"Jieun, what are you doing here?" questions Yongguk, rather softly.

A sudden pang is felt inside my chest, as I hear how tender his voice is, and knowing how it's that same manner, that he only seems to reserve for Jieun (and only Jieun), I feel somewhat hurt, to see that she still has this effect on him.

Yongguk's enquiry makes Jieun lightly place her hand over , as a chortle comes out of her. "We haven't seen each other for two years, and that's the first thing you say to me?" she playfully reprimands.

This causes Yongguk to blink a bit; "Uh, n-no, sorry, I'm just a little...uh..."

Jieun's chiming giggling commences once more. "I'm just messing with you," she says, as her expression softens. "I can imagine how surprised you're feeling, because I honestly didn't expect to see you here, either."

Her dark brown orbs then move over to me and recognition immediately lights up within them.

Jieun warmly greets me, just before complimenting on how different my hair is styled now, and how she thinks that the long length suits me. I can't help but touch it a little, smiling a bit, as my mind continues to wonder why she's suddenly here. Thankfully, I don't have to directly ask her, because she then answers the question that both Yongguk and I are probably wondering about.

Apparently, the company that her father is working for has expanded, and due to her mother's wish, the family is now finally able to move back here, in Seoul.

Yongguk and I nod at this, and I'm not so sure about him, but I'm still finding it a little difficult, to absorb all of this suddenness in.

After Jieun's explanation, her attention then moves over to Himchan, and this snaps me out of my thoughts, as I go to introduce one another to each other. I'm glad Himchan doesn't make any snarky remarks during this exchange, but he is unusually quiet, which means that there's probably something wrong. My eyes then peak over at Yongguk, and his expression is unreadable.

I can't quite explain it, but he looks somewhat stiff, as though he's being very careful with his responses.

What is he thinking about?

The possibilities of what can be going through Yongguk's mind suddenly makes me not want to be here anymore, and knowing how rude that will sound if voiced out, I then pretend to notice something.

"Oh, I just remembered," I say, with a synthetic gasp. "I have something that I need to do, so I have to get going."

At the mention of my leave, Yongguk then pulls his attention away from Jieun. "What do you have to do?" he asks, with interest.

My shoulders jerk up in a casual manner, as I give him a small smile. "Just some work related things," I fib. "Woohyun has asked me to sing with him at Infinitize, and I told him that I would contact him today."

Frowning a little, Yongguk seems disappointed at my false announcement, as he presses on; "Can the call wait?"

I show him an apologetic face. "It can't," I say, with a shake my head. "It's almost six, and I have to call him before eight, since he'll be busy after that."

I'm well aware that my reasoning for 'contacting Woohyun' isn't enough, and so I then casually add in the excuse of needing to clean the house.

Himchan perks up at this, giving me a weird eye, and I know that he wants to interrogate me about it, (since the apartment is spotless) so I make sure to flash him a warning look, to stop him from blurting anything out. Thankfully he doesn't, and Yongguk doesn't say anything more, except for a small "okay". He then offers to drive me home, but I decline that, and tell him to stay with Jieun instead, which effectively silences him.

Jieun is genuinely disappointed at our short reunion (of some sort?), but then goes to assure that we can meet up together for another time.

I lightly agree to this, and then go to nudge Himchan, signalling him of our leave. We all eventually say our goodbyes, and when Himchan and I part away from Yongguk and Jieun, I find myself breathing out a sigh that I wasn't aware of holding in.

If Jieun is now here again, does that mean that I'll be seeing less of Yongguk?

This thought makes me frown, and the thought of them possibly getting back together, sadly makes my heart clench.

"So, do you want to fill me in on what's going on?" probes Himchan, from out of the blue. "You three seem close, in some weird way."

I glance over at him, and then return my gaze back to the front. "That's because we're friends," I nonchalantly state.

"Then why did you lie about having to leave?" he bluntly points out. "If you're friends, then wouldn't you have want to stay around to mingle some more? I know those excuses were fake, since Woohyun told you to call him tomorrow, and the house is—"

Surprised at his observation, I then quickly cut him off; "How do you know that?"

Himchan shrugs his shoulders. "I saw it on your planner, when I was vacuuming your room," he replies.

"Oh," is all I can say, to his casual response.

The conversation quiets down a little from here, but I start it up again, by telling Himchan about Yongguk and Jieun's relationship.

I tell him how they use to be a couple, and how Jieun ended up breaking it off with him, due to her family's move, and how upset Yongguk was, with her not wanting to be in a long-distance relationship. I then go on to tell him about how Yongguk has just recently decided to move on from her, and that her sudden appearance must be confusing the heck out of them.

I end up telling Himchan pretty much everything, from the awkward moments where I felt like the third-wheel, to how upsetting it was, to see Yongguk so down in the dumps, about the break up.

I tell him almost everything, except for my...feelings.

"Oooh, this is like a drama!" exclaims Himchan, somewhat ruining the deep atmosphere.

"Oh my goodness," I mumble, while placing a hand to my forehead. "Honestly, you and your dramas."

Himchan's little snickering then gradually comes to a stop. "But why do you feel so effected by this?" he ponders, out loud. "I know Yongguk is your best friend and all, but this is between him and his ex, so..."

His voice trails off, signalling for me to continue on, and I do, but rather weakly; "I just...care a lot."

My whisper-like response makes Himchan give me an odd look, but luckily, he doesn't say anything more.

The two of us manage to get home just before the sunset, and I'm glad that we both come to a silent agreement, of leaving behind the topic of Yongguk and Jieun. My heart feels much lighter, now that we're discussing which coffee flavour is the best, as we're both entering the apartment together. I flick on the lights, take off my shoes, and then make sure to chan's coffee preference.

He doesn't take my fake gagging gesture aimed at his beloved Americano lightly, as he then goes to threaten me with his shoe. It makes me laugh, and so I dare him to go ahead with his threat, but he just ends up tripping over his own foot, when hastily trying to pull off his shoe.

Laughing some more, I then make my way into my room, to put away my purse, just before making my way back out into the lounge room again. Himchan is now in the kitchen, and because of that, I find my feet making their way over there to him. I'm about to ask him what he's doing, when all of a sudden, he lets out a sneeze.

Another one comes after, making him eventually walk over to the tissue box, where he then goes to loudly blow his nose. It makes me slightly cringe, and when he's finished, he breathes out a sigh, and then wrinkles his nose a little, when our eyes meet.

"Are you coming down with a cold, or something?" I ask, with a raised eyebrow.

With a slightly pink nose, Himchan scoffs, as if my question is the most absurd thing that he's ever heard. "Cold, shmold; my immune system is a beast!" he declares, while striking a pose.

"Yeah, and then the next thing you know, you're all gross and boogery," I dully say. "So to save that from happening, I suggest you go and take a cold and flu tablet right now."

But Himchan pushes my suggestion away, with a thoughtless flick of his wrist. "Yeah-yeah, whatever," he vainly says.

"No really, you should," I press on.

My insisting comment makes Himchan smirk. "Make me!" he commands, and to top off that childish remark, he then sticks his tongue out at me.

I flatten my eyes at him, and then shake my head with a sigh, as I then decide to go and start preparing some food for dinner.

And as I go to do this, I can hear Himchan snickering from behind. "Yay, I win!" he happily announces, to himself.

I weirdly find his little cheer entertaining, which then makes me giggle to myself.

———————————————

The next day, when I go to get ready for work, I'm surprised to see how the living room is extremely quiet.

Normally, Himchan would be awake by now, but he's not, so I take charge in pushing back the curtains, to let in the morning sunlight. When that's done, I then go into the kitchen to make some food, but find it a little odd, to (still) not see any signs of a certain obnoxious male. My curiosity is soon answered though, as I finally see him enter the kitchen, but the sound of his sniffing, causes me to feel slightly puzzled.

Himchan reaches out for the tissue box, just as a huge sneeze comes out of him.

I continue to watch in silence, as he then begins to noisily blow his nose, all while looking rather dazed.

The worn-out look on his face makes me frown. "You're sick," I blatantly point out.

Himchan's tired eyes blink at me for a second, until he forcefully straightens up his posture. "No," he hastily says. "I'm not sick, I'm perfectly fine!"

But as soon as those words leave his mouth, so does another sneeze.

I give him a skeptical look; "Really, now?"

Himchan bobs his head, pouting slightly. "Really," he stubbornly claims.

I'm curious to see how long he can go along with this, and so I shrug a shoulder at him, pretending to believe his words. "Alright then, whatever you say," I chime. "Anyhow, breakfast is done, so let’s eat before it gets cold."

As the two of us begin to eat, Himchan doesn't touch much of the food, as he spends more time blowing his nose. I want to wait for him to give in, and admit his unwell state, but when the sixth sneeze leaves him, I can't help but tighten my lips together into a firm line.

"You are 100% sick," I state.

Seeing the unamused look on my face makes him finally groan out in defeat. "Ugh, Yejinnie, save me," whimpers the blonde. "The Himbear feels like a horrible mess, and it's depressing." He then continues to mope some more; "Ugh, why do bad things always happen to good people?"

The frown on my face stays, as I feel annoyed (yet somewhat worried), at him. "See, this is what you get for not listening to me," I scold. "I told you to take that cold and flu tablet, because I knew this was going to happen."

Himchan doesn't say anything to this, except sulk to himself, as he then goes back to picking at his food.

Soon enough, we both finish eating, and it's only then, that the concern of leaving him alone while he's unwell begins to hit me.

"I'm going now," I slowly say. "You'll be...okay, right?"

Himchan nods his head at me, as he continues to fold his blanket together. "Yeah," he absentmindedly says.

I notice how his voice has become a little nasally now, and that awareness makes me worry a tiny bit more.

Realising that I might end up late for work, I then force myself to eventually leave the place, even if I do feel somewhat hesitant about it.

———————————————

My eyes find themselves wandering over to the clock on the wall, for (what feels like) the hundredth time and I sigh.

It's been four hours into my shift, and all my mind can seem to think about, is Himchan, and his (unfortunate) Rudolph-like nose. A part of me feels really silly for feeling restless over something like this, as he's capable of taking care of himself.

But the other half of me can't help but wonder if he's doing okay, and if he remembers to take his medicine.

I made sure to repeat my instructions on the correct dosage just before I left the house, so he should remember. Although, there is the possibility of him deciding to sleep until I get home, which is actually very bad for his body, so—

"Yejin," calls a voice, from my left.

I snap out of my chain of thoughts, to see Subin standing there, with a crease slowly forming in between her brows.

"You seem really out of it today," she begins, frowning slightly. "It's unlike you to be so distracted from your work; what's wrong?"

I open my mouth to speak, but quickly close it, to think over what I want to say; "Subin, I'm sorry, but..." I wince a little; "Do you think you could get someone else to work in my spot, today? It's just that...I kind of have some personal matters to attend to, so..."

Subin looks as though she wants to ask me what it is, but seems to get the message of me not exactly wanting to explain, which makes her just cooperate with me. I thank her, (and also apologise) as I take off my apron, and then go to grab my things out in the back.

When I have my belongings with me, I then make a promise to treat her to some lunch, when we both make a time to go out together. She laughs at this, liking the idea, just before playfully shooing me off. With one last goodbye, I then push open the front door, and begin to briskly make my way down towards the nearest bus stop.

And as I do this, I find that my chest suddenly becomes filled with relief, as I begin to make my way back home.