Once Noeul broke away from her embrace, Rory watched him for a second, wondering if what he’d done had been really that bad or if he was overreacting, causing him to get all frustrated and upset, like it had happened a few times in the past. Yet, she let him pace around her kitchen, talking, letting it all out without interruptions. As he continued doing so, Rory made her way to her fridge to grab herself a glass of water and as she returned to her previous spot, the teapot whistled on the stove, so she turned it off and poured the hot water into the two mugs that she had set aside with the tea bags for them, feeling as the chamomile scent filled the kitchen, bringing a smile to her lips. Even though she wasn’t the biggest fan or teas, in fact, she could only drink chamomile in extreme cases such as these, and also, hibiscus tea because she liked its bitter taste… especially when it was mixed with strawberries. Her main love remained being coffee though.
Although she didn’t know this Taemin person, he seemed to have pulled a number on Noeul… however, as innocent as her friend was, it was about time he figured out what he wanted. He was in doubt about his school classes, in doubt about this guy, in doubt about whatever else. Granted, Rory could never be too harsh on him… maybe that was the problem…? Still paying attention to what he was saying, she walked towards Noeul and handed him one of the coffee mugs (his favorite around the house, actually, and the one he had claimed as his so many years ago). Biting softly on her bottom lip, she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and then climbed onto one of the stools, taking a seat and blowing into the tea as she let it steep for a while, her half-drunk glass of water already neglected by the sink. “Okay… let me see if I got it.” She said, once Noeul seemed to be done talking. “There’s this guy who flirts with everyone, including you, who, also stopped doing it when you asked him to. Except not really because he kept making flirty comments towards you…” Rory paused, her gaze moving towards Noeul’s direction to check if she was retelling the story correctly.
What else had he said? Ah… “He said he wanted to kiss you and he did… so you left. And now you’re here.” Arching one brow, Rory waited a few seconds before she continued talking. “What did he say when you asked why did he flirt with you?” Not only was Rory genuinely curious about this reply because it was probably going to be something really stupid, cheesy and typical of what a fuckboy would say, but also, she wanted to understand what had happened to put Noeul under so much distress. “He said he wanted to kiss me, too. Did you mean it as in–something he had also said, or did you say you wanted to kiss him?” Because these two things could mean different things when seen by different angles. “Why did he confuse you really, Noeul? I mean… for all I know, he’s just some fuckboy who’s attracted to you and went for it. I mean… it’s not like you’ve been single all your life. You’ve dated before. You know it’s perfectly possible for someone to be attracted to you, so what’s so different about this guy?” She questioned as she set her tea bag aside and once again, blew into her mug before trying to take a sip on it. “Did you like the kiss?”
Noeul knew that Rory could never judge him too harshly. Perhaps that was why he decided to come here in the first place and tell her everything --- because she’d listen, and wouldn’t interrupt him, and would make him think in a way that he actually needed. Whereas his siblings .... while he loved them to death, they just didn’t treat him the same way: they babied him too much, thought that forcing him to do the things that made him uncomfortable would somehow make him more comfortable, and didn’t really give him advice that he felt as though he could follow. Even though he would probably tell them eventually, about all of this, because there was no way that he couldn’t, he wanted to prolong it for as long as possible and felt glad to get the events of the night off of his chest to someone who’d be sensible when he was just too scatterbrained. Reaching forward to grab the mug that he was offered, a small smile came to his lips despite the moment upon noticing that it was his, and he held it between both hands. He let the warmness radiate through his sweatshirt and to his palms for a second or two before blowing over the tea and deciding to take a tiny sip, so as to not burn his tongue too much. And he continued to distract himself, with tiny sips that were still steaming hot anyways, as she said everything back to him.
Of course, coming from her, it made the situation sound so stupid. He knew it would. But instead of getting so caught up in how ridiculous he was, he tried to focus on one piece of the puzzle at a time --- one of the various questions that she threw at him, before anything else. “I meant --- he wanted to - to kiss me, as well. Not ------ I didn’t say that.” Honestly, it baffled him to think that Rory thought he would say something like that to begin with, but nevertheless he moved on. “But, um .... I - I don’t really remember, all of what he said. Like --- I don’t know his words, but he .... uh - he kept saying, how - how attractive I was. That he found me attractive and --- just because he flirts with .... o-other people, doesn’t mean that it’s not real? Or ------ genuine, I - I think he said.” He took another sip, the drink cooled down enough in the interval that he spent talking to where he could take larger sips without immediately pulling away from the heat. Next, came one of the harder questions: just why he was so confused. It didn’t have anything to do with the fact that Taemin thought he was attractive, at least not this time, although he could admit that it did play a part at first. But then the conversation escalated and he grew more and more panicked, and everything about Taemin in that moment had him thinking way too hard.
What’s so different about this guy? Rory’s voice replayed in his head, and he furrowed his eyebrows. What was so different about Taemin? What was it about him, specifically, that had him acting this way? He thought as though he would never be able to put his finger on it, exactly, but he could try. No matter how jumbled his mind still was, trying. “I .... I don’t know, Rory ....” he sighed, wishing that he could forget about the conversation entirely and just focus on the tea. “I don’t know why I was so confused, and - and I don’t know why he’s --- different.” He averted his gaze. “But I think ------ I said stop to him, y’know? A-And then he did, but he also .... didn’t, and --- and it wasn’t forceful, or whatever, but, it was like .... he couldn’t help it? And that just got me thinking. Too much. Like if - if he was doing it, b-because he really wanted to, I don’t know, do something with me or .... because he says those things to everybody, and it’s a habit. Or something.” He shrugged his shoulders, and almost choked on his drink when Rory asked if he liked the kiss. As if he didn’t freeze up directly after it happened. “I kind of ------ panicked, before I could think that far, Rory. And it was too short, anyway .... ” He tried to make an excuse, because he knew that if he told Rory that he didn’t know, she’d probably thump him on the head by now. But that was the truth, and kind of what he was trying to determine, even if he didn’t realize it yet.
