A sound escaped her lips in response to his words (though, she was unsure of whether it was a sigh or a scoff). There was much on her mind that she desired to share, but she kept her words brief for several reasons. The first being that she had manners, and knew that sometimes it was best not to say anything at all. Second, she’d noticed the trend of exchanging coy words with one another, but never digging any deeper into the surface. Which brings up the third point: despite the impression that the whole island was under, the reality of the situation was simple. They were strangers. “I don’t know what kind of guy is ‘that’ guy, but you’re really trying your best to play the part of some mysterious man with a dark past.“ For the short moment in which she’d found herself in his arms, Hailey was lost in solemn thought. It was strange, but she felt a bit empathetic with the other. While she was never one to pry into the lives of others, there was a twinge of curiosity sitting in the back of her mind. She almost felt bad for Sungho, who appeared to be so lonely and closed off, that he would rather have a fake girlfriend in his arms than be with someone he felt a genuine love for. Of course, these were just nosy thoughts— opinions— running through her mind. They were assumptions and held no actual weight. When he let go of her again, Hailey kept mum on her notions.
“Kissing and crying don’t mesh well together. But you’re welcome to follow me back to my place, so long as you’re a safe distance away. If you find yourself scared, you’re welcome to hold my hand for good measure.” A small laugh laced its way into her words as she spoke, turning around and beginning to walk in the direction back to her place. “I’m staying at the hotel, not too far from here. There’s a nice rose garden near the entrance. We can set out breakup scene there.”
he had no idea what she was talking about when she mentioned quality time, though something in his brain told him it wasn’t a good time at all. if it was, he probably would have remembered what they did. “ bonding is a strong word, but at least we aren’t strangers anymore. ” that was quite hard to pin-point; after how many conversations were two people not considered strangers anymore? two? three? four? twenty? sungho had no idea — he never really called people a friend right off the bat, but he also didn’t run around addressing people he’s known for years as strangers. so ... maybe they were acquaintances?
he couldn’t help but force out a laugh upon hearing hailey’s words, shaking his head in disbelief. “ is that really what you see me as? someone who’s trying to be a mysterious guy with a dark past? ” well, she wasn’t exactly wrong about that. his past has been anything but pleasant, but mysterious? that wasn’t a word he would choose to describe himself. closed-off, distant, emotionally unavailable ... those were all adjectives that he had heard before. but mysterious was a new one. “ okay. ” the brunet nodded in agreement, starting to follow hailey to the hotel she was staying at.
“ geez, why do i feel a bit of sorrow all of a sudden? ” sungho wondered out loud as he slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans, letting the cool breeze brush his cheeks. he knew this wasn’t an actual break-up and it didn’t feel like it was, but there still was something sad about it. maybe all partings were unfortunate, no matter if they were real or fake, romantic or platonic. at this point, he could write a book about different kinds of farewell. letting go was always hard — even when it came to a fake girlfriend. the longer he thought about it, the more stupid he felt. “ well, not sorrow ... i don’t know. i think i just grew to like you. not like that, but i think we had some nice times together. ” he wondered if she felt the same way or if she was jus counting down the seconds to get rid of him. both were possible scenarios.
