Jongin is at a party when an unknown number calls him.

    “Yello,” he greets.

    “It’s Mirae.”

    Jongin is about to hang up before Mirae shrieks, “Don’t hang up unless you want to know where your best friend is!”

    “What the hell do you want? You’re so annoying,” he growls.

    “Guess where he is?” Mirae asks in a singsong voice.

    “Where?”     

    “On a date with Suyeon.”

    Jongin nearly spits out his drink. “What?”

    “Yup!” she chirps. “They’re at the Halloween Dance together. Well, actually, the dance ended 2 hours ago. I’m not sure where they are now.”

    “They hooked up?! What the hell?” Jongin grabs his jacket, gives some girl a final peck on the lips, and races to his car. “Why did he neglect to tell me this?”

    “Well, we didn’t exactly tell them about us meeting up.” She sighs. “Anyway, the reason I called you is because I wanted to know what Sehun’s house address is. Because I know I sound really happy right now, but I am actually holding a power saw right now. If he’s putting the moves on Suyeon... well-,”

    “You need to chill,” Jongin tsks. “Okay, you know what? Since I’m such a nice guy, I’ll come pick you up. Where are you?”

    “The Autumn Cafe.”

    He wrinkles his eyebrows. “It’s midnight. Why the hell are you at a cafe?”

    “Great question.”

    15 minutes later, Mirae is sitting in the shotgun of Jongin’s car, running her hands over the smooth leather seats. “It feels like a Snuggie in here,” she says in awe.

    “A Snuggie?” Jongin scoffs. “This car was 200 million won, and the thing you compare it to is a Snuggie?”

    Mirae laughs. “That’s a compliment, you know.”

    “Whatever. So let me get this straight. Sehun and Suyeon made a deal that if he went to the dance with her until 10 PM, she would yield half the customers in your region to our tutoring group. Except they haven’t come back yet. So you think he’s kidnapped her.”

    “They did almost hook up once,” she shrugs, and Jongin nearly swerves off the road in shock.

    “They almost hoo- what?”

    By the time Mirae is finished recounting the incident at the club, Jongin is equal parts pissed that Sehun didn’t tell him this, disgusted because he is dating their rival tutor, and confused because... well, why didn’t Sehun tell him any of this? Jongin finally reaches Sehun’s condo, and he practically jumps out of his car and launches himself at the door.

    “Don’t ring the doorbell,” he commands Mirae. “Hang on.” Jongin kicks the mat away and picks up the spare key hidden underneath. “Let’s catch them in the act.”

    Slowly, gently, he teases open the front door. He and Mirae tiptoe past the foyer. To their horror, sounds can be heard from inside the living room.

    “Mmmm.... I love it,” a horribly familiar voice cooes breathily.

    “Why didn’t we try this before?” a husky voice asks. The sound of wet slurping can be heard between words.

    “Oh my god,” Mirae squeaks, her hands clapped over .

    Clenching his jaw, Jongin strides forward and throws open the door-

    And is greeted by Suyeon and Sehun gorging themselves on pad thai.

    The four merely blink at each other for several minutes.

    “Uh, hey guys,” Suyeon finally says, swallowing her food. Mirae notes that she is clad an oversized cashmere sweater and a pair of fuzzy socks. Her formal dress is nowhere to be found. “What are you doing here?”

    “What the hell is going on?” Jongin demands. He gapes at Suyeon, and then back at Sehun. “Wha- why is she with you, Sehun? And why is she wearing your clothes- what the- did you guys just finish ing or something? What the hell?!”

    “Chill!” Sehun shouts, abruptly standing up. His face is bright red. “We’ve literally just been eating noodles this entire time! This is all a misunderstanding. I can explain.”

    “I was about to bring the power saw,” Mirae informs Suyeon. “Also, where are your pants?”

    Suyeon blushes. “Don’t say it like that, oh my god. And I’m wearing pants.” She pulls up her sweater and reveals a pair of boxers.

    “Holy ! You guys did just finish ing!” Jongin screams, yanking at his hair. “Jesus Christ, Sehun!”

    “No we didn’t, you stupid !” Suyeon screeches, trying to cover her burning face with her hands. “These are unused! I’m only wearing them because I didn’t want to wear his gross sweaty basketball shorts!”

    “Can you guys just leave?” Sehun groans, burying his head in his hands.

    “So Suyeon can get pregnant? No way!” Jongin shouts. “Sehun, go to your room! Suyeon, I’ll drive you home.”

    “What the ? Who made you the supervising adult? You’re the least responsible person here!” Suyeon protests. “And it’s not like you and Mirae don’t hang out on your own. Why can’t Sehun and I?”

    “That’s different!” Jongin argues. “We didn’t consciously choose to ‘hang out’ with each other! It was more like we were into a series of situations together! First, Mirae tricked me by scheduling tutoring sessions under an alias-,”

    “We still ate cake together,” Mirae smirks.

    “-and then my dad invited her to his stupid therapy party!” Jongin shouts. “That wasn’t my... oh.” He blanches.

    Mirae is staring at him, stonefaced. Her eyes, however, burn with fury. He did not just say that.

    Suyeon and Sehun are silent. Suyeon is staring at Jongin, eyes narrowed.

    “What therapy party?” she asks.

    “Mirae volunteers for my dad’s therapy clinic,” he says quickly. Jongin is mentally beating himself up. Why did I say that? Why? It just slipped out.

    “Your dad has a therapy clinic?” Sehun questions suspiciously. “I didn’t know that.”

    “He bought it recently,” Jongin responds smoothly.

    “Whoa, you didn’t say you volunteered at Jongin’s dad’s clinic,” Suyeon says, wide-eyed.

    “Yes, it was rather embarrassing, so I didn’t want to bring it up,” Mirae states in a chilly tone. Jongin looks at her nervously. , Mirae, I’m so sorry. “Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s late. This has been fun and all, but I have to go. Good night, Suyeon. Good night, Sehun.” She paces out the living room and heads for the door.

    “Wait, Mirae!” Jongin calls, hurrying after her. “How are you going to get home?”

    Sehun narrows his eyes, studying the space where his best friend was standing. Jongin was lying. He has known him long enough to tell when he is acting abnormally.

    One glance at Suyeon’s suspicious expression and he knows that Mirae was hiding something, too.

    “I realized something,” Suyeon murmurs. “For people who are supposed to be best friends, we sure hide a lot from each other.”

    “But you aren’t obliged to tell your best friend everything, are you?” Sehun inquires. “It’s not like you belong to them.”

    “Yeah, but you have a sort of pact with them.” Suyeon exhales. “You’re supposed to tell them all the important things. The best friendships are ones without secrets; ones that are completely honest. Otherwise you get suspicious of each other. And you get in fights.”

    “I see your point.” Sehun leans back. “But you know what?”

    “What?”

    “I think that in the end, if you’re truly good friends with a person, then they’ll reveal what they were hiding from you. And that’s what I think Mirae and Jongin are going to do.”

    Suyeon lets out a soft chuckle. “Because they’re obviously not telling us something.”

    “We just need to be patient and wait for them. They’ve done the same for both of us.”

    The two sit in silence, thinking.

    “Hey, Sehun?” Suyeon clears . “I have to admit something, though.”

    “Yeah?”

    “On second thought, I don’t think wearing your boxers was the best idea.”

    He rubs his temples. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

    “Should I, uh, take them off?”

    “No!” Sehun shouts, holding up his hands. “That’s- you won’t have any pants on, then.”

    “But this sweater is kinda long,” Suyeon shrugs. “I think it’ll be fine-,”

    “No! It really won’t! Just- just stay put, okay? You can keep the boxers!  Just... don’t take them off here.”

Sehun feels like he is going to explode. Why is this girl so dense? And why, oh why, is she affecting him so much all of a sudden?

A/N: this entire chapter is a trainwreck

haha also i had forgotten how liberating writing was. i can literally use the f word as many times as i want. . . ing f fukckccckccc