When he arrived home, it was just past one in the morning and Jongin was surprised to find Junmyeon was waiting for him. He was thankful it was dark or Junmyeon would’ve seen how he’d been crying. He expected everyone to be asleep.

“Where’ve you been?” Junmyeon’s jaw clenched and he crossed his arms over his chest. Jongin attempted to walk past Junmyeon to his room, but the older man grabbed his arm tightly. He asked again, “where’ve you been?”

“I…I was with Jiyoon.” He cleared his throat, watching as Junmyeon’s eyes narrowed.

“This late?”

“Yes, this late, Junmyeon, I’m twenty-three.” Jongin stopped attempting to get away from him and prepared himself for millions of questions.

“What happened to hating her, Jongin?” Junmyeon asked him. “Did you sleep with her?”

“What’s it matter to you?” Jongin snapped back. “Don’t worry about where my ’s been.”

“You’re ing dumb.” Junmyeon growled. “People followed you to her apartment, you know. I’m sure they waited for you to come back out too. Is that what you want people to think about you? That you got petty so you ed a girl and left her alone?”

“You mean, what she did to me?” Jongin said. “She’ll know what it felt like to wake up without her, just to find out she left -”

“You’re caught up over something that happened five years ago, Jongin! I get that she hurt you, but you doing this makes you just as bad. She was eighteen, she was still a teenager. You’re a grown adult.” The doors of the bedrooms began to open around them and the other boys tiredly came out of their rooms.

“I loved her, Junmyeon, and she said she loved me too. She lied to me and I’ll never forgive her for that.” Jongin turned around and walked towards his room.

“If you think she lied about loving you then you’re even more dense than I thought.” Junmyeon scoffed. “She still loves you. I could tell when she was here yesterday.”

“Why are you defending her?” Jongin asked. “Why are you suddenly on her side? Did she you too?”

“Alright, Jongin, that’s enough.” Baekhyun stepped in between the two. “It’s late, you both need to sleep.” Baekhyun actually had to grab Jongin and push him towards his bedroom as he continued to yell.

“You’ll never ing have her like I did!”

Baekhyun eventually got Jongin far enough in his room to close the door. Jongin was angry, he said a lot of dumb things when he was angry, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t feel bad, either. He was right - Jiyoon, if she ever liked Junmyeon, would never love him more than Jongin.

He fell asleep that night, images of Jiyoon filling his dreams.

Jiyoon woke up the next morning and she couldn’t say a part of her hadn’t expected it. This was what her and Jongin were supposed to do with their lives. They could never have each other for more than a night.

All of his words of the night ran through her head and she rolled her eyes, getting dressed and making coffee. He was the one who said they would really be together this time. He left. He made it seem like he would finally stay with her, but ended up leaving.

The more she thought about it, the more similarities she found within their first time and now. She drank her coffee and couldn’t help but feel the undeniable hole in her heart. She was happy that it was Saturday at least, allowing her to sit around the whole day.

She wouldn’t chase him. She wouldn’t text or call him.

She would do exactly what he did.

She didn’t care if it took ten years for him to come back.

Her phone began to ring and thankfully, it brought her out of her Jongin-induced trance. She answered the phone, “hello?”

“Park Jiyoon, why was Jongin at your apartment last night?” Jungah sounded deathly serious and Jiyoon’s mind began to whirl.

“How did you know that?” She asked quietly.

“There’s pictures of him arriving around eight and then leaving around twelve-thirty in the morning. Why was he there?” Jungah already knew, Jiyoon couldn’t hide anything now.

“He came here and I was really surprised, obviously, I didn’t invite him here. Or tell him where I lived, but whatever. So he came in and started yelling at me because he thought I slept with Junmyeon and then I started crying and he kissed me and…you know, stuff happened.” Jiyoon ran her fingers through her hair, listening to Jungah sigh.

“Is he good to you?” Jungah asked finally. Jiyoon blushed.

“Are you asking if your brother’s good in bed?”

“No, God no, I don’t want to know anything about that.” Jungah cringed. “I mean in general. Do you think he loves you?”

“I-I don’t know, he said he did. He seemed like he really wanted something to happen between the two of us but I guess he didn’t really because as you can see he left after.” Jiyoon groaned, “Why does nothing work out for us?”

“Go see him, then.”

“Jungah, I can’t do that, it makes me seem -”

“Like you actually care. He wants to know you care, that’s why he left.” Jungah explained to her. “You may be his best friend, but I’m his sister, and I know him very well. Especially these past few years. He hasn’t changed at all. He loves you.”

“If this backfires on me, Jungah, I swear I’m going into hiding and changing my name.”

Jiyoon showed up at their dorm, knocking on the door. It was Jongin who opened the door and he quickly made to close it after he saw her. She held the door open and walked in.

“What are you doing here?” He asked her quietly, trying to keep the boys out of it.

“Really? That’s the first thing you ask me?” She scoffed. “People followed you, and now they know where I live, is that not ing creepy enough?”

“It’s not like I’m going back there.” He shrugged. “What’s the big deal?”

“Are you really…you’re really going to act like nothing happened?” She paused for a second, shaking her head.

“That’s because nothing happened.”

“So you didn’t tell me you loved me? You didn’t tell me that you wanted this to work? You didn’t sleep with me last night?” She narrowed her eyes at him, watching as he glanced back towards the other boys.

“Can you keep your voice down -”

“No,” she shook her head, “I’m sure they know already anyway. Did I make the first move last night? Did I push myself onto you? Is that what you said?”

“Jiyoon, please -”

“Was getting revenge so ing important to you that you have to drag everyone along with you?” She shouted at him. She hadn’t noticed that the eight other boys stood up to see what was going on.

“That’s -”

“I’m done, Jongin.” She shook her head. “I’m not playing this game anymore. You finally got your revenge like you wanted, don’t talk to me anymore. I won’t wonder what could’ve been anymore. Carry on with your extraordinary life, I hope you’re happy with yourself.” She turned around and swung the door open.

She attempted to fight against him when he grabbed her arm. He pulled her close to him and his arms wrapped so tightly around her that she couldn’t move away from him. She tried to push at his chest and fought against him the best she could but he was too strong now.

“Let me go.” Jiyoon fought against him.

“I can’t,” he shook his head, only wincing a little bit, “I won’t.”

“You’re an ,” she pushed away from him again, finally breaking free from his grasp, “I don’t want to see you anymore. I don’t want you to come after me. You’re good at not going after people.” She turned away and ran, but not before he saw her tear filled eyes.

He sat in shock for a moment before he followed her out. He stopped her right before she got into her car. He closed the car door and pushed her against it. She watched him with wide eyes.

“There’s people everywhere.” She breathed quietly.

“Since when do I give a ?” He gave her a small half smile before cupping her cheeks and kissing her. She couldn’t help but kiss him back. She missed him more than she’d ever let anyone know.

“They’re going to take pictures -”

“Let them.” He said before he kissed her again.

“You’ll get in so much trouble for this.” She looked into his eyes, seeing a surprising softness to them.

“I’m tired of acting like I don’t love you.” He told her. “It hurt me to leave. I don’t know why I did, but please believe when I say that I love you.”

“You can’t just -”

“I know,” he nodded, “I’ll try to make it up to you.”

“Go back inside.” She told him. “People are recognizing you.”

“Nothing could make me go back in there. Not when you’re out here.” He whispered, brushing her hair behind her ear. “I love you, Park Jiyoon. There’s nothing stopping me this time.”