Chapter Five: Too close to leave
1320 Words
The rain had softened.
Not stopped—just quieter.
Like the storm had settled into something calmer, something easier to ignore.
Inside the bookstore, the lights were dimmer now. Sienna had turned off half of them without realizing, leaving the space bathed in a soft, warm glow.
It should’ve felt peaceful.
But it didn’t.
---
Sienna hadn’t read a single page.
The book in her hands had been open for the past twenty minutes, her eyes fixed on the same paragraph she couldn’t process.
Because she was aware of him.
Every movement.
Every shift.
Every quiet breath from the corner by the window.
---
“You’re not reading.”
Her head lifted.
Soohyun was watching her.
Not casually.
Not absentmindedly.
Just… watching.
Sienna blinked, then glanced down at the book in her hands.
“I am.”
“You’ve been on the same page since I sat down.”
Heat crept up her neck.
“You’re very observant.”
“You said that about me first.”
Sienna closed the book with a soft sigh.
“Maybe I don’t like being observed.”
A faint smile touched his lips.
“Too late.”
---
Silence settled again.
But it wasn’t the quiet from before.
This one felt heavier.
Full of things they weren’t saying.
---
Sienna stood, walking over to the shelves just to give herself something to do.
“You’re staring,” she muttered.
“I’m thinking.”
“That’s worse.”
That made him laugh.
Soft.
Tired.
But real.
And for a second, it felt like everything was normal again.
---
“Why did you come back?”
The question slipped out before she could stop it.
Soohyun didn’t answer immediately.
Sienna turned to face him.
He was leaning forward slightly now, elbows resting on his knees, hands loosely clasped together.
Thinking.
Carefully.
“…I told you,” he said. “Because you wanted me to.”
“That’s not the real reason.”
He looked up at her.
And for once—
He didn’t look like he was trying to hide it.
“…I didn’t want to leave,” he admitted.
Sienna’s chest tightened.
“That’s not a good reason.”
“It was enough.”
---
The honesty in his voice made it hard to argue.
Too hard.
So she didn’t.
---
“You should be careful,” she said instead.
“So should you.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
His gaze didn’t leave hers.
“And I meant it anyway.”
---
Sienna exhaled slowly, leaning back against the shelf behind her.
“You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough.”
“Like what?”
He tilted his head slightly.
“You don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to.”
She stilled.
“You notice everything but pretend you don’t.”
Her fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the shelf.
“And you don’t let people get too close,” he finished.
Sienna swallowed.
“That’s a lot to assume.”
“So tell me I’m wrong.”
She opened her mouth—
Then closed it.
Because she couldn’t.
---
Soohyun watched her carefully.
Not pushing.
Not teasing.
Just… waiting.
And somehow, that made it worse.
---
“You shouldn’t be here,” she said quietly.
Again.
The same words.
But softer this time.
Less distant.
More… conflicted.
“I know.”
“Then why are you still here?”
He held her gaze.
“Because you are.”
Her heart skipped.
Just once.
But it was enough.
---
Sienna looked away first.
She needed space.
Distance.
Something to steady herself.
“You say things like that,” she murmured, “like they’re simple.”
“They are.”
“No, they’re not.”
Her voice came out sharper than she intended.
“Nothing about this is simple.”
---
He stood.
That was new.
The movement made her look up immediately.
He didn’t move closer right away.
Just stood there, watching her like he was deciding something.
Then—
One step.
Then another.
---
Sienna’s breath caught.
“Don’t.”
The word came out before she could think.
Soohyun stopped.
But he didn’t step back.
“Don’t what?” he asked quietly.
She didn’t answer.
Because she didn’t know.
---
“Don’t make this harder,” she said finally.
“Harder than what?”
“Than it already is.”
He studied her face.
Like he was trying to understand something she wasn’t saying out loud.
“…You’re the one making it hard,” he said softly.
Sienna frowned.
“How?”
“You keep telling me to leave.”
“Because you should.”
“But you don’t want me to.”
Her silence answered for her.
---
He stepped closer again.
This time—
She didn’t tell him to stop.
---
They were too close now.
Closer than they had been before.
Close enough that she could see the way his chest rose and fell.
Close enough that her pulse felt too loud in her ears.
---
“You’re confusing,” he murmured.
Sienna let out a quiet, breathless laugh.
“That makes two of us.”
---
For a second—
Everything stilled.
The rain.
The noise outside.
Even the thoughts in her head.
---
His gaze dropped.
Just slightly.
To her lips.
Then back to her eyes.
And that was it.
That was the moment everything shifted.
---
Sienna felt it.
That pull.
That dangerous, quiet tension that had been building since the first night he walked in.
She should step back.
She knew she should.
But she didn’t.
---
“Soohyun…”
His name came out softer than she meant it to.
A warning.
Or maybe something else.
---
“I know,” he said quietly.
But he didn’t move away.
---
The space between them felt impossibly small.
Like one more second—
One more step—
Would change everything.
---
And then—
His phone rang.
Loud.
Sharp.
Breaking everything.
---
Sienna blinked, the moment shattering instantly.
Soohyun cursed under his breath, stepping back like he’d been pulled away.
Reality rushed back in.
Cold.
Unforgiving.
---
He pulled out his phone.
This time—
He didn’t decline it.
He stared at the screen for a second.
Then answered.
“…Yeah.”
His voice had changed.
Completely.
Calm.
Controlled.
Distant.
Sienna felt it immediately.
The shift.
Like the version of him that existed here—
Was gone.
---
“I know,” he said into the phone. “I’m on my way.”
A pause.
His jaw tightened slightly.
“I said I’m on my way.”
---
He hung up.
Silence filled the space again.
But it wasn’t the same silence.
Not anymore.
---
“I have to go.”
Sienna nodded.
Of course he did.
He always did.
---
He hesitated.
Like he wanted to say something else.
Like he didn’t want to leave things like this.
But in the end—
“…I’ll come back,” he said.
Sienna’s chest tightened.
“Don’t promise things you can’t keep.”
His gaze softened.
“I don’t make promises I don’t mean.”
---
Another pause.
Then he turned toward the door.
---
“Sienna.”
She looked up.
He was already halfway out.
Hand on the door.
Rain waiting on the other side.
---
“Yes?”
He hesitated.
Just for a second.
Then—
“…Be careful.”
Her brows furrowed slightly.
“Of what?”
He gave a small, almost sad smile.
“Me.”
---
And then he was gone.
The bell chimed.
The door closed.
---
Sienna stood there for a long time.
Not moving.
Not thinking.
Just… feeling.
---
Because something had almost happened.
Something she wasn’t ready for.
Something she couldn’t take back.
---
And the worst part?
She wasn’t sure she wanted to stop it next time.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD