand while you guys were busy watching some dumb match and drinking. While she ran a whole marathon, you guys were laughing at how gullible she was,”
Taejun lost his cool and went off on Dongwan. Putting up with it for a week was too long. He needed to put him back in his place and tell him that he has no right whatsoever to say that to Taeyang.
“What does this even have to do with you? You guys met each other a week ago and you act like you’ve known each other for years. Oh, did she bribe you to be friends with her?” Dongwan earned a punch on the face the second those words came out of his mouth.
“She’s my perdona! Got a problem with that?” Taejun yelled as he held onto his fist, trying to stop himself from doing anything more.
Dongwan stayed on the floor, holding his cheek, afraid to speak in case he’d get another punch on the face. The rest could only watch. They couldn't risk getting hit by Taejun.
“Taejun- ah, stop. Let’s just leave,” Taeyang’s voice could be heard saying as she tugged at Taejun’s sleeve.
Taejun turns around and looks Taeyang in the eye. He could see that she wanted to leave this place. That she wanted to be anywhere but here.
“Come on,” he says as he grabs her hand and drags her out of the dorm.
They’re in some random park, walking in silence. Their hands are still clasped together and none of them dared to pull away.
“Taejun- ah. Can we sit down? I’m tired,”
“We can. I totally forgot that you injured yourself. Here. Sit down,” he says as he slowly drags her towards the bench a few steps ahead of them.
They sit down and pull their hands apart. Taejun is sad at the sudden loss of her hand and the warmth it was providing.
“Taejun-ah,”
“Taeyang-ah,”
They call out to each other at the same time.
“You go first,” they both say.
They stare at each other, not sure of what to do.
“You speak first,” Taejun suggests as he fixes his position to face her.
“Doesn’t it hurt?” she asks.
“What?”
“Your hand. You punched him pretty hard and now it’s red,” she points out as she moves her hand back onto his.
‘Don’t think too much. She’s just concerned. She doesn’t like you,’ he tells himself as her skin makes contact with his.
“It hurts. Will you put ointment on it for me?”
“Let me go buy one,” she says as she gets up to buy the things she needs to stop his hand from hurting.
“No. I’ll go. You sit here. You injured your leg,” Taejun pushes her back onto the bench as he jogs away, not giving her a chance to refuse his offer.
He returns with ointment and bandages in a few minutes but notices her on the bench. Elbows on her knees and her hands are covering her face.
He slowly gets closer and realizes that she’s crying.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” he rushes over and holds her by the arms.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she apologizes to him, but he doesn’t seem to understand. What did she do to apologize to him?
“What are you sorry for? You did nothing wrong,” he does his best to comfort her and stop her from crying.
He pulls her in for a hug while constantly whispering that she did nothing wrong and that she shouldn’t be the one apologizing.
She calms down and slowly pulls herself out of his embrace.
“Are you okay now?” he asks, hands on her face, wiping her tears.
“Yea,” she answers him in a low voice, a bit embarrassed about what just happened.
She looks up and sees him staring right at her. They maintain eye contact for a moment and Taejun realizes the position they were in. He quickly pulls his hands away from her face.
“Sorry. I was just-” he was cut off by a pair of lips that he has fantasized about kissing from the very first meeting. Her hand grabbed a fistful of his collar and she continued to kiss him while he went along with it.
He gives in and is not afraid to kiss back. They kiss gently and Taejun’s hands move up to cup her cheek.
They slowly pull away and just breathe in each other’s presence.
“What was that for?” Taejun asks her in a low voice, still not moving away.
“Sorry. I didn’t think it through. I use my body, not my brain, remember?”
“Of course, I remember. How can I forget anything related to you?”
“ I like you, Taejun-ah. Let’s go out,” she confesses, grip tightening on his collar, afraid he might say no.
“ You don't have to say that twice,” he tells her before pulling her in for another kiss.
They kiss again, pouring out all their feelings for each other.
“I won’t let anyone treat you like that ever again,” he mentions as Taeyang puts the ointment on his hand.
“You should also tell me if he gives you a hard time because of today. I’ll beat him up if he does,”
They promise to protect each other from now on and treat each other well.
They were each other's perdonas after all