After Arianna left, Taehyun remained standing outside the restaurant, his hands in his coat pockets as the city buzzed around him.
He watched the world move, couples walking hand-in-hand, friends laughing over street food, the faint hum of a busker's guitar echoing under the dim city lights. But his mind wasn't on any of it.
He was thinking about her.
Ara.
> "This is ridiculous," he muttered to himself with a quiet laugh, brushing a hand through his hair. "I'm acting like some high school boy with a crush."
The corners of his lips tugged up, amused by his own thoughts. But the warmth in his chest said otherwise. His eyes wandered instinctively across the street—and then suddenly paused.
There.
A familiar silhouette crossing at the pedestrian lane.
Ara.
His breath hitched, just barely. That tiny shift in his heartbeat again.
He didn't hesitate.
With one hand, he quickly fished out his phone and called Woonhoo.
> "Hyung?" Woonhoo answered, his voice echoing through engine noise.
> "Come to the restaurant. Take my car."
> "Wait, what? Why? Where are you going?"
> "Just come."
Click.
Woonhoo stared at his phone. "Did he just hang up on me again?! What the hell is wrong with this guy?!"
He sighed dramatically and got out of the car, muttering,
> "I swear, if this ends up being because of a girl, I'm going to marry him off by force."
Taehyun crossed the street, his steps slow and measured.
He kept a short distance behind her—just enough not to alarm her, but close enough to watch over her.
Ara walked alone, headphones hanging unused around her neck. The city moved around her, people brushing past, unaware of the storm she carried inside.
Inside her, the silence was loud.
Her fingers curled inside her coat pockets. Each step forward was mechanical.
> "Will this feeling ever go away?"
"Will I ever be normal?"
She hated crowded places.
She hated sudden touches.
She hated how she had to pretend she was okay when every little brush of a stranger's hand made her want to disappear.
But she kept walking.
Just like she always did.
Unaware that someone had chosen to walk with her tonight, without her asking.
As she reached a slightly narrower sidewalk, the crowd thickened. Taehyun's eyes never left her. He noticed the way her shoulders tightened, how her steps grew smaller—more careful.
Then it happened.
A man walked past too quickly. His arm accidentally bumped against hers.
It was barely a touch.
But it was enough.
Ara's body stiffened. Her breath caught in her throat. Her vision blurred slightly. The panic was instant—like muscle memory. Her knees faltered—
And then—
She didn't fall.
Because he caught her.
His arms wrapped around her waist in an instant, steady, firm, grounding her as if he'd done this before.
"Ara!" His voice wasn't loud, but there was urgency in it.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly, hands shaking at her sides. Her eyes stared at the pavement, wide, lost, confused.
> "Breathe," he said softly, leaning a little closer. "Just breathe… I've got you."
She gasped once, and then again, still unable to find her voice.
Her head slowly turned up—and their eyes met.
> "T-Taehyun…?"
> "Yeah. It's me." His voice was gentle, not a trace of teasing in it.
> "W-Why… why are you here?"
> "I was walking," he said, lips quirking with a soft honesty. "And I saw you. So I kept walking… behind you."
> "Behind me?" Her brows furrowed slightly, confusion flickering in her already overwhelmed eyes.
> "Not in a creepy way, okay?" he added quickly. "I just… I don't know. I didn't want you to walk alone."
Ara blinked. She tried to process his words, but everything was spinning a little too fast.
> "You're sweating," he suddenly pointed out, his eyes scanning her face. "And your hands are ice cold."
She looked away, embarrassed.
> "It's nothing… It's just—it was an accident."
> "But it shook you," he said gently. "The same way it did in the classroom. That time I touched your arm and you froze."
Ara's eyes widened slightly.
Taehyun took a breath and asked softly—
> "Do you have… haphephobia?"
After hearing that Ara gasps .
EXTRA SCENE
Meanwhile…
Woonhoo sat in the front seat of Taehyun's car, still confused—and annoyed.
He pulled out his phone and called someone.
> "Babe, you're not gonna believe this," he said the moment his girlfriend picked up.
> "What now?"
> "Taehyun gave me his car and ran off somewhere."
> "Ran off?"
> "Like in some slow-motion romance drama. He literally said 'take my car' and hung up on me."
> "No way," his girlfriend giggled. "He didn't!"
> "I'm telling you," Woonhoo replied dramatically, "this man is a walking cliché. Next thing you know, he's gonna start buying umbrellas just to 'accidentally' share them."
> "Maybe it's cute."
> "Cute?! Babe, I'm his roommate, not his personal chauffeur. If he turns into a full-blown male lead, I'm quitting."
> "You're so dramatic."
> "He's dramatic!" Woonhoo laughed, shaking his head. "Watch, I bet he's holding hands in the rain or catching a girl from a faint right now."
> "Admit it, you're kind of enjoying it."
> "No comment."