~Sehun's POV~

Sehun sat in the study, typing away on his laptop. His fingers hovered over the keyboard as he studied the screen. 

Suddenly, a loud scream pierced the air, snapping the blonde boy out of his concentration and causing him to look up in alarm. after a moment's hesitation, he stood up and rushed towards the bathroom, where he knew where Areum was. He opened the door and looked around in worry. 

"Areum?!" He called, peering into the steam-filled room. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the girl wrapped in a towel, standing on the lid of the toilet, without any apparent injuries. "What's wrong?!"

"Kill it! ing kill it!" She hissed, not sparing Sehun a glance and keeping her eyes trained on the floor. He looked down to see a medium sized, black centipede crawling around on the tiled floor. He frowned.

"You screamed because of a centipede?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Yes. Now ing kill it," She demanded, still not stepping down from the toilet lid and glaring at the small bug as if it were the cause of all her troubles and woes. 

Reaching over to grab a magazine in the basket next to the toilet, he scooped up the centipede and held it up. A devilish smile appeared on his face. 

"Are you scared of centipedes?" He asked casually, still inspecting the bug. "I didn't know you were such a wuss. I expected better of you."

"Just shut up and kill it."

He held out the magazine in front of him tauntingly, bringing it closer to Areum. "See? It's harmless. No need to kill it."

He was surprised, however, to hear a yelp of pure fear and frantic thumps as Areum jumped off the toilet seat, struggling to put distance between her and the wriggling black centipede. Sehun halted, shocked to see tears in Areum's eyes and her backing up against the wall as she trembled in fright. He blinked, withdrawing the magazine. 

"Kill it, please," she begged weakly, eyeing the bug with absolute terror. Without a word, he lifted the lid and flushed the bug down the toilet. He glanced back up to see her breath a sigh of relief, sinking to the floor and wrapping her arms around her knees, taking deep breaths. 

"Areum?" He asked cautiously. Never had he seen Areum so panicked and terrified before, and he was slightly concerned he might have triggered something unintentionally. "Are you okay?"

He walked over slowly and knelt down next to her, hesitantly placing a hand on her bare shoulder. She flinched at his touch, but slowly relaxed as he awkwardly rubbed her back. She was still shaky, but she managed to calm herself slightly. She looked up at him, meeting his questioning stare. 

"I...I'm not very...I don't like centipedes," she mumbled. Sehun rolled his eyes, withdrawing his hand. 

"Obviously, the way you were screaming and yelling at me to kill it," he replied sarcastically. He felt another stab of worry and a bit of regret at his statement when she looked away, fiddling with her fingers. He had expected her to snap back like she usually did when he insulted her, but it seemed like this was a sensitive subject. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

She shook her head, not meeting his eyes. "It's alright. It's just that..." She paused as if realising something, before her cheeks flushed. "Uh...can I tell you later? I mean this in the nicest way possible, but could you please leave?"

"Why?" Sehun raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Well, you see, I don't mean to make things awkward but I'm not exactly, uh...decent, right now." She gave him a pointed look and Sehun's eyes widened. Unconsciously, his eyes travelled down before immediately snapping away. He gulped, feeling his cheeks grow red as he realised she was in nothing but a towel. 

"Oh, uh....I'm sorry, I didn't... I didn't realise...w-well, I mean I did notice, but I wasn't p-paying attention and I didn't mean to-" He cut himself off when he realised Areum had a hand over , trying to stifle her laughs. His face reddened further. 

"What a ert," She laughed, shoving him away. "Let me get changed already, you byuntae."

Not needing further pushing, he hightailed out of the room, closing the room with a loud thud before resting his back against it, breathing rather heavily, face completely red. He mentally cursed himself before making his way back to the study, trying to calm his furiously beating heart. He knew he wasn't romantic