To say it’s awkward during brunch the next day is putting it too mildly because the tension is palpable. If it’s visible to the human eyes it’ll be akin to a haze after a forest burning. Even if it isn’t actually smoke, Kyungsoo still feels threatening to choke because she hasn’t spoken a word since she woke up half an hour ago and no one says a word to her either.

The funny thing is that Jongin isn’t even there. It’s just Sehun and Kris lounging on the couch when she enters the kitchen living room, planning to fill her empty stomach. They both had looked at her strangely, as if afraid that she’ll suddenly morph into a monster.

It’s clear to her that they overheard hers and Jongin’s fight last night seeing that they hadn’t even tried to lower down their voices. She won’t actually be surprised if their neighbours on the same floor could hear them too.

She feels guilty that they had to listen to whatever she said the night before although it doesn’t necessarily have to do with them. If she didn’t know beforehand how a parent feels after fighting in front of their children, she does now.

From her seat by the kitchen island, she can hear whispers between the two and a little bit shuffling. She doesn’t want to turn around yet, not ready to hear whatever it is they’re going to say. At one point she even hears one of them say no, you do it.

If she hadn’t woken up groggy and feeling so damn awful, she’d smile because those two are clearly bickering amongst themselves on who should give in and talk to her first. Heh, idiots.

But she loves those two idiots nonetheless, so to make things easier for them, she takes a deep breath and finally turns her stool around to face them, ignoring her yet unfinished low fat cereal, which she only bought just so she can add ‘yungsoo’ on the box. Special isn’t she?

It seems though that her movement didn't manage to attract the attention of the guys sitting on the couch so she clears , waiting in anticipation as they finally stop their squabbling and look at her.

“I’m really sorry about last night,” she starts, voice almost a whisper but she makes sure they’re still able to hear her, “for waking you up-“

When Sehun opens his mouth to say something, Kyungsoo raises a hand in front of her to stop him, “No listen to me first. I’m also sorry for making you all worry. I should’ve texted one of you before going out. It’s the least I could do.”

Whatever Sehun was planning to say earlier remains unsaid since all he’s doing now is gaze at the floor and Kyungsoo is left looking at them anxiously.

Thankfully Kris breaks the silence, “It’s alright Kyungsoo. We know you texted Jongin, even though it’s late but that’s enough for us.”

Sehun looks up then, his face contorts in confusion as he murmurs, “He wasn’t satisfied though-“

But when Kris sends him a glare from the side, Sehun goes quiet again.

Deciding it’s the right time for her to say something else, Kyungsoo smiles at the two although she knows it looks forced, “I know that. I don’t know what’s gotten into him but I was harsh to him nonetheless. I feel bad.”

“But noona, he doesn’t have the right to be so mad about it either,” Sehun retorts, this time blatantly ignoring Kris’s glare and sharp nudges to his side, “We were worried too but not to that extent!”

Kyungsoo is kind of glad that she isn’t the only one who thinks that, because really it’s just ridiculous, but she doesn’t want to turn Sehun or Kris against Jongin either. They’re supposed to live harmoniously aren't they? Like Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa Laa and Po, minus the baby slash sun.

She sighs heavily, “I know but I- I guess he’s just more protective than you both?”

Sehun scoffs, but doesn’t say anything else in favour of Kris who mutters, “Maybe. But as the eldest and head of the house,” again Sehun scoffs and Kris just rolls his eyes, “I’m saying you’re both at fault. Jongin really shouldn't be that angry and you Kyungsoo, shouldn’t have made us worry either.”

Kyungsoo nods, hunching her shoulders because oh how she feels so guilty. Other than making them worry, she knows Kris also wants to say it’s her fault too for saying hurtful words to Jongin. She’s glad he didn’t though, because she doesn’t need a reminder.

“Where is he?” she asks, finally voicing the question that has been lingering on her mind since she stepped into the room.

“I think he went to the dance studio to practice some more,” Sehun replies and Kyungsoo just nods. She had expected that. Dancing has always been Jongin’s way to clear his mind and Kyungsoo can guess that right now it’s probably jumbled.

“Kyungsoo, make sure you apologise to him when he comes back,” Kris orders, eyes soft unlike his tone, “and I’ll make sure Jongin apologises too.”

“Okay.”

--

The apartment is silent for the rest of the day, which is very unusual for a weekend and without any noise, Kyungsoo can hear the sound of the front door opening and consequently someone entering. Knowing very well that Sehun and Kris hadn’t left the apartment since the afternoon, there is no doubt who just arrives.

It seems that her other roommates have also heard the sound since not long after, she hears their respective bedroom doors open. What she doesn’t expect however is for Sehun to barge into her room, grabs her arm, pulling her out of her chair and drags her out of the room, eyes impossibly wide by then.

She doesn’t have the chance to voice out her complaint or spit out profanities because soon she’s back in the living room, arms still in Sehun’s firm grasp and she sees Kris holding on to Jongin too, who looks as surprised as she is if not more.

“Intervention!” Sehun exclaims loudly, looking smug that he said it before Kris can even open his mouth.

Disappointed, Kris clears his throat awkwardly, “What he said,” loosening his grip on Jongin’s arm and continues, “Kyungsoo, remember what I told you?”

She nods, looking up into Jongin’s eyes for the first time but the latter refuses to meet her gaze. Not one to be thwarted easily, Kyungsoo begins, “Jongin, I’m sorry for making you worry. And for the things I said last night, I didn't mean it.”

She wants to add I did care when you were next door the whole time. I was jealous for heaven’s sake. But then that’s something that she decides to keep to herself because for now, she just needs Jongin to know she hadn’t meant whatever she said. It’s far from the truth.

There is an uncomfortable silence afterwards, everyone waiting for Jongin to say something. He however just looks blank, face not betraying any expression. Not even of the anger she saw the night before or even remorse, which is what is expected of him to feel and show.

Kris elbows him and as promised he asks Jongin to apologise too, “What do you have to say Jongin?”

Finally looking away from wherever he was staring at the back of Sehun’s head, Jongin locks eyes with Kyungsoo, “I’m sorry.”

No sorry for lashing out at you or I don’t have the right to be so angry, forgive me.

Just a simple ‘I’m sorry’.

Kyungsoo doesn't miss the forced tone in the apology or the lack of regret. If there is an award for the fakest apology ever, Jongin definitely has it in the bag. And if it allows re-entry, he’ll still win it over and over again.

Kris and Sehun too senses the insincerity but before the former can say something else, Jongin manages to escape from his grasp and leaves everyone standing agape in favour of going to his room.

Once they hear the door closing, Sehun finally lets go of her arm, unaware that he’s been holding it the whole time, with too much force if anyone asks Kyungsoo. But she doesn’t feel the pain from that; at least it’s nothing when compared to the pain in her chest.

Smiling sympathetically at her and patting her head, Sehun follows Jongin’s track towards his own room.

“I’m sorry Kyungsoo,” Kris apologises, although he doesn't actually know what for but it seems to be the right word to say seeing the astounded look on her face, before he too leaves her alone in the living room.

--

Unsurprisingly or surprisingly, depends on how optimistic one is, things do not get better after that. On Sunday, after lying in bed for most of the day, she only leaves her room when she hears her stomach grumbling. Life has to go on right? And besides, she hasn’t cooked for her roommates in a while and if there’s one thing that can help clear her mind, it’s cooking.

Unfortunately however, only Sehun is in the house who is watching TV in the living room when she finds him. When asked, he said Kris has a big date that night. With whom, Kyungsoo can only guess.

She didn’t ask the whereabouts of Jongin however, guessing that he must be out too. And she tries not to care. Even though it’s so obvious he’s playing the avoidance game seeing that the last time she saw him was after that blasted insincere apology.

“So it’s you and me then?”

Sehun nods happily like a little child (in her eyes he is). Kyungsoo smiles back, at least there’s someone in the house who can cheer her up.

Thankfully, she went grocery shopping three days prior and the look on Sehun’s face when he sees her taking out the spaghetti out of the cabinet is priceless.

“Are you making what I’m thinking you’re making, noona?” he asks, perching himself on the kitchen island.

“You bet I am.”

“Do you need any help?” he offers, “You know, speed things up a bit.”

She looks around the kitchen hesitantly then, trying to find simple things for Sehun to do, “Do you mind just boiling water for the pasta?”

Enthusiastically he does as ordered. Despite her earlier reluctance, having Sehun to help doesn’t actually make cooking harder. Unexpectedly, he isn’t that bad in the kitchen but with constant supervision of course and the kimchi spaghetti is done in no time.

As they sit on the dining table, just the two of them across each other, the recent incident that seemed to be forgotten while they were busy cooking materialises back in their minds. Kyungsoo is glad that at least it isn’t as awkward with Sehun, although she knows he’s thinking about it too and is trying to broach the subject.

He finally succeeds halfway through dinner when he asks, “Noona, are you still mad at hyung?”

Sehun has caught her in the middle of her chewing so she takes her time, not necessarily to think because the answer is pretty obvious, “No I’m not. It’s him who’s mad at me really.”

He nods his agreement, “Give him time. He’ll realise it sooner or later that he’s in the wrong too.”

Kyungsoo smiles proudly at him, the boy can act mature too sometimes.

“What really happened that night Sehun-ah?” she asks, curious about the details.

As if he’s just asked a serious question, he stops eating and ponders for a moment before replying, “As like the previous nights, we bought food on our way back from work and brought it home. We waited for you but when you still haven’t arrived yet, Kris hyung and I couldn’t wait so we ate our share first.”

Kyungsoo listens attentively, gesturing for Sehun to continue since there’s nothing to comment on yet.

“By the time we finished, you’re still not home. Jongin hyung started to wonder where you were so we decided to text you. It’s his idea by the way, because he said and I quote ‘It’s better if all of us text her, the chances of her checking her phone is higher.’ Stupid I tell you.”

Kyungsoo chuckles then, she did wonder why all of them had to text her basically asking the same question. Because honestly, Kris didn’t even realise that she wasn’t in the apartment for a whole weekend when she went back to visit her parents a few months back, so why would he when she’s just gone missing a few hours?

“And what happened when I didn’t reply?”

“He started pacing around the room, phone constantly in his hand,” Kyungsoo laughs then and Sehun gives her a look, because what she imagined the night before actually happened, “and when you finally replied, he went red, almost breaking a finger typing before telling us that you went to a club.”

“Kris hyung and I were like pshh okay. Cool, whatever. Sorry noona, we really didn’t care much. But he continued to pace around. It’s really weird now I think about it,” Sehun says, forehead creasing in thought, “Why does he care so much?”

A billion dollar question, that is. Kyungsoo has been wondering the same thing over and over again.

“Do you think he likes you, noona?”

Subsequently, Kyungsoo chokes on her drink and Sehun rolls his eyes, disgusted at the liquid escaping the corner of .

“I-I don’t know.”

“Let’s try and find out then,” he declares confidently, walking towards the kitchen with his now empty plate, ultimately ending their discussion.

--

She didn't get to ask Sehun what he meant by trying to find out and she’s really curious. So for that purpose, she comes back home earlier on Monday, having decided to give her students a break (although they technically just had it over the weekend, but songsaengnim has her own problem, give her a break too).

It’s not early enough though since her oh so sweet roommates have bought take away already, so her plan to cook goes out the window.

She didn't see Jongin the night before, she hadn't seen him that morning either and that night is no different. If she didn't know any better, she’ll think he’s sleeping at the dance studio, which doesn’t sound too improbable actually.

She corners Sehun when he’s cleaning the dishes after they finished their meal, Kris is too occupied with whatever is showing on TV to notice, “Sehun-ah, what did you mean by trying to find out last night?”

Even though they’re strictly not face-to-face, she can tell that he’s trying to avoid meeting her eyes. Now that she thinks about it, he has been doing it all night. 

“When did I say that?”

Kyungsoo scoffs, the anxiety in his voice is apparent and he still has the nerve trying to pretend to not remember, “You said it last night at the end of dinner.”

“A-ah. I wasn’t being serious,” he laughs though it sounds a little bit forced, “Forget it noona.”

“Sehun,” she hisses, unable to control herself because clearly he’s hiding something, “What’s going on?”

Finally done with the dishes and turning to face her, he sighs, “We don’t have to find out. I know the answer already.”

“I don’t think he likes you. Remember that girl I told you about last time?” Kyungsoo looks at him imploringly, mind running hundreds of miles per hour because this can't be going to where she thinks it is, “Well he’s dating her now. He finally said yes this morning.”

And then there’s a crash.

So Jongin isn’t single anymore.

He doesn’t actually like her despite all the fuss he’s made, does he? So she’s wrong in her assumption?

Kris chooses that moment to change channels, the varying sounds muddling with her mind further and she doesn't realise that Sehun has been blabbering on and on, managing only to catch bits and pieces of whatever words leave his mouth, ‘-first date tonight,’ ‘why he’s gone’ and ‘a good looking couple.’

Kyungsoo’s heart breaks, again and again. So the girl is pretty. And to think she hoped she could win Jongin, how ridiculous. She’s shorter than average with a body no one will die for and her hair is a mess if she doesn’t blow it dry, which all three of her roommates have witnessed. Curses, probably that’s why Jongin doesn’t like her.

Oblivious to her sudden paleness, Sehun goes on about how Jongin was probably frustrated about Soojung, that’s her name apparently, that he lets it out on Kyungsoo, and that he should be back to normal after this now they’re together and bla di bla di bla.

Kyungsoo just smiles strainedly at Sehun, hoping he’ll stop, “Sure, Sehunnie.”