Jisoo put on a beaten-up, old pair of jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt. There was a convenience store a few miles away and so she was headed there to buy the ice cream and chips that a slightly drunk Irene was yelling at her to get. While it was only 10PM, Irene had come into her apartment building three hours earlier, upset and stressed out about work and men. The woman had brought her with some alcohol, and within that three-hour period, Irene had soloed it all.

Jisoo, meanwhile, wasn't a fan of drinking. She vaguely remembered a night in her late teens where she'd taken in a little too much and ended up puking all over the open street. It was the worst memory of her life and she hated reliving it.

Jisoo shoved her hands into her sweater pockets and looked up at the clear night sky. It wasn't that common to see hundreds of flickering bright stars, so this night must be a special one, she mused. That night when she'd confessed to Suho, the sky looked just like this. The ocean waves calm, the breeze gentle. She remembered truly believing that night that her fairytale story was actually beginning. Not even two months later, it was sad to realize that she had been too naive over the entire ordeal, exactly as Irene and Sehun had warned her.

Jisoo let her gaze drift from the sky to the sidewalk. Sehun seemed more complicated than Suho. He'd been supportive and comforting and exactly what she needed. Other times, he was his normal, sarcastic self that she was so accustomed to. And then there were the rare moments when he became so silent and detached from the rest of the world. There was sadness in him that she couldn't quite pinpoint. Discovering all these sides to Sehun pulled at her, making her more curious and worried at the same time. Curious because she wanted to know who he really was; worried because the image of Sehun in her mind was changing, in the way that the more she thought of him, the more her heart felt uneasy.

Inside the quiet and empty store, she grabbed a small tub of rocky road ice cream and two large bags of potato chips. Jisoo glanced up when the door opened and a couple came in. Unable to help her gaze, she watched them as they kissed. Her eyes darted to their intertwined hands then back to the way they laughed at what the other said. She couldn't help the loneliness that began to fill her.

"That'll be 14.59, miss," the cashier said, interrupting her thoughts.

With a start, she grabbed her wallet and paid for the food.

Jisoo left the store, feeling a little more glum than when she'd come in. Because it was already late at night, only a few cars drove through the streets. She glanced up at the night sky again. Such a romantic night and she was all alone. Even Sehun must be having the time of his life with Eunji. Hmph.

As she turned a corner, a car honked behind her. Startled, she jumped and looked over her shoulder, squinting against the headlights. Amidst the brightness of the lights, she saw a familiar face. Sehun sat behind the wheel, his hand up in a sign of acknowledgement. Her heart erratically pounded in her chest. How did he just suddenly show up out of nowhere when she was just thinking about him? Jisoo swallowed instinctively as she walked over to the driver's side.

"What are you doing out here?" The passenger seat was empty.

"Eunji apparently lives around here. I just dropped her off." Sehun glanced down at her plastic bags. "Junk food?"

Jisoo immediately hid the bags behind her. With defiance, she answered, "So what if they are?"

He shook his head slightly. "Get in. I'll drive you home."

It didn't help calm her nerves that he was staring at her like that. Because of it, she couldn't register anything he'd said. "What?"

"Get in," he repeated. "Your house is around here too, right?"

She blinked in astonishment. "Huh? Oh no. No that's fine. Don't worry about it. It's like...a fifteen-minute walk. It's really close." Why couldn't she think straight, goddammit. Her blood rushed to her face the next time their eyes met. "Go ahead Sehun. I'll be fine."

When she remained standing there, looking so uncertain and nervous, he got out of the car. Her heart stopped. She helplessly watched as he walked over to her, grabbed the bags from her hands, threw them at the back seat and turned back towards her. Still at a loss for words, she let him take her arm and push her into the passenger seat. When he settled back down in the car, her hands fumbled with the seatbelt.

The drive to her house took only minutes, but it seemed endless. The silence was deafening. Neither knew what to say or how to explain what just happened.

Jisoo looked over at her building, then carefully glanced back at Sehun. Just at that exact moment, he looked over at her. Her head turned forward, breaking the gaze right away. Her face still burned. Why did she just do that? Why was her heart pounding so hard? She could hear every single beat, echoing in her ears. She'd never been this nervous before, ever. Not even around Suho.

Meanwhile, Sehun let out a quiet sigh, wanting to shake off his own anxiety. For some reason, he felt like he was sixteen again. It had been a long time since he felt this tense around a woman.

"I just spent the whole night on a date with some woman," Sehun began. "We had dinner, walked around by the river, and she even invited me over to stay for the night," he continued, partly talking to himself. "I was going to stay. I was."

Jealousy shot through her, which helped to dissipate her nerves. "Why didn't you?" She asked indignantly.

He looked back at Jisoo, waiting until she looked back at him.

"W-what? Why do you keep staring at me like that? It's making me very uncomfortable."

"It's your fault," he muttered. With a frustrated sound, he got out of his seat. Jisoo's eyes followed him as he grabbed the bags from the backseat, walked around the car to her door, and opened it. "Get out." She couldn't even find a quick comeback to that rudeness. "Good night."

Jisoo frowned; more confused than she was when he'd just found her. "Wait a minute." She interrupted, reaching to grab his arm before he could walk away. Because he'd taken such a far step, she ended up holding his hand. With as much force as she could gather, she forced him to turn back around.

"What?" He asked in an annoyed tone.

She dropped his hand quickly and demanded with authority, "Look, I don't know what happened between you and Eunji, but I had nothing to do with it. How is the fact that you're not sleeping with her tonight my fault?"

"Forget it. Do me a favour and just forget everything I said."

"No," she interjected stubbornly. "Explain. What happened?"

As he studied her, he felt a lot of unwelcome emotions, all convoluted inside.

"You were in my head," he said with aggravation. "So when I saw you tonight...it was annoying. I've never been more annoyed that you showed up out of nowhere like that. Look...I don't know what any of it means, so don't ask me to explain any more than that."

Jisoo, for the third time that night, was simply floored.

"I'm going," he said resolutely and walked away from her.

When the car drove away, Jisoo stood frozen at the front of her building. Her heart was still shaken. She took a deep breath and forced herself to move. She turned around and marched back into her building. No, it's not possible, she thought. What Sehun meant by those words…it couldn't be. He probably meant that she became so bothersome that he couldn't get her out of his head.

It's not because he sees you that way, she said to herself with conviction. That's not possible in this world, Jisoo. Stop dreaming it.

::::::::::

Timidly, Jisoo glanced over at her desk mate. Sehun was hunched over his keyboard, seemingly working hard. She couldn't understand him at all. Since that night, he hadn't said a word, much less a mere hello. She couldn't decipher whether he was upset with her or just not in the mood at all. He did say that he was really frustrated because he saw her. The frown on her face deepened. What exactly did she do wrong to warrant this kind of cold attitude from him?

Jisoo crumpled up a scrap piece of paper, made it into a ball, spun around, and swung her arm. The paper ball landed at the top right side of his head.

Sehun threw her a subtle look over his shoulder. "What?"

She glowered, crossing her arms in front of her. "What's with the attitude? Are you mad at me? What did I wrong? I didn't do anything wrong. I just bought some food and for some reason, we were at the same place at the same time, so I had nothing to do with being there right when you drove by, and besides, you didn't have to stop. You could have driven by me." She said the last sentence with a huff.

"Are you done?"

"Why are you mad at me? You know how much I hate silence."

"I just have a lot of work to do." When her pout still remained, he suddenly felt like making a joke just so she would crack a smile. But he still felt weird and couldn't exactly hide it. "Let me finish this stuff first."

Unconvinced, she looked over at the clutter on top of his desk. He did look really busy. With a hesitant nod, she agreed and left him alone. Maybe what happened that night was…just Sehun being extra nice and mean at the same time, and that there really was nothing behind what he said or did. It couldn't have. This was Sehun, after all, she reminded herself. And yet, a part of her was disappointed with that thought.

…

At lunch, Sehun stood in front of the microwave, waiting for his food. He looked over idly and caught sight of Jisoo, who was eating her lunch at her desk. Why he was so friggin' drawn to her, he couldn't explain. He couldn't help himself from watching her.

As she took in a spoonful of rice and meat, a piece accidentally fell. She blinked, glanced down in surprise, then with embarrassment, looked around carefully, and finally bent down and picked the piece up. For a moment her face showed disgust before she quickly popped it in . Sehun chuckled in disbelief. She was so damn clumsy. It was endearing.

Then he caught himself. Sehun straightened and walked back to the microwave. What the hell was he doing? This is Jisoo. She's just the uptight, overly sensitive…being…working beside him. It was bad enough to picture Jisoo as a woman, mainly because it made it that much more difficult to get her out of his mind.

Frustrated with himself, he mentally shook himself out of it.

When he was just about ready to get back to his desk, someone from behind said, "That smells good..."

He glanced up. Jisoo stood by the door, cautiously looking back at him whilst chewing food in . "If you're not mad, you should say something now."

With a sudden grin, he then said, "This is the best chicken curry ever made. You know why? Because I made it." He walked over and swung his plate near Jisoo so she could smell it. When she began to shift towards it, he pulled it back tow