flip a coin, and you’d wonder just how two individuals have tangled themselves so far with little to tether between them.
flip a coin, and you’ll see that these two are two sides of the same coin. both hurt, both frustrated, and yet neither seem to find it in themselves to see that same hurt and frustration in the other.
at least, in lili’s case, she’s blind to it.
projecting, he says? sure, let’s call it that. maybe she was projecting, and she can feel the prickle of irritation spur her on as he hits the nail on it’s head. her own features flinching when she catches the most subtle curl of a grin at his lips — was he enjoying her misery?
did he liken her hurt to a game?
well — two could play at that game. she forcibly softens her gaze, the first of the two to turn away from his intense gaze as she feels a hiccup of a cry lodge itself in her throat. the prickle of tears already at the corner of her eyes.
( god, she should’ve been an actress )
she wills them back, her eyes angled upwards as if to push said tears as far back as she could, the tension thick in her shoulders as her arms uncross and fall into her lap. “so that’s it, then? because you’re ‘not in the mood’ you don’t even want to talk to me?” it’s laughable to see all her sincerity thrown in her face.
“and if it’s not?” she starts, her timbre falls in comparison to the snipped tone it had taken when she had first chanced upon him. the tremble in her fingers only stop when she gathers them into tiny fists, turning to him. “you know what my birthday means to me.” or — in this exact case, didn’t mean until he put meaning into it. her frown hurts, she can feel it break into her jaw as teeth clench down, as if pleading her to shut the fuck up.
there are people on one hand that can get a reaction out of him and it's (un)fortunate that lili is one of them. if the lines of his eyes and mouth are sharper, only for her, they are right now because girl's got a prerogative, without rhyme or reason.
"you're putting words in my mouth. you're possibly.... dare i say...." the corner of his mouth threatens to move upwards, "projecting."
how did they get here to this point again? jisoo does miss when they weren't two flipside of a coin and in harmony. it seems years ago now, but apparently nobody's counting.
but if neither one of them cared, certainly they wouldn't be standing here right now. stubbornness was going to be the death of them both, and he leans down and closer to give her a curious look. he's tempted, both sides of the scale teeter and the man doesn't know whether to throw her a bone or not. but hey. he's hurt too. she doesn't have the right to push it back all on him.
"i'm not really in the mood to play guess who and what if's. is this truly about missing both our birthdays?" jisoo draws a harsh breath in, forcing his mind to clear to resist the many quips that are on the tip of his tongue.