Chapter Two - 2:00 am (Sehun’s POV)

Sehun watched as the door fell shut behind Royui, blocking her from his sight. He heard the door lock as it clicked into place, reminding him non-too-gently that it was time for him to leave. His shoulders slumped as he exhaled a deep breath.

He forced himself to turn away. His seven minutes were up.

He was reminded strangely of the stupid party game he used to play when he was Royui’s age. Seven minutes in heaven. It was sort of the same.

Except in this version rather than close himself in with a stranger in a closet he got a short seven minutes to walk the girl he loved to her house. And then it was over. The door was opened. Reality came back. And reality was ugly.

Reality was that Royui was six years younger than him.

Reality was that Royui hadn’t been the first Kim sister he met. It had been Raina. And he’d ruined his chances with Royui before he’d even met her by asking out her sister.

Reality was that just to get seven minutes with Royui he had to loiter about like some weirdo on the edge of street waiting for 4:20p.m, just so that he could ‘accidently’ run into her and offer to walk her back to her house.

He felt like a ert because she had no idea just how much she wandered through his mind. Scratch that. He most definitely was a ert.

Six years.

He knew she didn’t see him like that, and she definitely didn’t know he thought of her like that. Otherwise she probably wouldn’t ever speak to him again.

Sehun didn’t know how the barely three minute walk back to his house from Royui’s place felt infinitely longer than short seven minutes he got to walk with Royui, but it always somehow managed to.

As he opened the door to his place it put up a slightly struggle, because of the pile of junk mail that littered the floor on the other side. Sehun shook his head at his own slob like behaviour.

He’d pick up that mail. Just not today. He thought to himself as he kicked the door closed behind him.

A small smile lifted up the edges of his lips as he thought about what Royui would have to say to him on the matter. She would definitely call him lazy, but there would be no harshness to her words. It would be joking.

He had no idea why but Royui loved to about his lack of organisation. Moving the pile of junk mail to the wall edge with his boot he walked further into his house, ignoring the mountains of mess as he walked through.

Again he would get around to tidying it up some day. Maybe he could ask Royui to help him with it? Did she pity his pigsty lifestyle enough that she would do that? Would it be crossing a line to even ask her?

He cleared a space for him to sit by moving a few pieces of clothes from one side of the sofa to the other. He collapsed into the free space, closing his eyes.

Was he getting that desperate that he was trying to use cleaning as an excuse to be around Royui?

Honestly? Yes. He was.

He couldn’t think of any reasonable excuse to be around her. He’d even found him missing her enough that for a few moments he had regretted his decision to break up with Raina.

At least when he was with Raina he had been able to see Royui without it seeming weird. He’d been able to just sit down and watch a movie with her. Start a conversation with her. Joke with her.

But the moment of regret passed when he realised he had definitely made the right decision. To stay with Raina whilst in love with her sister? That was just messed up.

Even if he missed Royui with everything in him.

He missed the way she’d , or indulge him when he went off into one of his rants about work, or the way she used to steal his warmth by snaking her freezing fingers into the edges of his jackets. It’d been entirely innocent, it wasn’t even a hug, but having her fingers so close to his skin had always been able to make his heart beat several times too fast in his chest.

He groaned painfully to himself. How he could just ask her to hang out as friends? They were friends right? Or was he just the poor sap that had once dated her sister in Royui’s eyes?

He could remember the regretful look on Royui’s face when she had accidently let Raina;s name slip out into conversation. Did she feel sorry for him? Was that the only reason she even let him walk her back?

He sighed.

One day she was going to notice. One day she was going to notice how he couldn’t seem to stop his hands from brushing on her shoulders, or messing with a strand of her hair. And then he’d probably never hear from her again.

He tried to rewind the clock in his mind. Back to the time when he wasn’t infatuated with Kim Royui.

But even when he rewound to a little over a year ago to the day he had met her, he remembered finding her quirkily adorable. Her frizzy hair, her slight stutter born from nervousness, and her habit sneaking glances at him when she thought he wasn’t looking.

She’d barely squeaked more than a word or two to him when she had first met him.

Slowly all that had changed though. He couldn’t pinpoint the moment he fell in love with he, because it had happened a little at the time. First with her sense of humour. Then her laugh. And then her wry comebacks when she had grown comfortable around him.

And then with all the weird things - like the way she would shower her feet in cold water when she felt too warm to sleep. Or the way used her hands when telling a story. Or the way she always remembered to put his favourite foods aside when she cooked and leave it for him to find in the fridge.

At some point, he didn’t even know when, he had started to enjoy her company above anyone else. And then finally he fell in love with her strength.

He’d found her one night crying over a picture of her mother. That night he’d comforted her the best he could, holding her within his arms as she slowly shook in silent sobs, trying not to wake up her sister.

That had been the night he had realised that he was completely in love with the youngest Kim sister. He’d broken up with Raina the next night.

It had been one of the most awkward and difficult moments of his life. She’d kept asking for a reason, and it was a reason he didn’t feel right telling her. Especially when he knew that Royui wouldn’t ever look at him that way.

Throwing her vast collection of high-heeled shoes at his head as she chased him through the house, and all he could remember thinking was that he was glad that at least Royui hadn’t been there to see him at that moment.

Actually he was glad she wasn’t here to see him during this moment too. The moment where he was sat in his pigsty of a living room, pining over a girl that would never love him back.

Pining over her.

Maybe it would get better? The thought was both hoping and sorrowful. Maybe with a little more time he could grow up and stop yearning for someone too young for him, and so far out of his league.

He wanted to visit the past him and stop him from ever asking Raina out.

But then maybe he’d never even meet her.

As much as this moment , he didn’t want to get rid of the good moments he had gotten with her. The small handful of good memories Royui had given to him.

Now if only he could return them to her. If only he could know that those memories had meant anything as much to her as they had to him.

She had no idea the effect she had on him. No idea about the fact that she wouldn’t leave him one restful thought. And she did it all without trying.

His phone ringing snapped him out of his half dazed state. He rubbed his eyes, squinting at the time display in the right-hand corner of his computer.

2:00 am

Who was calling him at this time? He debated leaving it to ring, but his hands were already moving around papers, searching for the source of the noise within his work.

He found it a minute later, still ringing, under his blue binder. When he saw the caller-ID his heart sped up with worry.

“Royui?” He asked not thinking twice about answering knowing it was her.

She wouldn’t call at this time without a really good reason. That worried him more than anything else. Worry had apparently been the right response if the dread in her voice was anything to go by as she whispered his name in a hushed voice.

“Sehun?” She asked pure distress leaking into the one word that had Sehun’s heart beating triple time.

He was already on his feet, readying himself to go to her house.

“Royui? What is it? What’s wrong?” He said in the most comforting voice he could manage.

There was a lengthily pause. “I-I think there’s somebody in my kitchen. I heard some noises and – “  

Sehun didn’t need to be able to see her face to know she was crying right then. The crack in her voice was enough to let him know.

“I’m on my way.” He promised, picking up the nearest thing that could be used as a weapon as he exited his house.

“Find somewhere safe and shut yourself in. I’ll be there in two minutes top.” He kept speaking.

It was hard work keeping his own voice calm at that moment, at the idea that some stranger was wandering around in Royui’s kitchen. Someone who could hurt her.

“O-okay”. Royui stuttered out.

Sehun felt at least some relief that she was going to do what he asked her to. Good girl.

He offered soothingly. “I’m in your building now. Do you still keep a spare key under the fire extinguisher?” He asked gently.

There was a shuffle and a pause. ”Yeah.” Royui answered.

“Good.” Sehun said, relief loosening his airways slightly. “I’m almost there. Just stay where you are

“I will.” Royui promised, fear still shaking her voice slightly.

“Don’t hang up either.”

“Okay.” She agreed easily, giving Sehun the impression she had no intention of hanging up unless he did first

Slowly, trying not to make a sound as he did so, Sehun unlocked and opened the door. It was dark, but the layout of Royui’s place was probably just as familiar to him as his own. He could easily pick his way through the furniture and to the kitchen without upsetting anything.

He clutched the ‘weapon’ he had brought along with him. He glanced down to see what it was.

Good news was: his TV remote was no longer missing. Bad news was he doubted his TV remote was going to help him fend off an attacker.

He clenched his jaw in self-annoyance.

Great

He stood just beyond the lip of the kitchen, holding a TV remote, listening for sound when he heard a quiet shuffle from inside.

He could hear Royui’s almost silent breathing on the other end of the phone, and he in his own deep breath, preparing himself.

Three. Two. One.