“Little piece of ,” Nara kicks a pebble by her foot angrily.  “Cornering me all the ing time,” She glares at a bunch of kids staring at her.  “What? You never heard your parents curse?”

They scatter as she continuously barked at them to go away.

Her hands grab her own hair and she flops down onto the ground with a frustrated cry, scowling at the starry sky as if every sparkle mocked her.  

“I knew you’d like parks,”

Haerin’s smiling face comes to obscure her view and she grunts, turning to one side.  “Don’t try to talk to me, Haerin,” She grumbles.

“Okay, I won’t,” The girl simply replies, settling down on the spot beside her.

After a lot of grumbling and muttering and tossing and turning, Nara flips over again to face the sky.  “I hate it when he does that,” She needed someone to talk to, after all.  She needed someone who would listen to her rants.  “I hate it so much and yet, he keeps doing it.  That’s what I was running away from.  I didn’t want him to surround me with all of his words and all of his thoughts and feelings because if he does that, I can’t help but believe what he says,” Her words become more rapid as her nerves get to her.  “If I believe him, what if he’d leave me like everyone else did? What if all that he said were just lies? What if I’m just momentary to him? What if he’d just toss me away when he finds out who I was? What if he’s disgusted? What if he can’t accept me for who I am? I’m not just any other girl, Haerin, I’m not one of those pure, innocent, cute girls that guys fall head over heels for and never get bored of.  I’m different and—“

“So what?” Haerin shrugs.  “Come on, Nara, I know you want to believe it, too.  All those what-ifs don’t even matter.  He’s been in love with you for years, he broke up with me because of you, because he still loves you and he’s ready to be there for you.  I don’t think anything that you did would change that.  It’s the past, Nara.  You’re giving it up, too.  And you’re already getting a new job.  A better one, at that.  You look at his eyes the whole time he was talking to you.  You look at him the way I had looked at him.  It’s okay to be in love.  It’s okay to be afraid.  You just have to try,” She smiles gently at her friend.  “And I might not be in a position to guarantee anything between you and him, but, personally, I’m pretty sure he’d love you more than anybody ever could,”

“I don’t know, Haerin,” Nara sighs restlessly.  “It’s going to be hard for him to accept me,”

“Then why not start trying now?” Haerin suggests.  “Begin with who you are,”

“That’s going to murder him,”

“No, it’s not,”

“It is,”

“It’s not, you idiot.  Trust me.  It’s all about the trying.  It’s up to Kyungsoo to decide how he’s going to react and how he’s going to handle the news.  As long as you try your best,”

“Ugh,” Nara presses the heels of her hands onto her eyes.  “Can’t I do it after I get the job? So, you know, I have proof that I’m really giving all of it up,”

Haerin chuckles. “If that makes it easier for you, then, why not?”

“And you have to come with me when I decide to talk to him,”

“For what? It’s supposed to be personal closure,”

“To keep me from yelling at him and running away again,”

“Oh,”

Nara turns her head to look up at Haerin’s eyes.  “Okay?”

“Okay,”

“Good,” Nara sits up.  “Now call the house and tell Kyungsoo to go home because I can’t handle another eye contact with him,”

Haerin laughs and does what she is told.  Kyungsoo kept asking how Nara is doing and Haerin kept saying that she’s fine before Nara decides to cry out a loud ‘Shut up and stop worrying about me!’.  After a sigh of relief, Kyungsoo chuckles softly through the line.  

“Tell her I’m sorry and that I love her,” He says.

Haerin snorts at that.  “Funny,”

“That is so un-lady like,”

Snorting some more, Haerin cracks up when Kyungsoo snorts back loudly.  “Ew,”

“Just tell her, what’s so hard about it?”

“Maybe I’m jealous?”

“What, still haven’t gotten over me?”

“I’m gonna kill you,”

“Hanging up, bye,”

And the phone clicks as the call ends.  “Pisses the hell out of me,” Haerin says to her phone as she chuckles, stuffing it into her back pocket as she stands to help Nara up.

“What did he say?” Nara asks.

“That he was sorry and he loves you,”

“ you!” Nara shoves her.

“Hey!” Haerin laughs loudly.  “I’m just the messenger here!”

“You’re not joking?”

“Ya think?”

“ him,” Nara takes out her phone and sends a text to Kyungsoo, saying the exact same thing she said to Haerin.

Haerin receives a text from him, saying ‘lol’ only seconds after Nara sent hers.

Crying out in frustration, Nara tries to snatch Haerin’s phone so that she could fling it down the park.  

Slowly but surely, Haerin’s going to make things work out between them.

Because, well, simply put, she has an addition to the people she loves.

***

“Jongin, I’m serious, stop eating the chocolates,”

Kai cackles before popping a handful of cut chocolate into his mouth, munching obviously in front of a glaring Haerin.  She snatches the bowl away from him and tucks it into the overhead cupboard.

“As if that would make me stop,” He smirks, reaching up from behind her.  “You know, you look really hot in shorts and an oversized shirt.  Why don’t you wear these things more often when you go out?”

Haerin grumbles, dismissing his question and walking away from him with the cake mix.  She was preparing a cake for Kyungsoo’s upcoming birthday and had asked Kai to come over to help her with it.  He told her that Kyungsoo preferred dark chocolate and that was practically all the help he gave her.

“Aw, come on,” Kai trails behind her with the chocolate in his hand.  “I’ll help you pour this in,”

“It’s for later, Jongin,” Haerin transfers the mix into the tray and pops it into the oven.  “And I don’t need your help to pour the mix,” 

She glides over back to the fridge and checks on her cream.  Tasting it, she sighs in content when she sees that she's doing a good job and jumps onto the kitchen counter to sit down as she plays with her phone, ignoring Kai who had ran out of things to eat.  

“Haerin-ah,” He calls out.

Haerin answers without even looking up from her phone.  “What,”

Kai sets his hands on either sides of her hips and slyly sneaks his face in front of hers.  “You’ve got something on your lips,” His eyes glance down at her lips that really had a bit of chocolate over at the corner.

Haerin looks up from her phone, setting it beside her and puts her palm onto Kai’s face.  “If you’re , go consult someone else who’s got the hots for you,”

“You don’t have the hots for me?” Kai smirks.

“Only when I’m drunk,” Haerin grins down at him.

“Why is it that you get to use me all you want and I don’t?”

Haerin blinks.  “I do, don’t I?”

“Right? Why’s that?”

“Just because,” Haerin shrugs.

“That’s not a reason and that’s not fair,”

“Who says?”

“I did,”

Haerin rolls her eyes at his childish behavior, chuckling as she looks down at his face again.  “Then what do you want me to do, hm, Jongin-ah?”

“Nothing,” Kai’s smile widens as an idea pops into his mind.  “I want you to keep your hands behind your back and prove to me that you don’t have the hots for me when you’re sober,”

Haerin draws back a little bit at the look on his face, because even she knows that she’s bluffing about not having the hots for him.  Kai isn’t exactly what you’d call a turn-off, you know; he’s the exact opposite.  “What are you going to—“ She lets out a yelp of surprise when Kai leans in to the corner of her lips.  “Jongin, wha—“ She shudders when his fingers leave ghostly touches up her legs and realises the situation they were in; her sitting on the kitchen counter and him doing these things to her; soon, she has her eyes closed when Kai starts kissing her jaw.  Her hand had unconsciously started moving towards the back of Kai’s neck to try and pull him up to meet her lips but Kai laughs and holds her hands behind her back.  “Nuh-uh,” He stays away just enough to not kiss her lips before his kisses trail down from her cheek towards her neck.  “You’re failing, Haerin,” He blows into the mark he made on her.

“,” Haerin tucks her head in at the surprisingly arousing sensation and struggles against Kai’s hands.  She gasps when she feels Kai’s lips on her collarbone.

Kai gently bites down on her collarbone in satisfaction.  “No turn-backs,” 

While one of his hand locks hers behind her back, his other hand suddenly finds its way under her shirt and trails ticklishly up her back.  Haerin did not know how the subtlest of touches Kai gives her could send her senses into overdrive.  Her breath hitches and she arches her back slightly before realising that Kai is standing between her legs.  He was nibbling at her ear and his soft, dark hair tickled her face as he whispered sweet nothings to her.  

Haerin lets out a muffled moan when he slightly pulls down her shirt and started kissing her shoulder.  She was itching to touch him, but he wasn’t letting her.  “P-please let go,” She mewls.

“Being submissive?” Kai pulls back and wears an amused expression on his face, making her blush.  “You always take the initiative,” He dives in again, this time, pecking her on the lips and laughing again when her head follows his in an effort to prolong the kiss.  “That’s it,”

To Haerin’s relief, he finally lets go and that allowed her to throw her arms around his neck, pulling him close as they engage in a heated kiss.  “Mm,” She breathes out when she tastes the chocolate on him and leans in for more, this time, making full use of her tongue.  She wasn’t even drunk.  This is the first time she has felt so much all over her body.  

Kai pulls her closer by the waist and focuses on returning the same vigour into the kisses when her legs latch onto his waist, causing friction in between their nether regions.  At that, the two let out a simultaneous gasp into their kisses.  Kai, who had pulled away first, lets out a low growl at the contact and lifts her up from the kitchen counter, carrying her in that position before dumping her onto the couch and advancing with his kisses.

Haerin, who was still green about the sensation, had followed her reflexes and curved up her spine again, trying to get more of that friction that sent jolts up her spine.  Kai’s big hand comes to push her down by the stomach, and the dark gaze he sends her as he holds her down startles her.  “Don’t,” He shakes his head and kisses her anywhere but on the mouth; on her neck, on her now exposed shoulder, on her collarbones, and then stops right before the dip of the valley of her s.  He revels in the little sounds she makes, shuddering himself when her lips latch onto his neck in return.

“Now,” Kai turns the other way to expose more of his neck to her lips, savouring the softness for a while longer before he holds her shoulders down and looks into her eyes.  “This is about where we always stop,”

His hands come to pull her shirt back over her shoulders and he buttons her up again, hovering above her in the aftermath of their exchange with a grin and a slight pant.

Haerin was flushed and breathing hard.  The weird stir on her lower stomach was pulsing so intensely, she can finally understand that this is what it feels like to actually be in Kai’s position; getting all riled up only to be left hanging at the end.  “God, Jongin,” Her fingers reach up to toy with his lips absently.  “I wonder how you manage to hold back all this time,“

"It's been pretty tough on me," Kai softly bites her finger.  

"It has been, hasn't--"

A loud crash interrupts their conversation.

Haerin lifts herself up by the elbows and Kai turns his head to see Kyungsoo and Yunjae standing by the living room, their faces of uttermost shock.  The floor by their feet was wet with what seemed to be the milk they just bought.

Kyungsoo glances at the shellshocked Yunjae and remembers how they had a traumatic experience involving uncommitted .  He frowns at the not-shocked Haerin and Kai, who was getting up in a manner that wasn’t rushed or panicked, as if they didn’t just get caught doing something bad.  

Haerin had simply glanced at him before her eyes land on Yunjae’s face.  “Yunjae, I can explain,” She says calmly.

Yunjae eyes her for a moment before signing.  ‘Save it.  The oven is burning up,’

Haerin leaps over the sofa as she curses and turns off the oven before opening it, coughing at the thick smoke streaming out.  Kai comes after her and takes out the burnt cake, dumping it into the trash quickly.

After a moment of staring at the useless, burnt cake and tidying up the groceries brought in, Haerin, Kai, Kyungsoo and Yunjae are all sitting on one table.

‘Let’s hear it,’ Yunjae crosses his arms and leans back into his chair.  ‘Let’s hear your explanation,’