Sungmi was sort of at a loss for the next week: Kyungsoo seemed to never be around anymore, Baekhyun was locked up, Sehun was avoiding her like the plague – even going as far as to turn around and walk out of rooms when he saw she was in them – and Chen seemed to have made friends with some other boys from the same city as he was from, meaning he was seldom around. It . Badly.

That went on for another week, and Sungmi felt like the person she spoke to the most for that week was Minseok, who frequently came by. She found herself thinking how odd that was; that none of her team were around or would talk to her with the exception of the captain. In Sungmi’s opinion, the whole thing was ridiculous. 

She hadn’t been on nightshift for about two weeks – which was unusual in itself – but then she was told she would be on with Kyungsoo. It was a little stupid, but she was excited. This was the most she had seen him in what felt like forever.

When she saw his smiling face walking towards her, she couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear, practically skipping over to him and gripping his arm excitedly.

“Someone’s happy today,” he smiled at her, leading the way up to the watch post.

“It’s just nice to see you,” Sungmi replied with a little shrug. “It seems like everyone’s been ignoring me lately.”

Kyungsoo snorted loudly at this. “Who would ignore you?”

“Sehun,” Sungmi replied, huffing a little. “I think there’s something weird going on with him.”

“How so?” Kyungsoo asked, frowning.

“Well,” Sungmi tepidly began, tilting her head to the side a little. “I think he’s been avoiding me.” She continued when Kyungsoo didn’t answer. “We were training together and I sort of fell on him. He hasn’t spoken to me since then.”

“Maybe you hurt him,” Kyungsoo mumbled quietly after a long pause.

“He told me to stay away from him,” Sungmi told him softly, almost sadly. “Surely it didn’t hurt that much.”

“It’s probably best to just listen to him,” Kyungsoo said.

“But I’m lonely without him,” Sungmi sulked aloud, jutting her chin out like a moping child. “There’s no one else I really talk to here.”

Kyungsoo was quiet for a moment. He chewed on his lip, trying to find the words and courage to ask what he wanted to. “Do you… like Sehun?”

Sungmi almost thought she misheard him at first, then she snorted with laughter. Her mind flashed back to the incident last week when she had ended up on top of Sehun. She had been a little too naïve and maybe even stupid to think that Sehun was giving her the look. The look was something her mum talked about all the time, so Sungmi had thought that she’d be pretty good at identifying it by now. But as it happened, she .

“Don’t be silly,” she replied with an odd chuckle, glad for the darkness to hide her cheeks stained with embarrassment.

Kyungsoo chuckled too. “I didn’t think so,” he sounded relieved. “Especially not with his background. There’s no way it would work out. You’d only end up getting hurt.”

Sungmi gaped in silence for a moment, then realised exactly what Kyungsoo was talking about. Even if Sehun and her were a thing there was no way they would be allowed to end up together, not when Sehun hadn’t been schooled properly. In fact, Sungmi couldn’t help but wonder if he would be allowed to get married and have a family at all. “Yeah,” Sungmi hummed half-heartedly. “I guess so...”

“Everything will be ok,” Kyungsoo told her after a long silence. “The two of us will get out of here. I’m sure of it.”

Sungmi looked to him, but through the darkness his face was hidden by a mask of black. “What makes you so sure?” she asked quietly, wanting to cling to Kyungsoo’s words tightly. He spoke with a strange sort of confidence.

“I just am,” he replied, sounding like he was smiling.

Even if she couldn’t see his face, Sungmi still stretched out a hand and cupped his cheek gently. She felt him move into the contact, making her smile a little. They had been under a lot of stress here lately, and had fought more than they’d ever done before, but in moments like this, Sungmi realised that she was still Sungmi and he was still Kyungsoo, and they loved each other even if it wasn’t in the way either of them understood or quite expected. Maybe they each loved one another in different ways, and maybe that was ok too.

“You’ll be a good dad one day,” Sungmi smiled, taking her hand back and peering down to the ground far beneath their feet. Kyungsoo was quiet then. Sungmi tutted quietly. “You’re supposed to say I’ll be a good mum one day.”

She heard a quiet chuckle.

“Of course you will be, if you ever settle down yourself.”

Sungmi snorted, then her face fell a little. Her mind flashed to home, and to their lurking future that lay their waiting for them. “Do you know anyone you want to apply with?”

As a rule of thumb, marriages didn’t have to be arranged at all. If someone was lucky enough to meet and fall in love with someone compatible, then the government didn’t have a problem with it at all. In fact, it was encouraged since it saved funding. Most didn’t do this though, since the chances of finding someone weren’t exactly great.

“N-no,” Kyungsoo mumbled, dropping his head.

“Me neither,” Sungmi replied with a little sigh. “I’m going to be going to arrangements with my mother until I’m ninety,” she drawled out.

There was a l