A/N 1: I at naming so there you go, a nameless group.
A/N 2: Kim Lip? Jungeun? Let's just stick with Jungeun.
A/N 3: This is a huge mess fest but honestly I just want to get rid of this asap so yeah.
A/N 4: Will proofread later if I can find the time.
A/N 5: Thank you for the subscriptions, upvotes and comments!

 

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"Lippie! Wait up!" Haseul chases after the girl walking side by side with another one of their bandmate, Chaewon. She sees as the brunette halts her steps in an abrupt manner, she has a bad feeling about going through with this but Haseul really has no other choice left.

The way Kim Lip's (Haseul prefer her birthname Jungeun, but her company made Kim Lip/ Lip/ Lippie a norm for them that she can't escape it no more) shoulders rise up, only to go back down sharply goes to show just how much she wanted to avoid this. She eventually turns around to meet Haseul's eyes. "What is it?" Her voice is surprisingly calm but Haseul is well informed that Jungeun possesses a lot of venom behind her facade.

"Can we talk?" Haseul can see Chaewon looking at them back and forth, clearly has zero clue on what is going on between her and the girl. "Just us."

A crease appears on Jungeun's forehead for a split second and she looks away, seemingly to draw another sharp breath. "Chae, you go ahead. We'll follow suit." She scratches on her nose awkwardly.

Chaewon clicks her tongue. "Okay... but don't take too long. You guys know how Miss Bae is." She tilts her head towards the direction of the practice room. The blonde takes one last hard look at both the leader and her vice before disappearing behind the door.

"Spill." Jungeun is very actively avoiding her eyes, her gaze falls on the total opposite of Haseul.

Haseul clears loudly. "Not here. Can we go somewhere--"

"Private?" The girl cuts Haseul off as if her patience is threading on a thin line. This time Jungeun doesn't bother to hide her burdened sigh. "Make it quick."

Haseul gives a timid nod before turning around to guide them into an empty practice room two doors away. It is so out of character for Haseul to have her head hung so low like this but no one can really blame her to regard the floor as the least intimidating thing to her right now. "About yesterday..." She trails off, unable to form a proper wording despite already having this rehearsed in her head for countless of times. That particular memory from less than 24 hours ago is still fresh at the back of her mind, haunting and taunting her that she legitimately had not even a wink of sleep last night.

"What about it?" Haseul can hear Jungeun tapping on the floor as if counting down every second that has gone by. It sounds a lot like a ticking time bomb to Haseul.

"That is not supposed to happen. I never planned to let it be known to anyone, especially not... you..." Haseul's voice loses its volume with every word.

"So you planned to continue on deceiving me forever?" Jungeun is quite known for her temperamental tendency and from the many years of knowing her, Haseul can say that she is accustomed to it, or maybe immuned to it too. But this time it is different, it carries more weight that sneaks pass the surface of personal level. Haseul fears the consequences that follow.

She shakes her furiously. "No, that's not how it is. I'm not trying to deceive anyone, Lippie. I'm aware that there's no other way but to keep it a secret." Haseul feels warmth creeping up her face which soon reaches the edge of her bottom eyelids. She holds it in for as much as she can. She can't break down now, not in front of Jungeun.

Jungeun stays mum, her eyes are closed rather tightly. Haseul wanted so bad to reach out and eases them but given the situation, that won't be the smartest idea. Soon enough, the girl turns her body to face Haseul directly. Her eyes  are wandering around the entire space, everywhere but Haseul. "It's better for us to keep our professionalism at max from now on. I'm sure you know that we can't afford to jeopardize the whole team." The monotone lacing Jungeun's voice is making it difficult for Haseul to depict the raw emotion behind it. She shows neither anger nor delight. It would be so much easier if Jungeun just lashed out at her instead.

"I... understand." The whisper barely escapes her dry lips. Haseul hugs on her own frame afterwards, feeling terribly vulnerable and exposed under Jungeun's sudden stare.

The tall brunette runs a hand through her messy locks before sighing once again. But this time it is more resolved from the previous ones. "Is that all?" When Haseul nods her head mutely, Jungeun turns around and reaches for the door knob. "I'll be needing time and space to myself." She glances over her shoulder. "And I wish not to talk about this again. You catch my drift."

Jungeun wants Haseul nowhere near her space, wants Haseul to waste none of her time. Haseul isn't sure if that is possible given their line of work but on top of all, Haseul never dreamt of a day where Jungeun will voluntarily set restrictions between them like this. Funny how yesterday Jungeun and her could cramp in her single bed together, snuggling with almost no care about private spaces whatsoever and now Haseul is told that she needs to put a distance between them because of a slip up that Haseul never wished to happen.

And with that, the door closes before her. Maybe it is just Haseul in her overly sensitive state, but the thud noise it produced sends her brain into different directions in her desperate attempt to read Jungeun.

One thing that she is sure for now, she has ed up their friendship real bad.

 

----------

 

A week ago, after three years into their successful career, they were informed of an arrangement for them to move into a brand new apartment. It is a lot more spacious and a lot more cosy for the band members to live in. So befitting for them to begin receiving better accommodations as time goes by.

In between busy practicing for their upcoming comeback and dodging her personal problem with you-know-who, Haseul miraculously managed to pack her belongings right on schedule. Jungeun is rooming with her in their current dorm, precisely since two years ago. All six members agreed to have the arrangement went by the order of their age. Being the two oldest among the girls, Haseul and Jungeun couldn't be anymore delighted for that. They hit it well right off the bat, growing closer as compared to their trainee days where some kind of weird tension created an invisible wall between them.

Jungeun shows no visible sign of discomfort whenever she is in the room but there's definitely drastic changes since their little (big) confrontation. The Jungeun she knew would never fail to greet her in the morning while this one won't even spare a glance at Haseul's side of the bedroom, the Jungeun she knew would randomly climb onto Haseul's bed to share about foods and snacks she found online while this one will have her back against Haseul while scrolling through her phone all the time, the Jungeun she knew would never ever ignore Haseul's existence but this one won't acknowledge her unless she is prompted to do so.

The Jungeun she knew is no longer there and it is a fact that is way too painful for Haseul to live with. Nevertheless, she carries on like she is not affected at all.

Haseul is struggling to pull her luggage out of the elevator when Heejin comes to her rescue, giving the huge (it is half of Haseul's size) bag a push from the opposite direction. "Who's the genius that made you think it'd be a good idea to own luggages the same size as you?"

"My mom." Haseul grunts, she should have not keep too many things with her.

"Oh. No offense." Heejin grimaces.

Haseul is too exhausted to even laugh. "You called her genius so none taken."

"Can I ask you something?" Heejin pulls on the handle and it causes the luggage to stop moving abruptly.

The interruption annoys Haseul due to the fact that they are less than 50 metres away from their unit's door. But that is nothing compared to the offense she takes from Heejin being so much stronger than her. "Must you do it now? Can't you find a better timing?"

"This is the perfect timing." Heejin drops her voice into a hush. "Are you and Lippie fighting?"

Haseul is forever thankful that she has schooled her expressions. She  an eyebrow at Heejin. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I might have a poor eyesight but I can see you guys not talking to each other lately." Heejin looks at her with a suspecting stare. "You guys don't even meet in the eyes."

The normal version of Haseul would lunge at Heejin in full speed and cry her eyes out regarding the whole ordeal. But this Haseul is not going to let that happen anytime soon. "You think we are fighting because of that?" Haseul snickers. "Oh Heejin, you innocent soul." Haseul is proud of her acting talent.

"Duh? You and Lip can't go a day without each other, it legit gives me an eyesore." Heejin rolls her eyes. Haseul makes sure to swallow the lump forming in in a subtle manner. "So of course I think of the worse when you two suddenly act like you don't exist to one another." 

Haseul laughs in fake absurdity. "The sky isn't always blue, Heekki." Her laugh subsides into a small hurtful smile. Heejin is too caught up in her little speculation to notice it. "There's nothing for you to be so concerned about okay?"

"So you guys are really fighting huh?" Heejin puts her chin on her hand. "Should I get to the bottom of this?"

"That's clearly not what I said." Haseul sighs. "We are fine. Just leave me and--" She  clears . "Leave the matter to me."

She can tell that Heejin is totally dissatisfied with her answer. "You really want me to leave it to you?" Heejin asks, tilting her head to one side. Haseul nods at that lazily. "Alright, I'll leave this to you." She pats on the luggage twice before moving pass Haseul to get into the apartment.

Haseul's eyes immediately go wide. "Heejin!! Ugh!" She takes a couple of deep breath before resuming with the task at hand all by herself.

Haseul is half dying when she finally made it into the living room, where they temporarily gather all of their belongings in a complete mess. The idea of having to unpack these things again makes Haseul questions her life choices.

A few seconds later, she sees Hyunjin running from the direction of the kitchen with an annoyed Heejin chasing after her. "Girls! May I have your attention for a moment please!" Hyunjin's scream could cost them complaints from their neighbours and it is only their first day here.

But it definitely serves it purpose as the rest of her bandmates, Chaewon and Jiwoo, emerge from one of the bedrooms to join them. "This place is sooo huge!" Jiwoo opens her arms wide to depict her statement.

"We can play hide and seek and never be found forever." Chaewon adds which earns a confused look from her members.

Haseul scans around and spots Jungeun by the doorway, the girl is in the midst of arranging their shoes in a neat fashion (so typical of Jungeun). The brunette definitely takes her own sweet time to make her way towards the spacious room.

"You are as fast as a sleepy turtoise." Hyunjin makes a face at Jungeun.

The latter ignores it, she is more concerned at the current state of their living room. "You guys really can't put your junks in order." Jungeun exclaims in disbelief.

"Who cares." Hyunjin waves her off. "We have a more pressing matter at hand."

Haseul is suddenly restless, they are not going to discuss about her and Jungeun out in the open like this right?

"I say we switch up our room arrangement this time around." Hyunjin wiggles her eyebrows, a smile on her face like she had just come up with the most brilliant idea in the universe.

"Why fix something that isn't broken tho? I'm sure we are perfectly fine with the default ones. Am I right or am I right, Miss Leader?" Heejin looks at Haseul, clearly expecting her to back her up.

Haseul smiles awkwardly. "I dunno..." She swipes her tongue across her chapped lips. "Maybe you guys can consult with Lip instead." She simply says, not sparing a glance at the girl in question.

That effectively diverts their attention towards the tall brunette. The temperature in the room goes up a bit for Haseul, the younger girl might have given her a 'what the' look. She isn't sure, she just feels eyes on her. Haseul naturally joins in waiting for Jungeun's response. She is half expecting for Jungeun to reject the idea.

"Uh..." Jungeun is on her habit whenever she feels pressured, running her fingers through her hair. "I'm cool with it." She shrugs.

"Oh, come on!" A collective exclaims come from all over the place, Heejin and Jiwoo are especially loud.

"Lip agreeing with me? Everybody, the end is near." Hyunjin stares at the floor in confusion. "But hell yeah! Let's get it!"

Haseul tries her best to keep her front, although deep inside she feels a slight disappointment at Jungeun's choice. But what did she expect again? Of course Jungeun will take the opportunity to skip them from being roommates again.

"How are we going to do this?" Heejin asks, still very much unamused. She is bundled up in a backhug by Jiwoo who has a pout on her face.

"I got this." Hyunjin holds up an empty glass bottle of coke. "We play rock, paper, scissors and the winners get to spin first."

"That is so innovative." Jungeun comments sarcastically, folding her arms across her chest. "Let's get this done and over with." She sighs.

After a few rounds of tossing random signs of rock, paper and scissors, Haseul somehow get herself crowned as the first winner. She smirks at the outcome, taking the glass bottle of the floor and spins it around without second thought. 

Let's get this done and over with she says.

The group watch as the bottle slowly loses its speed and eventually comes to a complete stop. They look up to see it pointing at Jungeun accurately, not missing an inch. Haseul's eyes about to pop up from their sockets, she can feel beads of sweat forming on her temples. 

What are the odds?

"That's a void." Hyunjin casually says.

Heejin flails her arms around. "How so?!"

"We agree to get a new arrangement so it's obvious we can't get our former roommate." Hyunjin shrugs. "Plus, Haseul didn't say 'challenge'."

That somehow ticks Haseul off. "I wasn't aware of those rules!" She should be relieved that that spin is considered as invalid so why is she getting frustrated by it?

"Hyunjin is a scammer, we been knew." Chaewon chimes in, Heejin and Jiwoo nods in support.

Haseul can see Jungeun from the corner of her eyes, the girl remains emotionless in her place. Haseul lowkey wishes that she would say something about the situation. Has someone swapped Jungeun with a freaking android for her to be this uncaring? Jungeun's silence begins to annoy her and she doesn't even know why.

"Challenge!" Haseul relentlessly grabs the bottle again before spinning it with all her might. She stares at it in hope to send an additional force so that it could go flying and hit Jungeun square in the face.

Okay, maybe that's a bit too much. Violence is never the answer.

This time, the doomed bottle has it upper side pointing at the space in between Jungeun and Heejin. Hyunjin quickly gets up to inspect the angle. "Heejin is our lucky number one." She announces. "Jeon Heejin for vice leader!"

Haseul stares at the spot, she can't quite believe her eyes. The bottle barely landed in Heejin's direction, meaning that there was a 50-50 chances for her to pick Jungeun as her roommate for the second time in a row.

They rinse and repeat the steps afterwards. Soon enough, they managed to get to the final arrangements. Haseul gets Heejin, Jiwoo gets Hyunjin and Jungeun? Jungeun looks pretty content to have Chaewon as a roommate.

Haseul internally rolls her eyes. Jungeun is probably going to be happy with whoever she ends up with, just whoever but Jo Haseul. Not Haseul's lost though, Jungeun is not that great of a roommate. Hmph.

Later that night, Haseul is struggling to get herself to sleep. She hasn't fully adjusted to the new environment which doesn't seem to be the case for Heejin. Haseul can hear her light snoring from across the room. After a few minutes of tossing her petite body all over the bed, Haseul finally gives up and heaves a sigh. She shuts her eyes in hope to drift to sleep but the image of a certain memory plays behind her eyelids instead.

Crazy Rich Asians is playing on the screen with Jungeun lazy cacklings filling in both of Haseul's ears. Jungeun is using her upper arm as a makeshift pillow for the backside of her head, and despite Haseul's constant whining about Jungeun being a big-headed, in both literal and illiteral sense, Jungeun continues to ignore her and only gets more comfortable there.

"You're falling asleep, aren't you?" She asks the girl.

"I'm not..." She hears Jungeun stiffling a yawn. "... falling asleep."

Haseul gives up ten minutes into the movie and let Jungeun do whatever she wishes to do. Jungeun seems so fixated on the screen or maybe already asleep, she can't tell, that the buzz coming from Haseul's phone doesn't bother her in the slightest. Haseul has been trying to get her sister Yeojin to stop spam messaging her but it's not working out so she just entertains the kid with random replies. Haseul's bed is not that big, but for some reason sharing it with Jungeun never felt suffocating. Not even once. She actually enjoys lazing around with the younger girl like this.

Haseul tries to hold it in but eventually reaches out to tap on the spacebar. "Time out. I need the bathroom." She squeaks out.

"Really now? We're getting to the good part." Jungeun asks in annoyance.

"Unless you really want me to wet the bed." Haseul quirks an eyebrow.

Jungeun is smirking before pulling a disgusted look. "Don't care what you do with your bed but since I'm literally on it right now, fine go ahead." She pushes Haseul off the bed.

It doesn't take Haseul that long to return to the room but the moment she steps into the space, she can feel the temperature dropped to a minus. Jungeun is sitting straight on her back, her eyes bore a hole all the way to the back of Haseul's head. Her expression is totally unreadable to Haseul.

"Lippie, you alright?" She starts, unsure if this is another one of Jungeun's silly pranks. Jungeun doesn't offer her any verbal answer and instead, turns her gaze away from Haseul, a sigh escaping her lips. "Lip? Jungeun... what's wrong?"

Haseul inches closer to the bed as if that move could clear the haze for her. As she is about to settle herself by the edge of the bed, Jungeun rises up to her feet abruptly. Her dark brown orbs are staring right into Haseul's terrified eyes, barely touching the surface of her soul, as if in search for something.

After a few seconds of losing herself in Jungeun's beautiful eyes, Haseul is presented with her own phone right in front of her face. How long has it been in Jungeun's hold? She never realized it. Jungeun shakes the object around lightly, sending some kind of statement that Haseul can't quite decipher. There is a flash of raw emotions behind Jungeun's orbs before she shuts it down real quick.

The younger stays muted, letting the phone to slip off her hand and right onto the bed before brushing Haseul's shoulder with her own and makes her way out of the door.

"What the hell?" Haseul is so confused by the sudden cold treatment. What did she do wrong?

She snatches the phone off her bed and hits on the power key to check the lockscreen. Horror immediately plastered on her face upon reading the preview of messages from Yeojin.

[Yeojin]: movie with lippie?

[Yeojin]: btw u ever gonna confess to her?

[Yeojin]: i rmb u telling me it hurts to hide your true feelings from her

Haseul loses her footing and plops onto the mattress. She can only stare at the wooden door, little did she know she won't be seeing Jungeun for the rest of the day.

How did a harmless conversation managed to take a drastic turn and became the embodiment of doom for her like that? Haseul is starting to believe that the curse people been saying she carries around is a real deal, not just a mere joke. Haseul silently laughs at her pitiful self before a lone tear escapes her. She wants to fix this as soon as possible but Jungeun is out of reach for now and she has no wish to make it worse. The waiting game is going to kill her sooner or later.

 

----------

 

Their comeback day is around the corner and they are going to kick it off with the must-have showcase stage. For the first time in her life, Haseul is grateful for her jam-packed schedules because:

1. It effectively helps her to keep her focus on improving herself as both a singer and a performer.
2. It takes her mind away from thinking and worrying about her relationship with Jungeun 24/7.

Despite having the root of her problem presented right before her eyes every single day, as they mainly spend their time either at the dance practice room or the recording studio, Haseul still managed to keep her professionalism at maximum level, as per requested by certain somebody. She takes pride in that and no one can stop her from doing so.

As they are diligently practicing to tighten up their choreography, news on a last minute tweak sends a wave of pressure on each of the members. Haseul is especially stressed out since she is a bit lagging when it comes to memorizing dance routines. The pressure is totally getting to her and she is at the verge of breaking down.

"Lippie, come here for a sec." Miss Bae summons the girl.

Haseul is sweating but Jungeun is absolutely drenched. It is to no one's surprise since Jungeun always gives her all when dancing. "Yes, Miss Bae?"

"You got everything down right?" She asks. Jungeun is still breathless so she merely nods at that. "So, give a hand to your members here yeah?" Miss Bae gestures at both Chaewon and Haseul before moving on to check on the others.

Jungeun's eyes are shaking, Haseul can clearly see that. Why is she acting like this is going to be her first time assisting them with their choreography? She is literally their extra instructor at this point. Haseul looks at her weirdly but Jungeun is definitely a professional at avoiding eye contacts.

"So, how is it going for you... guys?" Really, she rather stares at the wall behind Haseul's head instead of at Haseul herself.

"Still trying to figure out a reasonable reason on why this tweak is needed at all." Chaewon sighs. "Not everyone is gifted like you in this group. I'm about to break a limb here." She wiggles her left hand, it reminds Haseul of the nasty jelly she had when she was 15.

"It's a disaster for me." Haseul simply answers, might as well reserve her remaining energy for dancing instead of talking.

"Well... why don't we take a look first?" Jungeun clasps her hands together. "From the second verse." She orders before taking a few steps back to provide more space for Chaewon and Haseul.

The two girls relentlessly get into the rhythm, matching the beats produced using their mouths to what seems to be a synchronized movements. But it's not that long  before they arrive at the troublesome part. Chaewon appears to have a slightly better grasp on it compared to the obviously struggling Haseul. They both continue to hit on the moves despite it slowly turning into a mess fest.

"Alright, we have seen enough." Jungeun gives them a cue to stop before scratching a finger on her scalp. "I think it'd be easier for me to focus on you first." She points at Chaewon who has been coughing non stop. "You..." Her finger is directed at Haseul but her eyes are elsewhere, Haseul really wants to smack this girl. "... can follow along or just take a rest first. Whichever." Haseul grits on her teeth, Jungeun is pissing her off more than the entire ordeal regarding the choreography. "Let's go, Chae."

At the end Haseul chooses to sit at one corner of the room, too drained both physical and mental wise. She is glaring at Kim Jungeun the entire time, starting not to care if their little discord goes on full display for everyone to see. The fact that Jungeun still looks ridiculously attractive while dancing and guiding Chaewon at the same time is annoying Haseul to no end. The way she moves so gracefully with just enough force to keep eyes on her is beyond Haseul. Jungeun shouldn't be allowed to be this charismatic and enchanting. The world is so unfair.

Heejin comes to collect her not long after that, offering to help her catch up with the routines since she has gotten a hang of it now. Haseul accepts it gladly and actually pulls an all-nighter to perfect her moves that night.

Her tears and sweats are worth it, she knows all of the sacrifice is worth it.

 

----------

 

Haseul is having a mini brawl with the wire to her in-ear monitor when a pair of hands beat her to grab on it instead. She turns around and half expecting it to be her stylist or maybe one of her four members (as in four, the remaining one is an android so it doesn't count) but is taken aback when she sees Jungeun up close. Ugh, why her? Haseul looks around to find if there's anyone around to help her escape from Jungeun but surprise, surprise, everybody is busy with something and her members? Well, they are nowhere to be spotted.

It is just Haseul and Kim Lip. How convenient.

"I believe you have it attached wrongly here." Jungeun remarks casually, eyes glued on the offending wire with her hands busy securing it back to its rightful place. "There. Don't want you to cause a scene out there, don't we?" Her face is void of emotion while her tone is so robot-like. But the way her eyebrow curls upward doesn't sit well with Haseul, it is almost mocking her.

Haseul is not in the mood for a meaningless banter so she just gets back into her position and pretends that the huge distraction a couple metres behind her simply doesn't exist. Well, she wishes it is that simple.

"You got all the moves down?" Jungeun tries to strike a conversation, Haseul wonders why she even bother.

"A little bit too late for you to be worrying about that now, don't you think?" Haseul is unamused by Jungeun's pitiful attempt.

Jungeun just hums, Haseul can hear it clearly since Jungeun is literally standing behind her. "And you remember your cue right?" She hears Jungeun talking again. Seriously what is this girl up to?

Haseul rolls her eyes, not bothering to face Jungeun. "Of course. Shouldn't you be worrying about yours instead?" She makes sure Jungeun catches her sarcasm.

"Oh, I never forget what's mine." For some reason, Haseul can hear Jungeun smirking through that.

Haseul can't tell why she is so irritated from listening to Jungeun's voice alone. She may or may have not successfully brainwashed herself into believing that she hates Kim Jungeun and is not secretly in love with her, although techical wise she can't exactly call it a secret anymore.

It's so absurd to her that Jungeun asked for them to act professional yet she has been actively ignoring Haseul even during work hours like a freaking child. God forbid her from mentioning 'Haseul' or getting herself involved in something as simple as an eye contact with her. It's even more absurd to think that Jungeun is aware of her feelings for her and denies any form of discussions regarding that topic before voluntarily traded Haseul's place for a new roommate (Haseul loves Chaewon so she has nothing against her), yet has the audacity to come up to her and behaving all casual like this. How dare she. It doesn't work like that, Kim Jungeun.

Haseul has long come to terms that the 5th grader her who wished to have mind reading as a superpower was beyond ridiculous. And now, the current her suddenly thinks that idea is a genius and that power could come in handy. The irony. It would be so much easier if Jungeun flat out rejected her, spelled out the big N-O for her to see. Haseul is a grown woman, she can deal with a heartbreak or two and still moves forward. So why keep her in the dark like this? Why the push and pull game now? Oh wait, she doesn't know because she has no mind reading power!

"Good for you." She mumbles under her breath, truly has no desire to entertain Jungeun any longer.

The showcase wraps up in a rather eventful manner. No mishaps whatsoever as the members did each of their parts perfectly. The few occasions where Haseul is required to interact with Jungeun spontaneously also gone by quite well. So it's safe and sound for her as of now. They are back in the dorm, granted the time to rest since their promotion won't be starting until later this week. 

Haseul is laying down in her bed, minding her own business and blasting some music through her airpods while Heejin and Jiwoo are doing God knows what on the other side of the room, all hushes and giggles. She told them to keep it down but it's impossible with those two hence why she turns to her airpods at the end.

Minutes of peacefulness while listening to IU is broken down the moment Chaewon knocks on her door and Heejin let her in, with Hyunjin in tow. Great, more people in her room now. They are all sprawled all over Heejin's bed and Haseul watches from the corner of her eyes as a mini commotion erupts between them which then results in Heejin being thrown down from her own bed. Jiwoo actually gets off the mattress to join Heejin on the floor instead. What a sweet gesture. Still, Haseul can't help but rolls her eyes at that.

The next song on her playlist is starting off rather slowly so it's so easy for her to catch the moment Jungeun's name slips from Chaewon's tongue.

"Y'all think Lippie got herself a girlfriend now?" Now, Haseul is far from being a nosy person but this is not something that she will skip over. She puts her playlist on pause and still feigns looking busy with her phone.

A low gasp escapes Jiwoo, seriously this girl is the epitome of dramatic. "What makes you think that?"

"I saw her video calling the same girl a couple of times now. Sometimes they talk for hours, can't really hear her since she been using earphones." Chaewon elaborates, shamelessly hogging the bed alongside Hyunjin. "Girl is gorgeous tho. She looks like she came straight out of manga."

"It could be just a friend." Heejin says. "Plus, she'd already announced it to us if she did. I don't see Lip as a person who'd do anything behind our backs." She plays with Jiwoo's hair who happens to lay her head comfortably on her lap.

"Bold of you to assume that the nature of our career won't push her to do that." Chaewon retorts.

Haseul is frowning at this rate. So, Jungeun has a girlfriend? Is that the reason why she never say anything even after she finds out about Haseul's feelings for her? Is Jungeun trying to protect her relationship? Or is she trying to avoid from blatantly breaking Haseul's heart? Not that she hasn't done that already but still, this speculation gives way to a whole new spectrum for her.

"Bold of you to assume that the antisocial Kim Lip has a girlfriend." Hyunjin snickers.

"Well, I hold onto the words of wisdom, if you don't speculate you can't accumulate." Chaewon merely adds.

Hyunjin looks at Chaewon lazily. "That's cool but it's Lip we talking about. She hates everyone but herself."

Heejin widens her eyes. "You're dead wrong. She loves Haseul though. Isn't that right, Haseul?!" She hears Heejin screaming which only looks silly to her since she can listen to her loud and clear without all that.

"Sorry?" She pulls out her left airpod. Her acting skills is off the chart, she should request her company to get her some acting gigs soon.

"Oh, just checking." She sees Heejin smirking. "You can go back to listening to nothing though." Her smirk stretches into an annoying looking one.

Haseul chokes on her saliva. "What are you talking about?" She glares at the girl, Heejin is so good at getting on her nerve. "I'm getting myself something from the kitchen." She drops everything before making her way out of the room.

"Get yourself a better eavesdropping skills while you are at it!" One of these days, she is so going to punch Jeon Heejin square in the face.

It's going to be a quick run and grab mission for Haseul so she skips switching on the lights, her vision is only supported by the illumination coming from the living room. Haseul remembers a bundle of snacks sent in by her parents almost a month ago, where did she place it again? She looks around and spots the said bundle stacked at the highest vantage point of their apartment, on top of the top shelves. Whose bright idea to have it stored up there?! She heaves a very deep sigh. Why everything always goes against her? Haseul wants to cry her heart out.

Haseul gets on her toes and tries to reach for the snacks but sadly even at full stretch, Haseul is so lacking in the height department. "Just why?!" She whispers angrily. A couple of deep breaths later, Haseul opts to grab herself a chair to climb on. She comes here to have a simple nice time and now she is forced to go on extra length to grab a freaking food.

Haseul is about to get a foot on the chair when the kitchen suddenly flooded by bright lights. She ceases her movements, totally confused by the sudden change in her environment. Spinning on her heel, Haseul quickly finds a figure resting by the entrance of the kitchen. Jungeun is standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, looking at Haseul like she just got caught red handed. Their eyes meet and Haseul clears awkwardly before settling herself on the chair, an attempt to cover up what could have been mistaken as a silly act by Jungeun.

Jungeun doesn't say anything and instead, walks into the kitchen to grab herself a mug of plain water. Haseul glances at the wall clock. It is 15 minutes past midnight, why is Jungeun still up? She always goes to bed at 10PM sharp else she would go on a rant on how she is sleep deprived and at the verge of dying. Haseul had the impression that Jungeun will leave as soon as she grabs her mug but is totally surprised to see the brunette gets cozy by the counter instead, very much to her dismay. Just great.

Haseul internally prays that Jungeun won't start any sort of talk.

"What are you doing?" Shoot. Jungeun has her eyes trained on her. Oh, now she has the nerve to do that yeah?

Haseul tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "Getting some fresh air, the whole squad of gossip girls are camping inside of my room." She rolls her eyes.

Jungeun sips on her water. "What they gossiping about?" Okay, Jungeun is just being nosy now.

"How do I know?" Haseul shrugs, her only wish is for Jungeun to leave so that she can get her hands on her snack. "Shouldn't you be like... sleeping right now?"

"I can say the same about you." Jungeun stares into her now empty mug.

"Told you they are hoarding my bedroom." Haseul shifts in her seat.

"Want me to tell them off?" Jungeun looks like she is ready to march into the room and give them a piece of her mind.

"No, no need to go that far." Haseul shakes her head.

"You know there's three different bedrooms in this apartment." It sounds like an afterthought from Jungeun and not to mention, quite random too. Why the need to bring that up? She knows that fact just as much as the others did. Haseul waits for any kind of elaboration from Jungeun but she seems to have no intention in doing so.

"I'm not sure what you getting at..." She quirks an eyebrow. "But that's not the point. What I meant to say is, you always go to bed at 10 and it's past midnight now. So why?" That may or may not be a genuine concern on Haseul's part. But to her defense, she is just trying to get her snack in peace.

She isn't facing Jungeun directly but she can see some sort of discomfort from the latter's body language. "Just because." Haseul knows better than anyone else that brief answers from Jungeun only serves as a sign to stop pressing the matter.

Jungeun leaves her seat to rinse her mug at the sink. Finally. Haseul internally counting down for Jungeun to return to her room so that she can climb on this waist-height chair and in case things go south, probably risking breaking a bone or two too. But the snacks are definitely going to be worth it.

What actually goes south is her predictions instead. She can only watch in silent as Jungeun pulls out a stool from under the counter before giving it a couple of kicks and have it positioned right in front of the shelves, a few centimetres away from Haseul. Her brown eyes double up in size when she sees Jungeun steps on the stool and grabs on the food that she has been craving since like half an hour ago with relative ease.

This is totally Jungeun showing off her height superiority.

Jungeun extends the bundle right before Haseul, her face is impossible to read. The older girl is speechless hence no sound coming from her at all but the heat rising up on both of her cheeks is unmistakable. Who gives Kim Jungeun the right to be this charming?!

"Saves you from hospital bills." Her voice is so low and deep when she says that. There is a hint of mischief in her eyes too? Haseul can't quite pinpoint it but goddamnit.

Goddamnit, Kim freaking Jungeun.

 

----------

 

It's nearing the end of their comeback cycle and Haseul can't wait for their well deserved break to come. A week of break in this line of career is worth a month in almost any other form of job. But before she gets to that, she has one more TV guesting left in her schedules list. Time to put on her showbiz facade.

Initially, she thought it would be a complete group schedules but it's not Jo Haseul if things didn't start to go in the directions that could potentially be unpleasant to her. Their long time manager, Vivi, breaks the news to her on what should have been a one fine day for Haseul.

"Don't forget that guesting you have with Lip in two days time. I'll send the details later." Vivi says casually, eyes busy scanning the papers in her hand.

"Wait, did you say 'with Lip'? As in me and Lip?" Haseul needs a double confirmation.

"Yeah, anything wrong with that?" Vivi looks up to meet her eyes.

Haseul shifts her gaze away awkwardly. "Nope. I just thought it'd be full group." She clears .

"Supposedly. But they checked again and only have two spots left. We figured you two have the most composure and fit the concept the best. Jiwooming, 2jin and even Chaechae would probably do some careless mistakes like starting a fire on the set, can't afford that." Her manager explains tentatively.

Have the most composure, huh?

"I see." Haseul nods absentmindedly.

"Is everything okay?" She puts the papers down and stares at Haseul like she had done something wrong.

"Yeah...? Of course." Haseul forces a smile.

"When I told Lip about this a few days ago she had been acting all weird. And now you are no different too." Vivi grips her hands on her hips. She is always known as the cute and gentle manager but don't ever get on her nerve if you don't wish to unleash her dark side.

"Weird... how?" Haseul braces herself to ask, eyes trained on the table in front of her.

Vivi squints harder. "She asked if she could give up her place for any other members. It's a solid no since she has no reason to skip."

Jungeun wanted to avoid going on this schedule with Haseul, what a 'shocking' news. Haseul seriously has no drive left in her to understand what's going on in Jungeun's complicated brain. Just the other day she engaged her in a civil conversation without Haseul feeling like throwing hands at the younger girl. But now this? And here Haseul thought they were mending their friendship. She guess not anymore.

"Whatever it is, I hope you two fix it asap. This group is dependent on you and Lip. If a fallout ensues between the leaders, what do you think gonna happen to the rest of the team?" Vivi picks up her belongings. "Plus you two are grown ups. You can think for yourself."

Haseul hates being told about things that she is completely aware of herself. It's like being taught about how one plus one is equals to two. But Vivi's words hit deeper than she thought it would be.

Can the break please come faster?

She wishes she could skip this day. Haseul is staring at the giant wall mirror in front of her, sleep is still very much in her. She woke up as early as 4AM to get her makeup done and now she is stuck in this waiting room. The recording will not be starting until 11AM, that's almost two hours away. Her cozy bed is calling for her to come back.

"Not sure how much you got your neck insured but breaking it by sleeping like that sure is not the brightest idea." Jungeun either speaks nonsense or speaks to annoy Haseul, there's no in between.

Haseul heaves a very deep sigh, she is sleepy as heck and has no energy to argue over something as mundane as her sleeping position like this. "Who cares? I just want to sleep." She rest her head on her left knuckles. When things go silent and no hint of Jungeun's voice to interrupt her again, Haseul slowly let herself to drift away.

"Apparently I do care." Jungeun's deep voice () suddenly booms near her ear and Haseul is thankful that she has her eyes closed. Her alarm already goes off without her looking, she can't imagine the panic from having Jungeun this close to her with her eyes wide open. "Here." Haseul takes a peek timidly and sees a neck pillow offered to her. It's in the shape of... an owl? Um?

"I hate birds." Haseul simply says before closing her eyes quickly again.

"But owl is cool though." Jungeun still hasn't give up.

"Birds are still birds." Haseul mumbles lazily. She is fully aware that her arguments really have nothing to do with her disliking birds. Please go away, Jungeun.

The next instance totally catches her off guards. Jungeun actually takes her hand, is Jungeun having a fever because her hand is so warm against Haseul's and Haseul hates it very much, before handing over the neck pillow to her. Jungeun is disregarding Haseul's rejection because 'she doesn't want Haseul to break her neck'. Cool. "Use this and go sit on the sofa instead. You look silly sleeping like that." Okay, maybe not so cool anymore.

Haseul actually moves over to the sofa and let the pillow to hug her neck to sleep. Okay, maybe a little cool?

The recording, as Haseul has expected, is dry and plain as heck. Three years into her career and Haseul still can't tell the need to please these people with their silly questions and requests. She rather be sleeping than be here and fakes like she is enjoying the entire show.

"That's a nice one!" She hears the host exclaims before laughing his head off. Ugh. "Now moving onto our two beautiful female guests, aren't we curious about their ideal types too?" Well, . "What's yours, Miss Kim Lip?"

Haseul sees Jungeun laughing awkwardly alongside her, the younger girl has never been the better one at masking her facial expressions. "Ha ha. Well... let's see. Ah, this is hard." She laughs again, she notices Jungeun glancing at her for a couple of seconds before looking straight ahead again. "This might sounds weird but I like someone dense?" What. Kind. Of. Answer. Is. That? Haseul can't tell if Jungeun is being serious or if that is just an attempt at a lame joke.

"Dense? That's very specific. Maybe you have someone in mind?" He asks again, clearly baiting Jungeun to expose herself.

"Maybe I am, maybe I am not." She shrugs jokingly. "But on a serious note, I just like someone that I can get along with. Someone that can be both a lover and a best friend to me." Jungeun trails off. Haseul isn't sure why, but the image of manga girl told by Chaewon suddenly invades her mind. She can't help but frown at that.

"You'd find that person someday. That person could probably be among us here today too!" He gestures at everyone in the room. "What about you, Miss Haseul?"

Haseul gulps down on her saliva. This should be easy for her, just make up a lie and go with it. Jungeun is giving her a reassuring smile, genuine or not it kind of help Haseul to calm her nerve. "It is not very interesting to share it out loud like this." Haseul forces a smile. "I find person with reversal charms to be my type."

"Not sure why you said that but that is very interesting, Miss Haseul." Haseul watches as everyone on the set nod along to that. "But what kind of reversal charms, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Um... for example, someone that has a cold demeanour but is actually very warm on the inside?" Haseul smiles to herself. "But I guess it's hard to find the right one." She proceeds to break into a laugh.

Indeed, finding one isn't hard but finding the right one is almost impossible.

 

----------

 

"Just don't kill each other okay?" Heejin says for the umpteenth time today. "Can I really trust you two not to burn down the apartment while we're gone?" She adds, face is full worry.

"Pretty sure you're mistaking us with Jiwoo and Hyunjin." Jungeun retorts lazily, massaging on her hurting temple.

"I don't condone that kind of slander against Jiwoo." Heejin shoves a finger on Jungeun's shoulder. "She's not even here, you coward."

"Hey, what about me?" Hyunjin gestures at herself.

Heejin merely smiles at the girl. "You can speak for yourself?" She shrugs before moving to gather more of her belongings from her shared bedroom with Haseul.

"I'm so going to ditch Jeon Heejin at the train station." Haseul hears Hyunjin mutters under her breath, she can't help but side-eyes her for that.

Haseul gets up from the sofa to grab herself a glass of water from the kitchen. She dead believed that she was going to be alone during the break, going to have the apartment all to herself and going to have a good time recharging her depleted energy without anyone else's presence. She purposely skipped from booking a ticket back to USA and back to her family for all that and now she is told she is going to spend the entire week with Jungeun alone in their apartment?!

Oh boy, she is dead wrong. Haseul internally cries at that. Why would Jungeun stay here the whole week? Her family is literally in Cheongju? That is literally four hours of flight at maximum. For the record, she did hear Jungeun spouting excuses like 'unlike you bums I have practices to do' (you workaholic freak), 'my family will be away', 'dad's gonna make me go hiking again' and the classic 'just because' when the members ask her on why is she staying in Seoul for the break. Haseul has a feeling none of that is close to the truth and Haseul has yet to find out the truth.

"Haseul, we're leaving!" Heejin's shout breaks Haseul from her little nightmare. She grunts before making her way to the front door. If it's going to be like this, she rather have Heejin and Hyunjin sticking around.

"Why you look like you just lost 10 years from your entire lifespan?" Hyunjin asks, arching her right eyebrow at Haseul. "Please don't. You don't have that much left." Okay she spoke too soon, Hyunjin can go.

"Shut up." Haseul glares at her. "When you guys coming back again?" She glances at Jungeun wearily.

"Before the clock strikes 0000 on the last day? I don't know." Heejin purses her lips. "Again, please don't kill each other." Heejin directs a look at Haseul but she honestly has no idea what is that supposed to mean.

"I thought you said Lip loves Haseul, so why would she kill her?" Hyunjin says so casually and Heejin is quick to cover her big mouth.

Jungeun has her eyebrows knit together. She is eyeing each of them with suspecting eyes and they are actively avoiding her gaze. Jungeun basically just caught them talking about her behind her back. Well, technical wise Haseul wasn't directly involved but she had her own share in that too.

"We should go now." Heejin suddenly announces. "See you guys when we... see you!" And with that she slams the door shut, leaving Haseul and Jungeun staring at the wooden door with empty gazes.

"I-- should go back to my room." Haseul spins on her heel, ready to sprint to her door. 

"I'll be out later in the evening." Jungeun says out of nowhere.

Haseul stops in her tracks, unsure of an appropriate reaction to that. "O... kay?" She looks over her shoulder. "Where you going?" She asks for the sake of it.

"Uh, meeting a friend." Haseul can hear Jungeun inching closer. Red alert, red alert. She turns around abruptly and that effectively halts Jungeun's steps. "Will you be okay by yourself?"

"I'm not 5." Jungeun doesn't respond and Haseul realizes that might have come off a little rude. "I mean of course I'll be fine. I'm a grown up." Literally older than you.

"Well... alright. Let me know if something comes up or... if you need anything." Jungeun smiles before walking away towards her own bedroom.

Haseul let her gaze to fall on the closed door, Jungeun is really playing the hot and cold game with her. How dare she. Jungeun is a homebody, not the type to spend her precious time away from home. The most she'd do is lock herself up in the practice room and practice like there's no tomorrow left for her. She bets Jungeun is going out on a date later, a date with her gorgeous manga girlfriend. That may be the reason why she is staying behind too, to spend time with her girlfriend leisurely. Haseul feels both heartbroken and angry. The reasons? As simple as:

1. Heartbroken because Jungeun has a girlfriend.
2. Angry because Jungeun has a girlfriend.

Speculation hurts her this much, she can't imagine learning the truth.

The first day of her official break comes and Haseul is grateful that things are looking smooth for her so far, although it's a bit too early for her to tell. Still, she is grateful. She comes out of her bedroom earlier and it is pure silence, no loud noises coming from either Jiwoo, Heejin, Hyunjin or Chaewon. No nothing but Haseul and her well deserved serene environment. She also doesn't miss to check on Jungeun, tip toeing towards her bedroom and puts her ear against the door. She hears nothing so she assumes Jungeun is still sleeping, which is weird because that girl usually wakes up at crack of dawn at most.

She chalks it up by assuming that Jungeun came in late last night because that's how good her date went. Ugh.

But then she finds a sticky note on their fridge, 'out for practice' it says, and Haseul doesn't need to inspect further to tell that it's Jungeun's ugly (but beautiful) handwriting. She let out a supressed shout of 'yes!' but then later realizes it's a stupid move since there's no one else with her.

So she screams on top of her lungs to the point that it echoes throughout the apartment. She prays it will be like this for the next six days.

When Haseul wakes up tomorrow morning, a feeling of guilt suddenly bubbles up in her. She spent the first day doing nothing remotely productive and she is regretting her wasted 24 hours. Nothing she can do to get it back but she is not about to repeat the same mistake.

Haseul pulls out a flat box from beneath her bed and instantly sneezes from the dust piling up on it. Her parents is totally obsessed at delivering packages to her address almost every month. She received this particular wooden rack when they first moved into this apartment but she can't find the right timing to assemble it. Now seems like the perfect time to get to that.

She already went over her new routine of inspecting Jungeun's bedroom and is pleased to detect no hint of Jungeun in there. There's a huge possibility that Jungeun is out for another round of practice again. Maybe Jungeun needs to lay off her with little regime but it's not like Haseul knows how to get it across to Jungeun. Jungeun didn't leave her a sticky note today though and Haseul just concludes that it's not a big deal.

Haseul is halfway through putting the pieces together when she notices about its awkward visuals. She puts the manuals side by side with the supposed rack and... it does look strange and different. Haseul shrugs it off and resumes with her (poor) handwork while humming to her IU's playlist. A minute and 30 seconds later, as she is about to slot in a screw into its place, the pieces instantly come crumbling down out of nowhere. The noise that the little tragic event produces is deafening her, Haseul protects her ears using her hands helplessly while her eyes are tightly shut.

Haseul braces herself to take a peek. "No!!!" She cries at the mess before her.

She hears the door creaks. "What's going on here?" Wait, is that Jungeun? Haseul whips her head towards the entrance and true enough, Kim Jungeun is standing there with a puzzled face. "Are you okay?"

"I... thought you left?" Haseul scrambles over to hide her failed mini project behind her.

"Left where...?" Jungeun has stepped into Haseul's bedroom completely, trying to take a peek behind her. Haseul knows her stature won't be able to hide the mess forever.

"To practice?" Haseul supplies, eyes darting everywhere.

"I'm not?" Jungeun stares at her weirdly. "I haven't left the entire day."

"Oh." Oh. "Uh... I thought you weren't home so... um, I probably made a lot of noise. Sorry about that." She looks down bashfully. "I'd be quieter if I had known." is suddenly hoarse.

"Not gonna lie, you made a lot of noises there." Jungeun says. "But it's cool, I don't mind."

"Good to know... but still, sorry." Haseul should have done a much thorough inspection next time. But is it her fault that Jungeun is so quiet that she can't tell if she is home or not? Nope, this is totally Jungeun's fault. Kim Jungeun's fault and no one else's.

Haseul expected Jungeun to exit her bedroom and leave Haseul to cry herself out but instead of going the easy route, the girl actually grabs on the abandoned manuals to Haseul's right and studies it like it's the most interesting thing in the world. "You're working on this?" She asks and it sounds so genuine so Haseul nods as an answer. "By yourself?"

"... Yeah?" Haseul pulls her eyebrows upwards. It's not long before Jungeun breaks into a small laugh. "Excuse me? Did I miss anything?"

Jungeun shakes her head but continues to laugh and it only frustrates Haseul more. "But you probably missed a couple of screws here and there."

Haseul failed to catch it at first but then it hits her hard. "You really think I'm that bad at this?" She is officially offended.

Jungeun shrugs. "I'm not assuming though." Haseul hates that she can't retort that, her history prevails and it shows nothing but her bad record at craftmanship.

"Shut up, Lippie." She looks away, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Do you need my help?" The younger girl suddenly offers.

"As if you'd be of any help." She answers with much arrogance.

"Uh... in case you forget not to forget, I was an art student before I'm an idol." Oh shoot. She did not just forget about the fact that Jungeun is pretty good with her hands. Jungeun is looking at her with a subtle smile. Haseul just turns her head away while faking a cough. "Is that a yes?"

"Don't you have any practice to do?" Haseul starts to gather the pieces back in order.

"Not today." Jungeun gets to her eye level, lending a hand in fixing the mess that Haseul created earlier. Haseul pretends that she isn't swayed by how good Jungeun looks up close.

So just like that, they get to the task together. But really, it's mainly Jungeun with Haseul sitting a few feets away from her, handing over the tools for the former to use. Haseul stares in awe as Jungeun handles everything like a professional. She knows Jungeun is a very detail person and can be quite of a perfectionist too. It shows through especially during her stage performances, where she pronounces every emotion in her movements with so much grace. Jungeun has the tendencies of a workaholic and that fact never sits well with Haseul but she can't lie just how much she finds her hardworking trait as attractive. She is trying hard to be subtle at stealing glances towards the younger girl.

"You said your parents sent this in?" Jungeun speaks out of nowhere.

"Yeah, like a housewarming gift." Haseul answers. "They sure overestimated their daughter's abilities." She sighs.

"Nah, their daughter is able to belt out notes and dance. Not to mention is smart and pretty. If I were them, I'd have no second thought to trust my daughter with this too." Haseul eyes her, unsure on the correlation between all of that. Despite the warmth spreading across her cheeks, she ignores it still. "But this design is weird, I've never quite seen a rack that requires both screws and nails on it." Jungeun turns the manuals all over the place.

"Are you saying we can't finish it?" Haseul blinks.

"Of course we can." Jungeun sends a smile her way and there's only a little time for Haseul to hide her rosy cheeks from Jungeun's radar. "We gon' be needing a hammer and nails though."

"I think we have them in the store." Haseul announces. "Lemme go grab them." She is quick to get on her feet and leaves the bedroom. Jungeun and her sickening smile is making her head swimming. They better be done with this as soon as possible.

"That's fast." Jungeun points out as Haseul makes her way back to her side, a hammer on her right hand and a box of nails on the other.

"Let me take over from here. Just tell me where to hammer." There's no hesitation in Haseul's voice. She is already in the position too.

"A-- are you sure about this?" The younger one is clearly taken aback by the sudden order. Trusting Haseul with a hammer sounds a lot like a recipe for disaster.

"Did I stutter?" Haseul glares at her.

"... No?" She sees Jungeun gulping with her eyes shaking.

"Now tell me where." Haseul demands again.

"Here, you put this here and yeah you need to hammer it from this side." Jungeun points at the spot.

Haseul takes a deep breath. She is going to show Jungeun that she can be good at handiwork too. She gives the nail a few gentle knocks but it barely moves through the board. It doesn't take a genius to tell that she needs to hit harder than that.

"Um... maybe you need to--"

"I know what I'm doing." Haseul dodges as Jungeun's hands are about to get on top of hers. She is trying to be productive here, can Jungeun not interrupt her (and her goddamn heart) for like one minute? "Here goes." She whispers to herself as she lifts the hammer higher than before and drops it back down with full force straight onto, "Ow!!!" her own thumb.

"Oh my God, wait here. I'm getting the ice." Yes, she is totally not going anywhere anytime soon. Genius. Haseul is literally crying, there's tears at the corner of her eyes. It stings real bad. Jungeun comes back in less than five seconds later, an ice pack goes straight to Haseul's sore thumb. Jungeun holds onto it with so much care. It's only a thumb for heaven's sake, why she has to be this sweet. "Feels better?" The brunette breathes out a few moments later.

"Yeah--" Only then Haseul realizes just how close Jungeun's face is to hers, she can practically count on Jungeun's eyelashes from this distance. God, Jungeun is so beautiful. There has to be some sort of spell casted then, since Haseul can't seem to take her eyes off Jungeun's brown orbs. She feels trapped inside of them and her struggle to escape only results in her being pulled deeper. Haseul inches closer, Jungeun's warm breath touches her face softly.

Wait. WAIT.

Jungeun has a girlfriend, no? Jungeun has been avoiding Haseul because she doesn't know how to reject Haseul nicely, no? Jungeun wants Haseul nowhere near her, no? Jungeun wants Haseul to waste none of her time, no? Jungeun is toying with her feelings now, no? Jungeun is-- "No, you need to get out now."

"Huh?" The sudden shift in air is so intense that Jungeun frozen up in her spot.

"Get out." Haseul shoves Jungeun away lightly. "Get out of my room." Her volume is louder this time, her resolve is crumbling down slowly.

"But, Haseul--"

"Lip, please." Haseul shuts her eyes (and her goddamn heart). "Out. Now."

Jungeun rises up to her feet hesitantly, still very much confused by the unforeseen turn of events. Haseul waits until Jungeun closes the door behind her before she gets up and locks it from the inside. "Haseul, I'm sorry." She hears the girl pleads from the other side of the door.

She slides down to the floor with her back against the door, hot tears streaming down her delicate face in silence.

It's official. Haseul hates Jungeun so much.

- TBC.