They rush out of the car the moment the engine is cut. Taeyeon power walks through the lobby and impatiently jabs at the buttons the elevator like it’ll help them ascend faster. Taeyeon is red and wheezing by the time Jessica’s door comes into view and Seungwan is just so amused. She’s never seen her this edgy.

Lunch looks to to be entertaining.

Taeyeon stumbles forward and braces herself against the door.

“Well, somebody’s eager. She isn’t going anywhere, you know. She lives here.” Seungwan raises her eyebrow the way she’s been practicing in the mirror — exactly halfway between smug and suggestive — hoping for an amusing response.

Seungwan doesn’t know how she does it, but Taeyeon gets even redder. The back of a usually pale neck is flushed crimson. She starts to glow with the radiance of a small sun. Or a lightbulb that’s about to overheat and burst. Her embarassment is almost a tangible entity at this point and Seungwan thinks that the potential for a life-changing friendship is there.

“Oh, shut up.” Taeyeon swivels her head almost all the way around, it would be horrific if Seungwan wasn’t so amused. “Like you wouldn’t throw yourself into Joohyun-ssi’s arms if you had the chance.”

“So, you’re going to throw yourself into Joohyun-unnie’s arms? Oh my, how bold! Even I haven't done that yet! What would Tiffany-unnie and Jessica-ssi say?”

“YAH! Son Seungwan, you know that’s not what I mea— AIIIIHHHHH!“

The doors opens and Taeyeon falls forward — right into Jessica’s arms.

Seungwan stuffs a fist into to stifle her laugher. And to stop herself from clapping.

“J-j-ess!”

“Tae…”

They stare into each other’s eyes and Seungwan rolls hers, hard. Watching them brings back memories of analysing movies in high school lit. Specifically when the hero sweeps his leading lady out of harms ways and off of her feet, right before they kiss on the beach with the waves crashing and the strings start to climb to a crescendo.

Taeyeon is still incandescently red and there’s the start of a flush creeping up Jessica’s cheeks. God, can they get any more obvious.

“Tae! You’re here! We’ve been waiting for ages.”

Tiffany’s head pokes out from the doorway and Seungwan can see that she’s in a frilly pink apron that’s dusted with flour. It’s a soft, domestic image that she’s never associated with Tiffany before today. She thinks that it’s a surprisingly good fit.

Tiffany stares at Taeyeon and Jessica. Wendy watches Tiffany watch Taeyeon and Jessica. They fit together perfectly and she wonders what has kept them apart for so long. She wonders if she’ll ever find out. She wonders if she and Joohyun could be ever be this way.

And as it turns out, they can get more obvious. Who knew.

“Pasta?” The Jung sisters sure have an affinity towards Italian.

“Yes, we made it from scratch! I massacred half a dozen tomatoes for the sauce. It was bloody work. The kitchen looks like a war zone.” Jessica says, gently lowering the steaming dish onto the table. “ Krystal sent me pictures of your date a couple hours ago asking for a critique. You looked stunning. There’s just something so intimate about the way she shot you.”

Seungwan blushes at the praise and tries to change the subject without making it too obvious. She still can’t take a compliment without feeling uncomfortable. “You didn’t make the white kind?”

“Red is Tae’s favourite.”

Seungwan eyes Jessica’s white blouse with some amusement. It looks high-end. And difficult to get stains out of.

She supposed that having Taeyeon looking at you like you’ve hung the moon was worth spending hours in the laundry. Well, if the moon was a giant meatball.

Seungwan is attempting to spear a sliver of mushroom with her fork and listening in on Tiffany and Jessica’s debate about what to get Krystal for her birthday when somebody’s phone beings to ring. Whitney Houston’s iconic ‘I wanna dance with somebody’ plays and she’s not surprised at all when Tiffany dips into the front pocket of her apron to feel around for her phone.

What does surprise her is Tiffany glancing at the screen and then dropping it back into the pocket, before turning back to Jessica and resuming their conversation like nothing happened.

“We have a no phones policy at the table. We’re busy people and sometimes it’s good to unplug and just focus on being with each other. This way nobody has to change all my passwords to get my attention. ” Taeyeon says from her side of the table, voice dazed and eyes fixed on the debating couple with a love-sick glaze.

“There are exceptions though. You can answer calls. But you can’t read texts.’ Tiffany adds, still facing Jessica.

"It’s not an emergency if they text." Jessica say, not breaking eye contact.

“That sounds like a great policy. We’re too attached to our phones nowadays,” says Seungwan, still attempting to spear the same sliver of mushroom. She gets lucky and her fork pieces through the mushroom and meets the plate with a satisfying clink. She raises it in victory and the shoves it into in a quick, fluid motion. She’s not risking it falling off her fork.

At that moment, Seungwan’s phone vibrates with a message. She slowly turns her head to where it’s resting on the edge of the table. Jessica and Tiffany’s voices have stopped and she can feel all three of their gazes on her.

She taps her fingers against the neck of the fork and flits her eyes between her phone and the table.

“It’s probably not an emergency.” Seungwan doesn’t know who says it, too distracted by the unread message in the room.

It might be.

“You’ve been gone for what? Half an hour at most? It’s not an emergency.”

But what if it was? Seungwan turns her most effective puppy eyes on the trio. Perfected in front of a mirror, it currently has a one hundred percent success rate. Well, at least when used on Seulgi and Joohyun-unnie.

There’s three almost simultaneous sighs. “Just read the message, otherwise it’ll be on your mind for the rest of lunch.”

And apparently on these three.

Seungwan makes a grab for her phone with a victorious smile.

Seungwannie, a cockroach popped up after you left >_< Unnie screamed for you and then got really quiet when she remembered you left :( Then she took the bug spray and locked herself in the room with IT :((( We miss you ʕ´•ᴥ•`ʔ

Seulgi's doing the thing where she uses emoticons instead of punctuation. It's really cute. Seungwan smiles.

Then she registers the content of the message.

Seungwan’s smile dims. Out of everyone, Joohyun is the most terrified of bugs. Every time a cockroach invades their dorm, Joohyun would run to wherever she was and use her as a human shield; pressing against her back and grasping the back of her shirt with tiny fists, before burying her face into the crook of Seungwan’s neck, shaking and begging her to kill the invader.

All she can think about is Joohyun all alone with nobody to help her. Joohyun who is easily startled and absolutely terrified of bugs. Joohyun whose eyes would grow large and fearful with a glossy sheen. Joohyun who has no Seungwan to save her.

Before she knows what she’s doing, she’s pushing her chair back and standing up and—

“What do you think you’re doing?” Tiffany snaps Seungwan out of her haze.

“I...was gonna. Uh. I was gonna go home.” Seungwan awkwardly slow jogs on the spot.

“Sit back down.” Jessica doesn’t look away from her plate and Seungwan immediately pulls her chair out and sits down. “Who was that from?”

“It was Seulgi.”

“Seulgi? The one with the pretty eye-smile?” Jessica says, still not looking away from her plate.

“You know her?” Seungwan is pretty sure Jessica mentioned that she wasn’t familiar with the other members.

“I know her eyes. I like eye-smiles.” Jessica’s eyes flick towards Tiffany before dropping down.

“We know you do.” Tiffany beams, eye-smiling.

Seungwan tries really, really hard not to roll her eyes, because she’s in Jessica’s house, sitting at Jessica’s dining table, and eating Jessica’s food, but could they just do something about the romantic tension that’s been saturating the room. Please.

"So, what did she want?” Taeyeon chips in, eyes back on Jessica and Tiffany.

“She told me that Joohyun-unnie was alone with a cockroach.” Seungwan picks her fork up and balances it on her fingers.

“Oh. You’re the designated bug killer.“ Tiffany and Jessica say at the same time, turning to face her.

"I’m the what?”

“Bug killer.” Taeyeon helpfully supplies.

“I kill bugs?” Seungwan does in fact, kill the bugs. She’s not sure why they’re making such a big deal of it though.

“In a relationship, there’s always a bug killer and a damsel in distress. The bug killer vanquishes the enemy and is rewarded,” supplies Taeyeon, once again.

“Good to know?” Seungwan really doesn’t know what they’re trying to get at.

“It means that she trusts you to keep her safe.” Seungwan doesn’t need to glance over to know that Jessica is rolling her eyes.

“Oh.” Her cheeks grow warm and she plays with the edge of the tablecloth, secretly pleased that Joohyun has chosen to depend on her. Then she realizes that she’s not there for Joohyun to rely on. All the warmth evaporates at once. She needs to go back.

“Don’t even think about going back.’

Seungwan flinches. She wonders if Jessica can read minds.

“I can’t read your mind. I read your face and you’ve never been subtle. It might be a little cruel, but you can’t run back and try to protect her from everything. Let her see what it’s like without you. Let her realize just how much she needs you.”

It does feel cruel to Seungwan. Cruel and underhanded and manipulative and mean and everything else that isn't kind. But Seungwan always been weak for Joohyun, always been willing to do anything and everything in her power to make sure Joohyun is happy, so these feelings aren't unexpected. But they usually dissipate because she'd cave in to Joohyun's desires like a paper bag in a hurricane.

“You don’t realise what you have until it’s gone.” Tiffany mutters, eyes darting between Jessica and Taeyeon.

“Mhhh.” Taeyeon hums, eyes downcast, hurriedly shovelling pasta into and chewing pointedly.

“If she’s smart, she’ll realise what she’s missing. If she isn’t…” Jessica trails off, eyes locked onto the tips of Taeyeon’s rapidly redding ears.

Seungwan isn’t entirely convinced that leaving Joohyun alone and defenceless is the best option. But there’s no way she’ll be able to convince them to let her go. Tiffany and Taeyeon could possibly be swayed, but Jessica is a steel trap and Seungwan does not have the mental fortitude to pry her jaws open. She probably doesn’t have the physical strength either.

“So, is Taeyeon-unnie the bug killer then?”

Jessica snorts inelegantly. The sound is so jarring and surprising, Seungwan accidentally yanks the tablecloth. Oddly enough, nobody seems to notice.

“Tae as the bug killer? Please.” Jessica snorts again.

“Hey! Rude! I could!” Taeyeon huffs, crossing her arms and turning a glare towards Jessica.

Jessica who looks completely unruffled, as if she didn’t find Taeyeon intimidating or convincing in the slightest. Seungwan is pretty sure that this, whatever it is, is not an uncommon occurrance. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Princess.”

“So, she’s not the bug killer?” Seungwan is probably a little too invested in finding out who kills the bugs in this...complicated dynamic.

“It’s me. I kill the bugs.” Tiffany says, eyes creasing into crescents.

Seungwan imagines Tiffany in her frilly pink apron running around trying to smash bugs with a pink heart-shaped fly swatter and tries not to giggle. “Do you swat them to death with a rolled-up newspaper?”

“She snipes them with Jimmy Choos. It’s pretty frightening how accurate she is. Tiff’s like some sort of shoe-shuriken throwing ninja.” Taeyeon sounds completely smitten with Tiffany’s previously undiscovered viciousness.

Seungwan decides to give up speculating about their relationship then and there. It’s obviously far more complex and nuanced than she is prepared to handle. This is one triumvirate she won’t be going against.

“Mhhh.” She nods and begins picking at her lukewarm pasta with her fork.

“I’ve decided to help you out with your dates.” Jessica might as well have stabbed her in the back. Repeatedly. With a blunt knife.

“You’ve decided to hitch a ride on the set-Seungwan-up-with-someone-completely-unexpected bandwagon?” Seungwan thinks that the weird jabbing feeling at her ribs feels a little something like betrayal.

“At this point it’s more of a carpool. There’s quite a few people committing to this.” Jessica sounds completely nonchalant, as if she hadn’t been sobbing in Seungwan’s arms the night before with heartbreak in her lungs.

“Really? After everything we’ve been through?’ Didn’t they share something special? Wasn’t there some sort of tragic romance solidarity that bound them together?

Taeyeon and Tiffany grin their eerie grins and Seungwan feels her flight or fight response begin to prime her body. Jessica smiles at her too, and that’s when Seungwan notices, there are three of them.

The feeling is definitely betrayal. Seungwan is deathly sure. Seungwan is willing to bet on it. Why didn’t she see this coming. She really should have seen this coming. After all, birds of a feather do fall in love with each other.

“Yes. I’ve already asked her. You’ve got a date tomorrow night.”

Et tu, Jessica?