If her barely recognizable favorite shirt lying shredded on her bed doesn't scream "I hate you", Jieqiong doesn't know what does.

Chaeyeon, her slightly taller friend and roommate, only laughed as soon as she saw the scowl on the shorter girl's face and guffawed when her sight caught the tattered piece of clothing in her hands. They both know who did it. Heck, they're friends with the whodunit. Kim Sejeong. The affectionate, motherly, down-to-earth and mostly touchy-feely Kim Sejeong who hugs her, Jieqiong, and pats her head. Or Chaeyeon. Or Sohye. Or anyone.

Jieqiong scrunched up her face some more at the total unfairness of it all. How come Sejeong-unnie gets to be all lovey-dovey with everyone but SHE's not allowed to backhug one person? Jieqiong wants to be affectionate too. And it was only that one time with Chungha-unnie. Maybe three. Or four but really, who'd be counting? Sejeong, apparently.

"Told you she was secretly evil," Chaeyeon muses after her laughing fit.

A barrage of expletives that would make a sailor blush come out of Jieqiong's mouth as she moves around their shared dorm room to find a box. She entertains the idea of learning more languages because she's running out of curses in Chinese, Korean, and a bit of English. Jieqiong finally finds one behind the stack of last month's shopping bags and she takes it to her bed before rummaging through the drawers.

"What are you doing?" asks Chaeyeon.

"Burying the dead."

Her roommate's look of alarm doesn't escape Jieqiong but she ignores it as she holds up a candle and some incense and matches. Chaeyeon raises her hands in a calming gesture.

"Jieqiong, I know what I said about Sejeong-unnie being evil but this is not worth the--"

"I'm not going to kill her, Chae." Jieqiong rolls her eyes dismissively. She goes to another drawer to pull out what looked to be one of those scented dried flower petal things with lots of paint and a strong aroma of what's supposed to smell like romance.

Chaeyeon drops her hands and releases a big sigh of, probably, relief. "Good," she says. "Because I don't have enough money to buy you flowers nor do I have the guts to sneak in outside food for you in the hospital."

Jieqiong furrows her brows as she looks back at her friend. "Why would I be in a hospital?"

"Duh. Sejeong-unnie will send you there less than conscious. If you're lucky, that is. If ever, you know, you decided you wanted to end her for completely ruining your shirt. It goes with being evil."

"Wow," Jieqiong states blandly. "Glad to know you have so much faith in me."

"Hey, I did say I'd visit."

"Without the hypothetical flowers you can't afford and the food you apparently don't have the guts to smuggle," the shorter girl supplies.

"At least I thought about bringing them," Chaeyeon says defensively and adds with a shrug, "It's the thought that counts."

Jieqiong dismisses her with a whatever before walking out, box, candle, incense and match cradled in her hands. Chaeyeon grabs some water from their mini fridge and a random jacket lying around before heading out after her very dramatic but mostly adorable friend. She figures Jieqiong might need it.

True enough she sees the girl shiver a bit when a breeze blew, almost extinguishing the candle and incense she lit up in the garden around the hole where Chaeyeon thinks the box will be buried in.

Chaeyeon drapes the jacket over Jieqiong's shoulders and kneels beside the frowning girl. She takes a glance towards the candle and incense, then the hole, then the box in Jieqiong's hands, in that order, before looking at Jieqiong with her lips pressed together tightly.

"So..." Chaeyeon says, letting the syllable trail off. Jieqiong glares at her in response, a warning.

"Shut up,"

"I wasn't going to say anything," shrugs Chaeyeon.

"I know the box should be burried first before I shoud've lit up all these... sticks. Just shut up."

"Okay."

"Good."

Jieqiong buries the box containing her mangled-beyond-repair shirt without any more words exchanged between them. Chaeyeon puts an arm around her shoulder and Jieqiong immdeiately leans back and settle comfortably against her companion. They both sit there in relative silence, the occasional sounds of autumn being the only chatter to their peace. For a while, at least.

"I don't get it," Jieqiong says.

"Don't get what?"

"Why Sejeong unnie would react like that."

"Well, she's a wolf," replies Chaeyeon. "At least, she's a shifter who turns into one."

"So what? Just because she has claws doesn't mean she can use my shirt as a scratch post," Jieqiong frowns.

"What I mean is that she's territorial." Chaeyeon squeezes the girl's shoulder lightly before moving her arm lower to settle on the ground right beside Jieqiong's hand. "Sejeong unnie gets all weird when the full moon is close and she doesn't want you touching Chungha unnie... I think."

A sudden realization hits Jieqiong all at once, her face changing from surprise to confusion to cringing. "Oh gross, did she imprint---... oh, gross. That's just--ugh gross."

Chaeyeon only laughs at the disgust on Jieqiong's face. "We're of age, Jieqiong-ah. It's completely normal."

"Yeah but like, they're my unnies. Our unnies. It's really weird to think of them like that." Jieqiong scrunches her face. "I mean, can you imagine them being... like... that?" she looks at Chaeyeon.

"I'd really rather not and that's their business, besides."

Jieqiong pouts and nudges at Chaeyeon's legs, which the latter responds at immediately by stretching them out. Jieqiong lies down and Chaeyeon's hand moves to settle on top of dark tresses, immobile.

"I still don't get it," she says softly.

"Hmm..." Chaeyeon hums, not quite a question but moreso a reaction. Jieqiong takes it anyway.

"Sejeong-unnie goes all around flirting with any attractive girl she can see but she doesn't want girls touching Chungha unnie," Jieqiong states.

Chaeyeon looks contemplative for a moment, thinking and rethinking how to phrase the answer but coming with no better results so she just says it out loud. "They have weird s."

The scandalized look on Jieqiong's face makes her want to laugh on reflex but she composes herself fast enough to hold in the first wave of giggles. She presses her lips and uses the thumb of her hand that's resting on Jieqiong's hair to ease the frown on the lying girl's forehead.

"Chungha-unnie is a vampire, you know. She's not as innocent as you think," Chaeyeon tells Jieqiong.

"I know it's in our nature as nonmortals. Still doesn't make it any less weird."

"Wanna talk about something else, then?"

"Yes, please." Jieqiong shifts into a more comfortable position and looks at Chaeyeon. "Also, remind me to boil my brain later. I need to burn off the mental image of Sejeong-unnie and Chungha-unnie's... consumation."

"That's physically impossible," giggles Chaeyeon, "but, okay. I'll remind you."

Jieqiong raises her hand and bops Chaeyeon's nose with a finger, causing the latter to stop and look at the lying girl. They've done this before. Not the nose bopping but the intimacy. The moment shared between two people who care deeply for each other.

"Thanks," Jieqiong says quietly.

"You know I'd do things for you," shrugs Chaeyeon, "even though sometimes your requests can be questionable."

Jieqiong lets out a soft breathy laugh. "No," she says. "I didn't mean the brain thing. I meant thanks in general."

"You're welcome, then."

"Thanks for being there for me. For being here. Always."

"Always," Chaeyeon softly says back.

They manage to have three seconds of silence before Jieqiong breaks, face contorting into a grimace.

"Okay, I'm trying so hard not to quip a Snape reference and I'm dying. Say something to distract me, this physically hurts."

Chaeyeon just chuckles, remembering how Jieqiong came to read the Harry Potter series. She remembers the horrified look on SinB's face when Jieqiong said she had no idea who this Potter person was and promptly scolding Chaeyeon for not educating her roommate on the "wonderfulness of being a Potthead". SinB's exact words.

She really didn't know what to say to distract Jieqiong, what topic she should open, so she does the next best thing. Listen to her guts.

Leaning down, she presses a soft kiss on Jieqiong's forehead.

"You're adorable," she tells her.

Because, really, she is.