to some old readers, if you found this a little bit different than what you've remembered reading, it's because i proofread/edited this on 15.02.19.

“Yah, Kwon Juyeon!”

Juyeon nearly knocks her glass of watermelon juice off the table at the sound of her name.

“Were you even listening?” Yunji asks. Jihye who is sitting next to Yunji proceeds to watch her intently with face propped to her chin. They are stalking someone’s Instagram profile and is hunched at a corner table in a bakery near Juyeon’s apartment.

“Of course!” Juyeon replies a little bit too confidently, and Jihye rolls her eyes. “Really? Then who were we talking about?” Yunji asks again, and Juyeon squints her eyes in an attempt to remember who her high school friends were talking about.

Juyeon is starting to think that going out for dinner with her high school trio is a bad idea, she had tons of better things to do and stalking someone’s Instagram profile isn’t the best idea of a reunion. Sure, she misses them a lot too—they had made a pact to meet every time all of their schedules cleared up at the same time so they don’t drift apart.

But her mind is just too occupied to give two s about who Lee Minho is dating and how many of her high school friends who are now pregnant.

“Um, you guys were talking about Daehyun dumping Haejoo?” Juyeon’s sentence sounds like a question by the end of it, and her friends just shook their heads in unison at her. “Surprisingly, you are right. Yeah, so we were talking about how Dae found a new girl,” Jihye explains.

The duo drones on and on about how their high school friend Daehyun basically cheated on his girlfriend Haejoo with his co-worker and instead of hating on Daehyun, and how Haejoo is such an idiot that she attacks the girl Daehyun is cheating on with instead of just breaking up with Daehyun. In the end, Daehyun broke up with her.

Juyeon tries to think of where Daehyun and Haejoo both went wrong. She and Haejoo were once close, and Daehyun had been a really caring boyfriend too. They’ve been dating for as long as Juyeon can remember and... and, they’ve always looked like they were going to make it until they get married or something.

But then again, her relationship with her own boyfriend looks pretty good on the outside, too. She guesses every relationship really has their own problems—she shouldn’t mind other people’s relationships.

“But did you know Daehyun was in a relationship before he was with Haejoo, though?” Jihye pipes up, and this catches everyone’s attention. “Huh? I thought they were together for as long as I can remember?” Juyeon replies, and this piques the interest of the two others.

“Oh, so you’re interested now,” Jihye laughs. “It’s super makjang*, and that’s why Haejoo never told you, I guess. You guys were pretty close at one point and I’m surprised she’s never told you—she’s probably ashamed of it. Before sophomore year, Daehyun was with Haejoo’s bestfriend, Jinri. Rumours said Haejoo Jinri to get Daehyun and he finally ended up with Haejoo and I guess the cycle continues,” Jihye shrugs, and this surprises the remaining three friends sitting around her.

Everyone knew Haejoo and Jinri were never in good terms to begin with so it is a piece of weird news for Juyeon to swallow, but now that she thinks of it, it finally makes sense. Haejoo seems like such a sweet person, no way she could ever turn on someone so close to her...

Juyeon tries to stop her thinking to get rid of the sinking feeling at the bottom of her stomach.

“Once a cheater, always a cheater, I guess.” Yunji sighs, leaning back into her chair and Juyeon visibly pales. Jihye kicks Yunji’s shin under the table and Yunji silently swears at herself.

“Uh,” Yunji corrects herself timidly, touching Juyeon’s arm gently. “We all know that Baek isn’t a—”

Juyeon stands up so quick she nearly knocks her chair over, and her friends nearly jump out of their seats in shock. Juyeon knows that her friends mean no harm but she can’t just bring herself to not notice what Yunji just said. Not when it hits too close to home. Not when she’s heard the phrase relationship ruiner more than enough on her Instagram posts’ comments for a normal, common girl.

“I gotta go, uh, it’s important. I have to check on something I left... somewhere. I’ll call you guys when I get home, okay?” Juyeon announces quickly and both of her friends just stare at her with guilt and regret written all over their faces.

“Okay, stay safe,” was all that Juyeon managed to hear before she storms out of the restaurant into the pouring rain.

***

Juyeon wakes up with a post-it plastered on her forehead. Her head feels like it is going to explode, and Juyeon makes a mental note to stock up on her painkillers and have one for herself. She grabs her phone and checks the time before doing anything else, and it is barely 6 in the morning on a Sunday.

Pushing herself off her bed weakly, she reads the post it:

Out to get some inspiration, dont forget to eat

The lack of enthusiasm the note gives leaves a pang on her heart, but she ignores it.

Only after arriving in her apartment completely soaked to the bone last night, Juyeon realized that it was a bad idea to run home in a storm, but she figured if she wasn’t occupied with the rain her thoughts would suffocate her even more.

She’d expected for Baekhyun to welcome her with his worried nags for running in the rain, but what she came home to was a worn out Byun Baekhyun asleep on his work desk, his Word Document filled with gibberish alphabets and symbols thanks to his cheek pressed against his laptop's keyboard. After changing into dry clothes—she didn’t bother to shower because she was too tired—she draped a blanket over Baekhyun’s sleeping figure and immediately fell asleep on her bed before she could do her normal before-bed routines. Then she woke up today with that headache.

Juyeon walks to the kitchen to make herself some tea (she never was a coffee person) in hopes of nursing her upcoming flu only to find her cat, Goyang, perched on the blanket she draped over Baekhyun had obviously recklessly thrown onto the floor, and she tries her best to not feel like as she picks Goyang off the blanket and folds it over Baekhyun’s chair.

“Hey, you’ve been stirring that tea for quite a while now,” Baekhyun’s voice snaps Juyeon out of her reverie and she jumps in surprise. She can practically hear the lack of sleep on Baekhyun’s voice. “When did you get here?” Juyeon replies instead, taking the spoon out of her tea and settles it into the sink.

“Quite a while actually, I’m surprised you didn’t hear the door open.” Baekhyun informs as he grabs the tea out of Juyeon’s grip and downs it in one go. Only after finishing he makes a face, the face Juyeon usually finds endearing but currently pissing her off. Especially at the fact that Baekhyun didn’t even ask for her permission to drink it.

“, I thought that was coffee. The sweetness nauseates me,” Juyeon resists the urge to throw the now empty cup onto the back of his retreating figure, and Baekhyun takes a seat in front of his desk and proceeds to continue his work.

“How far along are you, anyway?” Juyeon asks, making herself another cup of tea.

“None of your business.” Baekhyun coldly replies. Juyeon frowns.

“A hundred? Two hundred pages?”

“Did you ing read my drafts?”

“Oh God, chill. Of course I wouldn’t. It’s just that you haven’t been answering your phone calls or e-mails and Kyungsoo has been pestering me ever since—”

“I know when my ing deadline is, goddamn it!” Juyeon is taken a back when Baekhyun yells, not to mention he swore at her too. Baekhyun usually keeps his voice down because he knows Goyang isn’t too fond of explosive voices.

“Can you just calm yourself down for a second? I know that—”

“You know?” Baekhyun’s cynical laughter sends a chill down Juyeon’s spine. “What do you know about being an author, Juyeon? This ing writer’s block is killing me and I’m only on page goddamn thirty for ’s sake—my deadline is in three months. There is no way I can finish this if you keep telling me what I already know!”

“Maybe you would’ve finished it faster if you didn’t go out with Junhee or Miyeon every single time you ing can!” Juyeon’s throat feels hoarse from shouting and her head hurts even more now. She had made a note to herself not to aggravate Baekhyun when he is writing, she knows the pressure is what's turning Baekhyun bitter, but she can’t just bring herself to stay quiet.

“What?” Baekhyun’s voice sounds threatening now as he gets up from his chair to walk towards Juyeon. “Are you assuming I’m cheating on you?” Baekhyun asks again, now finally standing in front of Juyeon. Juyeon is visibly shaking and she doesn’t understand why.

“Maybe you should’ve stayed with eonni.” Juyeon whispers, and Baekhyun’s hard gaze softens.

“Are you crazy? Is this what you’ve been thinking every time I went out with Minji or Junhee? They’re my artwork artists, I thought we agreed not to drag ourselves over this topic?” Baekhyun almost yells but holds himself back because he knows how Juyeon feels about the whole ordeal.

Juyeon throws her cup of tea onto the floor out of frustation and this surprises Baekhyun. “It’s torturing me, Baek! You don’t understand—”

Baekhyun pushes Juyeon against the kitchen counter before she can finish her tantrum and captures her lips in a heated kiss. Juyeon finds herself kissing him back