-Aerin’s POV-

I went home at around seven after Chan Yeol dropped me off. The living room was dark when I got in and the porch light wasn’t . I reached for the light switch then walked over to the kitchen, but no one was there. Where could that Oh Sehun be?

“Sehun-ah!” I called, but no one answered. “Yah! Oh Sehun!” Still no answer. “I’ve got your favorite steak. Come down and get it!” I stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for him to appear, but he didn’t. Maybe he was asleep so I just went up, planning to wake him up anyway. However, when I got to our room, he was just seated on his bed, leaning against the headboard while he stared up at the ceiling. He was wide awake and yet he didn’t even answer.

“Aigoo-yah! I was calling you and you weren’t even answering,” I scolded him. Still, he didn’t move. “Sehun-ah, are you okay?”

He looked at me then, his eyes cold lingering on me before he looked away again. “You’re actually asking me that?” he said acidly, making me flinch.

I pouted. “I guess?”

“Well, you shouldn’t.”

“Eh?”

He scoffed as he smirked. “You didn’t even tell me where you were and you’re asking me if I’m okay?”

I shifted my weight on my left leg. “W-well, I’m so sorry. I was supposed to call you, but Suho oppa told me that you were feeling unwell.”

He just looked at me glacially.

I marched towards his bed and saw down beside him. “Come on. Don’t be mad. I bought you steak.” I raised the bag and smiled brightly at him. “It’s your favorite.”

“I don’t want it,” he told me dismissively.

I sighed and placed it on his nightstand. “What’s with you today?” I asked him gently, not wanting to upset him more.

“As if you care,” he said venomously.

What the hell? “Yah, Oh Sehun! What are you talking about? Of course, I care!”

“You’re just saying that.”

“That’s not true,” I mumbled. Damn it, his words were really hitting nerves in me now. He just knew how to hit me on the right spots and it was overly annoying. I took his hand and he flinched, eyeing it. I’ve noticed for the first time that it was swollen, slightly bleeding. It looked oddly familiar. I fisted my right hand then looked at it again. Just like the time I nearly pulverized Bae Eunmi’s face, he had those gashes that resembled the locker vents. I slowly ran my finger around the swollen part. He didn’t even apply ice or clean it. I was also reminded of the incident at the club rooms. The locker was dented. He punched it…because he heard it.

I clucked my tongue as I stood up, shaking my head. I was so worried that he might have gotten into trouble at school. He was scolding me for not telling him where I went and yet he had his own faults, too. I went to the bathroom to take the first-aid kit and went back to tend to his hand. He withdrew it, but I pulled it back stubbornly.

I was in the middle of dabbing it with antiseptic when the question spilled. “Why is your hand like this?”

“Nothing.”

I rolled my eyes. “What do you mean by that? How did you get this?”

He pulled his hand away from me harshly and stood up from the bed without meeting my gaze. “It means it’s none of your business and you don’t have to know,” he snapped.

I just stared at him in disbelief. He didn’t just -talk me, did he? I felt anger rising up in me while my brain spewed vitriol. I sneered. “Look, Sehun, I’m just trying to help. I don’t know what I did to you, but I wish you would tell me. I don’t know why you’re so angry all of a sudden.”

He glared at me and just shook his head. “Even if I tell you, you wouldn’t understand. What do you know anyway? You just seem to like to take pride in toying with everyone around you. You take people for granted –”

“Don’t give me that! I take people around me for granted? Really? How do you even know that? If there’s one thing I don’t do, it’s that and it just so badly that it had to come from you. Goddamit, Sehun. Do you even know what you’re saying?”

“Perfectly.”

That’s it. I’m not taking this sitting down. I nodded at him. “Okay. I get it.” I stood up and raised my hands in defeat.

He chuckled bitterly. “What exactly do you get? As far as I know, you don’t get anything.”

“What exactly do you take me for?”

“I don’t think you want to know.”

Harsh. “So much for being smart, huh?” I said sardonically. “Don’t worry. You can always pretend that I do.” I turned away, about to climb up to my side of the room, but he grabbed me by the arm. I scowled at him.

“Is this it? Is that really how things are now? Pretend?” He let out a snagged breath. “You can continue doing that, but I can’t, Aerin. Do you understand me? Did you ever?”

I shook my head. “Apparently not. You’ve pointed it out yourself. I don’t get anything. I take you for granted, right?” He was about to say something, but I stopped him. “Don’t bother telling me. I won’t get it.”

“This is stupid,” he hissed.

“I know. Maybe that’s exactly why I’m stuck in it, cause it’s stupid.” I pulled my arm away from him and climbed up the stairs. I took my duffel bag and stuffed some things in them.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

I didn’t answer him and just continued packing. I didn’t know where I was going, but I didn’t want to be at home at the moment. It didn’t feel like home anyway.

“Where are you going?”

Shut up already.

“Yah! I asked you a question.” He pulled my duffel bag away.

I just eyed him sharply and pulled it back.

“So now you’re not going to talk? That’s really childish. Has Chan Yeol hyung’s ways rub off on you and you’re being like that?”

I pulled the string of the bag and tossed it on the bed as I changed my school shoes to a pair of high-cut Chucks. “At least I don’t get to deal with overly mature people who think they know everything. I’d better be childish all my life if things would turn out like this.” I tied the laces of my shoes harshly and slung the bag over my shoulder.

“So you’re just going?”

“I’m doing you a favor. I’m getting lost just like you wanted.”

“What?” he hissed. I continued walking out of the room while he followed me. When I reached the top of the steps, he took me by the hand. “