She kind of regrets not starting a relationship counseling service here, on Mount Phoenix. It’s nothing if not helpful to talk about problems out loud, especially with someone who has expertise in this area unlike fake love doctors that claim to know best.
Despite her exterior, she really does listen intently, taking a few moments to process all the new information given to her without saying a word. Aphrodite occasionally nods and hums at certain times, her fingers occupied with picking polish off her manicured nails.
It’s a complicated situation, no doubt, and she does figure it would just be easier to have him fall in love with someone else and call it a day– it would be a good solution for the broken heart, and the love would be real, but she can’t find it in her to use that until it becomes a last resort.
Aphrodite’s been forced into a lot; she can’t force someone else to fall in love now.
Especially not someone who is so young, who has so much to learn from heartbreak.
While he speaks, she gets up to get a cup of water from the fountain, handing it to him when he manages to choke up a little and taking her seat again, one leg crossed over the other as she takes a deep breath.
“Wow, that sounds like shit.” She starts by saying the obvious, almost to break the ice. Pulling her hair into a ponytail, she slips off her heels so she can cross her legs under her, shifting so she can have them on the chair as her arms cross over her chest.
“Okay, so what it sounds like is you had an expectation to have some kind of feelings for you, and that’s not to say that this guy doesn’t actually have feelings for you. But evidently they weren’t the ones that you had hoped to get from him? Stop me if I’m wrong.” Aphrodite scratches her neck, her eyes trained on the mirror behind her desk as she continues.
“Here’s the thing, though. You’re always going to get hurt if you’re the one feeling more strongly about someone than they feel about you. It’s just the way life goes, you know? Your feelings are absolutely valid, but don’t you also think it’s kind of unfair on him? Were you going to tell him about your feelings for him before you had to leave?”
Seokjin laughs mirthlessly. “Yeah, it is sh-shitty.” He hiccups on the swear but moves forward after a small sip of the water she gave him.
It’s more than shitty. It claws at him when he’s at school, at the grocery, at home. There is nearly nothing that he can do to make it stop clawing at him, and gods, he wishes there were. He can’t even enjoy his games without being abruptly reminded of Jungkook and having to power off the console.
He can’t even cook without thinking of Jungkook. The last time he saw him before he left replays in his mind every time, and he’s already been reduced to take-out for dinner three times this week.
He can barely drink coffee or look at flowers without being reminded of Jungkook’s mystery girlfriend.
Seokjin has nothing against her - who knows? She could be the sweetest thing to walk the earth, and she has no faults that he knows of besides dating Jungkook - but he never wants to meet her. Ever.
Seokjin sighs with a wobbly smile. “I suppose,” he warbles. “I seem to impose my own thoughts on people without realizing it.” Things end up drastically different from what he anticipated.
He straightens his back. “I mean. I was going to tell him. Eventually.” He shakes his head. “No, not eventually. I had been planning on telling him two days after Christmas. So if he didn’t like me, Christmas wouldn’t be ruined for the both of us, but if he did - I was so sure he did, at least enough to want to date me even if it wasn’t as much as I liked him - then it would be close enough to be magical and romantic, and before New Year’s. And we’d maybe have a New Year’s kiss.” Seokjin looks down at his clasped hands. “I was thinking of inviting him over for lunch or something, something I’d make, and tell him during dessert. I don’t know. I should’ve contacted him, at least after my father stabilised and I was thinking more clearly, and explained everything, but I didn’t and I only have myself to blame for that.”
