Glancing at the watch, then back at food she'd made and kept for Sehun, Areum sighed and covered it with a lid, grabbing the banana milk on the way as she proceeded to the living room.

After the talk with Jongin, she started seeing Sehun in a different light. She didn't know what to make of it, but up until now, she'd always thought of him as cold and unattached, although she'd get mixed feelings occasionally. Like, when he found her outside their apartment after her encounter with her father's men and took care of her wounds, or like the time when he renovated her room just so she'd feel less lonely, or that one time when he gave her food when she was held in the basement, and not to mention, buying a cat house for the kittens she insisted on keeping just before the eruption of their argument although he clearly mentioned not liking animals.

Unlocking her phone, she stared at the background picture of herself with the dress she wore at the ball, which Sehun effortlessly tore apart before— a faint blush rushed up her cheeks with the thought. Placing the sponge bob toy over her stomach; she leaned forward and placed her arms on the table carefully. Her wound still hurt. And yes, she knew she was solely responsible for that.

Breathing in a long breath, she tapped her phone and typed in a new message.

Messages         Sehun              edit

Will you be late?

If in case I'm not awake till
you reach home. There's beef
porridge and chilli chicken in
the fridge.
You can heat it up in the
microwave.

send

Without thinking further, she tapped the send button and slouched to her seat.

"I'm so lame!" she grunted, slapping her forehead again and again, feeling all fuzzy and weird. "God!"

Waiting for a reply for the next half an hour, Areum finally gave up, went to her room and slowly crawled to her bed carefully. The pill Jongin had given her earlier had somehow relieved her of her pain.

“Another one won’t hurt.” She murmured to herself as she took the pill and downed it in one go. Although the stiches were still intact the last time she checked, they were obviously not cured yet. "I'm so bored!" she groaned against the pillow with a muffled voice.

A minute after watching the third hand of the clock take a revolution, she grabbed her phone from the side table and scrolled through her contacts to find a name she didn't think she'd see. "I thought Sehun didn’t give me his number." she mumbled as she debated whether to call or not.

Letting the former win, she pressed the call button biting her lower lip as she sunk down to the bed, kicking off her house slippers.

"Hello?"

Biting back a grin, Areum calmly replied. It'd been so long since she spoke on the phone, even before ending up here. She didn't have friends, at all. Just a few acquaintances here and there but none that she was particularly close to, excluding Yixing. Also with whom their contact had minimized to such extent that she was sure he wouldn't even have any idea that she was even 'missing'. "Hi~"

"Who's this?"

"Oh." Areum exclaimed. "I thought you'd have my number, it's me Areum." she mentally slapped herself for being so random, it also didn't help that it was past midnight by now. "You must be busy—"

"Hey! Hey! I know this is your number. I was just messing with you silly." Jongin laughed, Areum could feel him smile through the phone. "What's up Areum? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine." Areum shrugged, trapping her pillow between her legs. "I... I was just really bored."

"He didn't tell you the WiFi password, did he?" Jongin chuckled as Areum hummed. "I have no idea why the guy's so selfish about that. It's 19940412."

"That sounds like a date or something." Areum said. "Wait!" she chuckled. "Don't tell me that's his birthday. How lame can he be?"

"Well, the guy's a weirdo. He thinks people will think it's too cliché and won’t not even bother suspecting it. He has a reverse psychology. " he chuckled. "But we ought to give it to him. Nobody even tries it because it's too 'obvious'."

"Well, he does have a point." Areum nod, twirling the hem of her nighty as she stared at the ceiling with the star glow stickers stuck around it; Sehun had done a great job with all the details.

"He always has a point, that guy." Jongin replied, a beeping sound following his voice. "You're home alone aren't you?"

"Yuki and her family ran away." she sulked causing Jongin to laugh loudly. "Yah! It's not funny."

"I'm not saying it is. It's just...." he laughed again, but quickly composed himself when he heard her whine. "Okay, okay. Sorry. I found it a little funny."

"The whole family just- disappeared while I was making them something to eat. They mustv’e jumped out the window right? I left it open in case they’d get suffocated." Areum explained animatedly, waving her hand around the air, a little pout forming on her lips. "I could never raise pets during my childhood you know. My mother never allowed me to have one."

"Why?" Jongin asked, his voice barely audible due to the loud noise that sounded like the pur of an engine.

"Since we could never stay at one place. We were always moving." Areum said, a sense of nostalgia hitting her hard on her face with the mention of her mother. "Neither did I have any friends growing up."

"But you have me now."

Areum's eyebrows raised and eyes widened at his statement, the way he said it sounded so normal, so casual like he'd said it many times before but to her, it was so special. "J-Jongin."

"Hey. Come down!"

"What?" Areum sprang up to her feet and immediately regretted her action since a jolt ran up her spine with the sting on her wound. Nevertheless she opened the curtains to find Jongin leaning against his car, waving his phone with his breath pushing steam into the air.

Quickly pulling her knitted cardigan over her white with pink polka dots T-shirt, she dashed down, almost forgetting to lock the door as she made her way to where Jongin stood, rubbing his palms together, a lazy smile grazed over his handsome face.

"What're you doing here?" Areum scowled as she neared him, hugging her ams around herself since it turned out to colder than she'd imagined. "Let's go upstai—"

Pulling her wrists, he nod his head towards his car and grinned. "Wanna go for a ride?"

"I'm not dresse—"

"The street is dead Areum. No one's going to care how you look." he pushed her gently as he opened the car door. "Come on! I thought you said you were bored."

"I am!"

"Then what're you waiting for?" Jongin asked as he sceptically eyed the girl and smiled when she sighed and slid inside, buckling the seatbelt. "You won't need that." he teased, walking over to the driver's seat.

"Don't blame me when you end up dead and I survive in case we crash." Areum taunted, eyeing him then at his seatbelt. "It doesn’t hurt to wear it Jongin.”

"Whatever you say Princess." Jongin smiled as he too reached for the seatbelt and buckled it, much to Areum's delight. "Your wish is my command."

"Brain freeze!" Areum exclaimed as she pushed the heels of her palms against her temples and shut her eyes closed. "Wow!" she laughed, squinting her eyes and glancing at Jongin who winced as he too took a scoop of the ben and jerry's ice cream.

"Damn!" he shut his eyes and pushed the bowl towards Areum who pointed a finger at him and laughed. "Why in the world would you want to eat this in a season like this? You're out of your mind." Jongin shook his head in disbelief as Areum took another scoop and smiled a lopsided smile. "And to think that you are quite seriously injured. What are you made of Areum? Steel?"

Areum grinned and slowly sunk into her chair, reminded of her past when she used to envy the kids in her school eat ice creams. "My mother never let me have ice cream growing up you know." Areum said as she stirred the contents. Mixing the chocolate with the butter scotch.

"What was she like?" Jongin asked as he placed his elbow on the table. They were the only two inside the 24x7 cafe with tired looking employees dozing off in the corner.

"She was... Unlike anyone I've met until now." Areum said, the spoon clean only to take another scoop. "I don't think I'd ever be half the person she was."

"Do you miss her?" Jongin asked, although he already had an idea what the answer would be.

"I do." she said as she stared long and hard at the bowl. Taking a deep breath she glanced at Jongin and gave him a small smile. "But, somehow... I feel happier now that she's gone."

Her answer surprised Jongin so much that he almost coughed on his own saliva. "W-what do you mean?"

"I mean.. It's not like I'm happy she's gone, but... I don't know Jongin. My mother, she... She protected me so much that I think I missed out on things kids my age usually experienced. I, I felt suffocated. I can’t explain it." she said. Realizing how her words sounded she tried to explain herself. "I appreciate her effort. She did it all to protect me, but. You know. I just wanted to enjoy too."

Jongin nod, he got what she tried to say. Having being brought up by an overly possessive mother and a step-father, he knew the feeling of being finally set 'Free'.

His thoughts were cut short when he heard the chime of the bells at the entry of the door and in came a rather chirpy looking Jiah; arm in arm with Sehun, who unlike himself smiled genuinely.

"What do you want Sehu—" Jiah's voice cut off with Jongin's loud voice, calling his friends over with an excited voice. "Jongin-ah?" she beamed, dragging a confused and hesitant looking Sehun with him towards the two seated at the table near the window. "What're you doing here?" she exclaimed, letting go of Sehun's arm to give Jongin a casual hug.

"Just hanging out." Jongin answered. Noticing the serious expression on Sehun's face, he drummed his fingers on the table. "What's up with you guys? Working late?"

"Nah! We were jus—" Jiah halted when Sehun interrupted by holding up his hand, stopping the girl from speaking any further  and staring at Areum.

"What're you doing out so late at night?" he scowled, glancing at his watch. "It's past 2 in the morning." his gaze landed on Jongin. "What were you thinking bringing her out this late?"

"Sehun?" Jiah nudged him and pointed at the counter but got ignored by the said boy much to her despise.

"We’re just getting fresh air. You need to calm down. Have a coffee or something." Jongin smiled, patting the boy on his shoulder which got slapped away, rather harshly. 3 pairs of eyes snapped to the boy in confusion.

"It's not safe, besides she needs bed rest. She's not well." Sehun said, shaking his head as he shrugged Jiah's arms away from himself. "Let's go home Areum. I'm done with you causing so much trouble all the time." he said, grabbing the said girl's hand and removing Jongin’s leather jacket that hung over Areum’s shoulder, shoving it to the boy’s chest.

"Sehun, I'll drop her hom—" Jongin caught Sehun’s shoulder but lost grip as the said one turned around quickly, shrugging his hand away.

"No one is talking to you." Sehun spat, glaring at Jongin. "How can I trust you to take her home when you can't even grab the right girl? All this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't made that mistake."

It was getting all too serious for Areum. All she wanted was a friend to talk to, someone to spend her lone time with, someone- someone.. not like Sehun. All the guilt she had before for snapping at Sehun the day before flew away the moment he shoved Jongin’s shoulder who simply stared at his friend, confused by his odd behavior. Peeling his hands away from her wrist, Areum stood up, slamming her palms on the table and she glared at the much taller boy. "You have no right to talk to him like that!"

"Oh right?" Sehun chuckled sarcastically as he crossed his arms against his chest. "Keep out of this Areum and just go home."

Scoffing at his words and his unbelievable behavior, Areum grabbed Jongin's hand and brushed past Sehun's shoulder as she dragged the boy out of the cafe, shouting as she held onto Jongin’s jacket and s her hands into it. "Oh yes I will! But not with you." Slamming the café door shut she turned around and glared at the bewildered man, surprising him further with her action as she flipped the bird at him.

"!” he cursed right after the car zoomed away, leaving the two to stand in the middle of the cafe awkwardly as the employees timidly asked them if everything was alright.

"Get us two Americanos please." Jiah said as she waved the waitress away.

"Make it one." Sehun said as he stepped forward and reached his pockets for his car keys. "I'm heading home." he flicked the car keys towards the crest fallen girl. "Take the car. I'll take the midnight bus."

"Sehunnie! Wai—" Jiah called out but it didn't stop the said boy from turning around. He simply waved his hand in the air before closing the door behind him.

Seeing Areum with Jongin somehow made him feel agitated and angry for some reason. Could he be the reason she's not marrying me? He thought as he reached his pocket and touched the object burning a hole in his jeans.

All she brings to him is trouble, trouble trouble. Wasn't she aware of what a nuisance she was being to him by always making him restless and tired from always worrying that she might run into some kind of trouble.

Pulling out his phone to google the bus number and the route since he rarely used the bus service, he found a missed call from Suho and Baekhyun and 3 unread messages, 1 particularly from someone he did not expect.

Areum.

Pressing in the passcode, he quietly strode in, removing his shoes and placing them neatly at the rack. The house was particularly quiet, he wasn’t sure if she’d headed here or to Jongin’s. Why do I care? He scoffed. If a middle finger was all he was going to get for trying to be caring, he’d never try again. Without any hesitation whatsoever, he went into the kitchen to proceed straight to the fridge.

Pulling out the containers carefully, he squint and plucked the sticky note that hung to the lid and read it aloud.

'I'm sorry.'

Author’s note:
 

Hellow! Guys! So sorry for confusing ya’ll with ‘Jaerin’ and ‘Jiah’. The girl’s name is Jiah.
The funny thing is, the name wasn’t even supposed to be Jiah. ‘Jinah’ was what I was actually trying to use, since I created this character with Nana (Afterschool) in my mind. (Her real name is Im Jinah btw.)

SORRY ;A;

heyitsme94
(You guys are going to have to deal with me since twinklebee is currently dealing with some personal issues.)