"Areum?" he sprint as fast as he could hitting himself at the edge of the cupboard, but paying no heed to his injury, he jumped forward.

"A-Areum?" he looked around to find no one at the kitchen. Used dishes lying on the sink, but no sense of life. "Answer me Are—"

"Here!" he heard a high pitched scream, lunging forward he exit the kitchen to where he heard the voice. "S-Sehun."

"What happened?" he asked, his heart beating fast from worry. "Are you okay?"

"Don't come closer." she hushed him. "L-look." she pointed at the side of the couch.

Grabbing the remote from the table to use as a weapon, just in case. Since he'd left his gun in the locked drawer, he tiptoed to find a cat, No! Cats tucked under a bed of cushions. "What is this?" he groaned, flipping the remote back on the couch.

"It gave birth to 5 babies, look." she beamed, clasping her hand in a praying position above her chest. "It's so beautiful."

"Don't tell me this is why you called me." he grunted as he dived to the couch in a half sitting, half lying position.

"This is exactly why I called you." she said, proudly. A sudden pain in her abdomen made her wince but shrugging it off as nothing serious she sat herself at the far end of the couch, cooing at the baby kittens. "C-can we keep them?" she squeaked. The constant throbbing at her injury causing her voice to sound more like a shrill.

"I don't like animals." Sehun responded, his eyes closed as he tried his best to sleep. He too hadn't slept for more and 2 days straight, thanks to Areum.

"P-please?"

"No." he spat, annoyed at her persistence. Opening his eyes, he glanced at the girl beside him expecting her to pass a snarky comment when he noticed her wince as she clutched her hand around her waist. "Hey, is it hurting?"

"No. I-it's nothing." she feigned a smile, removing her hand from her waist and trying to stand up only to stumble back down. Her hands felt sticky, taking a look at what caused her hands to sweat, she realized it wasn't sweat but blood.

"You're bleeding." Sehun said before she could voice out her recent observation. "The stiches might've come out." he said as he kneeled himself before her and lifted her blood stained lime T-shirt only to be stopped as Areum's hands held on to his wrists. Not allowing him to lift her shirt. "I've seen you already Areum. This is nothing." he shrugged, peeling her hands away from his to lift the shirt up and analyse the wound. Not noticing the redness in her cheeks as he mentioned her being ''. "Lie down." he ordered, supporting her head as she laid her back to the cushions and grunted. "This wouldn't have happened if you'd listened to me." he sighed.

"What was I supposed to do?" Areum shot back, nose flaring with anger, although she was in a vulnerable state. "Wait in the parking lot while you flirted your way down that girl's house?"

"Her name is Jiah. Jiah Unnie for you." Sehun said softly as he grabbed the first aid box from under the cupboard and applied an antiseptic to the wound, cleaning the stains. "I told you I'd come back didn't I?"

"She had her own car. I rode on it, remember? I don’t know why she lied about it. But you… you so happily dropped her off." Areum spat spitefully, just having met the girl once, she felt uncomfortable being around her. Their vibes didn't match. Her smiles never quite reached her eyes and whenever Sehun's name was being mentioned, she'd suddenly turn sour to the point that it became clear, even to Mr. Choi.

"So you're going to tell me who I can drop home and who I can't?" Sehun stopped dabbing the cotton and glared at the girl. "We're not married yet Areum. Even when we do. Just remember that it's all for a purpose."

"I never said anything about that, neither does this have anything to do with us being married." Areum straightened, pushing his hand away and grabbing the bandage for herself, wrapping it around her waist messily. "I'm not trying to control you in anyway, nor will I ever try to. The only matter I'm trying to prove here is that, Jiah Unnie indirectly called me a . She assumed I spent my night with Jongin. When she clearly knew we’re tying the knot. Is she a psycho or something? She doesn't even know me Sehun."

Sehun scoffed at her words and a dark chuckle escaped his lips. "That's low of you Areum. I didn't peg you to be like this." he shook his head in disbelief, standing up while brushing his knees. "Maybe she just got that kind of a vibe from you." he retorted, earning a deadly glare from the said one. "Or maybe... It's true you know, considering how much time you spend with Jongin."

A rather dark chuckle escaped the girl’s lips as she shook her head in disbelief. "Oh, I'm sorry Sehun if I spent too much time with Jongin, who by the way seems like the only one who sincerely cares about me and wants me around, unlike someone ." she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Maybe marrying a wouldn't be good for your image." she grit her teeth dangerously, removing the ring from her finger, grabbing Sehun's hand and shoving the ring into his open palms. "You can give this to your lovely 'friend'. She seems to quite like you. And from what I've noticed, you seem to fancy her too." clutching her waist, she stood up, brushed pass a concerned yet anger infiltrated Sehun, who chose not to reply or react.

"Hey." Areum fluttered her eyes open to the voice her mind still couldn't register who it belonged to. "How're you feeling?"

Squinting to adjust her eyes to the light, she groaned and made a move to sit up only to be held at place with a firm— "No. Lay down. You're hurt."

By that time, Areum found the face of the voice and a smile crept to her face. "What're you doing here Jongin?"

"I heard what happened from Chanyeol Hyung." he said, pouring a glass of water from the jug on the side table and handing the same to Areum with a funky looking pill in the other hand. "It'll help with the sting." he smiled. "Been there, done that."

"It's nothing." Areum shrugged, taking the glass and downing the pill at one go. "What time is it anyway?"

"3 in the after noon." Jongin replied. "You must've been hellah tired." he continued, slipping out his phone from his pocket to flash the screen at Areum. "In case you don't believe me." he smirked.

Swatting his hand away with a chuckle, Areum sighed. "I believe you."

"Then would you believe me if I told you Sehun wasn't in his right mind when he said what he said yesterday?" Jongin quickly said, removing his socks without using his hands.

"Did he send you?" Areum scoffed. "I'm not really in the mood to talk about anything right now—"

"He didn't ask me to do anything Areum. To be honest, I didn't even know something happened until you just confirmed my assumptions right now." Jongin supplied, slowly ing the buttons in his sleeves as he pulled it up, revealing a tattoo; font too small for Areum to make out what was actually written. "I know him like the back of my hand and just seeing him today. I knew something was wrong and it wasn't to do with the attack." he shrugged. "And you're not wearing the ring." he said, pointing at her bare ring finger. "What happened?"

"You don't want to know." Areum shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Try me."

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Areum sat up despite Jongin's protests. "Who is Jiah?"

"A friend of ours." Jongin answered looking utterly confused. "Why?"

"Well, we kind of argued because of her." Areum confessed tiredly. There was just too much drama in her life right now and she wasn't sure if she could handle them anymore.

Reciting the whole episode to Jongin leaving out the part about Sehun and Jiah suspecting their friendship for something more, Areum buried her face in her hands and pat her cheeks to freshen herself.

"They had a history." Jongin said, twirling the fabric of the bed sheet as he spoke. "She was engaged to Sanghyun Hyung, Sehun's elder brother. But somehow, despite the difference in their age, Sehun and she, they hit off quite well you know and you can imagine what followed after. They fell in love, sort of." Jongin smiled. "Sehun, I'd not seen him smile for such a long time after his mother's death you know, but since Noona came, he became different. He became happier."

"Then what happened?"

"Obviously things didn't go well when Sehun's dad and Noona's family found out. They did everything in their power to separate them. Which they did successfully by the way." he ran his hands through his fringe, settling them down. "But during that time, Sehun, he... He remained committed to her you know. He was just 19 then."

"Did they still get married? Jiah and Sanghyun?" Areum asked, curious of what kind of story lay behind them, there was still so many things she was yet to find out about Sehun.

"No. No. Sanghyun Hyung was disgusted. He didn't marry her, instead, he found himself a pretty chick a month later and married off quietly. That guy—" Jongin chuckled. "Anyway, as I was saying. Sehun was committed, he found out about Jiah's location and went off, by himself to get her back. But well, reality doesn't consist of fairy tale endings." he sighed, his eyes flickered in sympathy for his best friend and the horrors of life he had to go through. "He found her... With someone else. You know, during the action." he coughed and Areum got the point. But something bothered her mind.

"But they seem close even now." she commented and Jongin only shrugged.

"Sehun seems cold and detached doesn't he?" he asked, earning a 'duh' look from Areum he smiled but continued. "He isn't like that, well, at least not deep inside. He forgave her. Gave her another chance and she did it again... And again."

Not knowing what to add to that, Areum sat still, staring at the wooden floor of the room Sehun had so renovated for her. Although she gave nothing but trouble and worry to him, he still tolerated her and gave her shelter.

Feeling a pang of guilt wash over her, she groaned and poked Jongin's thigh only to realize it wasn't his thigh but a ball of fur.

"Oh my God!" she squealed looking at the tiny kitten lying on Jongin's lap. "I thought he let them go." she muttered under her breath, feeling another surge of guilt surge through.

"I found Yuki's family—" he said holding up the kitten in his hands.

"Hold up!" Areum interrupted. "Who's Yuki?"

"This baby right here. She's as white as snow so, Yuki it is." he grinned, patting the kitten on it's small head. "As I was saying, her family's all cozying up on a big cat-house thingy. I don't know what it's called."

"Cat house?" she repeated, knitting her eyebrows together when suddenly it hit her. "Sehun bought them?" she gasped.

"Like I said Areum, Sehun isn't as cold as you think. If you think he is, you still don't know him or you're too dense to even notice he's putting up a facade." he clucked his tongue and cupped 'Yuki' into his large hands and placed it on his shoulder, playing with it as he murmured gibberish, trying to speak 'cat language'. Areum smiled in disbelief at the man before her, it was impossible to believe this guy was responsible for her kidnapping and more many other heinous crimes. "For some reason, he's tolerating you."

"What do you mean by that?" Areum straightened, feeling offended. "Are you saying I'm intolerable?"

"Hey, all I'm saying is he's never let anyone outside our circle close to him. He's even housing you, that speaks for a lot. He doesn't even let us sleep over." he grounded, angry at his friends indifference to them.

Areum nod, not knowing what to add to the new discovery.

"Look Areum, I'm not asking you to suddenly change your whole attitude towards him because it'll only make him more suspicious and he'll finish me off for intruding. However, " he sighed, putting down the cat and gently brushing his hands over the fur. "Just don't take away his only hope of proving his worth to his father and himself."

"How am I going to help with that Jongin? He doesn't even tell me anything." Areum said exhaustedly. Even Yixing, her ex-boyfriend, known as the 'mute boy' for over half a year in their college due to his miniscule social skills talked to her more than Sehun did.

"You're expecting way too much, he doesn't even let us know what he's on, you expect him to come waltz in and tell everything to you?" Jongin quickly replied, realizing how rude he sounded for no reason at all, he stared up the ceiling for a second and let out a frustrated sigh before turning back down and placing his hand on her thigh. "Actions speak louder than words Areum. Just try to make out his feelings through his actions."

"Wow." Areum stretched herself and plopped down to caress Yuki's head. "Thanks for making it so easy Jongin."

"Hey, don't blame me." Jongin protested. "That's how I understand his unspoken words too. He's a tough shell to crack and guess what? This coming from me, his friend from 14 years ago."

"Then that makes you a horrible friend." Areum teased, a smile lingering on her face. "14 years and no progress at all."

"Not my fault I that I can't give him the kind of pleasure he wants." he shrugged casually, noticing how Areum's face turned from confused to flushed in matter of a nano second. "I told you I can read him without him having to tell me anything. 14 years." Jongin sang. "I can even read you by now. Your face tells me everything."

"Oh God." Areum pat her cheeks and groaned loudly, causing a chuckle to escape Jongin's lips. "This is embarrassing."

"If it helps..." he started, placing Yuki on the mattress and getting himself on his feet. "There's been just you. No one else."

"What do you mean?" Areum asked  but the boy only grinned and walked away, waving his hand in the air, bidding goodbye and telling her to get well soon. "Ah, Jongin!"

Picking the fur ball and wrapping her arms around the tiny kitten she kissed it's head and leaned her forehead against it's body. "What should I do Yuki-ah?"

The kitten only meowed in response and Areum smiled. Although she couldn't understand animal language, it was good enough for her. Getting herself up, she search for the home slippers and strut out, Yuki clinging on to her arms. "Before I do anything, I need to meet your family. Since you've already met daddy Sehun. It's time to meet mommy Areum."

Author’s note:

Yuck.
I….. I don’t know why I write. Half of what I write doesn’t even make sense. 

heyitsme94 here! Follow me on IG @enxie_yuki